Staying 4 days e nd of this week in South Beach for my 40th B-day with my wife, a very nice surprise she let me in on today. Want to spend a day in Islamorada doing some Tarpon fishing. Anyone have any first hand experience with local captains that could make this happen?

there are some great captains in islamorada for tarpon, but it may be a bit early for them at this stage, you'd be better off in biscayne bay, off government cut, in the miami area ... check out bouncer smith or dennis forgione - both fish government cut for tarpon, that fishery may still be going on ... also captain mark krowka - is absolutely one of the very best flats guides in all of south florida, he fishes out of islamorada and biscayne bay - I think he has moved down to islamorada, call information - but if you want to fish with a flats guide, krowka is one who can do it for you, joe gonzalez is another good flats guide - bouncer and dennis are phenomenal guides, but they are not flats guides. check out those guys

randy rhodes of rhoderunner charters. he put me on my first. nice guy to fish with. have a great trip, good luck

Have a great time. Just went out with a guide out of Marco island a couple weeks ago and fished the back country. Nothing big but a great day anyway.