Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out with Kevin and his dad Patrick today.  Tarpon was the fish they desired.  We caught some bait early in the backcountry.  Likely going to be the last day today or tomorrow that will work, as our tides are switching back to falling in the early morning.  Hopefully can find an area to get some bait this coming week as it’s definitely getting tough this time of year!  Anyways we found some tarpon in the channels early, had a couple bites straight away and Kevin caught a nice 100 lb fish!  Large one for back there this time of year.  After that the tide quit while we were fighting him as it took a little while.  The fish seemed to dry up after that.  We tried another channel and didn’t see too much, but after 30 minutes we got Patrick a tarpon about a 45 lber.  After that we decided to mix it up and caught a few pilchards and got a few snook in the backcountry creeks.  All in all another great day… fishing isn’t easy but if you work at it, it’s been OK!  Back at it tomorrow.  2 for 3

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out with Chip and his sons Trey and Banks.  Tarpon were on the agenda.  We caught some mullet on the way out had to work for them a little but got a nice 50 or so.  We ran out to the mainland to catch the start of the falling tide.  Didn’t see much  for fish out there, I was really surprised as the winds were fairly calm and it looked good.  We tried a few spots, saw one jumper, and that was about it.  Did catch a few sharks.  We headed back to try the channels.  We got one in one of the channels after about 45 minutes, we had almost decided to call it quits but stuck it out and 5 minutes later we got a nice 75 lb fish!  We ran and tried another channel for the last bit, and found a good group of fish rolling and splashing around.  After getting set up on them, we got another nice 60 lb fish that gave a good fight.  The fish seemed to be moving with the tide and we then ran down to the end of the channel where we had seen a few bust and got another one straight away!  A nice 40 lb fish to end the day.  Tough start but a solid finish for the guys.  3 for 3

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out with JR and Butch today we were scheduled all day but the 25 mph winds and such didn’t make it seem worth staying the whole time.  I was also somewhat limited on bait, I’d rather fish hard for 4 hours then try and have to drag it out with the same amount of bait for 8 hours in this situation.  We found a bunch of tarpon where we had caught one yesterday but they didn’t respond for us.  We caught a few random bottom oddities including jacks, mutton snapper, and bonnethead sharks.  After a couple hours we saw a couple other boats in the area catch a fish, but most did not and there were another 3 or 4 boats.  Anyways after a while I couldn’t take it much longer and had quit seeing fish rolling or marking on the bottom, so we went into the backside channels.  I had marked fish in their yesterday though they didn’t bite, but today we fooled one!  Butch hooked a monster fish over 100 lbs, he almost spooled us but we kept up with him.  We got him on the leader several times, but unfortunately I could tell it was one of those fish that wasn’t going to roll over easily.  We tightened up and started putting a lot of pressure on him, but he went under the boat and in the wind and swells it was too much to get out and around the boat quickly.  So anyways a technical catch with the fish on the leader but no boatside pictures.  Was happy to get one!  Now I’m out of town for a few days, looks to be nice weather over the memorial day weekend.  If you can get away from the crazy’s you might have good fishing!  I’ll be back at it tuesday.  1 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk