Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well the april islamorada tarpon fishing picked up a little bit today.  Winds were light out of the southeast and picked up a little bit later in the morning.  Good falling tide pretty much most of the trip until almost 11 AM.  We had good fishing early on, a couple quick bites and we hooked a nice fish of 85 lbs we battled for 45 minutes and landed.  Then we had a couple other fish pick the baits up and zip them… never saw what they were but they gave a hard steady zip of the line which seemed like a tarpon bite.  Plus the baits were just scaled not tore up like a shark would.  Anyways that slowed down and we moved around a bit.  Tried some live mullet tarpon fishing and had a couple nervous baits at times but none were bit.  Did get a big nurse shark on the bottom.  Also we did see a few fish rolling in other areas.  Just not very happy and not firing up on the live baits right now. Finally we went back to dead baiting and we jumped a nice fish of 50 lbs or so right before it was time to head in.  I did hear the everglades tarpon fishing in the backcountry of the florida keys was much better today.  I have a full day tomorrow so will head back there, looking forward to an action packed day!  The islamorada night tarpon fishing trips are getting better too and I have nights available so drop me a line.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Fished a morning half again today.  The bite was on the slow side again the fish don’t seem very happy for whatever reason.  The wind had laid down nicely and good falling tide for most the morning.  Saw a few fish in 2 spots out of 5 that I fished again.  We caught 1 of 65 lbs or so right off the bat.  After landing him we went back and had another good zip that I think was a tarpon pretty quickly again.  I was licking my lips thinking it was going to be very good… but after that no more tarpon bites the rest of the morning!  We caught a big jack, sting ray, had a couple sharks on, and that was about it.  Though things should really warm up now as it is getting very calm and I think the fish will really start to pour into the channels, basins, and be moving along the shorelines.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Tarpon are still biting.  Yesterday we had a full day trip.  We went 1 for 3 in the morning around town here.  Several other boats in ‘the area.’  It’s that time of year anybody gets a whiff of where fish are biting and next thing you know there are a dozen boats there.  We went in the backcountry after that as fishing slowed down and too many boats around.  We caught another 1 out of 3 tarpon back there making 2 for 6 for the day.  We also caught a variety of sharks including lemon, blacktip, blacknose, and nurse.  Today fishing was tough we had a morning half day.  We only had 1 for sure tarpon bite that we caught thankfully and 1 other fish boil on a boat but not eat.  I talked to several other guides and reports were similar from at least half a dozen other boats – a bite or two if you were lucky.  Not sure what happened the fish just didn’t seem happy I only saw a handful roll and fished 5 different spots.  The one fish we caught a couple boats saw us fighting him and ran and fished right where I was anchored previously meaning I had to leave the spot after… this time of year gets ridiculous with the out of town guides/weekend warriors.  Please if your fishing and boating down here show some respect to those that live and work here full time trying to make a living!  We also got ran over while fishing later in the day by another boat and a jet ski tour, idiots will drive right over your lines.   Oh well thats my venting for the morning at least we caught a nice fish and I got some great pictures.  More tarpon fishing the next couple mornings stay tuned for the report.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk