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Got out with Cody today visiting from Texas for a full day.  We spent the day after tarpon.  Bait was plentiful and easy to catch, a couple throws of the net and we were loaded.  Saw lots of bait too while running to the first tarpon area, its amazing how many mullet are still around this late in the summer.  Unfortunately the tarpon weren’t as plentiful as yesterday, we saw a couple rollers but couldn’t really get through the sharks to get a bite out of them.  Yesterday there were so many that you knew after some point a tarpon would get it, but today as I said we only saw a couple roll.  We tried another channel after that, caught the start of the falling tide, but didn’t see much though got some big spinner sharks.  We then ran out towards the mainland to give it a shot out there.  I hadn’t really been out there as we’ve had southwesterly wind which generally isn’t great for that area, but being that I’ve been just about every where else the last few days I had to try something new.  Didn’t see any tarpon unfortunately, though we got into some more sharks.  We tried up inside the canals to just try something different, and actually did end up hooking a nice 100 lb tarpon in there!  Unfortunately he got around a tree limb right away and broke us off.  We tried another area in there and caught a big lemon shark and hooked a few others that cut us off.  After that I tried another are offshore where the tarpon can stack up in the summer sometimes, though nothing there either.  We then ran back towards flamingo to finish the day.  Saw a few triple tail there which was cool, had one good shot but didn’t get him to eat.  We fished one area without much luck, then tried one last channel where I had seen a couple fish caught a few days ago.  We did see a handful of tarpon roll so I got excited.  We got lined up perfectly on them, had a few roll right behind us, but luck just wasn’t with us.  We gave it some extra time but just couldn’t get a bite.  A few more sharks including another big lemon and that about wrapped things up.  Cody had a good time though and we worked very hard trying to make it happen but things have just gotten tough.  Really the water and everything just looks so pretty, and plenty of bait around, you think there would be some more fish around and happy but just not the case right now.  Looks like Wednesday winds may swing back to the east for a while and pick up just a tad, maybe that will help things out again.  Don’t think it can get much tougher!  Back at it tomorrow and then probably taking Wednesday off, but have thursday, friday, or next tuesday open, then going out of town for a week or so.  If anybody wants to give it a shot, let me know!  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with Chris and Caylee today for a 3/4 day.  I told them it’d been tough the last couple days but they were down to give it a try and hold fast for tarpon.  We mixed it up and I tried some other areas.  We found a load of tarpon first thing with the last trickle of incoming tide after  we caught bait.  Tons of bait around too which is good to see.  The little sharks were pretty bad but we got through them and Caylee caught a 50 lb tarpon and then later on a 25 lber.  After the tide quit things slowed down, I hoped when it started falling the tarpon would turn back on.  But they seemed to have moved on.  We tried further up the channel and found a handful more, but no more bites they seemed like they were in a weird mood.  We tried a couple other spots, and got some more big sharks and some big jack crevelles, but that was all she wrote for the tarpon.  Oh well any day you get one is a good day, so I was thrilled we caught a couple – Especially after how slow the last couple days were.  Hopefully they’ll stay put and be there tomorrow, have a couple more days booked then open Wednesday and Thursday if anyone wants to go.  2 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with Chester and his son Mike today, return clients who have fished with me several times over the last few years.  Tarpon was on the agenda.  I told them the last day I fished things got tough all of a sudden… weird wind directions (southwest) and the big groups of fish we’d been seeing the last month or two had kind of disappeared.  Today unfortunately was more or less a repeat of what we had the other day.  I tried mixing up my routine a little and tried some different spots.  We had good shark activity and got some blacktips and a hammer head early.   Moved a bit down the channel and did see a tarpon appear which we moved in the vicinity of.  Unfortunately no response though we did get another shark.  We moved out of that area and went back to where I’d been fishing mostly the last month.  Didn’t see a whole lot we tried a few areas that had been producing for me, one where we saw a good group of fish the last time I was out.  Nothing today though but a few more sharks.  We tried another channel mouth… not much happening.  One boat was further in the channel, we saw them hook a tarpon and then jump off another one.  We ran and got in that area, though seemed to be short lived we didn’t see any tarpon and they didn’t report seeing any more either and left.  We went up to the very end of the channel to try, did see one tarpon roll and I got excited again thinking maybe we’d get into a good school to finish the day… but no luck we did get plenty of blacktips and some spinner sharks though.  So again very few tarpon to report but a little bit of good news is another boat I talked to at the end of the day did say they saw a good group of fish in a channel I don’t normally fish a lot.  Will probably give that a look tomorrow as we are back at it, hopefully things get a little better.  I think it will once the winds swing back around to the east, kind of a double whammy right now of not good wind direction and not a lot of fish around.  Anyways glad the sharks kept us busy hopefully tomorrow will be better!  0 for 0

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk