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Got out with Michael and his son Preston again. We were after a tarpon. Found a decent group of fish early where they were a couple days ago, but today unfortunately we had about 30 minutes of tide and then things went slack. That can be tough this time of year as your good bite window is often first thing, but you have to work with the hand you are dealt. Anyways we caught a few sharks and waited out the tide change which was quick, but the fish seemed to spread out and didn‘t look so good after that. So we bailed and fished elsewhere. Found some more fish in spot 2, and did manage to jump 1 there that didn’t stay on the hook. Plenty of bigger sharks here too. Eventually they kinda stopped showing there too and we checked a final area that I hadn’t been too in a while. Low and behold we found a good pack of fish here, and after several blacktip sharks and a couple moves we finally hooked up! Nice 50 lb fish that fought well, and soon Preston had his first tarpon to the hand. There are definitely still tarpon around and the possibility of good fishing is there for a couple more months. But right now you really seem to have to commit to it to have a good shot, as we are working hard to get a bite or two a day. Off tomorrow then fun fishing on Monday.  1 for 2

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

Had Michael, Preston, and Rebecca out for a 3/4 day. Rebecca or Preston had never caught a tarpon. I told the crew it’s been a little hit and miss lately for the poons, unfortunately no honey holes i had extreme confidence in but I was game to give it a good effort. We left early and caught bait. Checked 2 or 3 areas for fish, as it was fairly calm. Didn’t see many signs of them and just kept pushing. Finally got into one area and saw one or two. We kept looking and finally got into a lively area where a good handful were rolling. We set up and sharks got us a a little bit but then Rebecca hooked a big 90 lb tarpon! She fought it well and we landed it in about 40 minutes. Unfortunately by the time we were done the tarpon seemed to have dispersed. We saw a handful more and moved around, did have a few go by our baits but no more bites. We decided to move on after that. Checked an area where we saw them good a few days ago but didn’t see much surface activity today out there. We did see a few on the electronics, but no more bites though a few more sharks. We did have a few tripletails float by we casted too, but they didn’t seem happy and the baits floated right off there noses. We had a bit more time and I gave it a few extra minutes too just looking in one more area, then fished some numbers in another area for a last ditch effort. But didn’t see much else except for a few more sharks. Anyways we gave it a hard effort and covered some ground, and always happy to catch one plus it was a big one. The crew decided to rebook me for Saturday so hopefully we can get Preston his tarpon then!  1 for 1

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

Got out with Lona and Bob today visiting from Sebastian, FL.  We were suppose to fish a couple weeks ago, but had a scheduling issue but luckily were able to move to today.  Still had a bit of southwest wind early but it laid out flat by 9:30 or so, and get very hot by mid day when the sun came out.  We caught bait early which was easy again.  We hit the redfish good to start, catching a couple dozen or so.  Then ran to try the tarpon with the little bit of tide we had left.  Didn’t see much, was hoping the same group would pop up we found yesterday morning, but they never did.  We did have a couple roll nearby but just a few sharks were had.  We moved and then found some more fish in another area as the wind laid out.  But they didn’t see in a great mood, hard to line up on and just moving around.  More sharks and catfish, and we did catch a tripletail that floated by.  My buddy called and said he saw a good group of tarpon further out and had jumped one off but sharks were getting him.  We made our way out there and sure enough there were quite a few tarpon more than I’ve seen in a while!  It looked really good and we didn’t have too many shark problems though we did catch some.  But the tarpon just didn’t want to play, every time I’d think about moving one would roll right on top of our baits.  Just figured it’d happen any second!  After about an hour though, we gave up.  We had a few shrimp left and went and caught a good handful of snook, a few trout and a sheepshead just to mix things up a bit.  We gave the tarpon a try again on the way home, they were still rolling around pretty good there.  We did jump one right away, but just one of those bites where they seem to spit it before they even pull the rod over.  After that it got very steamy and nothing at all seemed to bite, not even the sharks or catfish.  We gave it another 20 minutes and called it a day.  Funny yesterday we didn’t see a ton of fish, but had good rallies with the ones we found, and today we had better conditions and more fish but they just didn’t bite.  Oh well you never know, but at least we had good action with Plan B and C.  If it stays calm and light winds, hopefully these fish will turn on a bit.  According to the forecast that’s what should happen near the end of the week for a while.  0 for 1

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