Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Can’t believe it’s already the middle of April but here we are!  We had another fairly windy week but mid week it did get tolerable and actually with the northeast directions we’ve had in the mornings the ride out hasn’t been too bad but its been a little rougher/windier in the afternoons when it’s swung more southeast.  Fishing has been fair I’ll say I’m still fishing in the backcountry as I was last week and having some luck.  We fished Monday with Pete and Cynthia and got a good tarpon first thing right off the bat.  We had the last trickle of falling tide and it quit right after we caught that fish.  We didn’t have much action for 20-30 minutes after that so we ventured beyond to try and find a larger group of fish I had mentioned seeing the week prior.  Those fish were there though today they were fairly spread out so as far as looking on the sonar and trying to find a big wad of them to sit in, you kinda had to just find one or two and sit and wait.  We worked hard and caught quite a few big sharks but the tarpon just did not seem super happy.  We had one swimming in between our baits several times for about 15 minutes I saw him roll 2 or 3 times but still no bite out of him.  After a couple hours we finally jumped one but it was a fairly lazy bite that spit it instantly and it was gone.  But all in all happy to have gotten one.  I did not fish Tuesday but I did on Wednesday again.  I had Ronald and Suzanne out.  As mentioned the ride out was very nice I ran right across the bay and it wasn’t super rough, it even appeared to almost slick out while we were fishing a couple of times but then started blowing a little bit.  We had the same bite in the same area and started off with a nice fish for Ronald.  Had a little more tide today so we moved around and set up on another fish we saw and had a bite instantly but it jumped off.  After that we had a few sharks and the tide quit.  We moved around up into an area where we had really good fishing a couple weeks ago but I mentioned that had turned off for me after a few days.  Today though those fish were back there and we set up on a few we saw and sure enough hooked another 60 lber that we landed after a good fight.  No sharks after them today which was a bonus!  After that we caught a few more sharks and a nice medium size sawfish which was really cool.  We decided to run back around town and tried down around the bridges.  We did find a small group of fish around a bayside spot and saw one boat fighting one there.  We set up on them however we did not get a bite.  Looked at the bridge for a minute before it was time to go and we caught a couple of big nurse sharks.  All in all another great day getting a couple nice tarpon.  Thursday I had Ron and crew visiting and we caught 3 more tarpon!  The day got really nice and calmer winds.  Fish were happy we had 5 bites in total i think.

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

Well through another week here they keep rolling by!  We had an overall nice week here with the wind finally laying down late last weekend.  I had regular Randy and Karen Townsend out for a couple days this week on Monday and Wednesday.  We found some fish in the backcountry in an area that we used to fish often years ago though I haven’t been to much in recent years as the fish hadn’t been there as consistently.  But it was good to see them there!  We got out early Monday and caught the start of the falling tide.  We were able to just kind of sit on numbers and got several tarpon bites as well as sharks.  When I say sit on numbers I mean just sitting on known spots where you catch tarpon – usually either some kind of bottom or hold they may like to lay in, or edges of channels that they often cruise past.  As opposed to how I usually fish for them these days which is using my eyes and sonar to locate them and set up on them.  So a little more old school if you will.  Anyways we ended up hooking 5 tarpon doing that and we landed 3 and got two up for pictures.  One of them that we didn’t get pictures of was a complete moose and dragged us over 2 miles out into the gulf!  Tuesday I had Michael and his son Aaron out.  Fishing was a little tougher this day but the weather sure was nice it really slicked out flat calm.  We tried a similar tactic and only had a few shark bites the first hour.  Eventually once that wind lied down I visually saw some tarpon and we moved – they were lining up on the opposite side of the channel a little more.  We got in them and even while we marked them pretty regularly next to us, it still took about an hour for us to get a bite but we did and caught a nice fish for Michael.  We ended up moving and found a pack of some smaller fish elsewhere and had several more bites and caught a nice one for Aaron but unfortunately a bull shark got it before we could get it boatside.  Wednesday I had Randy and Karen again and we got on those smaller fish again from the get go.  Karen caught a nice one to start the day.  We moved around and had to work a little but we eventually got in front of them again and jumped several more and then Randy got once for himself again.  It was about 10:00 and we decided to run back towards home to try some bridge fishing.  Caught some fresh bait on the way back and checked out some of the local bridges at Channel 5 and Channel 2.  We did not see much for tarpon however – they were in there good a week or more ago but I really did not see much aside from a handful.  Karen caught a nice big bull shark and a big nurse shark.  We eventually ran back towards home to try the local channels nearby and hit three spots but did not see a thing though we caught another nurse shark.  Thursday I just had return customer Chris and his son Odin.  We ran into the backcountry to try that routine one more time but today wasn’t our day.  The pack of smaller fish we had lots of luck with the previous few days seemed to have broken up.  We saw a few but never really could get on them and did not have a bite from them though we caught a few sharks including a big bull.  I decided to run and try another backcountry area where we’d been catching them a couple weeks ago but I hadn’t been too since, as the around town fishing the day before seemed pretty quiet.  We got lucky and did find a big group of tarpon though we had a very weak tide setup in that area for the day.  Some days you get these weak tides where it will come in hard like normal, but then only falls for an hour or two and you get very little current movement.  Fish often just don’t like that and don’t feed well in that scenario, and it is more or less severe depending the area you are fishing as we didn’t have that problem in the area we were fishing previously.  But you just have to play the hand you are dealt and the tarpon were there so we tried.  Unfortunately we did not get a bite though we caught some more big sharks.   So stinks to have stuck out but we had a good run as of late.  And finally today on Friday I fished Keith and his brother Dale.  Keith has fished all over and had never caught a tarpon.  We had the high winds that had picked up the day before but we ran out into the backcountry early.  I was tempted to run straight to where we had found all those fish the previous day, being we’d be there early and have the better incoming tide.  However I decided to stick it out in the channels and ‘fish the numbers’ I was previously speaking of.  Sure enough we had a bite within about 10 minutes and Dale caught a nice tarpon of 40 lbs or so that we got up for pictures.  We set back up and another 10 minutes later, Keith was hooked up to a nice 60 lber!  We fought her for a little while and got her to the boat several times, but unfortunately a bull shark came up and attacked so we popped the fish off before it got eaten.  After that we fished a little more and we tried several more backcountry channels but all we found were sharks.  Tried nearby home for the last hour and we did mark a few fish close to home but didn’t have a bite, and the boys were beat and we came in a little early at 12:30.  So all in all a pretty good week of fishing aside from Thursday but every now and then you stumble.  Pulled the boat today for an oil change this weekend and we’ll be back at it Monday.  It’ll be another windy week but we’ll see how it pans out.  Give me a shout if you want to get out, Capt. Steve still has some availability here and there especially for evening trips which he’s been productive with (he caught a couple fish each of the last evenings he fished).  Also summer will be here before you know it so get your summer plans booked!

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

Alright guys we’re into April and that is really the start of what we often consider ‘prime time’ tarpon fishing here in the Florida Keys.  Generally speaking this is when the largest amounts of fish are to be found as we start getting good groups of migrating fish comingling with the residents that live here.  They often start leaving the everglades and other early season haunts and come closer in and around the keys in the various channels, around the bridges, and bays nearby.  I ended up fishing locally for a few days this week and we had some good fishing overall.  Monday I actually just fished a shorter trip with a family and action was the name of the game.  So we went snapper fishing and got our fill pretty quickly.  After that they had asked about tarpon and I told them we could try a backcountry channel area where I hadn’t yet fished this season but was curious to try – and they would of been happy catching a few sharks if anything.  Sure enough we set up I did not see a whole lot of tarpon or anything but I sat on some general GPS numbers I used to like.  After about 10 minutes the rod bent over and we had a 150 lb tarpon on!  We fought it and unfortunately a pack of sharks got after it.  They had a tough time grabbing it and I thought it’d be too big for them to really eat.  We tried doing some circles around the fish to slow the sharks down but one got a piece of the belly and that was it for the fish unfortunately.  Tuesday we ended up fishing locally as mentioned and we had a really good day.  We ended up hooking three fish in the first 2 hours nearby the marina and landed two of those fish.  Later on we checked out the bridges as I hadn’t been there yet this season yet either.  We did find some tarpon down there it wasn’t loaded up heavy yet, but enough that it looked worth fishing.  We ended up jumping three smaller tarpon around there and caught a few sharks.  We ran down to another bridge to look and sure enough some tarpon were there too however the tide was changing and we did not get a bite there.  We finished up near home again and hooked another big fish that ended up breaking off on us.  But good action around town with a good half dozen bites at least!  Now yesterday things got tougher but we still made it happen.  No bites early in the AM for us this time around which was strange as the tarpon were still where we had found them the previous morning but just not happy.  We tried for a couple hours then we decided to run down to the bridges.  The bridges were holding tarpon again and we ended up catching a tarpon early on.  After that things slowed down we kept seeing tarpon but not much love for us, we did catch a couple big nurse sharks and a nice goliath grouper which was cool and a first for my angler.  Then at the end we ended up jumping one more tarpon that just didn’t stay on the hook and spat the bait instantly.  So all in all not bad fishing and we landed at least one tarpon each trip.  I’m hopeful our bridge fishing will continue getting better and better as last year it was not all that great.  So far things look pretty good!  Give me a shout if you want to get out there!

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