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Got out with Tony and his son Zack and friend Andre for a day of tarpon fishing.  The boys were down from NJ and Andre had never caught a tarpon so they were hoping for him to get one.  We had a bit of weather out in the bay early so we ran a different route getting out.  Not much for bait around luckily I had some stashed away from a few days ago that was still in good shape.  We looked around several areas I hadn’t fished much lately and didn’t see a whole lot for tarpon activity to start.  Though after a few looks we came across one area with a good slug of fish!  We set up and got Andre hooked up pretty quickly with a nice 50 lb tarpon!  The winds kicked up after that and it howled out of the northwest.  The tarpon seemed to scatter as we didn’t get another bite there.  We moved around a tried another area nearby, saw a couple fish but no bite though Zack got a blacktip shark.  We looked in a few other areas and didn’t see much, and then we waited for the tide to start in as we looked more.  Eventually came across another school of good fish, as soon as we got lined up again we got bit straight away and Tony got a nice 80 lb tarpon!  These fish stuck around and we then got Zack a smaller guy about a 35 lb tarpon.  A few more sharks and then we were out of bait!  We looked around on the way home for bait since the guys have me again tomorrow, caught a little bit in some shallow muds but they weren’t really easy.  Looked around several bridges and channels near home but not much at all there plus busy weekend on a saturday.  Anyways I’ll be looking for some bait in the AM, but since these guys all caught tarpon today the pressure is off so we may mix it up with some other stuff tomorrow too!  3 for 3

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

Got out with return customer Bill and his dad Bill down from Pittsburgh.  We got out early and after some tarpon.  Found a good new school in an area which was great to see.  Good numbers of fish all fresh and happy looking.  We had dead tide when we got there but after a little bit of time we still managed a bite and Bill Sr. caught a big 130 lb tarpon!  Great fight and nice jumps.  The tide got rolling and we jumped one more right away then had a bunch of sharks.  We moved around a bit and then Bill Jr. got a nice 50 lb tarpon.  We ended up with two more tarpon in the 80 and 100 lb range, just great fishing!  We finished our day catching a couple triple tails to eat and a few trout as well.  I’m off tomorrow and back at it Saturday.  Looks like the weekend weather will be fantastic and suppose to stay calm.  But then on Monday the wind machine is cranking up a bit and it’s going to blow 15-20 all week so it says right now.  But at least it’s a good direction north east.  Hopefully the tarpon will stay happy I think they will as we are in prime time now.  4 for 5

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

Got out with Doug and Allen today for their last morning with me.  We fished last night and had good fishing on my only night trip of the year.  Winds were steady out of the north and a bit chilly but not real cold.  I thought the fishing would be a bit better then it was.  We didn’t do much early on and took a while to find some live bait.  We did finally get some and then set up and as we were trolling around the bridge we had a big fish destroy a mullet!  It was a commotion  getting through the bridge but we did and landed the fish in spectacular fashion!  A nice 90 lber or so.  It was good we got it boatside for pictures as the fish last night didn’t cooperate for that.  Didn’t do much after that and only saw one other fish caught.  Back to my full day routine tomorrow and possibly going to head out into the backcountry depending what the winds do, heard some fish had moved into some areas back there.  Would love to get away from the crowds again!  1 for 1

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