Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out today despite some nasty looking weather!  It didn’t look bad early so we headed back into the backcountry, but as soon as we stopped for bait I could see a big line of thunderstorms building behind us and heading our way.  We got our bait and ran towards flamingo so we could duck in and hide if necessary.  We looked around and weather was definitely coming soon so we ran in and ducked into the flamingo store.  Had to sit there for an hour as nasty weather rolled by and it was blowing 30 mph.  Finally the wind let up and it was just a drizzle so we headed back out.  Found some tarpon right away where we stopped.  We set up and soon jumped one off!  Good sign and they were definitely still hanging around.  Then we had another weird bite where a tarpon jumped at us but threw the bait right away.  Unfortunate!  Finally we got one more shot thankfully and Keith caught his first ever tarpon a nice 40 lber.  After that we tried for a few more minutes but the thunderstorms started cracking lightning and more weather was coming.  So we headed back and just called it a half day.  But glad to get one and had a couple other shots.  The tarpon were much happier today as we only had 3 bites all day yesterday, but today had 3 bites in about 30 minutes.  You never know unless you go!  Hopefully the weather gets a little better tomorrow but looks like it may be similar.  1 for 3

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

Got out with return customer Dave and his buddy Bill today down from Miami.  We headed out early in search of bait.  Full moon and bright moonlit sky for the ride, was nice but I knew can be funky for the fishing.  The tarpon I think often feed hard in the middle of the night sometimes then and are a little unresponsive during the day.  One of the only things you can predict ahead of time.  But can still be worth going so we gave it a shot.  We found a ton of bait so that was nice, a few tarpon chasing them too but we didn’t fish there.  Ran near where we’d been finding bigger schools of fish.  Not as much there today but a few.  We set up where I thought some were and we were rewarded with a nice 55 lber for Bill to start!  We set back up and moved around a little, saw quite a few fish but they didn’t respond as well.  We moved out further eventually chasing a handful we saw but just no more biters, think the moon definitely had ’em acting weird.  Eventually a lot of fish were around us rolling everywhere.  We kept at it hard and just couldn’t get a response, I talked to a couple other people and same story with them.   We were glad we had gotten 1 right away.  Eventually we hooked a big monster 300 lb bull shark that dragged us a few miles away.  We caught him and saw a bunch of tarpon where we ended up, so we set back up.  These fish seemed in a different mood, just giving a different look on the surface.  It was slick calm so we could see them a ways away.  We got bit right away, and Dave got a nice 70 lb fish!  Alright we were in business it seemed.  But as soon as we got back to fishing after landing the tarpon, it seemed to quiet down.  A few tarpon still around but not as many, and they trickled out it seemed like.  The sharks bit us up lots of blacktips.  We moved on after that checking some areas further west where the tide had changed and was starting in.  Didn’t see much and thunderstorms were starting to build.  It was almost time to go so I said we’d check one more spot in another channel on the way home.  Low and behold we saw a few tarpon roll as soon as we pulled in.  Set up and it looked pretty good, nice clean water with a good incoming tide.  Soon a  few rolled behind us, and Dave hooked another 80 lber as the thunder and lightning were rumbling behind us!  We landed him quickly and got him up for pictures actually.  Then took off and called it a day.  Had to work for the 3 bites we got but we made them all count even getting all 3 to the hand, and all nice size fish for this time of year.  Back at it tomorrow looks like the winds will be picking up a little and decent chance of thunderstorms but normal summer time weather just not as calm.  Hopefully the bite will get a little better as we get away from the moon.  A few more days I’ll be at it then off on vacation for the first week of August.  3 for 3

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

Got out with Andrew Forbes and his family today for a 3/4 day trip.  They were leaving it up to me as far as what to do, wanting to either do a half day of ‘rod bending’ or tarpon fishing which I told them would take a little more time.  The conditions got right yesterday afternoon so I said it looks good for that and they were game.  We headed out early, beautiful day slick calm back there.  We found some bait took a couple spots to get on it right but we did and loaded up.  We then looked around where we found all the tarpon yesterday afternoon.  They were waiting for us so that was good!  Sharks got us a bunch in the first stop though tarpon were rolling pretty good nearby.  We moved around and then soon got a nice 100 lb tarpon!  After that things quieted down, but the tarpon were definitely around.  We had one grab a bait and jump sideways throwing the bait out.  Then we had another zip us real hard and drop the bait as well.  Hook one that we got to the boat real quick and then took off, thinking it was a shark, and then he jumped and spit it but we did get him to the leader for a technical release.  They were beating us up!  After that we jumped one more fish I think and then caught another one finally to the boat for pictures!  A few other sharks including a nurse shark and some big old catfish.  By 11:00 the tide quit and it was time to go.  But great action and three tarpon releases not too bad!  Looks like it should be fairly nice though the weekend, then perhaps a bit of wind next week.  At least for now it looks like it’ll be more southeasterly wind instead of southwest like we had a few days ago, that was terrible!  Hopefully the tarpon won’t mind, I’ll miss the slick calm like we had today for sure.  3 for 6

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