June 2018

Got out with Ross, Mike, and Jordan today for a full day of tarpon fishing.  They were part of a large group down from Massachusetts who have fished here before.  My guys wanted tarpon and were good to go a little early so we did that.  We headed out and caught some bait on the way plus had a few live ones we brought.  Fishing was pretty epic about as good as it gets.  Tarpon everywhere and the boys each caught one in the first 20 minutes it was kinda crazy.   I honestly lost count of bites but it was up there, I think we landed about 8 or so that we got on the leader anyways and probably lost another 8 or so.  We also had some big sharks and even had a shot at a permit floating by.  Made a cast with a crab but he was uninterested.  Permit can show up in the gulf waters where we find tarpon often in the summer.  Anyways it was a fantastic morning and we wrapped things up around 9:30 AM as we had caught enough.  Don’t know how much longer this will last but it’s been really good.  I hope that some of the other areas get a little better soon, I think in July they will.  But will keep sticking with this for the time being!  8 for 16

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

P.S. Again this are small tarpon under 40 inches so we are allowed to lift them up for a quick picture.  We don’t let them hit the deck or wipe their slime off, and drop them back in the water revived quickly for a healthy release afterwards.

Got out for the last day with Ron and Charlie.  We opted for the deep ‘glades run again because it’s been the best thing going for me lately.  Today we were lucky it got even better than yesterday, seems like each day has been better and better!  We had a few boats ahead of us there, I think it was the last day of a fly tournament.  But we stopped in on some fish away from everybody.  Put our lines out for a bit but didn’t get a bite at first stop.  We looked inside where one of the fly guys had left, and didn’t see anything really.  We went back out where we were, and then we were surrounded by fish!  It got pretty fast and furious and we kind of lost track of things.  But we ended up getting three tarpon to the hand, and a couple more to the leader that jumped off or pulled the hooks but got technical releases on.  We also got a big 12 lb snook which was awesome.  Had a double header tarpon as well as the snook and tarpon at the same time.  Unfortunately one of the tarpon on the double came off boatside so we couldn’t get the pic.  Anyways just crazy good action, so much fun!  When the tide turned I think we jumped one more tarpon off and then the sharks moved in.  Big lemon sharks.  The tarpon were pretty much gone then, we looked around for a lap but didn’t see much.  We finished the day catching a bunch of trout on our artificials.  Tomorrow I have a group trip so it’ll be standard departure time and I don’t think I’ll be doing this, will be good to give them a break for a day I think.  But likely back at it Saturday with my regular customers Sarah and Barry who are down from across the pond in Scotland.  Great way to end three days with Ron and Charlie, I think they might be spoiled now though!  5 for 11

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

P.S. Again all tarpon pictured are under 40 inches so we are allowed to pick them up for photographs.  Though of course we are very careful to not wipe off slime, drop them on boat, and release them healthily to fight again another day.

Got out for Day 2 with Ron and Charlie today.  We opted to do the early morning deep run again.  The forecast was a little nastier, but it was a pleasant ride back and we didn’t get any weather while we were back there thankfully.  Not quite as many tarpon as yesterday but we did find an area with some there.  Mostly smaller guys.  We did not get a bite at our first stop, we did have some fish rolling around our baits.  I did get a little nervous as it’s usually been easy to get bit right away.  Anyways after some time we moved around, and gave it a bit longer.  We finally did jump a fish that just didn’t stay on the hooks.  After that we moved again and then Ron caught one so that was good.  We moved again after that and then the tide changed for us.  Then we had a good little rally where we had 4 bites in about a 40 minute window.  Charlie had one on for a few minutes that jumped and threw the hook.  We likely could’ve chased him down for a ‘technical’ release but it wasn’t a big guy so I was hoping we’d get another one while we waited.  Luckily we did get a few more bites and he landed one and we missed a couple more on the hookup.  After that then they seemed to kind of disappear.  We reloaded on our bait fish and tried a bit more before we headed out.  We hooked a monster bull shark that was about 300 lbs, we got a decent glimpse of him before he broke off.  So anyways great fishing again and funny how it changes.  We started off sweating it a little bit, but ended up getting more bites then I’ve had in the last three weeks or so.  I think we will be back there again tomorrow unless we have a weather issue, most other reports locally and in the backcountry haven’t been great.  2 for 6

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

P.S. We normally do not pick tarpon up out of the water, however smaller fish like these that are under 40 inches you are allowed to remove for a picture.  We always try to make sure that we don’t drop them, wipe off any slime or drag them on the deck, and revive them somewhat so they kick off healthily.