Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Another great day this time with Chad and Erik down from Alaska! We also fished alongside Capt. John Johansen with the rest of their crew. We focused on tarpon and fishing was really good again. We ended up landing 4 nice fish, including a big 120-130 lb bruiser that dragged us around for 45 minutes before swimming up near a flat. Erik asked if it was possible to jump in with her, and I said sure if things go right we can give it a shot. Luckily we got her rolled over soon after and were in a good spot to do it. So both the guys jumped in and we got an epic photo op, then Erik revived the fish and let it swim away. These guys fish a lot so they were all about not stressing the fish too much and understood the importance of not battling them for too long or releasing them in bad shape. After that we had a few more shots, missing one and then had one get in in the bridge just barely on the barnacles but we couldn’t get it out in time. But lots of action and some awesome fishing! We also even caught two mutton snappers for dinner and release a few others. We’re back at it tomorrow with the same crew, hopefully the fishing is just as good!  4 for 6

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

Awesome day with the McElroy crew! We spent the day tarpon fishing. Caught some bait early and hit the bridges. Little choppy with the south wind and a hard tide, and very grassy as has been the case often lately. With such a warm early summer, the sargasm showed up ahead of schedule. Anyways we got anchored and just had steady tarpon action until 11 am or so. They were eating everything, great live bait bites and putting on a great show. It was combat fishing trying to maneuver around the bridges but we got 3 tarpon to the hand, leader release on a 4th, and lost a 5th in the bridge. But we probably had ten other bites – a lot of grabs on the live baits and they’d pull for a couple seconds and spit it. But exciting none the less! After we were out of fresh bait we caught some more, had to work at it but got a decent amount. Tried fishing locally near home the last hour and had a few mystery bites plus caught a couple big Jack’s and sharks. But that was it and the jet skis we’re absolutely ridiculous 😒. Back at it tomorrow have the same crew for 3 days we may mix it up some but looks like nice weather and should be good fishing!  4 for 15

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

Thomas got to pull on some big tarpon today! The winds laid down nicely and it was a 180 from yesterday. We headed out early and found a big group of happy tarpon to start. First bait out we hooked a nice 150 lber within 5 minutes! We battled the fish for an hour and got her boatside several times. Thomas wanted to jump in and get a good shot with one, but I told him you really have to get lucky and get the right cooperative fish. This one eventually made one last hard run snapping the line. These big fish around the bridges are hard on our gear, so often it’s tough to get them to roll over as all you can do is pull hard. After that we left and tried another bridge. Again we hooked up pretty quick, and chased this fish down fast but he got us in the bridge and broke off after a few minutes. We set back up and them caught a big nurse shark. Things seemed to quiet down, so we moved around and then got on another pack of happy tarpon. We hooked one more that we chased into the bay, and had up to the boat again several times. Looked like we would roll this one over, pulled hard on the leader trying to stop her. But again one hard kick and she broke free! We set back up and then hooked another one about 20 minutes later. Again we got the fish chased down, in and out of the bridge. But eventually she swam in and we couldn’t stop her. After that we ran back towards home to try. Found a bunch more tarpon. No response so we moved around again, and had two more good zips on our baits. Not 💯 sure that they were tarpon, but definitely seemed like it with the pickup and run. Anyways we called it a day after that. 3 tarpon to the boat and a 4th we chased down before breaking us off, plus a couple more possible bites. Pretty good fishing, may tarpon fishing stays pretty hot! I’m off the next couple days hopefully getting my new boat soon. Looks like we have a nice stretch of weather, should keep the fish happy!  3 for 4

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