Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Well the mullet have really thinned out we have had a hard time catching them in the early mornings.  Word too is with the big busy weekend even the commercial guys may give it up.  However there were a lot of fish around this afternoon we caught one dead baiting near home, also crab fishing on the falling tides should be a decent bet and the tides will be getting better on the evening trips in the next few days.  We are coming up on a full moon which is an anomoly to deal with but the may florida keys tarpon fishing can still be good.  Last night we got 1 fish as well and had a few other ‘cheap shots.’  It’s been a little slower than April, a few bites a trip and most of the time you get one, if your lucky maybe 2.  As june aproaches its getting to be dead bait tarpon fishing time in Islamorada.  The everglades tarpon fishing should hopefully pick back up, there has not been a whole lot of fish in the channels back there but summer time can be a good time back there and also off the mainland (east cape).

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@islamoradatarpon.com

Sorry for the lack of updates been crazy busy!  The mullet in islamorada have been a little tough to come by the last few days.  Even the commercial guys have had a tough time and did not show up with live bait a couple mornings.  Today we were able to get them pretty good luckily and it paid off.  We caught one nice 75 lb tarpon by channel 5 bridge on a live mullet.  A lot of fish on the oceanside but did not see any other boats hook up.  Later we moved by channel 2 and caught one there on a dead mullet, a big 110 lb fish.  Again a TON of fish rolling for almost 2 hours, saw one every 20 seconds probably.  They were tough to get to bite but we hung strong and got them.  We also caught a few sharks including a big black tip plus a couple of really big jacks.  The may islamorada tarpon fishing should pick up and I think crabs will become the bait of choice soon!  The last few days the fishing has been OK we did have a tarpon on yesterday though we lost him and caught plenty of other things, the day before we fished the gulf and had a good day.  We did catch fish the last few nights but its only been a bite or two a night.  I’m sure if you stay later past sunset the bite will be better on crabs and the tide should fall till late.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@islamoradatarpon.com

Well we had a mild cold front hit us, not that it got very cold but chilly north/northeast wind today.  The tarpon really dont like the northerly winds as it is a winter time wind and usually cold.  We were successful in finding some that were willing to eat though around some of the local bridges.  We caught one smaller fish of 35 lbs and jumped another one off. Had a couple other ‘cheap shots’ too so although not red hot it was still good action especially given the conditions of 15-20 MPH north winds in the morning, then northeast more towards the afternoon.  We were able to catch some bait early and there were some big massive schools of mullet around later in the morning too which is good to see.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@islamoradatarpon.com