Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Well my official ‘tarpon season’ is about officially at a close.  Had my last trip today and next week we are leaving Friday for Tennessee for a month or so.  I may take a trip or two during the week if something comes up but don’t have anything on the books and may end up taking it off anyways to get ready to be gone for a while.  Now most of you who’ve fished with me or follow me that tarpon season never really ends here in the Keys, but it does change a bit as we get more into the summer/fall and ‘off season’ months.  You won’t see the big numbers of migrating tarpon though we often get good fishing for resident fish in the 20 to 60 lb range.  Some years it is very good and even better than then the prime months of March, April, and May.  The fish are left alone and spawning is over so there is much less pressure and even though you may only see a 1/10th of the fish, the ones you see bite better.  Anyways we’re starting to see that a bit here now as this last week the numbers of tarpon really seemed to dwindle compared to what it was a couple of weeks ago.  I mostly fished the bridges but on Friday we ventured into the backcountry where I typically fish a lot more in the summer and fall for them.  It was a very up and down week, we literally had a great day Monday, tough day tuesday, great day wednesday, tough day thursday, and great day Friday – too funny but thats how it can go this time of year.  Here’s the overall day by day breakdown.

Monday – surpsingly had a red hot bite. Bait was hard we struck out trying to get mullet but we caught some backup bait. Got to the bridge we had nice falling tide and the tarpon were very responsive. We caught 3 and hooked 4 or 5 more. A few bites we got as soon as we threw a bait back there it was cool to see.

Tuesday – tried the same program but today the tarpon were not nearly as into it! We tried catching the same baits we used the day before but they were harder to get too and the seaweed was a bit annoying a few areas were unfishable. But we stuck to it and at the end of the day we finally got the boys on a nice 30 lb tarpon. Had to grind it out and so funny how good it can be one day and tough the next with very similar conditions.

Wednesday – got lucky and crushed the mullet today but we had to run 20 miles to find them. Sometimes that is part of your day and right now it has to be without the bait guys going. Ran back to the bridge and they were happier we ended up hooking 4 or 5 and caught 3 so super day for Lars.

Thursday – we caught bait running way out back again pretty easily. Looked around in a nearby channel for tarpon back there but did not see much. Headed back to the bridges but today the tarpon were not very happy. Seemed to be less than the day before, and very skittish every time we set up and sat or look after we sat for a bit and the fish were gone. Tried the other bridges and there were some fish but super weedy and almost unfishable.

Friday – we fished the backcountry for tarpon and I’m officially done with bridge fishing for the season I think. Did not see a ton of fish back there but enough to keep it interesting and everything we got in front of seemed to bite. We ended up landing 4 tarpon and jumped off a couple others so a fantastic day overall!  Summer tarpon should get better and better July is often a good month for resident Backcountry tarpon. I’m done for a while now and headed to Tennessee for a month but Capt Steve will be running the boat and is available. Capt Luke is also available and if you wanna do an evening trip for local tarpon he’ll be ready with mahi carcasses for that fishing.

So there you have it again funny how up and down it was.  But again the backcountry fishing for the day time trips should get more and more consistent as we get deeper into June and July plus the bait usually is easier to catch back there.  And as mentioned for local trips an evening half day can be a good option through the summer and we often fish with mahi carcasses which are readily available from the offshore boats.  So anyways I won’t be updating too much for a while but you can follow on Instagram I’ll be posting a few photos and updates for Capt. Steve and Capt. Luke while I’m gone.  I’ll be back near the end of July and probably taking trips again around the 27th or so.  August and September can still be good tarpon months too for those resident backcountry fish and we can usually set something up short notice so don’t think you’ve missed out for the year.  You can usually get a good deal on a room and all that then too being off season.  Alright thanks for following along I’ll be posting again near the end of July!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

First week of June is down in the books.  Tarpon fishing has started to get a little bit tougher as we’re entering the end of ‘prime time’ it seems.  The mullet which we use for bait have really thinned out and the commercial guys that we buy them from have stopped as of yesterday as it’s not worth there time any longer.  The big numbers of tarpon too have slimmed down a bit.  While there are still some around the bridges you definitely have to look around with them (which we can do with our advanced sonar) and they are getting a bit more sensitive to fishing pressure.  So this week on Tuesday I had Gorgio from Italy along with his father.  We were able to get bait and put together a decent day, catching a nice 100 lb tarpon right off the bat we rolled over for pictures quickly.  We had a couple other fish on one we got a little too tight on too early and opened the hook, and another that beat us into the bridge. We did get a couple of nice goliath groupers too though along with some other things.  The next day I had the Bransons out.  We worked hard at it throughout the day and not much luck early on aside from a few more goliaths and muttons.  We did get caught by some rain where we had to hide under the bridge for 45 minutes, a nasty cell that blew up on top of us!  Later in the trip though we moved areas and had a couple bites finally on the incoming tide missing one and then landing a nice one to finish the day.  They definitely did not seem happy on this day and may have been the full moon or possibly the weather but who knows.  Thursday I had Isaac and Caleb fishing and we had a bit more action.  The morning early was kind of quiet again but we did get a nice goliath we pulled out from the bridge where he’d been beating us the few days before.  Then on the slack tide just as it started in we started having some action on our crabs and we hooked a couple fish, catching one and missed a couple more.  So that was cool and then we ended up getting a big one again at the end of the day at the other bridge.  Then yesterday I had yuan out and we had a tough day we ended up missing a nice tarpon first thing drifting crabs in an area.  We had another at the big bridge that beat us into the pilings as well as a goliath that did the same thing.  Then we had another good two bites at the last bridge at the end of the day, one of which beat us into the bridge and cut us off and the last bait out we just pulled the hook on one.  So we had our shots but when you don’t catch one and come up empty its not a good feeling but we did have the bites.  So again fishing is getting a little tougher we’re not going to have loads of bait as we did the last month and we may be doing more traditional methods like drifting crabs etc…  As we get more into the summer though we’ll start fishing the backcountry more for tarpon and that should get more productive and we catch more bait back there then too.  July can be excellent fishing for sure for those resident fish.  But I’ve got one more week here and then a few open days the 3rd week of June before we leave for the summer.  Steve and Luke are available however and if you’re wanting to think about an afternoon/evening that can be a good option and you can often cherry pick the weather Capt. Luke will be running some trips using the carcasses we get from the offshore boats for tarpon bait.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina