Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Had Mike and his sons Bennett and Anders out today for a full day.  We had bait from yesterday left over so we were in good shape.  They wanted to target tarpon and their july fishing charter today.  We ran right back to the channels where I’d been having luck lately.  A little bit of rain around, and the tide just starting to make its way out.  We hooked a nice fish and Anders fought him very well, half way through though it started to pour rain.  We got good and drenched though caught our fish.  We set back up and put the baits out, waiting for the rain to pass.  Eventually it did, we had a little shark activity.  About 45 minutes later Bennett hooked a juvenile 30 lb tarpon and also did a good job hooking it.  We fought him and got him to the boat for his first tarpon ever – great job!  After that a few more sharks and things seemed to quite down.  We ran off the mainland and tried some areas off the beaches.  A few sharks to start with, and then Bennett hooked another tarpon this time a larger 65 lb fish.  He put up a good battle and we fought him for 30 minutes or so, getting several spectacular jumps and runs.  Bennett got him in though and was very happy.  The boys had their Go Pro camera so hopefully some good video will come out of it, I’ll try to share!  That was it for tarpon for the day we had a few more sharks after that, and some big groupers dog us into the rocks, though Anders did land a small gag grouper.

Also yesterday forgot to do my report for the day.  I had Mike and his son out we had a flat calm gorgeous day.  They got lucky and had very good fishing too.  We caught 3 tarpon first thing in the morning and jumped off another one.  All within the first couple hours.  After that we did some rod bending for snappers, found a little bit of small live bait, and caught half a dozen snook to finish the day.  We also had some baby tarpon pop our snook baits but did not get any actual bites or hook ups out of them.  3 for 3 and 3 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Had Jen and Phil from a couple days ago again today.  I had a little bit of bait leftover from our previous session as I had the day off yesterday.  We ran right to the channels where there had been some fish early and we got on them again this morning.  Jen hooked a big tarpon of 75 lbs that we didn’t think was a tarpon at first.  It made a slow run out and then just a big circle around the boat.  I thought it was a lemon shark or ray or something, so we locked the drag down and slowly got him near the boat.  After about 15 minutes he finally jumped off the bow and it was a nice tarpon!  We fought him from the dead boat and Jen landed him, very strange fighting fish.  While that was going on we jumped another one on the other rod that was in the holder.  Than later on Phil caught a nice 40 lber we got to the boat and jumped off boatside.  We also got a few other little sharks.  Later on we caught some bait, it wasn’t easy but we found a little mud on the flat with dolphins chasing the bait everywhere but were able to get 15 or so.  We tried off the beach and we got a few hammerheads and landed another smaller tarpon plus a few other sharks.  After the tide quit things slowed down we didn’t catch much the last hour just a couple small blacktips and a nurse shark.  But another great morning with multiple tarpon!  3 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Here you can read our latest fishing reports.  I try to keep this section updated regularly when we are tarpon fishing consistently.  Though remember in the off season we may not be fishing as much or we may be targeting other things.

Alright summer time is here as we’re well into June!  ‘Prime’ tarpon season seems to be over as the big numbers of migrating fish have been less and less the last couple of weeks.  We’ve had overall decent fishing for resident fish however and we’re starting to transition more into backcountry tarpon fishing where many of these fish reside for the summer and fall.  The bridge fishing can still be productive however you won’t see quite the numbers we had in April and May.  Plus the summer time can get tricky finding bait in the morning and the seaweed can be a hassle to fish in.  Evening trips for tarpon can be a good half day bet and we do a lot of local channel fishing with mahi carcasses through the summer so if you want to set something up last minute and do a shorter trip that is a good option.  Capt. Luke is at the ready for a trip like that.  Otherwise for the backcountry day time tarpon I typically recommend at least a 3/4 or full day trip to have the time to make the run back there.  I’m gone now for the rest of June and most of July but I’ll be back late July and will start taking some trips again the last week there and in August.  Drop me a line though if you want to get out with Capt. Steve or Capt. Luke here over the summer so far it’s shaping up nicely for some summer tarpon action!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing