Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out with Ken today for an all day trip back into the everglades.  We found plenty of tarpon this morning fresh in from the gulf.  Getting them to eat wasn’t easy however.  They were free jumping and busting all over as far as I could see.  We eventually got one to bite and Ken landed a nice 75 lb tarpon.  We caught plenty of sharks too including black tips and hammerheads.  We caught a little more bait later and tried further back off the mainland.  No sign of tarpon there but we caught a few cobias, and a big bull shark to end the day.  Great day and glad we got one.  I’m taking Ken early tomorrow to do the pre-sunrise thing for tarpon.  1 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

4/25/16 AM – Had Warren and his son Alex out for some early morning tarpon fishing.  We left at 4 AM I told them super early had been a better bet as of late.  That was the case we hooked up right away and Alex landed a nice tarpon close to 90 lbs or so.  After that we made another couple drifts and got another bite.  Alex let his dad catch this one not quite as big as the first but still a nice fish of 70 lbs or so.  After that we tried some channels on the other side of the bridge where we had caught them the day before.  Though we made a few drifts in each one and no tarpon love.  After that we tried some other methods as it got light.  Saw a few tarpon roll but didn’t get any more bites just caught a shark.  Anyways a good morning to land two fish!  2 for 2

4/25/16 Evening – Tonight I had return customer Peter and his buddy Bobby.  It was a tough night conditions looked pretty good with falling tide until sunset, though the tarpon were not very responsive.  We tried a bunch of areas and several different methods of attack though couldn’t get much going.  Had one cheap shot boil on a live mullet.  Finally the last stop we saw a fish roll and made some drifts with our crabs.  I stayed a little later for the guys since it had been a slow night and after sunset we finally got a bite but unfortunately he didn’t stay on the hook for us.  Was very surprised with good conditions the fish were not responsive I saw maybe 3 fish landed out of 40 or so boats we saw throughout the night.  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out with Darrel again today for the last day.  We opted to leave early again and got out on the water at 5 AM.  Stiff north wind this morning and it shuffled the deck on us.  Fish were not in the spot they were yesterday we made a couple drifts there and then looked elsewhere.  We found them though in the next spot, near the end of our drift their we hooked a nice fish of about 100 lbs.  Darrel landed him quick though he popped off on the leader before we could get pictures.  After that it was getting to be light and we saw some fish roll.  We made another drift and got another bite though missed him.  After that things quieted down and we moved to the next channel over.  I hadn’t caught a fish in this channel yet this year though had seen them here a few times.  Anyways we saw plenty of fish roll on our first drift through.  We set back up and near the end of this drift Darrel hooked another pig a big 130 lb fish.  He never jumped at all and just stayed low we pulled on him a while before he finally surfaced and rolled.  Nice big fish.  Anyways he saved his energy and dragged us over a mile offshore near some patch reefs.  We landed him finally and got some good pictures.  Anyways a great morning was glad we got out early again!  2 for 3

Also last night we went and had it honking out of the west 25 mph.  We fished the oceanside where it was calmer and found some fish rolling.  It was ripping though the current looked like the Mississippi delta rolling out at 5 knots.  Anyways we got lucky and hooked a nice fish in the first hour that Bob landed.  After that things slowed down we saw a couple other boats catch fish.  Finally at 7:30 we had another bite we missed, then soon after hooked another and Bobs son Matt landed his first tarpon a nice little 40 lber.  Called it a night after that was very glad to get them 2 as they had fished that morning with someone else and had a slow morning not catching one.  2 for 3

Capt. Rick Stanczyk