Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

More tarpon fishing in the backcountry today.  We found a few fish in the same channels I’ve been hitting the last few mornings.  They are not happy though we did not get a bite out of them this morning.  We ran to another area and gave it a shot and did end up catching a good variety of sharks including some hammerheads, bonnet heads, blacktips, and a big nurse shark.  After that I ran way up in side the same channel to give it a shot sometimes the tarpon are up there.  We ended up getting one right before the tide quit, a nice 85 lber!  We landed him and the tide had changed by the time we got back – perfect!  We had another bite about 20 minutes after and missed him unfortuantely.  We did see a few fish start to roll and had another hour of  fishing, but no more tarpon bites just a couple more sharks.  Anyways glad to be on the board again!  1 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well the streak is over after about 3 weeks of catching tarpon every trip.  Not that we didn’t have our shot though.  We went into the backcountry where the fish were good the last few days.  Though today it was flat calm and then a light southerly breeze.  We saw fish rolling and we did hook one first thing in the morning.  Unfortunately he just came unbuttoned as we were chasing him, pulled the hook.  After that no more tarpon bites we caught a bunch of different kinds of sharks, and a few trout and snappers.  They just did not seem really happy today for whatever reason, sometimes the slick calm makes them much more leary.  Amazing how the fishing can change from yesterday to today.  Oh well that’s why it’s called fishing!  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

More good fishing today.  We were able to hammer the mullet early and get right to fishing.  I set up in the channel where we found and caught a nice fish yesterday in the late morning.  Saw a fish roll right away – a good sign!  First bite was a big barracuda that cut us off, then a little shark.  Though eventually mr. tarpon bit and he went crazy jumping!  We caught him and ended up catching two more and another shark.  Really good fishing and great to catch 3 tarpon by 9:00 in the morning!  After that the tide quit and we ran and caught some pilchards, while doing so the trout and snapper kept us busy.  Then we finished the day with some excellent snook fishing and even jumped another tarpon while doing that!  3 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk