Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Tony and Ron down from New York today for some tarpon fishing.  They’ve been coming down here for a long time and really enjoy the fishing the Keys has to offer.  We planned for a 3/4 day and headed out into the backcountry.  We stopped and caught a little bait on the way, and I had plenty of leftovers from yesterday.  Winds were blowing a little out of the south, once we got back around the mainland it was a little choppy but not too bad.  We ran right where we had found a bunch of tarpon yesterday.  I saw a bust as soon as we pulled up, and we set up and soon saw a fish roll.  After a couple sharks, Tony had a tarpon bite but unfortunately we missed him.  One of those smaller fish that were beating us up yesterday, they can be very hard to stick sometimes!  Ron did get a nice size black tip though that gave a good fight.  After that the winds laid out and I was hoping we’d see some fish rolling or making some kind of signs, though we really didn’t see much of anything.  Not sure if they moved out with the southerly wind we had overnight, but it didn’t blow very hard so I wouldn’t of thought so.  I made a move and just anchored randomly out further near where I had been yesterday, and we had a couple more shark bites and that was it.  I figured we’d of seen the fish if they were there with as calm as it was, so we ran and hit one of the channels.  Some tarpon were there, and we made 3 moves trying to get in front of them, but they just didn’t seem very happy and eventually didn’t see much any more.  We caught a couple more bonnet head sharks, and that was it.  Tried another channel where I hadn’t been in a while to give it a look since it was on the way home and we didn’t have a whole lot of time left on our 3/4 day.  We caught a couple more little sharks, and didn’t see much for tarpon.  The winds kind of kicked up a bit again, and Tony decided he’d like to stay out a little longer.  I said no problem and we tried another channel over near flamingo.  We saw a fish roll and got set up in the area, but unfortunately the little blacktips started to eat us up and we went through the rest of our bait rather quick.  We gave it a good 30 minutes though and I was hoping we’d of gotten another bite but it just wasn’t our day.  We gave it a good hard effort though things just got a little tough.  Anyways the guys had a good time and it was a beautiful day out there, stayed nice and overcast so it wasn’t too hot.  Hopefully things get a little better tomorrow, looks like we’ll have nice calm conditions the next several days.  After that I don’t have anything on the books for a while so if you are looking to go fishing, it can still be a good time to go after some tarpon.  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

8/8/17 – Got out for fun with my dad and Stephen Byrd, marina manager, yesterday.  We were trying to do a little photography and filming with some tarpon.  The bite wasn’t quite as good as the previous day but we managed to hook 3 fish, unfortunately 2 of them came off (on myself of all people… goes to show it can happen to anyone!)  But Stephen landed a nice 60 lb fish we got some good video and some good photos.  We tried for some triple tail later on, saw a few but they didn’t want to eat and was hard to see them anyways with bad lighting from clouds.  Anyways a fun day.  1 for 3

8/9/17 – Today I had Brad and Mike down from Ohio.  We started off in the same area as the last few days, but today it was even slower.  After a bit we saw a jumping tarpon, we moved over and managed to get a bite and Mike landed his first tarpon.  After that we got a shark and things slowed down.  I ventured further out west to open water, since the winds had laid down a little from the last few days.  I hadn’t been out there in a couple weeks and wanted to give a look.  We didn’t see much, but after a couple moves we saw some busting and got on to some tarpon.  We had 6 bites, mostly on the slack tide, and smaller fish that were tough to keep on the hooks.  But Brad finally was able to land one so he got his!  After that the sharks bit well we caught some big blacktips, lemon sharks, and a nice hammer head.  It was a great day the guys enjoyed pulling on anything big and we had plenty of that.  2 for 7

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with Scott and Xander down from Broward in Miami for a days tarpon fishing.  We headed out early and caught some bait on the way.  The 2nd bait stop though I got hung up on a tree and had to cut my net up to get it back, so that wasn’t a good start to our day!  Luckily I had leftover bait from yesterday plus the few we caught before that so we were in good shape.  Tarpon were thick today we saw plenty of activity when I pulled up, so maybe losing the net and getting their early was a blessing in disguise!  We proceeded to catch 3 tarpon in about a 30 minute window, just pulling you out of the boat they were.  After that things slowed up a little, we dropped further back where I had seen a few fish roll, and after a bit we caught another one.  Then a big old triple tail floated by that we caught, probably a 13 lber or so, very nice fish!  There has been a lot of them floating around back there we’ve caught them the last several days all big.  After that we moved one more time just randomly, and I thought the bite was over but we ended up catching a couple more fish.  Hooks were staying in them and we didn’t miss a bite it was pretty epic.  I didn’t get a lot of pictures in the madness but managed a few.  After that we bent the light rods a little bit but that was slow so we headed on back as it was very windy and took a nice easy slow ride home.  What a day out there!  I’m booked up through Friday and then from Saturday on I don’t have much.  Our tides for catching bait are getting easier on Wednesday, and I think the fishing will stay pretty good.  If you are looking to catch a tarpon I’d say right now there is no better time to come.  6 for 6

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk