Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Billy and his son Walter for a full day today.  Tarpon was the desired target and we put in a good effort!  We were hooked up with some bait and went straight to fishing.  Last of the falling tide which was a little different from what we had yesterday, water didn’t look great pretty muddy.  But had some shark action early on and once the tide started to change we saw a couple tarpon.  Though just sharks in the first spot but some nice bulls and blacktips.  We moved a bit and saw a tarpon and then set back up.  After 20 minutes or so Billy hooked one and we landed him nice fish not a huge one but about 50 lbs.  We moved again and then Walter had his turn, roughly the same size fish seems to have been a pack of these medium size ones there today.  But lots of fun!  We landed both fish and then things seemed to slow down.  We ended the day catching a few trout on some artificials which was fun.  Back at it tomorrow looks like the winds will continue to die out and then looks to be 10-15 mph for the foreseeable future!  I’m very excited this should mean game on for tarpon for the next week or so, medium/light winds and no cold weather.  Should be a productive week!  2 for 2

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

Got out with Easton and Jake today for a full day of tarpon fishing.  Borrowed my dads skiff to get her done since my boat was still being worked on, but thankfully I got it back already this afternoon ready to roll for tomorrow!  We caught bait early on but not a lot, so I had to catch a little more on the way out which worked out.  Winds were still cranking but slightly less then yesterday and definitely fishable.  We had good shark activity early on but no tarpon bites in the first stop for an hour.  We moved a bit and then had a few more sharks and sting rays, then Easton jumped a nice tarpon!  We moved around again after that as things seemed to slow down and Jake caught a tarpon in that spot… about a 50 lber good fish.  We then had more shark action with some blacktips and a bull shark.  Jake put his rod in the rod holder to film Easton on a shark and of course then we had another tarpon bite!  The fish stayed on for a minute and we reeled him into the boat quickly on the wind-on leader for a technical catch, but he unfortunately threw the hook on a jump as it just wasn’t in there very good.  That always happens as soon as you put the rod down that’s when the bite is going to come!  Oh well at least we got one up to the boat for pictures and a technical catch on another.  We tried for a snook on the way home but no dice there.  Back at it tomorrow and back on my boat very glad it was fixed so quickly.  Winds should be coming down a little more and by the weekend it looks like a nice stretch for a while so the tarpon fishing should be game on then!  2 for 3

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

Got out for a full day today after having the last couple days off.  The winds slicked off nicely yesterday and things got to really warm back up and I heard some tarpon had moved back in.  Today the winds were slightly breezy but not too bad.  We found some bait had to work for it but managed enough to fish with.  We found a decent amount of tarpon in one of the areas where they were before the front.  Sharks ate us up pretty good in the first stop, but we moved around and soon hooked a nice 90 lb fish for Matt!  He fought it well and we got it boatside for some pictures.  Later on we caught a few more sharks including a cool hammerhead.  Then Matt’s son Will got a nice 80 lb tarpon.  After that we gave the tarpon a break and looked for some snook which Matt hooked a nice one but we lost him unfortunately in the sticks.  We finished the day up catching some nice mangrove snappers for dinner.  All in all a great day on the water, though unfortunately we had some motor problems on the way home and had to get towed in.  Luckily we were fairly close to home so it was only about a 45 minute tow home.  Had to give my trip away tomorrow and take my boat into the shop since we couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  Hopefully they can diagnose and fix it quickly, though luckily I have another skiff to use for the rest of the week.  At least we got to get our day in though and it was a good one!  2 for 2

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