Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Nolan, Shane, and Olivia today for a full day trip.  Nolan runs some charters up in the NC area and works as a sales rep for a rod company up there.  He wanted to try one of his rods for tarpon.  I told him tarpon fishing can be very hit and miss this time of year, but we had decent conditions to try it.  I was able to sneak out yesterday morning for an hour to catch bait too, so I got us some mullet and pilchards.  I definitely wanted to have some ammo and give it a 110% shot which we did!  We left early and headed into the backcountry.  We found a lot of tarpon busting off the shorelines, eating various glass minnows and finger mullets.  We could not get them to hit our baits too.  Not sure if it was the full moon last night, or cooler water temperatures.  They were active, but just not for the hook baits.  We fished the last hour of falling tide, and then tried again when it started in, but no love.  We bailed on that and then had to spend a good bit of time getting on a bite of snook and redfish.  But we did manage too and had very good fishing in one spot for reds and a good solid handful of snook.  We gave it some extra time at the end of the day as it slicked out nice and checked a few other channels for tarpon.  Didn’t see much but we did come across a few rolling in one channel at the very end.  We gave it another 20 minutes, but did not get a response out of them either.  Anyways there are still some around, but as stated it can be very hit and miss this time of year.  The cooler water temperatures some times make them not feed as actively, and when you are in the thick of a bait run some times those fish just don’t want to hit a hook bait when there are so many other options.  But thankfully right now the snooks and reds are thick and provide a good alternative.  If anyone wants to get out fishing though let me know, plenty of open days in December and the other backcountry fishing should remain solid.  0 for 0

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

Well yesterday we had some slick calm weather, and today the wind kicked up in the morning but got slick calm later in the day.  Tarpon showed up in some spots!  We weren’t really fishing for them but did see a good number while we were hitting some snook in the creeks.  We ended up catching one in here on a jig and pilchard!  Snook fishing was really good too.  Later in the day we found some tarpon up in the skinny water in an area where we were catching some snook and redfish.  I got the rods rigged for tarpon.  We floated some shrimp back to them and they were happy!  We ended up catching a couple more, and jumped off two others.  Yes even in November we still can catch tarpon here in Islamorada, and when it gets slick calm like this, it can be just as good as the best times of year.  I think Friday I have some customers looking to catch some tarpon, so hopefully they’ll stick around.  Otherwise I have plenty of openings in early December, if it stays fairly warm like this it can be worth a shot.  But the snook and redfish fishing has been stellar so it’s hard to pass that up.  Regardless, if you want to go fishing give me a shout!  3 for 5

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

Well I have not been tarpon fishing much since the end of October.  The snook and redfish fishing in the everglades has been absolutely stellar.  The other day we had a cold front and things chilled down which really puts a hamper on the large tarpon.  But sometimes we do get the little guys going when this happens, and they feed on shrimp just like everybody else likes on chilly days.  Today my angler Emily really wanted to catch a tarpon.  We were having a great day with some redfish, drum, and snook already, and I told her I knew a spot we could try.  Well low and behold there were tons of little tarpon, and when I say little I mean 2 to 10 lbers!  They don’t always respond well, but we gave it a go and we had some really good fishing!  I don’t know exactly how many we got to bite, but we landed 9 of them between Emily and Mark.  Through the winter this is occasionally something that can happen.  But again as I stated on my fishing forecast, it’s not really the time to book a ‘tarpon charter’ until next spring when things get more consistent… usually by february some time when things warm up.  But of course we will get them here and there throughout the winter and I’ll keep updating my blog.  9 for 18

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