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Last day with the same crew as the previous two days.  We caught 3 tarpon so we had another pretty good day.  All of our action was early in the morning on the falling tide.  Once the tide turned we had one more bite that we missed.  Then didn’t do much for the next couple hours, finally getting zipped by one more before we called it a day.  The sister boat to our trip, Capt. John Johansen, caught one in the morning, then they ended up getting in the right spot and getting three later in the afternoon.  All in all good fishing!  Fishing Friday and then off Saturday, then another week of fishing.  May start mixing it up in the backcountry some, I’ve heard there are a few tarpon back there which is good to hear.  Getting a little tired of the bridge fishing myself and it’s getting crowded for sure!  3 for 5

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

Day 2 this time with Chad and Mike. Tarpon fishing again around the bridges. We lost one right off the bat, line broke probably from rubbing in bridge after a good hard run. After that it was quiet for us for the next hour. We fished alongside the rest of their crew with Capt John Johansen as we did yesterday. But we just weren’t lined up on the biting fish while Capt John was banging away at them! Funny how it is sometimes. Anyways we moved once and then had to make a bigger mover further down. We got into some happier fish and Chad got a nice tarpon. Next it was Mike’s turn, he got a nice 75 lber that we chased all the way down to the end of the bridge for 45 minutes before popping on the leader. We set back up and soon Mike got another. This fish went in and out of the bridge, around someone’s anchor line, and all the places you didn’t want him too. But we stayed with it. Hard fighter but after an hour or so we had her. Unfortunately as I leadered her she kicked one more time and we got tip wrapped and broke her off before we could get any good boatside pics. Oh well so it goes! We gave it a bit longer but seemed it was over for us after that. We spent a good while fighting fish, just mean ones today! But Another great day, a handful of boats really knocked them dead.. not us today but it’s always a great day when your anglers all get to land a silver king in my book. 3 for 4

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

Another great day this time with Chad and Erik down from Alaska! We also fished alongside Capt. John Johansen with the rest of their crew. We focused on tarpon and fishing was really good again. We ended up landing 4 nice fish, including a big 120-130 lb bruiser that dragged us around for 45 minutes before swimming up near a flat. Erik asked if it was possible to jump in with her, and I said sure if things go right we can give it a shot. Luckily we got her rolled over soon after and were in a good spot to do it. So both the guys jumped in and we got an epic photo op, then Erik revived the fish and let it swim away. These guys fish a lot so they were all about not stressing the fish too much and understood the importance of not battling them for too long or releasing them in bad shape. After that we had a few more shots, missing one and then had one get in in the bridge just barely on the barnacles but we couldn’t get it out in time. But lots of action and some awesome fishing! We also even caught two mutton snappers for dinner and release a few others. We’re back at it tomorrow with the same crew, hopefully the fishing is just as good!  4 for 6

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