Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out for a full day with Jason and Tammy today down from Maine.  Jason had a dream of catching a tarpon though I told him chances might be slim with the cold front we had that came in the past couple days.  Water temperatures plummeted into the mid 60s and low 60s in some areas of the bay, plus locally we are in the midst of a terrible algae bloom that hopefully will be getting pushed out to sea soon.  Anyways we opted to fish mostly for other things but gave the tarpon a try for the last hour of the day.  Seemed to be the right move as that was when the wind laid out some, and the water warmed up to at least the 69 degree range.  We did see a few tarpon around but unfortunately not very happy we didn’t get a bite, but did hook a big shark and a sting ray.  We had fun in the morning though with snappers, sheepshead, and mackerel.  Anyways I think maybe tomorrow might be a better bet the winds are suppose to swing back to the easterly direction but the water temperatures still won’t be great… but at least in the range where you may have a shot.  Sunday is suppose to be pretty calm though so that may be the day things warm back up and get back in ‘the zone.’  Though this week looks to be windy with the winds kicking up hard out of the east.  But will be better for tarpon then the cold that’s for sure.  I’m off tomorrow but available sunday if anyone wants to give it a go… as I said conditions look favorable!  0 for 0

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

Got out with Michelle and her son Matthew today for a 3/4 day of tarpon fishing in Islamorada.  We decided to run back into the everglades as a good wad of fish had been back there the last few days.  But it is prefrontal with temperatures suppose to be dropping back into the high 50s the next couple nights.  So tomorrow morning may be the last of it, if not today.  We caught bait early and headed out, plenty of fish there early I mean a lot of ’em!  We got a bite fairly quick and Michelle hooked a big one about 120 lbs.  We fought it for about 45 minutes chasing it down the channel.  Michelle fought it well and we landed her and got some good pictures.  Later on she hooked another we passed to Matthew, however bad luck the hook broke on us!  She later hooked a nice cobia that Matthew caught about a 40 lber… nice fish!  Matthew had a couple tarpon bites later too but unfortunately they didn’t stay on the hook.  Been having quite a few get away on me the last couple trips but at least we’ve been catching a few.  Anyways that was about all she wrote we headed back around noon.  Funny no shark bites at all today, the sharks have been a little strange in the backcountry this year for sure.  Back at it tomorrow I have a half day scheduled not sure what I’m doing yet, but after tomorrow I think the tarpon thing might be over for a couple days at least.  Hopefully no more cold fronts as we get into April!  1 for 4

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

Well today it got slick calm and that let the water temperatures rise fast.  These types of days are when the tarpon show up in droves after it’s been cold, especially this time of year.  I had Myron and Keith down from Minnesota, they wanted to get Myron his first tarpon.  I told the boys it looked like good conditions and that we might want to fish a 3/4 day as opposed to the half day we had scheduled, which would give us some extra time to run into the backcountry where I like to fish often.  They were good with it and so we made the run back there.  We ran deep into the glades and found some fish way back there in one of the areas a fly fishermen buddy of mine had said he saw them late the afternoon before.  They were there first thing and we set up.  We hooked a shark and then hooked a tarpon soon after… a great sign!  The tarpon didn’t stay on unfortunately, but a little bit later we got another one that did.  Keith caught it.  After that Myron jumped another one, just wasn’t having good luck keeping them on the hook.  Later on Keith hooked another but let Myron have it, so he got to catch his first tarpon and both the guys landed one – great!  We had a few more sharks and then the tide quit on us.  We hooked a big ray that we chased around for a while.  By the time we were done with that the tide had switched.  We had two baits left and we set back up where I saw some more fish showing.  We got another bite after a few minutes and Myron had another shot at a tarpon. Unfortunately though that one came off too, nothing he did terribly wrong just part of fishing!  But anyways they both got to catch one and it was solid action some of the best I’ve had this year.  Tomorrow could likely be the same but I have the day off.  I think tuesday and wednesday should be decent for tarpon, the winds will crank up and start swinging around though as we have another front coming in Wednesday night.  But it should be warm enough until then so it’s worth a shot.  Hopefully this will be the last cold front of the year but who knows it’s been a crazy March with 4 or 5 good fronts now!  2 for 5

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