August 2018

Just got back in town last night and back to the tarpon grind today.  Got out with John, Joe, and Brett today for a full day tarpon fishing charter.  John is a well established swimming coach with the Badger Swim Club in NY, we talked about that a bit as my wife is a swimmer and we have a few swimming events in town here like the lighthouse swim so that was nice.  We had good conditions with it getting very calm yesterday.  Sounded like it was fairly windy while I was gone and fishing was not all that great so I don’t think I missed too much.  My one buddy did say tarpon were OK the last few days though and pointed me in the right direction.  We caught some bait early which was fairly easy.  Checked a few spots nearby there and did not see much for tarpon life.  So we bolted out to the area he suggested.  Found quite a few there we got set up but had a fairly weak tide though still a bit of current for 45 minutes or so.  Made a move and had tarpon all around us and rolling right behind us.  Thought we’d get bit for sure but didn’t happen.  The tide quit out eventually and we moved around.  Did get plenty of sharks though including some blacktips, bonnets, and nurse sharks.  When the tide started in we moved further out and found a good group of tarpon again.  With some patience we eventually hooked up and Joe got a nice 80 lb tarpon.  Battled him for a good 25 minutes and had him boatside several times on the leader but he made one more surge and broke us off before we could get him to roll over!  After that things seemed to thin out a little.  We moved around several times up inside the channel then back out near where we were.  Saw a few more tarpon eventually and got near by them and then John hooked a big 100 lb tarpon!  Same story we battled him for a good 40 minutes and had him boatside several times.  I thought for sure this one would roll over but same thing we just couldn’t break his will and eventually he snapped off too on a good hard surge.  Those big stubborn fish can be hard sometimes for the good glory pictures!  But we got some good action shots and the boys got some good jump shots which sometimes you just have to be good with.  Catching them is one thing, getting them to roll over for a picture is another.  Anyways we were glad to make both bites count.  After that we had an hour or so left and it got really slick calm.  The tarpon seemed to be done with and we decided to try bending the light rods a little.  Though not much was going on it was very hot with almost 90 degree water temperatures.  We caught a handful of trout and then the boys were about done as was I so we headed on in.  Back at it tomorrow I think I’ll be running right to that spot and hopefully with a little more current they’ll bite a little better earlier in the morning.  I’m booked through Monday but this coming week I have several days open and the following weekend is open too if anyone wants to get out there.  Looks like it’ll be getting a little windier tuesday/wednesday but not too bad, then nice and calm again by Thursday.  2 for 2

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

Got out with Chris and Jeff today for a 3/4 day of tarpon fishing in Islamorada.  Storms were brewin’ and we had a very stiff southeast breeze of about 20 mph, much more then the forecasted 12 mph.  We were able to sneak out and avoided getting soaked for the most part, staying in between two massive thunderclouds.  We got into the bait area and netted up plenty of bait and headed out where we had found tarpon the last few days.  Fish were there we set up and bounced around a couple times before getting into ’em.  We saw a few roll and plenty of fish floating by on the electronics.  However… no bite!  We got some sharks plenty of blacktips and a couple nurses.  I was surprised the tarpon weren’t responding.  We moved a little bit and realigned without success.  After 40 minutes or so then a squall blew up nearby and it started howling 35 mph for about 30 minutes.  This seemed to blow the tarpon out we didn’t see much with our eyes or on the machine.  We stuck it out and things did lay down and got a little nicer getting back around 15 mph, but more southerly wind which I never like but really didn’t look too bad.  I thought things would chirp up but no such luck, we looked around hard in the channel and decided to move to another area where I know some fish had been as well.  We got in there and it looked right, we saw a fish jump when we stopped and a few roll.  We set up and still no bites, made a move again and still no luck.  Frustrating.  We moved up the channel and had a few roll right in front of us and saw a few more, I set up thinking this would be it.  We sat for about 25 minutes and finally Chris hooked up!  Unfortunately the fish didn’t stay buttoned though, no angler error he was good about keeping the tip down and light pressure, but unfortunately the hook just pulled.  We caught a few more sharks and made one more move giving it an extra 30 minutes or so to try to put the boys on ’em cause I also hate when I don’t catch them.  But no luck.  We even slow rode out the channel looking all around because the wind did lay down more now and the storms had passed for the most part in that area, but didn’t see much.  So we headed on home with some foul weather near Islamorada it really wasn’t pretty but we got home safe thankfully.  Oh well we gave it a very hard effort 110% , extra time, etc… but sometimes you can’t make it happen.  Funny how the fishing can go from so good yesterday to so tough today but that’s fishing.  Anyways I am out of town for a week now I think it’ll be a nice time to be away as we have slightly windy conditions for the next week, not that it will be horrible for tarpon fishing but not the slick calm summer days we dream of.  Hopefully things will calm down and the stormy weather will be over with by the time I get back!  0 for 1

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