Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Wow we’re officially into May here and it really is starting to feel like summer time!  Last week we had another late cold front midweek that didn’t get super cold by any means but it definitely turned the dial down on the fishing for us.  We had extreme wind and water temperatures did go from near 80 back down to 70 one day.  So it made for a little tougher fishing last week though we were still picking away at the tarpon.  This week it flip flopped – its been flat calm and warm with 80 degree water again.  The sargasm weed is starting to come through and I’m hearing of good mahi fishing offshore.  Really much more like summer time conditions.  Monday I fished Codey and Chris and we stayed local and hit the bridges.  Capt. Steve had reported some good fishing around the bridges the previous days he fished over the weekend.  We found a good pack of fish pretty dense between a few of the bridge pilings and ended up catching a couple first thing on the last of the incoming tide.  The fish really seemed to be concentrated pretty well though as I looked around almost the entire bridge and did not see much for anything else.  Once the tide fell we ended up staying there and just hitting that pack of fish again, and would move off and look elsewhere afterwards.  But we ended up hooking 5 and landing 2 and the others broke us off or jumped off.  But good fishing overall and we also had a few nurse sharks and a goliath grouper.  Tuesday I had Shamus, John, and Kyle out fishing for the day.  We tried down there at that same area but did not have any luck first thing.  I decided to high tail it further south and we went to another area where we had that big shark chase a tarpon last week.  Today no sharks thankfully and the tarpon got super happy.  We caught the last of the incoming tide and not much was happening but we ended up hooking one on the near slack tide.  Got it to the leader and she broke off.  After that when the tide started falling they started rallying good for us we ended up catching a couple more one for each of the boys, and I think we hooked another 4 or 5.  A few of those bites were hard zips but I’m fairly sure they were tarpon as you start to be able to tell the difference when you do it as much as i do.  So banner day with the bites and I am feeling it’s going to stay strong here for a while through May.  Tuesday I had Randy out and we went right back to the bridge where we had that action yesterday.  We got there early and caught a few live baits on the way.  Fishing was great for us it was truly an incredible day.  We ended up catching I think 7 tarpon getting 4 to the hand and leader release on 3 others.  Plus we jumped off a handful more.  We really did not go much more than 5 or 10 minutes without hooking a fish.  And no sharks to worry about and we got beautiful pictures of our last big fish that was probably over 120 lbs!  Incredible day and one of the best I’ve had in a long time!  Thursday I had Amy and Joby and nice calm conditions again.  Fishing got a little tougher though not that it was bad, but we went a couple hours in the morning without a sniff… jumping around several times and making me sweat a little bit!  But eventually we got some bites and we ended up catching four out of five that we hooked, and got one big one to the hand which was great for a nice picture.  Also our last bait out we got a big goliath grouper of 100 lbs or so which was cool to finish on.  Then finally Friday I had some of my favorites, return customers Pride and Cile who have been fishing with me for over a decade or so.  It was the full moon and somebody turned the fishing on hard mode for sure!  We tried to find a little live bait early on but it seemed to have all disappeared… which was no surprise sometimes on a full moon that happens things go offshore to spawn.  We found a good amount of fish down at the bridges but today they really did not seem happy.  We had a few live baits left over we tried and did our usual thing, jumping around and setting up in different ways.  We really worked all up and down the bridge.  We finally did get a good zip out of one after a few hours, but he came off dropping the bait.  I thought for sure we’d get another shot but it just didn’t happen.  So we ran back up near home and checked a couple of the other bridges.  Did not see much in the first stop and then went to another one.  It was almost high noon, slick calm, crystal clear water, and slacking up incoming tide.  About as bad of conditions as you could get honestly!  Though we marked a few fish in one spot.  We set up and literally with our last two baits we ended up finally hooking a nice 40-50 lber for Pride!  He stayed buttoned and we got him to the boat for a nice picture.  If somebody asked me on a trip when were you the most discouraged and thinking it wasn’t going to happen, but then you ended up catching a tarpon, when would that have been?  It would of been that last hour!  So that’s why you always keep grinding and why fishing is so fun you just never know!  So all in all a great week we produced tarpon every trip and hopefully a few days off now for them to get a little hungrier and past this full moon for next week.

I’m all booked up this month but Capt. Steve has a few openings here and there especially with the evening trips.  I’m also happy to announce Capt. Luke is finally getting this Capt. license as that had been held up the last couple of months with the government shutdown.  He will very soon be available on the seacraft for tarpon trips he’s been fishing with me quite a few times through season here and taking the boat out on his own the last few months catching bait and figuring things out.  But we’ll have him under my and capt. steves wing so he’ll be in the know on the fishing and ready to show people a good time!

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

Getting right on along here in April and had a busy week tarpon fishing here again.  Had a bit more wind again this week with another late cold front blowing in Tuesday.  While the temperature didn’t get super cold it blew about 25 knots and had the northeasterly direction so it definitely did drop water temps from what they were down to low 70s from near 80 what it was Monday.  So Monday I had Ian and Brooke, regulars who have fished with me the last couple of seasons.  Tarpon fishing was pretty good again this day was nice and calm.  We found fish in the backcountry where we’d been getting them the last couple of weeks.  Ian had a nice one to start the day within the first 15 minutes.  We got it boatside several times but it ended up chaffing through the leader before we could get a picture.  Which he really wanted because we hadn’t been able to seal that deal.  Luckily a little later he got another bite and that one cooperated we got the nice boatside picture!  We ended up jumping three or four more fish in the next couple of hours didn’t even really have to move so really good fishing.  After 10:00 or so things slowed down we did find a pack of fish free jumping and busting offshore from where we were but we didn’t get any bites out of them though got into some big sharks of course.  So the next day was a complete 180 on Tuesday.  I had Ian and Brooke again and it was blowing a gail, steady 25 knots I would say about as windy as it gets for us to fish.  We were able to get to the same area just hugging the banks carefully for the ride.  Once we got there it wasnt too bad as the backcountry areas are often protected by shallow water so that was nice.  Fishing was slow to start we tried the same little area and did not have a sniff there.  As mentioned the water temps were a bit colder but still not out of the realm of tarpon biting I didn’t think.  We moved a few times and tried another nearby channel but no luck aside from a sawfish and a hammerhead shark which was cool.  We ran a little ways to check another area where I had found some smaller fish the week before.  We ended up stumbling into a pack of them rolling and set up and lucked out we had seven or eight bites though only landed one fish but it was lots of action.  One of those days where we had to hunt them down though as opposed to the day before where we were able to just sit and wait for cruising fish to come by.  So Wednesday then I had Karl and crew visiting from Maryland.  We did the backcountry again the winds were still blowing pretty good though not as crazy as the day before.  We pounded it out in that area where we found those little fish the day before and they were in there but not as happy today.  We moved a few times and after an hour we hooked one but it came off spitting the bait right away.   We fished a bit more and just had some shark action.  The tide quit on us and once it started falling we worked an area where the fish had been the day before.  Sometimes you find some edges or live bottom where the fish seem to congregate more and this was what we’d found as when we snagged bottom a few times we pulled up some sponge and live bottom.  And the fish had been laying here multiple times where we had bites.  Sure enough we got another one there we landed.  That was it for the day.  Thursday it got nicer it was still a little blustery but a steady 15 mph so we were able to run across the bay getting out.  Tried that same area again and sure enough we got a nice 60 lb fish to start the day.  A big shark ended up spooking it though after we got it boatside and it broke off but got away I’m pretty sure which was good.  We did not hook any more after that though we did get into a good pack of fish which I was surprised didn’t bite as we marked them on the sonar multiple times right on our baits.  After the tide started slowing down I decided to run back down to long key bridge to check that out.  I hadn’t been there yet this year and we got there right on the tide change.  I did mark a good group of fish right where we first stopped and we put our baits out and within 5 minutes Karl hooked a nice one!  We jumped it off unfortunately but then his buddy John hooked into one about 10 minutes after that which stayed on.  We had an excited battle through the bridge a few times.  Got it boatside fairly quickly for the size fish that it was a good 130 lbs or so.  But a big hammerhead got after it and we broke it off.  It was an exciting view watching the hammer chase it around but not much we could do being right next to the bridge.  We tried again for another hour and the tide started ripping in then but we did not have another bite.  So all in all we had a consistent week of catching tarpon every day.  So good fishing when it was nice and then of course got a little tougher with the cold front and extreme wind but we still were able to make it happen.  Next week it looks like it’ll be calming down and hoping we have a very exciting May.  I think the bridge fishing will hopefully be a little more productive later into the season this year as I think that happened last year too though I was fishing the backcountry mostly at that point.  But time will tell.  I don’t have anything left until a few days in early June.  Capt. Steve has a handful of evenings and days available in May and much more in June.  June can still be great fishing so if you want to set something up give us a shout!

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