Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Brad and David today.  We hit the same area as yesterday, had the very start of the incoming tide.  The fish were there, not quite as happy as the last few days though.  We moved a few times and managed to catch a couple though, plus plenty of sharks.  Funny as the sharks were not there at all the last couple days.  Anyways after that we left though another boat told me they did bite a little more later on after the tide got going better.  We caught another tarpon out off the mainland areas where they had been mixed in with all the sharks.  Saw several big groups of fish, and got in front of them and hooked up pretty quick.  After that things settled down and the tide was quitting out there.  We ran out into the gulf to take a peek and found some cobia, one got eaten by a shark but we got one to the boat.  A few nice trout and a pompano as well.  Great day, back at it again with these guys the next two days.  We may try some other things but if we see some tarpon I’m sure we’ll give that a go for a little bit.  3 for 3

P.S. Again we normally don’t lift tarpon out of the water, however this one was under 40 inches so it is allowed.  Though we are careful to support the belly, and not let them flop around on the deck or wipe their slime off too much.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with David and Stanley today for some tarpon fishing in islamorada.  We left out early and ran into the backcountry.  The winds had kicked up out of the southwest, not honking but a good 10-15 mph.  I was a little worried that might make the fish move around a bit they usually dont like south wind!  We were able to catch some bait on the way and hit the areas where I had found them yesterday.  Luckily they were still there… We had the tide just starting in, and had some action right away.  We jumped the first fish off, actually the hook broke on us oddly that doesn’t happen too often.  After that we proceeded to put on a clinic.  Stanley landed 3 fish, Dave got 1, and he also had another one we got to the leader but unfortunately got tip wrapped and broke off next to the boat… but had the leader so a technical release.  It was game on for a good little 2 hour window.  After that things slowed down a bit, we went and just did some light action fishing and caught some trout and then came home!  Days like today make it look easy but it’s not always like that… makes you appreciate it when it is!  Hopefully the fish will stay put, I heard the other batch of fish had disappeared today with that bad wind direction, so if it goes back east hopefully they’ll come back.  5 for 6

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with Ken and his wife today for some tarpon fishing in islamorada.  We headed out early and stopped for bait, the bait was nice and easy for a change.  We also didn’t have any rain or storms to chase us around which was very nice too.  Was able to load up and even have some leftovers for the next day or two.  We tried our morning area where the fishing had been decent the most part the last couple weeks.  Saw a couple roll and we moved over to ’em but didn’t have a bite and didn’t see much after that.  We tried moving a bit but no luck.  We then went up inside on of the channels nearby, and saw some fish in there, but still no response.  We made a couple moves again trying to get in front of different fish, but just no love.  I checked one more area out that I hadn’t really been in yet this year, and we some some splashes.  I set up and then noticed some bigger busts on the other side of the channel.  We moved over there, and then start to see a few fish roll and marked them on my machine…  I knew it was game on.  We had a double header bite, but unfortunately Ken’s came off, though his wife caught the other one.  Ladies always seem to have that luck!  After that we jumped another one off in the rod holder, and had another mystery zip that I’m sure was likely a tarpon since we had no shark bites in there.  Ken then caught a couple tarpon, one nice one of about 75 lbs or so, and the other was about 50.  After that the tide quit, we tried to catch a few trout on the way home which was a little slow, but got one and a few ladyfish and a shark.  After that we were all worn out and hot and headed in a few minutes early.  But all in all a great day it took a little work to find ’em, but luckily we kept grinding and had a great day to show for it.  3 for 5

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk