Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Well I can’t believe it April is almost over!  Seems like time flies when you are having fun right?  We’ve been having lots of fun tarpon fishing here’s the low down on what’s been going on.  Right now the bridges and atlantic ocean side are filled with fish.  Both tides honestly have been productive and had their moments.  Some days it’s happened early on and some days it happens later when you’ve given up hope – but that’s fishing!  The backcountry tarpon fishing is not really happening but should get better as we get more into the summer time hopefully.  But I’ve been pretty much just bridge fishing lately and it’s been decent.  We’ve had a couple days I would call really good, and then most other days we’ve been having to work at it to get our 2 or 3 bites a trip.  Not really sure what’s going on normally April is a bit more productive but that’s just how it’s been.  Though on a positive note maybe it’s a good thing that the fish have been a little more finicky as that may lead to better fishing come May and June since the fish haven’t been beaten up too badly.  One can hope right?  Bait has been fairly easy as is usually the case for April though as we get into May sometimes that gets a little tougher.  The bridges haven’t been super busy which has been nice a lot of guys are mixing it up and doing other stuff since the tarpon fishing has taken a bit of work.   I still have a handful of days open in May, and Capt. Trent who runs my skiff still has plenty of openings too.  Capt. Brandon is pretty much all booked up but may have an opening here or there.  Capt. Stephen who is running my boat on my days off has a few days open as well he’s currently doing Fridays and Saturdays, and will be available for some evening fishing in May and June as well.  I’ve had Stephen out with me on several charters and helping him get dialed in, and we’re sharing bait duties so that makes things easier on both of us.  If you want to get out in May give me a shout I’ll let you know what I might have available.  I’m not yet taking June bookings though I will probably start taking a few bookings in a couple of weeks.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Well we had some major weather the last couple of days and had to move some trips around but luckily I’m able to do that these days with fishing less.  So we ended up fishing Sunday evening on the 9th as I was booked Monday, and Tuesday/wednesday were kind of blowouts with major rain and 25 knot winds.  Sunday honestly conditions looked OK we had a bit of a northwest breeze and prefrontal feeling with the tide ripping out.  That kind of made it a little difficult to fish with all the seaweed and watch swooshing by pretty quick.  But it was fishable and we found some fish around the bridges but we never had a bite!  Worked really hard at it too and fished till dark but the tarpon just weren’t having it.  Not the numbers of fish that were around last week either I dunno if a lot of them moved out feeling the weather change or what but it was tough.  First trip in a while that I can remember not even having a bite especially in April.

Monday morning was kind of slow too we fished for several hours early on giving it all we had and only had a few jacks and nurse sharks to show for it.  Though around 11 AM we finally had a tarpon bite and got leader on a nice fish but unfortunately not able to get him laid up boatside.  But soon after we had one more shot and did get that fish up for a nice picture for Eric and his wife Wendy.

Then we cancelled Wednesday but I had Ryan shoot me a text that evening and asked about fishing Thursday morning which I said hey I could fit it in and had bait, so we gave it a shot.  The wind had slicked out real nice and it was nice and sunny – couldn’t really ask for nicer weather.  We had the tide change though and a weak falling tide which I wasn’t excited about.  But we left early and had a little incoming tide early on and got a nice fish for his son Kellen.  Then we ended up getting another shot about an hour later when the tide slacked up for Dylan, which we got leader on but he went through the bridge before we could get good pictures.  Then right before it was time to go we hooked another one that we broke off unfortunately.  But still better action than I expected for fishing around the tide change and considering how tough it was the previous couple trips.

Anyways hopefully we’re on the upswing now and we have a calm weather window for several days.  I’d expect a lot more fish to be around here in mid April then there are but maybe we’ll get another push of them.  Anyways I am all booked up myself for the rest of the month but I have some May dates available still.  And Capt. Stephen has some fridays and saturdays available and will soon be taking some evening trips too.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Well yesterday was pretty good fishing again.  Not quite as good as the day before however that was mostly due to not capitalizing on as many opportunities.  We missed a couple bites and had one fish break through the leader.  Though we landed two fish and got one all the way to the boat for pictures which we’re always happy with.  I think we probably had a half dozen bites and the other day i think we may have had a couple more than that.  It was a lot busier at the bridges on this day though at one point probably 25 boats down there whereas the day before I think we only ever saw half that.  Also the seaweed was bit more difficult to deal with and was likely the reason we lost one fish as we got a ton of sargasm weed on the line at one point which always puts extra weird pressure on your fish and gear.  It also makes the actual fishing a bit more difficult as you are having to reel in and clear lines and that sacrifices time you could be getting a bite.  But again still a good day catching a couple tarpon and having several more opportunities.  We also caught a couple big nurse sharks as well as a mutton snapper which is always a welcome bycatch!  I had return customers Dan and his wife Julie and they were a pleasure to have on the boat, and Stephen came along again as well.  Was good to get him a bit more experience at the bridges.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina