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Had John and Jan out for Day 2. Bit windier today and got worse as the day went on. Water definitely got a bit mudded out in many areas. We had planned to make a far run up the coast, but we got a little side tracked early. Found some tarpon where we had some action yesterday and gave it a whirl. John caught a nice 60 lb tarpon, and a big lemon shark as well. We stayed but things died out after that. We then decided to run further back in hopes of finding some more tarpon. Didn’t see much up there however, just a handful and they didn’t really want to respond. Last year in this area I had found big schools of tarpon fairly regularly, but this year I’ve yet to see them there. We bailed and tried some snook/redfish spots. First stop not much just a few trout, but second stop we got in a decent little bite, catching 10 or so redfish, and a couple decent snook. Then the catfish showed up and it was time to go! We tried for tarpon again on the way back, and had seen a few fish again in the area but the wind was really cranking now and they didn’t respond. But all in all another decent day had to work at it a little bit, but a backcountry SLAM for john with the snook, redfish, trout, and tarpon.  1 for 1

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

Nice day with John and Jan. We fished the backcountry and tried a few different things. Tried a few snook spots early on, didn’t have much luck but then that changed and John landed a stud 13 lber or so! Also a handful of trout here. We then tried a different area and got into a good redfish bite. No monsters but a steady pick of fish kept us busy for an hour or so. We tried a couple other spots and picked a few more there too. On the way home we stopped and checked and area for tarpon. We found them and it didn’t take long after 5 minutes we almost had a double header but both fish came unbuttoned. Hard to hook em with the tide going into the wind. We hooked another that went through the leader, and then finally got one to stick for John. Landed that fish and we caught a few sharks and that wrapped up our day. Not bad for only really putting in an hour or so of fishing on tarpon.  Back at it again tomorrow with these two, not sure what we’re gonna do yet.  1 for 4

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

Another fabulous day tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys. Bart was down with his crew who also fished with Capt Bill Bassett. We stuck around local and fished for the silver king. Little slow early on we had very weak tide. But after a bit it started to move. We had one good bite we missed on a drift. Then we got in the right spot a little later and had a lot of activity. Several cheap shots and missed a few more good bites just not staying on the hook. Live mullet fishing can be like that, they are big baits and very acrobatic so often the hooks get twisted around and fouled up. But there is nothing as exciting as watching a big tarpon try to eat them it’s all part of the experience. We drifted out and then hooked a nice fish we landed and were able to jump in the water with for a cool picture. After that things slowed down we had one more blow up on a bait but no strike. We moved areas and fished another bridge. Within 15 minutes or so, we hooked up and got the leader quickly on a big fish, but he then swam under the bridge pilings where we couldn’t get him out. We had one more good bite that jumped and spit the hook after 30 seconds or so. We caught a few nurse sharks and that seemed to be it as the tide was slowing down again. We changed areas again and found a nice school of tarpon again all to ourselves. We jumped one right away and then I thought we’d quickly get another but we had to really work at it. We moved a few times and eventually hooked a nice 100 lb fish! Landed her and got her boatside but she didn’t want to roll over and pulled the hook while leadering the fish. But we got some sick air shots! After that we called it a day. But another great day and good bite I think we had 10 fish pulling drag and got 2 to the boat and technical catch on a 3rd. Lots of fun and love it when they keep ya busy all day. I’m off the next two days but hopefully getting my new boat soon so very exciting about that!  3 for 10

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