September 2018

What a day for Jeremy and Roy! They were visiting from Colorado, Jeremy had fished with me before a few years ago. They also had a couple buddies fishing with Capt. Bill Bassett. I talked to the guys last night as I had just got back from vacation to see what our game plan would be. They were very interested in tarpon which I said had been OK lately though we looked to have good conditions with the wind laying down. Bait has been a little tough as of late though so I knew that would be the hard part. We headed out early and gave it a good hard effort and were able to come up with enough bait to fish with. Not easy by any means but we had what we needed. After that we checked some areas, not much in the first stop so we kept moving. I was in touch with some other captains who had found a few tarpon but not a lot of action out of them yet. I was almost going to run there but I decided to look in another area where I found some fish last week. Boy did we get in them good there were a lot of fish around! We fished the last couple hours of falling tide and we landed 4 tarpon mostly in the 20 to 40 lb range and jumped off several others. They were tough to keep on the hook being smaller size, but great fun to catch! We also caught a few sharks. After the tide quit we moved around as a big shark dragged us for a ways. When we landed him, we were thick in a school of tarpon! They were just everywhere. We had to set our gear off the bow as we were current into the wind, but the tarpon didn’t care! We had another 8 or so tarpon bites and landed 4 more fish. It was just incredible! We also got a nice 30 lb bull redfish, unfortunately though we pulled the hook on him as I was leadering him into the landing net! We also got a big 200 lb lemon shark, and a few more blacktips as well. Our sister boat with Capt. Bill caught a handful of tarpon as well, and they got two lunker redfish too in the 15 to 30 lb range. Absolutely epic day for these guys they can’t wait to come back. Fishing should be very good this week we look to have similar conditions through the weekend – nice light wind under 5 mph. Bait will be the tough thing however we are getting better tides for our bait in the early morning window, so that may change tomorrow. I am booked tomorrow but just had a cancellation Thursday due to the hurricane about to hit the Carolinas. I never like to promise good fishing because things can change so quickly, but if you want to see what the epic fall tarpon bite is all about this is your week to come and I have plenty of openings after tomorrow through the weekend. This isn’t something we see every day and rarely do I have open days this short notice but being off season there aren’t many people down here so now is your chance! Give me a shout.  8 for 16

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

Got out with Vinny and his daughter Jess for a full day today of september tarpon fishing.  I brought some shrimp and chum just in case as I heard bait was tough the day before so good to have a plan B option if things dont work out.  Unfortunately when tarpon fishing sometimes the bait doesnt cooperate which makes it hard to catch them without the right kind or right amount.  Anyways we checked one area and didnt see much for bait, the hard east wind had it pretty mucked up.  We did find some out in one of the channels but for the most part it was up pretty shallow.  We had to work hard at it and I threw the net 10 times or so but we manged to pick away and get 30 baits – about half what I normally like to have but enough to get a few shots at fish I figured.  We saw some tarpon busting nearby so we gave it a shot there first.  First of the incoming tide and it was pouring in.  We set up and no love, saw a few tarpon roll and moved around a couple times but no response from them.  After an hour or so we had gone through a good bit of bait and I was frustrated we didn’t get a response out of the tarpon.  We packed up and ran off where we had found fish the last day I was out.  Someone was sitting in a spot I wanted to be which is very unusual this time of year, we usually don’t see many other boats at all especially during the week.  Anyways we made do and checked another area nearby and did see some tarpon right away.  I was excited and we set up but the sharks got us in the first stop.  We moved around and then had two quick tarpon bites but neither stayed on the hook!  Unfortunate but part of fishing, though we had a couple shots at least.  We had a third tarpon jump straight behind the boat that may of also picked up a bait and spit it before we knew it.  After that things slowed down and we made one more move into an area I thought there were a few tarpon, but just some more sharks.  Unfortunately that was all the bait we had too so we had to mix it up the rest of the day.  We did catch about a half dozen small redfish in one area which was fun.  A bunch of catfish in the next stop, i had hoped there would be a few reds or snook there but no luck.  For the last hour we ran into the bay and hung the chum bag, and had good action with some nice trout, mangrove snapper, and a few ladyfish and mackerel.  Nice to be able to put the day together, would of been nicer to have caught those couple tarpon but they don’t always cooperate.

I’m out of town for a few days then back at it when I return next week.   I have 3 days booked next week but am available Wednesday, Friday, or all through the weekend and following week after that.  The winds look to be laying down tomorrow and we should have nice calm weather for next week which should be a good thing for the backcountry tarpon fishing.  If you are interested in going next Wednesday or Friday may be a good bet!  I’ll have more to report on Monday and Tuesday for sure.  0 for 2

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

Great day with Brandon, Rob, and William! The boys wanted to do some tarpon fishing and I told them we’d still been catching a few. I hadn’t been in a few days and the last day I went we got chased back in from the rain and lightning. But I had a good report from yesterday so I was excited to get out there and check things out. We already had some bait stashed away that was in good shape so we just went with that and headed out early. The last couple days the winds been blowing but it’s swung around more northeast, as opposed to southeast, which is giving us a little blast of refreshing cooler air and also feels a bit like Fall which is great! This can often trigger the ‘fall bait run’ effect where we get a lot of baitfish and bigger predator fish moving back down the coast as it is cooling off further north and they are coming back down for the winter. Every year is different and I don’t think it’s really in full effect yet, but definitely had that feeling. Anyways we found a decent group of tarpon that were flopping around, cart wheeling, doing the usual tarpon thing when that is going on. Not a whole ton of fish, but a good enough group that we were able to get in on them. We caught it right at the tide change but still managed to hook three tarpon and landed them all! A couple smaller guys in the 20-30 lb range, and one decent one that was about 60 lbs. After that a good storm blew in and it started to pour for about 30 minutes. We fished through it and actually landed our last tarpon in the midst of it. We caught a few more sharks and then the weather had passed. The tarpon seemed to have thinned out after that. We ran and tried another area closer to home and first bait out we got a big monster snook close to 20 lbs! What a catch and awesome to see. We got some pictures and released her very healthy, snook is something I don’t like to kill on my boat especially with all the ones dying further north of us right now. She was over the slot limit anyways. After that we hooked a big something not sure what but it cut us off. Then we saw a good size tarpon roll behind the boat and within a few minutes, we hooked a nice 85 lber that gave us a great fight! After that things slowed down we fished there a bit more but didn’t do much. We tried one more area on the way home and did see one tarpon we tried to get set up near but no luck. Anyways a great day for the boys there is definitely still good fishing to be had here in Islamorada, FL. September and October can still be very good and you get the place to yourself. Off for a few days if anyone wants to go later this week I’m not booked until Thursday, looks like we’ll have a similar condition so it could be good!  4 for 4

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