Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

At it again today fishing for the tarpon in the backcountry.  We got out early and on the bait pretty good, one throw and we had a net full of mullet.  Tried some of the local channels close by to the bait area and we were lucky and hooked a nice tarpon in about 10 minutes.  Landed him a good 40 lber and had a few more shark bites.  After the tide quit we ran out west off the beach to take a look.  Though not much action out there at all today just a couple shark bites, did not see any busting or jumping fish, no rollers, no nothing.  Funny the conditions looked much better today than yesterday but just nothing out there.  Anyways we caught a few sharks and then ran back around flamingo to try the channels there.  We caught a couple lemon sharks and then saw a few tarpon rolling travelling down the channel.  Those ones were moving out but there were a handful hanging out in the channel and we eventually got a bite out of one a few minutes before it was time to go, though unfortunately he didn’t stay on the hook.  Anyways great day John got to catch his first tarpon and plenty of shark activity for the rest.  1 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

I had Keith and his son Zack out today for some tarpon fishing in Islamorada.  We fished a 3/4 day getting out early a little before daybreak.  We were able to get a good throw on some mullet and caught plenty of bait to make our day with.  We fished the last of the incoming tide around Flamingo hitting some channels where there had been some fish in the last week.  The wind was cranking pretty good out of the south, especially for this time of year.  Not much as far as tarpon action there though we did get a big blacktip shark and a big lemon.  As the tide started to quit we worked our way out west towards the gulf.  I saw a free jumping fish and another bust near a shallow bank and we set up there to fish.  A big blacktip bit us off and then we moved a bit further down where some more busting was going on, though nothing but sharks gave us any love.  After that we worked our way further out to the fertile grounds where there had been good tarpon fishing the last few weeks.  We saw a few free jumping fish and tried to set up on them, though again nothing but sharks would bite for us.  We moved a couple times and I finally just went and sat on my numbers for the last 30 minutes.  As fate would have it we got lucky and Zack hooked a nice 50 lb fish we fought and landed.  He got some good boatside pictures and that was a wrap.  Hard work and perseverance paid off, the guys wanted to fish again tomorrow though unfortunately I wasn’t available though I made sure they were put in good hands with a fellow guide.  1 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Tarpon fished today with Jerry and his grandson Dustin from Texas.  We headed out early and stopped around Flamingo to catch a little bait on the way.  Didn’t see a whole bunch of bait, but was still holding pretty good from yesterday.  We did check a couple spots and caught a dozen or so mullet though.  We ran out off the beaches where we had some tarpon action yesterday.  First up Dustin caught a giant snook of about 18 lbs, very nice fish.  Then we got rocked up by what we believe was a goliath grouper.  After that we caught a sting ray and decided to move out where I was seeing a few tarpon busting.  Soon after we hooked up and Jerry landed a nice 25 lb fish.  After that we moved again and jumped another fish off, then hooked and landed a nice 50 lb fish.  After that Dustin was up we moved one more time and Dustin hooked up soon he had a nice 50-60 lb fish too.  After that we put them out one more time and Jerry hooked up another fish in the 50 lb range.  Great fishing up until 11:00 or so then things slowed down, tide quit around noon.  We tried a few other spots in the area and had a few shark bites but that was it.  Great day though overall these guys will be back next year!  4 for 5

Capt. Rick Stanczyk