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Well I have not been tarpon fishing much since the end of October.  The snook and redfish fishing in the everglades has been absolutely stellar.  The other day we had a cold front and things chilled down which really puts a hamper on the large tarpon.  But sometimes we do get the little guys going when this happens, and they feed on shrimp just like everybody else likes on chilly days.  Today my angler Emily really wanted to catch a tarpon.  We were having a great day with some redfish, drum, and snook already, and I told her I knew a spot we could try.  Well low and behold there were tons of little tarpon, and when I say little I mean 2 to 10 lbers!  They don’t always respond well, but we gave it a go and we had some really good fishing!  I don’t know exactly how many we got to bite, but we landed 9 of them between Emily and Mark.  Through the winter this is occasionally something that can happen.  But again as I stated on my fishing forecast, it’s not really the time to book a ‘tarpon charter’ until next spring when things get more consistent… usually by february some time when things warm up.  But of course we will get them here and there throughout the winter and I’ll keep updating my blog.  9 for 18

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

Got out with Pat and Eric today for a full day.  We focused on a mixed bag type of day so tarpon definitely wasn’t the priority, but I did have some leftover bait from several days ago that I could put to use.  We went with our shrimp and pilcahrds and started the day fishing for snook and reds.  It was incredible we had non stop action for the first hour and a half, catching probably 40 or more total fish.  Then we found a few small tarpon that we tried messing with but no action out of them, one possible bite but I’m not sure what it was.  But we did catch a handful of nice trout.  Then we went offshore and did see a handful of bigger tarpon busting.  Not a ton but saw a few and tried it.  No bites here either but some big sharks, caught a big lemon and a big blacktip.  And also a couple triple tails that were floating by those were fun to catch!  We then did try a channel for the last hour of the day where a lot of tarpon were before this latest cold front came in.  Saw a handful here too, but no bites at all.  Anyways like I said it was still a stellar day with lots of variety and such, just no tarpon action.  With cool/cold fronts coming in the fishing for them will get hit and miss.  If we have warm stretches and calm weather it can definitely spark up and get good, if not then really it’s probably not worth focusing on – if you come across some and have the bait or set ups for it, then maybe try for a little while, but there are plenty of other things that are providing much better and consistent action for the next few months.  0 for 0

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

Got out with Brad and Lindsey for a half day.  We fish for snappers around some islands but I told them some small tarpon may be possible here too.  We caught our pilchards and headed out.  Snappers were pretty good, slow to start but got better with the tide change.  Then we got a nice little snook for Brad.  Then a little later, wham!  Tarpon on!  A nice little 10 lber but we got him to the boat for some pictures and released him unharmed.  After that we got a couple redfish to complete a backcountry SLAM – awesome!  Anyways very cool and nice half day.  Looks like we have a little weak cold front coming in tomorrow, it’ll be blowing hard west and then north on sunday as temperatures drop into the low 70s sunday night (lol).  Well it is a change for us as it’s been closer to 80 as a low and 90 during the day.  Fishing should start to change to fall/winter time stuff slowly.  Tarpon are still definitely possible as long as it doesn’t get real cold.  May be a little more hit and miss, but if you put the time in it can pay off.  But a lot of times, going for other things like snook etc… may pay off more and you still have shots at small tarpon while fishing for them.  But I always leave that up to my anglers.  1 for 1

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