Well it’s been busy and I’ve still been getting after the tarpon some. April and May were decent fishing this year… not quite as good as last years epic showing but fairly consistent with a few windows of really good fishing. Though last week i finally hit a couple trips of ‘striking out’ right before this tropical storm we had come through, which was the first time that had happened in a couple months. Some fish were around but just not too happy and it’s been a bit of a grind the last couple weeks. Anyways I was gone for the weekend and just got back out after some tarpon today. Wasn’t sure what to expect but it was actually OK for us. We fished a 6 hour trip and had 3 tarpon bites and landed all 3 fish. Some good numbers of tarpon still around the bridges. Though as we move more into summer I’m often starting to fish the backcountry more, and often times July/August we get some good numbers of resident tarpon back there, plus there are a lot of other options such as snook, tripletail, permit, etc… if tarpon aren’t being cooperative. I’m fairly booked up for the rest of June, though have some dates starting in July though we’ll be on vacation ourselves for some of it. And then the off season August – October is fairly wide open. It can definitely still be good fishing that time of year, again sometimes best to be open to what’s biting, but I’ve had some years where that is some of the best tarpon fishing we see so you never know. I’m also usually more amenable to booking trips further in advance for off season as I’m not as busy, and if weather/hurricane/etc… is of concern I don’t mind rescheduling or whatever we need to do.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
