Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out for a full day with Frank and Dave, return customers of mine.  They also had some buddies fishing with fellow Capt. Jeff Beeler.  We stuck together for our day today and decided to go after some tarpon.  We caught bait early on, the bait was nice and easy considering how calm it was.  Loaded up and headed back to where we went yesterday.  A good ride close to 2 hours, but it was worth it again!  We found the tarpon all over there.  Fishing was a little better today actually, we didn’t have to move around and we ended up getting 4 tarpon bites.  Almost had a double header but Daves got off the hook after it bit right away!  But the boys each landed a 50 lb tarpon, and then Frank had another 80 or 90 lber that we got to the boat several times, but we broke him off on the leader trying to get him to jump for good footage, but a good release none the less.  We also caught a few sharks including a couple larger blacktips which was cool.  Not quite as many as yesterday either.  Anyways by 10:15 or so, it seemed to dry up and we didn’t see any tarpon around any longer.  We drove around for 20 minutes looking, but just not much happening.  Glad we got there when we did, we had a good 1.5 hour window that made for a fantastic day!  We finished up in the bay catching a few trout and snappers, it got rough again so too rough to look for tripletail.  Looks like we have a front coming in starting tomorrow.  It’s suppose to blow west but very light in the morning, so those fish may stick around for part of the day.  We have the same group tomorrow, and they wanna try it again, so we will likely go for it.  Fingers crossed they stay there!  But the tarpon bite will likely slow down over the weekend with temperatures dropping into the low 60s for several nights.  3 for 4

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

Got out with Irv today for a full day of backcountry tarpon fishing in the southwest Florida area.  I saw southwest florida as we made a long run about 50 miles in search of the silver king today.  The more local backcountry area hasn’t been great fishing this past week, lots of muddy water and a little algae I think too.  But we do have a cold front coming in this weekend which will hopefully help that somewhat.  We caught our bait early and headed far away.  We found plenty of tarpon in an area my buddy had told me about.  Good information is nice to have!  We hooked a big 150 lber on one of our first baits out!  Irv got him to the boat, a monster fish and we got good pictures.  We caught some sharks after that and then about an hour later, Irv hooked up another nice 110 lb fish.  This one fooled us I thought it was a shark he didn’t jump for a while.  We got her to the boat and then she took off and jumped and broke us off, but we had the leader in the rod tip for a technical release.  Later one some more sharks, and then we got one other nice 110 lb fish to finish the day of tarpon fishing!  Just epic for this time of year in February, doesn’t get any better then that!  We caught a few triple tails on the way home but the wind really kicked up hard and it got very rough, so we had to nix that idea.  Looks like we may get a couple calmer days here before the weekend, then Saturday night it’s suppose to drop down into the low 60s for a few days!  Late cold front but honestly I think we need it, it’s gotten way to hot too fast and that may hurt our tarpon fishing later in the late may/june time.  I was glad to finish February strong though it was a great month for us!  3 for 3

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

Got out with return customer Jeff Godlewski today.  The winds laid off but still a slight breeze out of the south which I never really like.  We had some tarpon action early on with a couple bites on our live baits.  Jeff got tight with one though it was a long distance release as he came unbuttoned after a couple minutes.  Oh well.  We went and caught some fresh bait after that and took a look in some of the deeper everglades areas.  Not much for signs of life back there, we caught a few sharks in one spot.  Saw one tarpon and thought we might get some action but no love.  Really dirty water hopefully it will clean up soon.  We did some light tackle fishing mid day and that was OK, and then tried again around town in the afternoon for the last part of the day.  Saw a few tarpon in the local channels but again no reaction but we did catch a big barracuda and had a few larger shark bites.  Taking a day off tomorrow and then back at it wednesday.  The next 3 days look to be very calm and light easterly winds, so should be good for our fishing.  Look like a cold front incoming on Saturday.  Normally I don’t like those but I think we actually need it as it’s been so warm for February.  Probably won’t do the tarpon fishing any favors but hopefully it will help reset things a little with some of the dirty water etc…  0 for 2

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