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Got out with John and his son Mike for a full day today.  The guys fished on the party boats the last couple days and had fun.  We ran into the backcountry and got an early start.  I had the day off yesterday so I loaded up on bait.  Didn’t find much in the first stop, saw one tarpon roll and we set up but didn’t get a bite.  But did get a few blacktip sharks.  Tide was dying so we kept moving on.  Saw a few more tarpon at the next stop and had a bite with the first bait in the water.  John had him on for a few seconds but unfortunately he threw the hook on a jump.  Saw a couple more fish and looked like it might be good fishing but unfortunately no more tarpon bites there.  We did catch a nice triple tail that floated by.  We did catch a few more black tips and a big nurse shark 3 or 4 different times!  We made a few moves but no more luck with tarpon.  We tried to switch gears and catch a few trout and ladyfish, which we did get a few but that was it.  Was hoping we may see some tarpon in that area but did not.  We ran back and tried another area, and had a few more big sharks where we got a big bull and hooked several big lemon sharks too.  We did get one more tarpon bite here but unfortunately it threw the hook and bait very quickly.  After that we got a few more sharks, and then tried some muds on the way home for more trout and such, got a couple more ladyfish and a few catfish.  So overall  a decent day with good action, would’ve been great if we could’ve landed a tarpon or two but that’s why they call it fishing not catching.  Back at it tomorrow going to try and leave at 6 AM so we can get an hour of local fishing in and hopefully knock tarpon off the list right off the bat.  0 for 2

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

Got out with Michael and Kevin today for some tarpon fishing.  We tried locally around town first but not much going on there.  Weak end of the tidal flow, very clear water with it being super calm after the cold front.  Saw some fish but they weren’t doing much.  We did see one caught but we bailed.  We did some light rod fishing and caught some trout, then looked in some channels for tarpon.  Found a few which was great!  Sharks only at first, but as we were releasing one of them, Michael hooked up on a nice 50 lb tarpon!  We landed him and he put on quite a show jumping.  No boatside pictures though as he pulled the hook on the leader, but a good release none the less.  After that we caught some triple tails in the gulf as it was slick calm.  Checked another area for tarpon and saw a few there too, not a ton but a decent amount.  No more bites though that was all she wrote for us.  Glad to be back on the board!  Looks like tomorrow should be similar conditions to today, then the wind will pick up a little over the weekend but shouldn’t be cranking.  I’m off tomorrow but back at it Saturday.  1 for 1

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

Got out with Chris, Kyle, and James today for a full day april tarpon fishing trip.  The cold front came in and the temperatures dropped a good bit.  Water temps were back down in the mid 70s locally, and in the 60s in the backcountry.  Normally mid 70s is OK for tarpon, but when it drops from being in the low 80s they don’t like it as much.  We found a few fish early on around the bridges, but not much activity out of them.  We moved around and eventually got one interested.  He gave us a bite but stole the mullet and then didn’t come back.  We then bent the light rods for a little bit on the patch reefs.  We tried tarpon again later on, found a few big jack crevells in the channels and a shark.  We moved several times and found a couple other groups of tarpon but they just were not interested.  We may of had one other pick up our bait and zip it before stealing it, not sure what it was.  Anyways the streak is over at 19 trips in a row, pretty good but I figured the cold front may do me in.  Oh well time for a new one!  0 for 1

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