Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

8/16/19 – I fished for fun with my wife Elizabeth and mother in law Ginger.  We tried some spots I just don’t fish a lot and some stuff that is even somewhat new to me.  We ended up finding some baby tarpon and snook in a couple of those spots, and managed to catch one baby tarpon and jumped off another.  Didn’t get any pictures though as I caught it and got it to the boat but he jumped away after we leadered him.  Also caught a handful of redfish and trout too.  1 for 2

8/17/19 – Fished with Stephen and Daria today return customers of mine.  We focused on tarpon mostly but started out catching a good handful of redfish and a small snook.  We found a couple larger schools of tarpon in two different areas – great to see!  Spot 1 they were mostly small guys, 15 to 30 lbers.  Unfortuantely they were not staying on the hook very well at all.  We got one to the boat, but he went under the boat once we got him on the leader and jumped a few times and pulled the hook.  Good enough for a technical catch just not very photogenic!  After that though they just kept getting off, either spitting the bait right away or jumping a couple times and throwing the hook.  We found some larger tarpon in the 2nd spot, but we didn’t have a ton of bait left at that point though we did jump 1 here too.  But still lots of action and we caught some big lemon sharks and blacktips too for an all around great day.  Good signs to see more tarpon numbers, it could definitely still be good for the next couple months!  1 for 8

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Trevor, Chad, and Gary today for a 3/4 day trip.  We left out early.  Had bait stashed away from a few days ago.  With the falling tides in the morning, bait is very difficult to get.  Luckily I was able to stash enough away for this trip and my trip tomorrow, then I won’t be fishing again until the weekend when the tidal situation should be more favorable for catching bait early.  We found some fish early on where they had been lately.  But acting very strange, I don’t think we ever even saw one roll but I could see them on the electronics.  We fished a few spots and kept moving trying to get in front of the right ones.  We did run one over that jumped out of the water, so absolutely sure they were there.  But no bites just some sharks and bluefish.  We went to another area with the last of the tide, and sure enough found a good pack of small tarpon in there.  We set up and it was fast and furious for a bit.  Trevor ended up landing one fish and getting another on the leader before it jumped off, and jumped off a 3rd fish straight from the get go.  Gary caught one as well.  All in a good 20 minute rally.  After that things died off.  We ran and checked one more area a ways away, where I had caught my last fish a couple days ago.  Saw a boat hooked up when we pulled in, but we didn’t see a whole ton of tarpon.  Just a handful here and there.  We set up, but the sharks were thick and hard to get through.  Caught a bunch of blacktip sharks, and then called it a morning.  But not bad with 3 tarpon overall!  Back at it tomorrow not sure what we are doing.  3 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Michael and his son Preston again. We were after a tarpon. Found a decent group of fish early where they were a couple days ago, but today unfortunately we had about 30 minutes of tide and then things went slack. That can be tough this time of year as your good bite window is often first thing, but you have to work with the hand you are dealt. Anyways we caught a few sharks and waited out the tide change which was quick, but the fish seemed to spread out and didn‘t look so good after that. So we bailed and fished elsewhere. Found some more fish in spot 2, and did manage to jump 1 there that didn’t stay on the hook. Plenty of bigger sharks here too. Eventually they kinda stopped showing there too and we checked a final area that I hadn’t been too in a while. Low and behold we found a good pack of fish here, and after several blacktip sharks and a couple moves we finally hooked up! Nice 50 lb fish that fought well, and soon Preston had his first tarpon to the hand. There are definitely still tarpon around and the possibility of good fishing is there for a couple more months. But right now you really seem to have to commit to it to have a good shot, as we are working hard to get a bite or two a day. Off tomorrow then fun fishing on Monday.  1 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing