Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Took the old man out today and our friend Ron Modra for some fun fishing.  We ran deep into the ‘glades early on.  Caught some bait on the way.  Found the tarpon back there.  They didn’t really bite yesterday but today they did… strange.  Winds were a little more easterly instead of south maybe that helped.  Anyways lots of small guys.  Ron caught a small 15 lber, we got to the boat but then he jumped off but had the leader for a release.  Then we jumped a couple more.  My dad hooked a nice 25 lber himself on light tackle which was lots of fun that we got up for a picture since he was small enough.  We then jumped one more fish and then that was about all she wrote.  The tarpon seemed to disappear by 8:30 or so, so not too long of a bite.  We caught some other bait and found a good pack of snook on the way home along with some trout and jacks.  We then found a few triple tail where we had seen some yesterday and there were a few tarpon there too but not as many as yesterday.  Though I had some better reports from other areas too so I think a lot of the summer time fish are showing up in the usual haunts which is a good thing.  Those areas had been pretty dry as of late which is why I’ve been making this longer run but will be nice to have some fish closer.  Back at it tomorrow with Sarah and Barry for Day 2.  2 for 5

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

P.S. Again small tarpon under 40 inches we are allowed to lift out of the water for a picture, but we make sure to lift them carefully and not wipe off slime, don’t drop them on the deck, get a quick picture, and release them healthily swimming to battle another day.

Got out with my regulars Sarah and Barry who are over from Scotland.  We did the early morning deep everglades run as I told him it’d been very good the last several days.  Unfortunately today though it was a different ball game!  There were a few fish back there – nothing like what we saw yesterday though.  We moved a few times and I thought we’d of gotten a bite, but they did not want to play.  We hooked several sharks and sting rays and that was it.  After a couple hours I figured it wasn’t gonna happen.  We back tracked and caught a few trout and jacks on our light gear.  Then we found a few tarpon in one of the channels that I normally fish in the summer time.  This was good to see we caught a nice 60 lber for Sarah and some triple tails as well and a few more sharks.  I had seen one roll in the channel yesterday so I figured it might be worth it to take a look.  This is good news and hopefully it means some summer time fish will get in their usual haunts.  Funny how quickly things can change back there though.  1 for 1

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

Got out with Ross, Mike, and Jordan today for a full day of tarpon fishing.  They were part of a large group down from Massachusetts who have fished here before.  My guys wanted tarpon and were good to go a little early so we did that.  We headed out and caught some bait on the way plus had a few live ones we brought.  Fishing was pretty epic about as good as it gets.  Tarpon everywhere and the boys each caught one in the first 20 minutes it was kinda crazy.   I honestly lost count of bites but it was up there, I think we landed about 8 or so that we got on the leader anyways and probably lost another 8 or so.  We also had some big sharks and even had a shot at a permit floating by.  Made a cast with a crab but he was uninterested.  Permit can show up in the gulf waters where we find tarpon often in the summer.  Anyways it was a fantastic morning and we wrapped things up around 9:30 AM as we had caught enough.  Don’t know how much longer this will last but it’s been really good.  I hope that some of the other areas get a little better soon, I think in July they will.  But will keep sticking with this for the time being!  8 for 16

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

P.S. Again this are small tarpon under 40 inches so we are allowed to lift them up for a quick picture.  We don’t let them hit the deck or wipe their slime off, and drop them back in the water revived quickly for a healthy release afterwards.