Got out with Peter and Dave return customers down from NY. It was a tough day for us we tried to leave early to catch the tide right but it was pouring rain all throughout the bay so we had to wait about 45 minutes before we got out. Tried to fish locally where we found some hungry fish yesterday morning, and saw a couple, but no activity whatsoever… We then made the run into the backcountry, it was rough blowing 20 out of the east. Though once we got out there it wasn’t too bad. Set up and not much was going on but did see a couple tarpon jumping a couple hundred yards down so we moved down. We ended up catching a couple small sharks but no tarpon bite, and the tide started to get weak on us. Was hoping it would’ve lasted a while longer. At this point the guys were thinking of cutting the day short, so we rushed back to try and just catch a few snappers for dinner. Though they were even tough to get biting, we had about an hour and I tried 4 different spots and didn’t even get a bite though we saw some snappers swimming around. Anyways, tough fishing after having good activity yesterday. But we’ll give it a try again tomorrow I know I have a full day and we are dedicated to catching tarpon! 0 for 0
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
4/12/17 April Tarpon Fishing Florida Keys Full Day Trip
Got out with Brent and his son Colin today after some florida keys tarpon. I had gone early looking for bait and we found a little bit, was able to catch a couple dozen I split with my partner so we had some good live baits when we got out. Tried a local channel where we found a few fish rolling, but no bites. We tried another and there the fish were much more active. We had several bites and some cheap shots, before finally hooking into a nice fish. Brent fought him well and he made some magnificent jumps and we landed him after about 20 minutes or so. We went back and started to get rained on, then it got sunny. We had one more cheap shot then it seemed like things had slowed down. So we ran into the backcountry. Tried a channel back there and didn’t have much action, caught a small shark and made a few moves. Finally on our 3rd move we had a big tarpon bite but we missed him unfortunately. After that the tide quit and we ventured even further to where we had had good fishing several days ago. Tide was coming in good out there, but not much activity. We moved around a couple times, and finally the sharks started to bite a little after almost an hour of fishing. We caught several, then Colin had a good tarpon bite finally though unfortunately he came off the hook quickly as well. That was about it we had a bit more rain then ventured back home. The boys were good enough to let me stop and restock on bait for tomorrow, as we went through all my bait and even reserves today trying to catch that second fish! Oh well it was good tarpon fishing and we landed one so I was happy. Nothing done terribly wrong on the part of the anglers, just bad luck… some days they don’t wanna stay on the hook! Hopefully tomorrow we see as much action. Brent and Colin will be back next year for sure they said. 1 for 6
4/11/17 April Tarpon Fishing Half day in Islamorada
Buck and Carl were with me again today they fished with me a few days ago and had each caught a tarpon that day. Today they wanted to try it again, I told them it was a little slow locally I had heard but they were still all in. We had some live baits left over from the day before and we went to work. We found a few fish in one of the local channels early, and after a couple moves we got one to eat the mullet. A nice 65 lb and Carl caught him! After that it quieted down and several other boats came out there. Eventually a boat ran right up behind me and over my lines and I had had enough so I moved. We tried another channel and there were a few tarpon there too. We had one eat a live bait soon after setting up though we missed him unfortunately the rod was in the holder and couldn’t get it out quick enough to hook him. After that we had another flash on a bait but not eat. We moved again and tried one last spot and ended up jumping a fish, and then catching Buck one to end the morning half day trip. It was pretty good fishing considering that it was slow yesterday. Buck and Carl can’t wait to come back next year they really enjoyed the fishing and were happy to catch a couple with me each day. Tomorrow I’m back on the full day schedule, may try locally for the first hour then probably run into the backcountry. 2 for 4
