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Got out with John, Jude, and Jim today three youngsters from Texas.  It was a group trip and their uncle and his boys were on the other boat.  It was a marina booking so I hadn’t talked to the crew beforehand but they were not up for going early as is my usual routine this time of year.  They wanted to have action with whatever and hoped to maybe catch a tarpon.  So I said no problem for the more serious anglers the early start is always what I recommend now but luckily I had some leftover bait so I said we’d have a shot anyways.  We bent the little rod to start and that was good action with trout, snapper, and ladyfish.  Then we tried a channel for tarpon.  Didn’t see much to start but did catch a couple sharks.  Then some fish popped up and we moved in on them.  We put a little time in and then jumped one tarpon, then we hooked and landed a nice 25 lber!  After that they seemed to disappear.  I was happy though we put it together even with the late start.  We tried a spot for some cobias after that in the gulf with no luck.  Then we were going to catch some bigger sharks and caught a tripletail.  In the shark area though we found a ton of tarpon!  I had not seen tarpon here in this spot like this in a couple years so it was great to see.  Larger size fish and lots of them.  We slide in and soon after we jumped another tarpon, then we caught a nice 80 lber!  After that the fish seemed to move around a little, but they settled back in and about 45 minutes later we caught another on the change of the tide!  So all three boys landed a tarpon – just great!  We caught a few more blacktip sharks and then called it a day.  We definitely lucked out and thankfully I had enough leftover bait to make it happen.  But the big deal about leaving early a lot of times is catching bait – there isn’t anyone to buy it from and sometimes if you aren’t out there at daybreak, you ain’t gonna catch it!  I’m off tomorrow for my birthday and then back at it on the 5th.  Hopefully some of these fish stick around!  3 for 5

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

Got out with Jason and his sons Brendan and Brody today.  They fished with me several years ago and had a great time.  We left out early today and made a run into the deep ‘glades.  The tarpon fishing around the other normal summer areas had slowed down a little the last few days as we had some nasty southerly winds.  Today it was back northeast but I figured i’d give it another day to settle out and wanted to see what was way back there.  The guys were down to try and we made our run.  Found a big group of tarpon early and we set up.  Brody hooked up straight away.  He fought the fish well and we got a technical release as we got the wind-on leader to the tip, but he charged away from the boat afterwards and ended up jumping and throwing the hook.  After that the tarpon really dissappeared.  It was amazing as we were surrounded by fish but they up and left within 20 minutes or so.  We did move around and managed to get another one for Brendan.  This one we got to the boat for some pictures.  After that though it went real quiet.  That’s why I get up and go early sometimes it can change in a hurry on you especially in this area.  After that we tried a few snook spots with no luck.  Then we ran into the gulf and had the right conditions for some permit fishing.  We managed to catch a couple permit which was very nice, and a few jack crevelle and sharks on our light tackle.  Great day!  I’m back at it tomorrow but sounds like I have a family style trip and they don’t want to leave early, so may be more generic rod bending and some sharks, but maybe we’ll get lucky and get a tarpon.  2 for 2

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

Got out for a full day today with tarpon on the list.  We headed out early and looked around in a couple of the spots where I had seen fish yesterday.  Yesterday of course things had gotten tough after being so good for a stretch.  South wind had kicked up and coming off the full moon and many of the fish had just split.  Anyways we did not see much in the first couple stops, caught a few sharks.  We then tried a spot where we didn’t see much at all.  But after 30 minutes or so and a few sharks, we hooked a nice 75 lb tarpon!  Great fight and jumps, quite the acrobat.  We got her boatside but she darted under the boat and cut us off before we could get good pictures, but a legal catch none the less on the leader.  After that we saw a few more fish at the channel mouth where a few guys were fly fishing.  We tried to sneak in as politely as possible, and were able to but we did not get a bite and then we left.  We mixed it up after that catching a few snapper and trout.  We then caught some pilchards and caught a nice snook and missed a couple more.  Then we hit a gulf spot and got some nice trout, jacks, a few small cobias, and saw a ton of permit but unfortunately we didn’t have any live bait for them!  Tried throwing some artificials which they looked at but didn’t bite.  Anyways that was awesome to see and I’m definitely keeping a handful of crabs in the live well now again if we happen across the bad boys.  1 for 1

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