May 2018

Got out with Stepan Polymers group again today.  We made the trek out back to see if the big school of tarpon we found yesterday was still around.  Conditions were relatively the same… howling east wind.  We caught enough bait early on and then made the run.  We got there and at first it looked good.  We saw a fish bust, and a couple roll and one free jump.  Felt like we were in them and we set up, but no bites there.  Eventually a big shark found us and we pulled on him a while.  Jumped around a bit, and just didn’t see the numbers like we did yesterday.  Eventually we gave up as we quit seeing anything.  Looked in a few creeks and not much going on in there.  We ran even further to check another area but that didn’t work out either.  Another captain I fish with some was back there too and they had no luck at all either.  We stopped back where we started to look one more time and then got lucky and found a small pack of tarpon.  We set back up in them and had what I believe was a couple grab the baits and blow them out.  Pulled drag for a second and then got the baits back unscathed.  Then finally we hooked a 45 lber!  We landed him but unfortunately he didn’t cooperate for boatside pictures.  After that we were still in some fish but no more bites.  We did get some more blacktips sharks including a very big one.  After that things dried up again and we checked a couple spots on the way home for tarpon.  Did see a few in each of those spots but smaller fish and they didn’t really respond to us at all.  Anyways it was a case of there today, gone tomorrow, but at least we got one.  I know fishing wasn’t easy around town with the 25-30 mph winds, and at least it was nice once we got back in this area.  Ride home was a little bumpy but not too bad.  1 for 1

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

Well after a slow last couple of days today we got back in the meat!  Day 2 with Stepan Polymers crew.  The winds were cranking and I decided to take a gamble and fish some different areas.  It was a good ride but not too bad for my larger boat.  It paid off and we found a ton of tarpon and they were happy too!  We had 3 bites in the first 45 minutes, though none stayed on the hook for us!  After that a few sharks.  We moved around and got back on the tarpon and then we caught a couple.  We missed a few more and then caught another and got another right before it was time ago.  Several more blacktip sharks mixed in.  Just unbelievable fishing and it was nice where we were, tucked away from the winds.  The ride home was a little sporty at times but really not too bad, and well worth the trip for the action we had!  4 for 14

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

Day 1 with the Stepan Polymers group today.  Winds were howling 20-25 mph out of the east.  We caught some bait early on and my crew today was after a mixed bag.  We tarpon fished early on and things were slow.  Found an absolute ton of fish around one of the bridges but they were not responding to us much.  We saw one fish caught out of the 10 or so boats down there.  We made multiple moves and tried several tactics, had a few fish come up and chase the baits but that was about it.  We did get a big jack crevelle and a large mangrove snapper.  We gave it about an hour and a half, and then the boys wanted to mix things up some.  Took a while to get out back because of the wind we had to run a much longer route to avoid getting in the waves.  We caught a few ladyfish and then some sharks in the channels out back.  Tried for tarpon again for the last 45 minutes in the local channels around town, didn’t get a bite there and didn’t really see any fish.  Anyways tough day hopefully things will get a little better as we get away from the full moon.  But looks like the winds will still be howling through until the weekend at least.  I might make a long run tomorrow depending what my crew wants to try and do, and again being this group trip they aren’t early risers and they do like to mix things up so like today sometimes we don’t give the tarpon fishing a full measure.  0 for 0

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