Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out with Jim and his wife and son, Shannon and Seth, today for a full day charter for tarpon.  We left out early and headed on back.  Caught some bait first thing, again very easy which was nice.  I had a feeling that the bite may be over where I had been fishing lately as it seemed to be thinning out.  So we tried elsewhere near where we had caught bait this morning.  Some tarpon were definitely there, not a ton but some.  Though the sharks ate us alive!  We had a good start of the incoming tide and they were just on our baits every 20 seconds.  We bailed after giving it a good 30 minutes and then tried where I’d been fishing the last several mornings.  I seemed to be right no tarpon bites there we did get several sharks though.  Again after 30 minutes we bailed after not seeing anything.  We then ran further where we had caught some fish the last couple days later in the morning.  But today it seemed to be a graveyard!  It was nice and calm here in the lee of the wind.  But never for sure saw anything roll.  We thought we might of seen one and set up and we did end up getting a tarpon there.  But unfortunately it didn’t stay on our hooks well for pictures.  We did reel him to the boat right at the start for a legal catch, but afterwards he ran off and after fighting him for a few minutes he unbuttoned.  A shame because Seth wanted a tarpon mount and we needed a measurement!  Anyways we bailed from there after fishing one more spot and looking hard and not seeing much.  We ran back towards flamingo as I got the call that my friend had a couple bites there.  We got lucky and found a group of fish but they were mean to us!  The first one we jumped off, then we hooked a 100 lber that I thought for sure would stay on but the line mysteriously snapped!  Just bad luck I asked my crew if they brought bananas on board they said no.  We caught some more sharks and a big sting ray.  Then Jim hooked a nice 40 lb tarpon that we did catch and he let Seth subdue him which was great.  We got our measurements and the boys are thinking it over on doing the fiberglass mount replica.  We had some tripletails floating by us too and we caught a couple including a big 11 lber for dinner which was great!  After that a few more sharks we did see some more tarpon and moved in on them but didn’t get a bite.  Anyways glad to have gotten a couple legal releases, and one to the boat for this family!  Back at it tomorrow.  2 for 4

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

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