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Got out with Mike, Michael, and Don today for a full day trip.  They had wanted to try for snook and redfish, though we had a light south breeze which would mean that the bugs would likely be insane in the creeks.  We tried it early, and they about carried us off the boat.  But luckily I had a good plan B.  We had seen one free jumping tarpon on the way to the area we were trying for snook and redfish.  So I had hopes there may be a few around.  We ran offshore and caught a ton of mackerel which was fun.  Then we came back in as the tide began to change.  Once we got close to shore, it was tarpon city!  For as far as I could see there were free jumpers, splashers, rollers, just tarpon all over the place.  We set up near some and didn’t get much activity for a bit.  But after 20 minutes or so, both rods bowed over and one was a big tarpon that went airborne!  Michael hooked him and fought and landed the fish, a good 110-120 lber.  Unfortunately whatever we had on the other line had spooled us and I hadn’t been paying close attention as I was trying to get the tarpon boat side.  But we lost all our line on the other rod to likely a big ray or something we couldn’t stop at all.  Anyways we landed the tarpon so it was all good.  I respooled the other rod and we moved around a bit and kept trying for silver kings.  But they weren’t having it, we saw a ton of fish but they just weren’t responding.  The water is still on the chilly side for them.  We did catch a ton of sharks though, and finished the day with a monster 14 lb tripletail, and about two dozen redfish and some nice sea trout.  All in all a great day, I think i’ll be giving the tarpon a whirl again tomorrow.  1 for 1

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

Got out with Rick and Greg today.  It was nasty weather but we gave it a go.  Had to eat some rain but it wasn’t too bad for a while, had one squall line to run through and had at least a couple hours after that without more rain.  But then it drizzled the rest of the trip.  We caught a bunch of redfish to start our day.  Then we found some tarpon in the backcountry channels.  More than I’d seen as of late and they were free jumping putting on a show.  But not interested in our baits, we caught plenty of sharks including a few bruiser blacktips.  We bailed after some heavier rain moved in and caught some snappers around the islands and called it a day.

There is a better tarpon bite locally around town, it’s not red hot fishing but I know a few are being caught.  But to be honest it’s hard to sit so close to home as many of those spots are 5-10 minutes away….  So if you really really want a tarpon that’s a better bet, but it’s sometimes hard to make a day of it as there aren’t nearly as many good options that close to home as there are in the backcountry.  Anyways it should get better back there after this cold front moves through we have some calm weather over the weekend where things should warm back up.  0 for 0

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

Tried for tarpon a bit today with Adam and his dad Jim.  Conditions were pretty favorable early with a light wind, though south not my favorite direction.  We ran over a herd of mullet first thing and were able to catch a bunch.  I had high hopes with a bunch of bait!  We checked some channels, and found a few tarpon though not a ton.  We had a shark on first, and then Adam jumped a nice tarpon while we fought that!  Unfortunately that was the last tarpon action we had.  We fished until the tide quit and then caught a bunch of redfish while we waited for it to change.  Then we tried a couple other areas where we saw tarpon in both, but just not in a good mood.  The winds kicked up a little more and the water still on the chilly side.  Just couldn’t get them going but we did catch quite a few sharks.  We decided to bail on it and still had plenty of time to catch some tripletail and finish up the day with a few snook.  0 for 1

The tarpon fishing is just hit or miss right now, and again there are so many other good options it’s hard sometimes to dedicate the day to it… so unless I have clients who really want to go all in, we are usually just giving it an hour or so shot unless it looks like it’ll be really good.  We do have another cold front tomorrow night, not getting super cold just down to low 60s, but won’t help the tarpon fishing any.  Though it should be a good thing for later in the season, as sometimes when things get started super early we have a tougher May and June.  But we’ll see what happens back at it tomorrow.

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