Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Nice day for Rick and Alan today! They wanted tarpon and o told them it had been a good early start with the season so far. Things were a little slow to start, we had to wait on the tide and not much going on. Found a good pack of tarpon early but the sharks were eating everything we got out there. We moved around and waited for tide. It got going soon enough, but the tarpon just didn’t want to play still! We waited them out and soon enough hooked up. Alan got a nice tarpon to the boat, but he came off on the leader so no pics. After that we hooked another that we got about a 65 lber. After that we got a few more sharks, then Rick had a couple shots but both fish missed the hooks and the baits escaped. Finally his rod went off again with a monster fish about 150 lbs, and Alan hooked one at the same time – double header! We chased Rick’s around and held on to Alan’s, but unfortunately the line snapper on Alan’s, mustve had a knick in it somewhere as it snapped down deep in the spool but we had quite a bit of line out at that point. But we got Rick’s fish. After that things seemed to slow down, we caught a few more sharks and saw some tarpon but they weren’t having any of it. But overall great day with 3 tarpon landed, and first ones for both these anglers. Back at it tomorrow.  3 for 6

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Wild and crazy day for Joe and Mike! Joe had emailed me last week checking if I had anything available. Fridays normally a day off for me, but I had an open day early next week and conditions looked so good, so we switched those around and made it happen. Fishing was on fire! We fished three different areas and found fish everywhere we went. Joe landed two tarpon, one biggun’ around 110 lbs and a medium 65ish lber. Mike got a few too about a 120 lber, a 60 lber, and finished with a 35 lber. We even had a double header on for a second but lost one, and a few other bites we missed. Also bagged us a nice tripletail about a 10 lber. Glad we made it out! I’m off tomorrow but looks like it’s gonna be a nice day out there. We should have a few more good days of early season tarpon fishing, but looks like a late cold front next Tuesday/Wednesday, which will likely slow it down for a few days.  5 for 9

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Fantastic day with Matt and Emily visiting from Oklahoma! We headed out early and decided to give the tarpons a try since it was pretty good yesterday. Little different condition today with a bit of a northwest breeze, nothing crazy but it was blowing onshore so it was a little rough to start. We didn’t see quite as much activity early on as yesterday, but enough to keep us interested. We caught a couple sharks first thing, then we moved around a bit and soon Matt had a tarpon hooked up! Not a monster but a decent 60 lber that we landed. Soon after that we jumped off a second one. We skirted around again, and the winds started to lay out a bit and it got nice. The tarpon started to show a bit more, and soon Matt had a monster hooked up probably a good 150-170 lbs! We chased after her and Matt fought it well, bowing when she jumped and not pulling to hard when she would run. We got the fish on the leader multiple times, but didn’t seem like she was going to roll over anytime soon, so eventually we just put the wood to her and popped her off. We then gave it one more shot and caught a few more sharks, but after a few moves, we hooked up a third tarpon for Matt and he landed this one properly and a few more nice pictures to be had. We were about to call it quits and were heading to try and catch a few snook and reds, but then we ran into a big old school of tarpon! It was hard to pass up, we got lined up and drifted our baits out and within a minute, jumped another tarpon and then hooked Matt hooked another that he landed! Sometimes it happens quick when you are in the right spot at the right time, and this was it! After that we left them alone. Finished our day catching about 2 dozen redfish. It was a gorgeous day and very lively out there. The 2019 tarpon season is off to a great start!  4 for 6

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing