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Last day with Stepan Polymers group today.  We decided to mix it up a bit and didn’t focus too much on tarpon specifically.  Caught some smaller fish to start the day with trout and ladyfish which was fun.  Checked a few channels for tarpon out back but didn’t see any signs of life of them.  Winds let up slightly from the previous days so we ran further.  I looked around in some other areas, saw a couple roll but didn’t seem like a ton.  But figured we’d have good shark action which we did.  Caught a few blacktips and then we tried some snook fishing.  Got one nice big snook on an artificial and then the winds started howling.  We tried some areas inside one of the big canals looking for tarpon.  Found a few in there too but no bites early on.  We caught some little finger mullets though and then decided to try for snook which we caught a few more.  While doing that we got a nice little 25 lb tarpon!  Fun final day with these guys, looks like the winds are suppose to let up somewhat now, no more blowing 30 mph which will be very nice!  This weekend though we are getting some tropical weather so rain is likely, may shorten our days but we’ll see.  Then hopefully some calmer weather next week and we can maybe start more of our summer time fishing!  1 for 1

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

Got out with Stepan Polymers group again today.  We made the trek out back to see if the big school of tarpon we found yesterday was still around.  Conditions were relatively the same… howling east wind.  We caught enough bait early on and then made the run.  We got there and at first it looked good.  We saw a fish bust, and a couple roll and one free jump.  Felt like we were in them and we set up, but no bites there.  Eventually a big shark found us and we pulled on him a while.  Jumped around a bit, and just didn’t see the numbers like we did yesterday.  Eventually we gave up as we quit seeing anything.  Looked in a few creeks and not much going on in there.  We ran even further to check another area but that didn’t work out either.  Another captain I fish with some was back there too and they had no luck at all either.  We stopped back where we started to look one more time and then got lucky and found a small pack of tarpon.  We set back up in them and had what I believe was a couple grab the baits and blow them out.  Pulled drag for a second and then got the baits back unscathed.  Then finally we hooked a 45 lber!  We landed him but unfortunately he didn’t cooperate for boatside pictures.  After that we were still in some fish but no more bites.  We did get some more blacktips sharks including a very big one.  After that things dried up again and we checked a couple spots on the way home for tarpon.  Did see a few in each of those spots but smaller fish and they didn’t really respond to us at all.  Anyways it was a case of there today, gone tomorrow, but at least we got one.  I know fishing wasn’t easy around town with the 25-30 mph winds, and at least it was nice once we got back in this area.  Ride home was a little bumpy but not too bad.  1 for 1

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

Well after a slow last couple of days today we got back in the meat!  Day 2 with Stepan Polymers crew.  The winds were cranking and I decided to take a gamble and fish some different areas.  It was a good ride but not too bad for my larger boat.  It paid off and we found a ton of tarpon and they were happy too!  We had 3 bites in the first 45 minutes, though none stayed on the hook for us!  After that a few sharks.  We moved around and got back on the tarpon and then we caught a couple.  We missed a few more and then caught another and got another right before it was time ago.  Several more blacktip sharks mixed in.  Just unbelievable fishing and it was nice where we were, tucked away from the winds.  The ride home was a little sporty at times but really not too bad, and well worth the trip for the action we had!  4 for 14

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