July 2018

Got out with Michel and Nico for day 2 today.  We headed out early and caught some bait.  Got a good whack on it and really loaded up.  Did see a few tarpon in the area where the bait was though we didn’t fish there but that was good to know.  We ran where I’d been getting the tarpon lately.  Sure enough we hooked up a double header first two baits out, same things has happened the last three days!  We caught both fish but neither of them were cooperative for pictures they broke off while leadering them.  We set back up and then caught a nice 25 lb cobia for Michel which was cool!  After that the sharks moved in and the tarpon seemed done with.  That spot may be done for a while now I think.  We ran out further and checked where we found some tarpon yesterday afternoon.  They were there and we fished them for a while.  Definitely some fish in the area but not as responsive.  We put some time in and didn’t get a bite though we did get a shark.  We moved and then put more time in and right as we were about to leave we did hook up!  Nico got a nice 40 lber that we really pulled on for a while.  He wanted to get some good pictures.  Unfortunately after a 40 minute battle he too snapped off.  We had him leadered 4 or 5 times but just wouldn’t roll over.  All you can do is keep pulling really and unfortunately some fish are just stubborn like that, when they don’t want to give up they are hard all around for getting pictures.  Anyways after that the tide quit, we moved around and when it started moving again we had one more tarpon bite but we missed him.  Caught a few more sharks and then a few jack crevelle and trout.  That was the end of our day.  But another good one with three tarpon caught!  3 for 4

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

Got out with Paul, Christie, and their son Jet over from Australia.  They have a fishing TV show over their called iFish and are big social media people as well.  My brother took them fishing for a few days and they went with me today and are going again on Monday.  We had bait already stocked up and headed out early.  Got on a good tarpon bite early.  Missed a double header right off the bat but did catch one of the fish!  A nice 75 lber for Jet.  After that we missed one more bite, and then dad had one on for a few minutes but unfortunately he jumped and threw the hook.  Things slowed down a little after that but we had some sharks including a big lemon.  We ran and made a move to try another channel where a buddy of mine was.  Saw a few fish but no bites though did get a few sharks here too.  After that we decided to mix it up.  Tried some areas for snook with no luck but did get a few big jack crevelle.  Then we found some snook on some shorelines and got some big trout and jacks there too!  A couple snook on bait and one on artificial – nice!  Then we saw some tarpon in the area and set back up.  We had a couple more bites jumping one fish and getting zipped by another.  Then we finally caught another Christie getting a nice 40 lber that we were able to get good pictures of right off the beach!  We headed home after that.  Great day with great folks hopefully day 2 is as productive!   Back at it tomorrow.  2 for 7

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

Got out with Michel and Nico down from Minnesota today for a day of tarpon fishing.  They are also fishing with me on Saturday.  We headed out early and caught some bait out back.  Found some big balls of mullet and loaded up real nice.  We ran to where I had found some tarpon a couple days ago as I had yesterday off but I heard the fish were still in that area.  We found them there not quite as thick as a few days ago but definitely a little body of them.  Nico hooked up pretty quickly and landed a nice 25 lber.  Dad got a shark and then Nico got another one about the same size after that again!  We got a few more sharks then moved around a bit.  Nico got a cobia off the bottom!  Then we hooked a double header!  Michel had a big 85 lb fish and Nico had a 40 lber.  We got Nicos up quickly and kind of just kept him in the water as we chased around the bigger one.  We fought him for a good 45 minutes and got him on the leader several times, but the fish would just not give up.  I really wanted to try and get a cool double header picture with a smaller and bigger tarpon.  But just didn’t happen unfortunately we eventually pulled to hard and the line snapped coming out of the rod tip where it joins the leader.  But a legal catch none the less.  After that things slowed down and we moved out to the gulf and caught quite a few cobias, a pompano, and a few jack crevelles.  Great day overall hopefully it continues.  Looks like we have steady east breeze the next several days, not gonna blow crazy but 10-15 mph it sounds like.  Shouldn’t be too bad but won’t be slick calm.  4 for 4

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