May 2018

Got out with Jay, Dale, and Zack today for a full day trip.  Forecast looked a little gloomy another rainy day.  But our window to get over there it looked OK, we got some rain about half way back but it wasn’t too bad going with the wind.  We made the run into the ‘glades and found a good wad of tarpon again.  It was great fishing even better than the last couple days.  And the tarpon were there the entire time they didn’t disappear at all.  Actually got better as the day went on.  We ended up catching seven and jumped a couple others.  Hooked two double headers and landed both fish on the last one to finish the day!  Just epic fishing, plus several sharks too including some big lemons and blacktips.  Coming home we got drenched, but after having a day like that it didn’t put a damper on our mood at all.  Have the day off tomorrow but will be back at it Tuesday, hopefully can stock up on some bait.  Looks like more rain throughout the week but if the fish keep biting like this, doesn’t bother me at all!  7 for 9

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Ben and his dad Joe again for Day 2.  Lots of weather around in the AM but nothing in the bay or near where we were going.  But I figured we might get drenched at some point so we were prepared.  Got a good early start and got back there early.  Tons of fish.  They didn’t bite quite as well as you would’ve thought but overall still pretty good.  After 30 minutes or so we hooked one for Ben, then while fighting it Joe hooked one – double header!  We landed both fish and it was exciting!  After that we got a shark and then moved around a bit as we didn’t get much other tarpon action but still plenty of fish around.  We jumped one off at the next stop, and then moved again one other time and Joe got another one.  We also got a hammerhead shark and a big blacktip.  After that it looked like some rain was coming, we got a little drizzle but nothing too bad the major cell missed us.  But the tarpon seemed to dissappear.  We moved around and found a few closer into shore, but nothing like what we saw earlier.  Eventually we moved back out as we saw some more fish outside of us after an hour or so, and then eventually the whole slug of fish was back!   We worked at it and got one more tarpon as well as a big lemon shark.  After that we were running low on bait but we had some time left we had plenty of fish around but no more bites.  But overall great day again!  4 for 5

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Ben and his dad Joe today for a full day tarpon fishing charter in Islamorada.  We headed deep into the ‘glades as I had a load of bait ready to roll.  It was nice and calm with a light southeasterly breeze.  We found a big load of tarpon where they were the last time I was there, but this time we got their a good 45 minutes earlier.  This move paid off as the bite often is done with by 9:30/10:00.  We got on them early and Ben caught a nice 40 lber to start the day.  Then it was dads turn he got two fish in the 30-45 lb range, and then capped it off with a nice 90 lber!  Ben also jumped one more fish that we missed.  After that it was about 9:45 and the tarpon just dissappeared!  It’s funny how quickly they can leave but they did.  After that we checked a few spots on the way home, saw tarpon in a couple of them but no love for us.  We tried around some channels as well but didn’t see any signs of tarpon.  So we tried to catch a few trout to end the day, caught one but then the catfish tore us up!  Anyways great day we got four tarpon, hopefully tomorrow is similar as I have these boys again.  4 for 5

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing