Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Had some may tarpon fishing charters in islamroada the last couple days.  Last night we caught a double header in the memorial day craziness!  Fishing dead bait we hooked a 100 lber and a 50 lber.  Chased the 100 lber and luckily the 50 followed us and we got a leadered release on him.  Followed the 100 lber for a while and had an armada of jet skis circling us looking on.  We were able to release him as well and then call it a night not bad for a couple hours of fishing!  Today we caught some live mullet early this AM but the fishing was a little tough.  We saw fish everywhere we went locally including the local channels and down by channel 5 bridge but they were not really biting.  A couple nervous baits that looked like they would get slammed and one fish rolled on a bait but no bite.  We ended up catching a nice 100 lber though again on a bottom bait plus a few other sharks including a nice big bull shark.  The wind was howling today though so we will take it.  As we get more into June the dead baiting will be more and more popular as will fishing crabs especially a little earlier in the mornings and in the evenings.  I have some evenings trips as well as morning trips available still or a full day in the backcountry can be good too!

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

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