Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Shannon and Derek for last day today.  We left early and fished locally.  Did find a spot with some fish in it that looked good.  The boys did catch a tarpon last night as I opted to cut our day short yesterday and send them out with someone for an evening trip since I figured that’d be a better opportunity for them and when fishing is tough I don’t mind doing that.  This morning though unfortunately another fellow captain had gotten there about two minutes before us, and sat right where I wanted to set up.  Not that it usually matters though but we set up a few hundred feet away.  We watched them hook up after about 30 minutes, and after an hour or so of sitting we moved around a bit.  After we did this they got back to their anchor and then about 15 minutes later hooked a double header to add insult to injury!  I asked if he minded if we set up near their anchor which he did not.  But we couldn’t get a bite there, just one of those weird deals where someone sitting in the right spot gets bit up and you are right near them and don’t get a sniff… no rhyme or reason to it.  They came back and we moved around again where we saw fish roll.  After a little while we did finally get a bite but we jumped him off.  We made a couple more moves but no more tarpon bites though we did hook a nice cuda that cut us off.  Been a hard stretch for me hopefully the fishing gets better soon.  Day off tomorrow I’ll be fixing a few things on the boat and back at it Thursday though may not be tarpon fishing.  0 for 1

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

Had Shannon and Derek again today for a tarpon fishing trip.  We decided to fish locally around Islamorada after not seeing much in the backcountry yesterday.  We headed out early and tried some spots around the bridges, did see a small handful of fish but note bites.  We tried drifting and some other baits too but no luck.  We then caught some fresh mullet and tried around the bridges themselves.  It was a weedy nasty mess and never saw a fish roll there, tough to keep baits out with all the weed.  We checked another area and fished for a bit, much cleaner there as far as the weed and such went but didn’t see a fish.  We then ran up near home to try out on the oceanside.  I had a report that a group of fish did move up the ocean in the fly fishing areas and a friend of mine had caught one on bait when they went by.  But we didn’t see much we did have one roll nearby but no bite.  After that we decided to cut the full day to a half day and I sent the boys out on an evening trip with another guide as that seems to be the time when people are getting a few bites right now.  Good falling tide at dark and whatever handful of fish are around are wanting to bite then.  Anyways back at it tomorrow may try out back again.  I did get a report that an offshore boat saw thousands of tarpon 10 miles offshore in 500 feet of water so that is likely where a good majority of our fish are.  0 for 0

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

Got out with Shannon and Derek today for day 1 of 3 for tarpon.  We found fish where we found them yesterday morning, but today they weren’t catchable for us.  The sharks were horrendous and we couldn’t keep a bait out more then 10 seconds.  We moved around a few times but to no avail.  We looked in some other areas, we did find a handful of fish in a channel.  Again we jumped around 3 times trying to line up on ones we saw rolling but no bites.  I think it may of been the same couple fish we saw didn’t seem like a big group.  We checked another channel and just gave it a look and didn’t see anything.  I offered to switch it up not really feeling the tarpon thing today but the boys wanted to go all in for the tarpon.  We ran and tried another channel – impossible to fish because seaweed was so bad.  We ran way up inside and fished, more sharks.  Looked in another area and never saw anything, and then tried near home for the last 45 minutes.  Did see one fish roll and had one swim under us off of the flat, but no bites.  I’m ready for the tarpon fishing to get good again… this has been one of the longest slow stretches I’ve seen since I’ve been guiding.  Hope it gets better soon!  There have been a few being caught but sounds like more near dark or super early morning.  With a few more days of west wind I don’t have very high hopes until we have some light easterly wind direction that fish like.  0 for 0

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