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Got out with Willem today for a tarpon fishing trip.  He is a dutch angler visiting from overseas and really wanted to catch a tarpon!  We headed out early and luckily I had some bait stashed away from a few days ago.  Winds were kicking a little but not too crazy.  We’ve had a lot of wind this August overall and it’s made for a little tougher fishing than what we had in July.  We did not see many tarpon in the first area we stopped and so we moved to another.  We looked around and saw a few big busts that looked promising and then set up.  Sharks started to bite some but no tarpon action for us.  We continued to move around and then we saw some tarpon rolling!  Tide was coming in hard and we got set up.  We got a bite almost immediately and we landed a nice 40 lber!  After that we continued to see a few, we moved again and then hooked another 60 lber but unfortunately the line snapper I think it may of been hung in the bottom funny or something.  After that we jumped around more, still saw some tarpon but they got much more finicky.  We caught some more sharks but could not entice another tarpon.  We tried to catch some more bait as we were running low but they were being very tricky, we did see a couple more tarpon and used our last baits trying to get another one but that was it.  We decided to cut our day to a 3/4 day as I thought it may be tough to try and catch more bait and then have a realistic shot at another tarpon.  So we were glad to get one anyhow and a first for Willem!  I’ll be back at it tomorrow looks like the winds are finally going to lay down some through Friday anyhow.  I have Thursday or Friday available conditons look somewhat favorable.  There are definitely still some tarpon around though it’s not been a red hot bite, most days we’ve gotten a few shots and been glad to land one or two.  That could change though if we get some nice calm conditions for a good while.  1 for 2

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

Got out with Marty and his son Spencer for a 3/4 day today.  We left out early and headed into the backcountry.  Conditions weren’t great it was blowing 15-20 mph out of the southeast… very windy for this time of year.  The hard winds make it tough to see tarpon and they also just don’t really like it blowing that much either.  Also it can make the water very muddy and turbulent, tough for bait fish as well.  We tried a few spots for bait early but did not see much.  After the 3rd spot I was a little panic stricken, thinking we may have to do something else or even abandon our morning.  I told the guys we’d check one more area and then make a decision.  Luckily in this area the water was a little cleaner and we found some bait in the channel.  We had to work for it but caught plenty for our trip.  That whole process took nearly an hour and a half, but we were lucky and then found some tarpon in the channel mouth where we were.  We set up and had a few shark bites.  We moved around and then saw some tarpon jumping and tried to get lined up.  More sharks.  Then one more move and we had one roll behind us.  Soon Spencer was hooked up to his first tarpon!  We fought him for 15 minutes and he dragged us around, and got him to the boat for some good pictures.  Thankfully he did not come off, sometimes the rougher days its harder to keep the tarpon on too as the boat is bouncing all over the place and adds more pressure to the line then I like.  But we got the fish and we were happy.  We kept at it and moved a couple more times, dad eventually got a bite too but we missed the tarpon.  A few more sharks and it was almost time to go but I told the boys we’d give it an extra 30 minutes since we took so long catching bait.  We tried one other channel and did see a tarpon roll here, we got lined up and gave it a good effort but no bite just a few more sharks and catfish.  Anyways tough fishing but we made it happen, those are the days that make you appreciate tarpon.  When conditions are good it can look easy some times but to go out and get them when it’s not ideal conditions that can be tough.  Anyways I have a few days off and am actually open all through the weekend.  If anybody wants to go give me a shout.  Unfortunately we still are going to have a good bit of wind it looks like but saturday afternoon and sunday afternoon it is suppose to lay down some and then blow again in the morning.  But maybe they’ll be wrong and it could be nice in the morning.  1 for 2

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

Got out with Jim and his daughters Shelby and Chloe today for a 3/4 day trip.  We were scheduled to go out yesterday though they had a little mix up in the booking office and had Jim down for Sunday which he wasn’t going to be here for.  Luckily he was able to go today and the forecast looked fairly good aside from the typical thunderstorms, so we kept it at that.  Yesterday the winds kicked up a little bit, not blowing like crazy, but not the flat calm that we had over the weekend.  My buddy who was out said the fish shifted around a little bit and he had to work hard to get a few bites.  We got out into the backcountry and started off catching some bait which wasn’t too bad, we did have to put a little time in but it paid off.  We also had some leftovers from a few days ago so we were in good shape.  We checked out the channel where my buddy had found them good yesterday but didn’t see much in the early morning.  We set up and fished for a bit and eventually got a shark but that was it.   Of course some storms had been building up and were headed our way so we had to dodge around a bit.  We tried some other channels around flamingo and stumbled into a couple big balls of mullet and saw a couple tarpon busting into them.  We set up and fished and caught a big bull shark here and a few smaller blacktips.  Then the weather started to get nicer and the winds laid back down though still overcast.  We were about to bail but saw some signs of tarpon again and gave it a little more time.  Eventually Chloe hooked a nice tarpon though he came off after about 10 seconds, nothing she did wrong just not buttoned very good on the hook.  A few minutes later Shelby got one, this one stayed on and we chased after him using the trolling motor.  We got him boatside for a technical release, then he gave one more big jump which we got a good picture of but unfortunately threw the hook at that point so we did not get him to the hand which happens sometimes.  We gave it another whirl and things slowed down somewhat.  We did see another tarpon roll and shifted around a bit and Jim got a good bite real quick, but the fish didn’t swallow the bait we got hook and bait back in all.  After that it seemed like i was over but glad we had some action and didn’t have to stop fishing due to the weather.  I told Jim we’d give it some extra time if the storms were a problem which they weren’t really but I figured we’d give it some extra time anyhow since we had to shift days around and such plus it was starting to look real good and we had the bait.  We tried area where we first started and looked for tarpon.  We stumbled into a pretty big group though the fish were very spread out.  But quite a few rolling, busting, etc…  We set up and tons of little sharks and catfish ate us up.  They’ve definitely been an issue at times but today the catfish especially were thick!  We moved around and then eventually got one more shot at a tarpon but again he threw the hook right away.  After that we motored around to another spot nearby to look if there were any other tarpon around that might be more interested but didn’t see much, so we set back up where we were for the last 20 minutes and gave it a good hard effort but that was it.  Anyways not too bad of a day all things considered.  The tarpon are definitely getting a little more moody it seems this month, not nearly as aggressive as they were in July but that can definitely change any time.  There are still some good groups of fish around and if you put the time in you can still have some success.  I’ll be back at it Thursday!  1 for 4

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