Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well just to keep everyone updated unfortunately the tarpon fishing went and got difficult again right after having a very good day last week.  It looked like it was the day I’d been waiting for we had seen hundreds of fish, nice and calm, and they seemed happy.  We had a banner day landing 5 tarpon and thought they were there to stay for a while.  Though we went out the very next day and while still calm/ideal conditions, the big mass of fish was gone!  We still ended up catching a couple that day, but really had to work at it.  Now we’ve had 20 mph winds the last couple of days and a lot of rain, and more rain coming the next couple of days and wind through the end of the week.  So looks like July just doesn’t want to fire up like it normally does for tarpon.  We caught a tarpon today we didn’t have a ton of bait and made a long run but we made it happen, also got into a good handful of snook, and about a dozen juvenile goliath groupers.  So there are still fish to be caught so I would say just be open minded.  Baits been a bit difficult to get now unless you have the right tides so that sometimes determines things too.

All that being said, the tarpon could still fire up any day and I remember several years ago we had a tougher July/early August, and September/October ended up being very good.  So you just never know every year there are different patterns.  But I’ll shoot you straight if I think it’s worthwhile or not.

I’ve had a few cancellations so a handful of days have opened between now and the end of August.  Then come the second week of August I have quite a bit of availability.  So don’t be afraid to ask as I mentioned fishing can still be good and short notice I may have some days avaiable.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Well today was the day I’ve been waiting for this summer… wind laid out and the tarpon were thick!  We’ve had a little tougher late june/early july with the tarpon.  Just not a ton of them around and bait has been a little difficult to get.  Also just got over a spell of weird southwest wind that nothing likes too much.  But today it slicked out, we crushed the bait, and first place we stopped there were tarpon rolling as far as the eye could see.  We ended up catching 5, including a double header with Dawson and Dylan pictured here.  Hooked one other double too but one of those fish came off.  Anyways so glad that it ‘got good’ hopefully it’ll stay that way.  We can definitely still have great tarpon fishing into August, September, and even October.  And if it’s not I usually have some pretty good Plan Bs!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina