Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out for a full day today with Brian and Steven.  We were after tarpon and we were loaded with fresh mullet.  Tried a channel early and not much just a shark.  Look off the beaches later and didn’t see much there either a few tarpon busting but didn’t appear to be a ton.  We did get several sharks including a nice hammerhead.  After that we caught some trout, and then tried one last spot for the silver king.  We got a few more sharks and then Brian hooked into a nice 100 lb tarpon.  Landed him and that was all she wrote we fished a little longer but things had quieted down.  Glad to have gotten one.  1 for 1

This evening I fished Ken again who had fished me a couple days earlier this week.  Last trip we didn’t get a tarpon we had a couple bites we missed, but he had gotten one the day before among some other things.  Anyways he emailed me short notice and I was good to go and conditions were favorable so I was excited to get out.  We fished around the bridges early and got a nice fish on around 7:00.  He dragged us almost a couple miles offshore after an hour battle to some patch reefs it was incredible.  Didn’t get many good pics and he came off the hook when I leadered him but a good release of a nice 75 lb fish.  After that Ken was good to go in but I wanted to get him another one so we tried one of the channels near home for a drift and hooked up on the first one.  This fish didn’t last too long and was roughly the same size though same thing we didn’t get good pics and he came off on the leader as well.  But glad to have gotten 2 for sure especially since we didn’t get ’em last time.  2 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out today and we ran into the backcountry for some tarpon fishing.  Caught some good bait early in the morning so we had some freshies.  We set up in the channels and caught the last of the incoming tide.  Not much early a couple shark bites as we waited on the tide to switch which took a while as it was a weak current.  Finally around 9:15 it was moving decent and going out and we soon hooked a nice tarpon.  Landed him a big 130 lb fish!  After that we waited a bit more and then boom boom, we jumped two smaller fish in the 30-50 lb range right in a row.  Could of been a double header!  After that we waited a little more and then hooked and landed a nice 50 lber.  That was it on the tarpon we caught a few more sharks after that and some nice trout to finish the day.  Nice to see them biting a little bit.  Conditions look very nice and I think the fish should be getting happier and maybe will be in summer time mode here before we know it!  2 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Had Ken out this morning again we fished early 4 to 8 AM.  The tide didn’t quite get started when I thought so we drifted a different area while waiting on the tide switch.  No bites there we then ran where I’d been getting them in the mornings lately but made several drifts there with no luck.  Now 6 AM and I went out to another channel where I had caught some several mornings ago.  We did get a couple bites on 2 consecutive drifts, though didn’t hook the fish unfortunately they slurped the crabs right off after pulling a little drag.  After that we tried different tactics for the last hour, saw a few fish rolling in this area but didn’t get a response and called it a day.  0 for 2

This evening I had Rick and Jane they had fished the last few days and had hooked a few tarpon but not officially landed one yet.  We got out and I was looking for fish laying on the bottom as the tide was just starting to fall and it was clear enough to see them.  I saw one and we set up near by.  About 10 minutes after putting the baits out he slammed our live mullet and we were on!  We chased him through the bridge and what a tough fish he was.  4 different times he tried to go through the 4 legged power line concrete structures and I had to float the rod through each time.  One time the rod almost came free but luckily it held on by 1 strap!  He put on quite a show jumping and then several twists and turns around the bridge.  After 45 minutes we landed him finally, it was a total team effort as Jane hooked him, Rick fought him, and I had to maneuver the boat.  Anyways even though my reel got soaked I didn’t mind it was worth it to land such a memorable fish, luckily it was an old reel anyways!   1 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk