Greetings from Tarpon Season in The Florida Keys:

So sorry that my last report was 17 days ago, soon I will have a program which will make it a lot easier for me to send fishing reports to my whole list quickly, as it is now I started trying to compose and send this report 6 hours ago. The fishing for Tarpon here in Marathon from the seven mile bridge down to Sugarloaf Key during April was the slowest in my 57 years of guiding Tarpon anglers. There was great Tarpon here during February and the first Week in March, then the weather chased those fish away and the mass of Tarpon didn't get good until the last couple of days in April, then on May 1 it got really good when thousands of Tarpon finally arrived on the flats and in Tarpon World.
Ready for fly to be removed.jpg
Between April 14 and 20, I fished 6 nights with Paul Mcgarvie, Greg Barnes & Chuck Aikens, Tim Martin, along with Victor & Danise Hu, fly fishing was slow, we jumped a total of 22 tarpon while catching & releasing a total of 6 Tarpon on fly using IGFA 20 pound breaking strength class tippet. During the sam week the year before we released 24 tarpon, during this week the water temperature was perfect 82 degrees, there was no crabs and shrimp around, and the wind was unsettled and changing direction and speed every day.
Payl McGarvie 2019 after first poon.jpg
Between April 25 and 30, I fished 6 nights, with Ron Evens, Rick Lawrence, David Dagen, Paul and Scott McGarvie., we jumped a total of 16, while we caught & released 5 Tarpon during the six days of fil fishing. This was the slowest April that I remember during my career, the bait showed up and the wind settled down to the east and looks like it is starting as many fish moved in on the 29 and 3 of April.
100 pound beauty.jpg
May First I started fly fishing with Eddie Matuzak and Stephan Bright, The wind ws east at 25 knots and the current was running fast, water temperature is 83.2 degrees. Tonight we jumped 8 big Tarpon and caught 2 Tarpon on 20 pound IGFA class tippet on fly, Eddies fish was estimated to be over 110 pounds while Stephan caught my biggest fish of the year so far, over 140 pounds. Tonight all of the fish which we jumped and caught were big (over 100 pounds), the big fish took us 2 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean, TARPON SEASON STARTED A MONTH LATE for me.
180 pound Tarpon on 20 pound tippet.jpg
May 2, 2019, Eddie Matuzak and Stephan Bright started at midnight and fished until 4 AM, we had south wind at 15 knots which changed our drift so the fish wee eating our flies while coming straight at the boat, which makes it very hard to get a good solid hook set. That said we hooked and jumped 16 Tarpon tonight during our 4 hour charter, most we got 2 or three earth shaking jumps before the fly dropped out of the mouth of those awesome Tarpon.. My partner Josh Hayes has fished every night that I have, he is now as good as I am and has caught more tarpon so far this season than I have, VERY PROUD OF CAPTAIN JOSH!!!

There are now thousands of Tarpon on the flats and channels here in Paradise, Fishing is good as long as the trade winds keep doing what they are supposed to do. I really Love my job, and wish I could share this awesome fishery with everyone. I will do my best to get a E-mail report every week for the rest of this Tarpon season. IF my new soft-ware guy is good I will be able to send reports every couple of days from my Costa Rica Blue Marlin Schools between June 13 and the end of August.
Regards
Jake

Jake Jordan's Fishing Adventures
PO Box 309
Havelock, NC 28532
www.jakejordan.com
305-872-6060