Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out today again for an all day trip.  Bait was pretty easy lots of big giant silver mullets on the last of the incoming tide in the backcountry.  We tried the channels near flamingo and saw a few fish rolling when we set up.  Unfortunately they were not very active in feeding we did have lots of shark action and after 45 minutes or so while fighting a big shark we had about 100 lb tarpon grab a bait, run for 5 seconds, jump, and throw the hook.  That was our only bite we moved up the channel and things died down as far as the shark action, saw a couple tarpon roll and thought we’d get another shot but it never happened as the tide died.  I ran out west off the beaches to look around and we tried a couple areas and had more good shark action, but no signs of tarpon out there.  Anyways we decided to switch gears and ran in to the creeks to snook fish and had a stellar last couple hours, catching close to 20 snook!  Their was tons of bait in the canals, big and little finger mullet.  I think this is the first signs of the ‘fall bait run’ and if we continue having some northerly breezes we should get some epic conditions for a few weeks.  This can go on all the way through October.  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out today my anglers wanted to try to catch a tarpon.  It’s been crappy weather yesterday was rain all day long.  Today was suppose to be more of the same but luckily it wasn’t too bad.  It was over cast with scattered showers but never found us.  We were able to crush the mullet on the way back and fish some of the channels.  A few shark bites early we caught a nice little bull and a big blacktip.  Good to see some sharks biting again they’ve been tough to catch too.  The water seemed to have chilled down a good bit with all the rain and overcast the other day.  Anyways soon after that we hooked a big tarpon and had quite a battle of 30 minutes or so, and Bob landed this nice fish probably close to 100 lbs a good 85 or 90 at least.  Was much bigger than we originally thought.  Anyways after that we lost another shark and then ran out west to try off the beaches.  We caught a shark and hooked another shark we pulled off.  Then I had some boat trouble wasn’t able to get started luckily we were able to get a tow in had to wait a couple hours but didn’t get hammered with rain and were able to catch a few big ladyfish, catfish, and a couple nice pompano while we waited.  Of course back at the dock it was an easy fix there was a fuse I missed and we got things working again – definitely remember that one in the future!  So my customers had a good story to go along with their nice tarpon!  1 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Back at it again today i had the same crew from a couple days ago.  We had bait stocked up from the other day and went right to the channels we found fish in the other day.  We fished for about 30 minutes but did not see much for signs of life, no bites.  Though I did see what I thought was possibly a few fish splashing a couple hundred yards up the channel.  We idled up there and set up and sure enough saw a few fish start to roll around us.  We hooked a fish soon after though unfortunately jumped him off, then about 10 minutes later we hooked one that we landed.  While fighting him we did hook another one and briefly had a double header hooked up, though the 2nd one got away.  After that the fish seemed to quit, we saw them busting out at the end of the channel where we started, so I moved back up there, but they seemed to be on their way out, no other action.  We checked around a couple other spots, rain was a factor so we didn’t fish one area.  We then headed near flamingo to try some areas and set up, within 20 minutes we saw a big fish roll, and about 10 minutes later we hooked him.  A nice fish about 100 lbs he put on a very good fight.  We had one other possible bite, something picked up a bait and dropped it.  After that we moved out front to catch the start of the incoming tide.  We set up and fished the last hour, had one good bite we are not sure what it was, and about 10 minutes before we left a tarpon came up behind the boat rolling, but we never hooked him and that was the last of our bait and time to go home.  Anyways landing a couple tarpon in September is a great day!  2 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk