Rick Stanczyk

Got out the last couple of days with Ross and Harper visiting from Dallas.  Today was the first day of mini season too but thankfully we don’t have to deal with all of that in the Everglades where I like to fish!  We had phenomenal fishing both days!  Yesterday we started with tarpon which have been swarming in the backcountry the last several weeks.  It was slick calm which is often ideal for that early morning window especially, and the tide was just starting out.  The fish were balled up tight… we were marking groups or 15, 20, 30 or more sometimes!  We got bit up and landed 1 and jumped several more.  Sharks started to get us so we moved around.  Eventually that early morning ‘golden hour’ came to an end but we had lots of bites though they weren’t staying buttoned very well.  We moved offshore and found some more and jumped another tarpon out there but the little blacktips started to show up and drive us nuts.  So we moved more and stumbled into another group of tarpon.  Not big numbers and I didn’t think it was going to produce more than a bite for us, but these fish were happy!  We ended up catching a couple more and jumped another 3 or 4.  So all in all over 10 bites on the day which was spectacular!  After that we jumped in the creeks and caught some finger mullets and went snookin’ which wasn’t red hot but was productive we caught 8 or so plus a few other things.

Day 2 we did a similar game plan and found the tarpon early on again.  Not as ‘schooled up’ and there was a tiny bit of a breeze (which felt good at least).  We had the last trickle of incoming tide.  Sure enough we set up and hooked one in the first couple minutes that we landed so a good start!  Ended up jumping a couple more and hooked into some massive sharks… hooked a triple header of sharks at one point!  After that we moved and hooked into a nicer size tarpon that Ross caught about a 50 lber.  After that things settled down and the sharks got active again.  We looked in some other areas but didn’t see much more for tarpon and decided to go snookin’ again.  That again was productive we had to work at it but caught some finger mullets again, and jumped around some different spots picking snook and small goliath groupers again.  Did get one more small tarpon on a finger mullet too so that was cool.

So all in all some great fishing all around!  July’s been hot and I have availability in August too which can still be good as can September.  I think those resident tarpon will be here all summer with some days being better than others but that’s fishing.  All I can say is it’s been a heck of a lot better than our early season fishing this year in March/April where we had just a tough start to tarpon season.  But if you want to come any time the next few months we can often set something up short notice and somewhat cherry pick the conditions if you have a decent window to fish.  Drop me a line or book now on Vally!

Well we’re nearing the end of July and I’m still getting out after some tarpon!  Thankfully there has still been plenty of resident fish around… many in the 15 to 40 lb range which make for great fun.  Really there have been very good numbers of them which is nice to see and I’m hoping they’ll stick around for a few more months.  They have not always been biting super great though.  It really seems the calmer days when it’s blowing 10mph or less, it’s been much more productive.  The days when we’ve been having 15 mph winds it’s often been just a handful of bites and hope you connect on them.  So before last week I fished a couple of days and we had overall good fishing.  On a windier day we ended up catching two tarpon, and jumping off a couple of others, so 4 bites in total.  Plus several large sharks.  All in all not too bad especially considering again it was a windier day.  A couple days before that we had one of those dream setups with a near slick calm day.  The tarpon were just balled up tight… like we were in schools of 30-40 fish just all hanging together.  We ended up getting 15 or so bites I think that day, probably the most bites i’ve had in a day almost all season.  We only landed 2 though as they were just spitting the baits instantly!  We tried different approaches, hooks, bait sizes, and all that but just one of those things.  Though my people still had a ball and we were able to get a couple to the boat at least.  The last week I fished a couple of days and both of those were a bit windier days (for July) blowing 15ish mph.  Thankfully mostly east which isn’t a terrible direction for us.  Both days were a bit of a grind we found plenty of tarpon but had to work at it.  Had falling tide for a few hours in the morning and we got 3 bites on one of the days and landed 2, and the other day we had 2 bites and landed one.  The bites were definitely more on that early morning side and that seemed to be when it was a little calmer closer to sun rise.  Another reason why we like to get up and out early!  We did break up the 2nd day with some decent snook action too so that filled the day nicely.  So all in all tarpon fishing is still decent and you will have your great days mixed in when conditions are right.  There’s been plenty of bait around in the backcountry so that is good and often something that can also make fishing tough.  But nice when that’s easy.  I am fishing 3 days this coming week and that’ll be it for July.  I’ll be fishing more in August and September this year, and already am offering discounted rates for September trips currently.  There’s also still been some good opportunity on half day trips and evening trips for tarpon.  Capt. Trent has been on some local tarpon his last few evenings, and that can often be booked short notice.  So if you want to get out shoot me an email or book on Vally!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
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