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Got out with Gary and Melissa today for a 3/4 day.  Didn’t fish over the weekend and was happy not to be as we had howling 30+ mph winds from Friday through Sunday.  There was also a big tournament going on with 80 boats, so you can imagine every look nook and cranny where you could hide, there would of been boats!  But today the winds let up somewhat, it was still windy but a more manageable 20 mph northeast.  We decided to make a long trek up the coast to check things out up there as I’d heard the fishing had been pretty good with a mullet run in effect.  It took a little longer with the wind but we still made decent time that left us a good 3 hours of fishing time.  The wind swung around more northerly and the tides were high, which I was hoping the wind would be blowing offshore leaving it calm there but there was a little bit of a swell on the shore, which isn’t as desirable of a condition.  We mostly focused on our light gear and we caught a decent number of snook though mostly little guys, a handful of redfish which were larger (we did lose about a 12 lber on a pulled hook!), big ladyfish, jacks, a small goliath grouper, and finally a nice 25 lb tarpon!  He was just under 40 inches so small enough to legally boat for a picture.  There were more tarpon around but we didn’t focus a lot on them, but did get the one bite.  I have the same crew tomorrow, and we crushed the bait this afternoon coming home, so may give that more focus tomorrow.  Conditions are suppose to be better this week with the wind dropping to the 10-15 mph range but staying northeast which should keep the fall bait migration conditions in effect.  I’m booked up this week, but next week starting Monday I’m fairly open.  October is a fantastic time to fish here and as mentioned the fall bait run is already in effect so it should be good!  1 for 1

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

Got out yesterday for a full day with my dad and a couple friends of his, Steve and Dana.  We mixed it up a bit, found some snook and redfish early on with the last trickle of incoming tide.  We did find some baby tarpon and my dad caught a nice juvenile we got to the boat but he jumped off before I could get him in the net, but had him on the leader for a while.  After that we caught a big old snook for Steve about a 17 lber, and nice cobia for Dana.  Not a whole lot doing after that though the water was super muddy as we had a hard west wind the day before.

I haven’t been fishing a whole lot else this week aside from a short half day several days ago.  The Contender was in the shop but I just got it back today so she’s ready for action.  But there have been a good number of tarpon out in the backcountry it appears.  Most my anglers have preferred mixing it up a bit though so I just haven’t really been concentrating on them.  But I have a lot of trips coming up after the weekend, so will probably spend a little time after the silver kings.  October is right around the corner, and that is probably the last good tarpon month we may have.  The conditions look ripe for a good fall bait run, in fact it seems to be starting a little bit already.  My favorite time of year to fish!  1 for 1

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

Snooks, reds, juvenile Goliath grouper, and juvenile tarpon for the slam! Fun fishing with Jacoby and Kellie. Blustery with a 20 mph wind today, but the fish didn’t mind too much. A few areas that had been good were mudded out, but we worked around and picked fish just about everywhere we stopped. No great numbers but steady action, we ended up well into double digits on snook and a strong handful of reds. At least it wasn’t blistering hot! Definetly a little bit of a bait run going on so fishing should stay pretty good I think. Fall is here, my favorite time of year to fish.  1 for 1

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