Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Zack and his son Jacob today for day 1 of their 2 day trip with me.  It was another awesome one!  We headed out early and caught some bait to start the day.  Loaded the well and got to it.  Found the tarpon right away with the last couple hours of incoming tide.  Jacob got hooked up within the first 30 seconds and caught a nice silver king, then jumped another right after that.  Sharks moved in afterwards though and we moved around.  After a couple moves Jacob got a nice 65 lb tarpon!  Then we made one more move and got into the honey hole.  We caught 3 double headers in a row it was just crazy good.  Mostly smaller fish but they were hitting a bait if it made it to the water for sure.  After that the tide quit and we moved around and still caught a couple more fish on the tide change.  Then we got a couple more after that on the falling tide.  Though the last hour it finally slowed down a little.  I was wondering if it’d be my beat my best day ever which was a few days ago but unfortunately no.  Though still insanely good.  Back at it tomorrow with these guys we may mix it up a little and try the tarpon early then switch it up when the tide changes.  This july continues to be the most epic fishing I’ve ever seen for tarpon in Islamorada, let’s see how much longer it holds up for!  11 for 12

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

Got out with Jason and Adriana today for a full day of tarpon fishing.  They fished with me back in May when we had some very wet weather.  We got one good tarpon for Jason and then got drenched in a tropical storm but made it happen.  Today looked much better and I told them fishing has been very good as well which they know because they follow my reports.  We got bait early and went to work.  I fished the channel where we had found fish yesterday and we got a big 120 lb for Jason to start.  This fish was angry similar to the one he caught in May, we fought it for an hour and chased it 1.5 miles!  Don’t get many bruisers like that this time of year but you never know.  After that the tide had quit and we reset.  We fished for a bit and then Adriana got a nice 50 lber.  We moved after that and started to see a ton of fish.  They were rolling 10 at  a time, but acting a little funny and moving around a lot and not feeding very actively.  After several moves and tries, we got another one for Adriana a nice 40 lber.  Then things settled down and it started to look like the day before.  We could see a nice hard mud strip form and the tarpon seemed to stay in that.  We proceeded to whack ’em, catching a double header right away and then several more including hooking another couple doubles.  We ended up landing eleven tarpon just insane fishing again.  I’ve literally caught more tarpon in the last 4 days then I did in the whole month of May.  July has been super strong and already my best month ever and we still have plenty of good days to go.  Remember folks don’t sleep on the summer time fishing here in Islamorada, it can be just so good and it really is my favorite time.  11 for 15

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

Got out with John, Jamison, and Christie today for a full day tarpon charter in the everglades.  We caught bait early and headed out.  I had the day off yesterday but had heard fish were still in the area where I had done very well the day before.  We headed that way.  We set up and did mark a good group of fish as we came into the spot so that was a good sign.  First few bites were just sharks and a sting ray.  Eventually though as the tide died we got a tarpon on for John, and then a minute later Jamison hooked up – double header!  We landed both fish and got some good pictures.  The tide was dead after that and then started to fall fairly soon.  No more tarpon bites here though we moved around and no luck just sharks.  I ran to another area where I hadn’t been in a while though heard there was some fish there.  There was a good group we set up and had to move around but Christie hooked up a big 100 lber!  The fish didn’t stay buttoned though we came back with nothing but a scale on the hook which was strange, must’ve been foul hooked.  Anyways it slowed down after that but we kept our eyes open and eventually saw the fish on the other side of the channel showing.  We snuck over there and then it was game on!  We had another 8 or so tarpon bites there, landing another double header, missing one more, and then a few singles.  Just great fishing.  Back at it tomorrow hopefully it stays just as good.  This july has been one heck of a month!  7 for 11

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