Got out with Rich and Luke Cromwell today for a full day of fishing in Key Largo. We hit the backcountry first and caught a few snook to start the day. They weren’t all over the place we had to check a few spots but did get on a little bite for a bit. Had one nice fish of 10+ lbs or so to the boat but before we could net him he cut the line with his sharp gill plate! After that we caught quite a few trout with some jacks mixed in, didn’t find any more snook which is what we were hoping for. We decided to then try the gulf as the weather was calm and it looked nice out there. Plenty of triple tail were floating on the crab buoys. Key largo triple tail fishing can be good this time of year and in the spring, but it’s much nicer when you have calm days to run and look. We caught several little guys and eventually got a keeper. Then we found a monster that was close to 15 lbs! We hooked him and had him boat side, but unfortunately the hook pulled on him. Bad luck! We shook it off and then we gave some tarpon fishing a try. We found plenty of tarpon where they had been several days ago. They weren’t really biting yesterday though as we had a mini-cold front over xmas and they just don’t like that this time of year especially. Today though we worked hard and eventually fooled one and Luke caught a nice 90 lb tarpon! December key largo tarpon fishing can be very hit or miss, but today was a hit thankfully. We also got about a 20 lb cobia which was a cherry on top of the day. After that we tried one other area with our light rods to possibly find a snook or redfish, but no luck and we headed home. Just a great day with all kinds of variety! Hopefully the good fishing holds up through the years end.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
