Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

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

Yesterday we caught 2 out of 4 tarpon in the morning.  Last night we caught 2 out of 2.  Much slower fishing in the evening with lots of boat traffic.  Tonight we fished an area that is out of the way of many boaters which worked out well.  Caught 4 tarpon on our evening trip plus a nice bull shark.  Great day on the water!  The may evening tarpon fishing in islamorada should be good the next few days, falling tides into the darkness.  This can be feeding frenzy time.  Fish begin to feed on crabs much more as the mullet thing out – these can be deadly especially fished at dark and after dark!

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

Well more good tarpon fishing today.  We caught 2 out of 4 nice size tarpon in the backcountry this morning, plus several blacktip sharks.  Later we did some other stuff such as trout, ladyfish, snapper, etc…  All on fresh dead mullet.  Backcountry tarpon fishing should get better as we get some new arrivals of fish in from the gulf spawn!  Tonight we fished the channel 5 bridge tarpon fishing.  We got a few local resident fish going (smaller guys 30-60 lb).  We only got one to the boat, but we jumped 3 more and also had a few other ‘cheap shots’ where they busted and missed the bait.  Fun action though and any night you get a tarpon is a good one!  The islamorada night tarpon fishing should be good as we have good falling tide in islamorada, the best tide for tarpon fishing.  Yesterday we did not have a good report, a north wind shut many of the backcountry tarpon down and we did not have any bites, not even from sharks… so ended up doing other things that day instead which worked out well!

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