March 2019

Got out with Jack, Jake, and Chris for day 2.  Little windier today, northeasterly breeze it was kinda chilly back there and overcast.  We hit some areas first while we had the last trickle of falling tide for snook and such.  Nothing in the first stop, but the second stop we caught two nice snook, one redfish, and a handful of trout.  Good action and a little something different!  After that we saw some tarpon blowing up and decided to move in on them.  First area we saw some fish, but just didn’t seem to be a good concentration of them, so we moved around more.  Eventually we found a few more and could see a boat that had just hooked up.  We got in the area, and after 20 minutes or so Jake had a nice 65 lber on that we chased down and landed.  We moved again after that, and found a hungry pack of smaller fish.  We had a couple bites that picked up the bait and dropped it that I’m fairly certain were tarpon but didn’t see them.  But soon we hooked another and Jake had another 40 lb fish.  After that, Chris got one about a 30 lber.  We caught a few sharks in there too.  We tried another area where we had found fish later in the tide several times in the last couple weeks, but not much there today.  We did tango with some big giant sea mosnter sharks, but never got a look at any of them.  After that it was about time to head home.  Looks like we have a major weather change Tuesday, with a cold front and a lot of rain coming.  Not going to get super cold, but likely cold enough to slow down the backcountry tarpon fishing.  Unfortunately the water back there gets much colder as it’s so far from the atlantic gulf stream, and the air gets colder over the nearby mainland by 5 to 10 degrees often.  So I might be having to stick bridge fishing this week for those that want tarpon.  Hopefully by the weekend though things will have a chance to warm up.  3 for 3

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

Great day with Jack, Jake, and Chris! We were focused on tarpon and had some bait left from the other day. Stopped in the backcountry first thing and caught a nice snook while waiting on the tide change. Then we went searching for tarpon. Found a good school and there were a decent amount of fish. We set up and Jake got one right off the bat to start about a 100 lb fish. After that we had to move around a little. But a little later Chris got one, about a 60 lber. Landed that one and then it was Jack’s turn. Unfortunately the tarpon seemed like they didn’t want to respond. We caught a few sharks and kept with it. Finally after several moves it seemed like it may not happen. But we had a few baits left and made one last move. We for lucky and soon Jack had a big 100 lber on! Finished the day with that one, got all three fish to the hand too which was nice. We headed on home and caught some bait on the way which wasn’t easy but we got in the right spot at the right time. Back at it tomorrow with the same crew.  3 for 3

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

Got out with the Cable family today.  We planned on a mixed bag but we did end up doing a little bit of tarpon fishing.  We managed to hook one nice fish, but after a few minutes of chasing him we pulled the hook unfortunately.  Ran deep into the everglades to look, as we had the harsh east wind again.  Did not see a ton today, but looks like it is suppose to start calming down tomorrow.  I’m not fishing the next couple days, but sunday/monday I’ll be back and looks like those days will be nicer too before it starts blowing on Tuesday.  Anyways we still had a great day today with plenty of redfish and trout, and a few snook as well as some sharks, mackerel, jacks, ladyfish, and other critters.  0 for 1

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