6/10/18 – I had Carl and his son Ben out for two days of tarpon fishing. I told them it had been a little slow lately and they were good with mixing it up some. Sometimes this is good just for the captains state of mind, of course I will always give it 100% for the tarpon and everything else, but when it’s just not happening it’s nice to just put some fish in the boat to take the stress off a little bit and know other options are available. So we headed out early and we did happen across a good school of tarpon in one of the channels. More then I’ve seen in weeks! I was excited! But unfortunately they did not respond for us, many of the fish were up shallow eating small shrimp and things, though there were some in the deeper channel. I hoped when the tide started rolling in they’d fire up but they did not. Funny because I had only seen a handful of fish here the last two times, and we did catch one both of those times. Today there were dozens of them and couldn’t get a bite. So goes fishing. We did catch some sharks, and then got into a good trout bite while catching some other bait fish. We then tried for some tarpon more, but still no luck but did get a big lemon shark and a hammerhead shark. We checked another channel and saw a few tarpon but they didn’t want to play. We did catch a few tripletails while sitting there though which was fun. Then finished up the day getting a nice snook for Carl. Anyways still a great day overall though we did not get our target fish. Much better then trying for a tarpon all day waiting for 1 possible bite and maybe not getting it. 0 for 0
6/11/18 – Today we left super early and ran deep into the everglades. I figured we’d give it an all or nothing shot. I’ve been finding some fish way back there but it seems to be just an early morning thing as to when they are biting. We got there and the fish were there. A bit of weather around but it didn’t bother us much. We hooked up pretty quickly and Carl got a nice 50 lb fish! After that he jumped another one off. Then it was Bens turn and got a nice 50 lb fish or so too! This one dragged us up into a creek and it was a very cool battle with pretty scenery. After that we set back up and we jumped one more fish, and then that was it. Over with by 9 AM or so with the tarpon bite. They were still there just not feeding any longer. The sharks started in though we caught several big lemon sharks and some big blacktips which was fun. We caught a bit more bait and then checked a couple areas on the way home, didn’t see any tarpon in them but did catch a couple more sharks. Then we headed home. Got some rain on the way but well worth the price of admission. Carl was thrilled to have gotten a tarpon and one for Ben too. Back at it tomorrow. 2 for 4
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
