Capt. Rick Stanczyk

3/8/16 I had Gary and Ron some regular customers the last few years.  We started the morning in the gulf doing the mackerels and that was pretty good.  A lot of action with some jacks and other things mixed in.  Again very rough and had to use the trolling motor to hold me in place as I couldn’t anchor in the deep heavy grass out there without dragging.  After a couple hours of that we ran into the backcountry to try sharks/tarpon.  The channel I found fish in yesterday didn’t produce much, we sat for a while and had a couple sharks zip us after 30-40 minutes, but didn’t hook them.  I decided to run out off the mainland and we caught a couple bull sharks and a big lemon there.  We plowed back towards the channels and it was a rough ride.  We tried again in another channel for the last 45 minutes, but no bite of any kind.  Tough fishing but we worked hard and caught some stuff at least.  They are fishing with me again on the 10th hopefully we can find a few tarpon!  0 for 0

3/9/16 Tim and his nephew fished with me today new customers.  They wanted to try and catch tarpon and after yesterday I didn’t think it was worth devoting the day too, plus it was blowing 30 mph again.  Bait was very tough I didn’t catch any extra yesterday, and this morning we only caught 8 that I had to split with my bait partner.  So we had about 9 baits total.  Anyways we caught the mackerels good with a few bluefish mixed in and then ran back towards Islamorada to try for tarpon for the last couple hours on a shorter 3/4 day.  The first spot we caught a big ray and a jack crevelle though no signs of tarpon.  As the tide quit I decided to run out on the ocean side and give it a try there with the last few baits I had.  A fellow guide had caught a fish out there the day before.  Anyways we set up and put ’em out and soon we hooked a big jack, and right after that a nice 40 lb tarpon!  We landed him and decided to give it a few more minutes since we had time and a couple baits left.  Sure enough we hooked another tarpon a nice 60 lber that put on a good show.  Tim got to jump in the water and get a shot with his fish as we were in a good spot to do that in (we don’t boat tarpon any longer).  The guys got to land their first tarpon and we took the lemons the day gave us and made lemonade!  2 for 2

Got after ’em again today.  I had Greg fishing with me down from Minnesota.  Winds were howling 30 mph out of the east and it  was a little rough but nothing my seacraft couldn’t handle!  We caught a little bit of bait this morning it was good to see a few around after striking out yesterday with the mullet early in the morning.  Anyways we broke the day up, mackerel fishing again in the morning.  That was good fishing and plenty of action.  I had trouble getting my anchor to hold it was so windy and rough, but I was able to stay on spot with my trolling motor which saved us out there and let us get our fishing in.  Then we had to take the long route to the backcountry channels to not get beat to death and sprayed in the big waves.  We finally got back there around 11 and fished for 2 and a half hours.  Several large blacktip sharks were landed and we jumped 1 tarpon off and then landed one at the end.  I fished some channels I hadn’t yet tried this year and it was good to see some fish there.  Looks like it will continue to be windy throughout the week at least, but there are some fish around and you can usually get a few shots in a day of fishing.  1 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got back out and did a some tarpon fishing today.  Bait was difficult we didn’t find any in the early morning and I looked a few other places on the way out and didn’t see much.  Wind kicked up hard out of the north though temperature didn’t drop.  Anyways we had some leftover bait from yesterday thankfully.  We spent the morning catching mackerels and pompanos and that was good.  Around 10:00 we made our way back into the glades and fished off the mainland where the fish were yesterday.  Today it was very muddy and windy though, we didn’t see much for fish though wouldn’t expect to in those conditions.  We caught some sharks, bulls and a big lemon.  Though eventually we did see a tarpon roll behind the boat.  A few minutes later we jumped him off about 5 feet behind the boat.  We caught a few more sharks and then finally before we were about to make a move, we hooked another tarpon.  This one stayed on and we were able to chase him down and get him to the boat though he jumped and threw the hook next to the boat.  We were able to get the leader to the tip of the rod however for the technical release.  Anyways not bad for the terrible conditions.  It looks like it will be pretty windy for the next several days.  Tarpon fishing will likely be tough as the water won’t have a chance to warm up. Though there are some fish around you just have to put your time in.  I have a trip tomorrow so we will see what it has in store!  1 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk