Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Just got back from vacation last night and back to work this morning.  Had a nice visit to Kentucky for the eclipse and to see some family.  I had Tommy and Bill over from Texas for a 3/4 day.  Conditions looked good today very light winds, they called for rain which we had a little of later on in the day but didn’t mess up our fishing.  We caught bait on the way out no problem and got to fishing the channels with the very start of the falling tide.  We didn’t see a whole lot early on, fished where I had seen one roll and we had a few big blacktip sharks, moved around a bit after we saw a bust a little later, and more sharks.  Saw a few roll in a channel nearby and we made our way over there.  Once we got settled in, some more fish started to pop up.  They weren’t super happy but eventually we got a bite though unfortunately he threw the hook after a few jumps.  We shook it off and got back to it, after a little longer we hooked another tarpon.  Smaller guy about 30 lbs, I got off the anchor right away and we got him to the boat quickly on the leader for a technical catch, but unfortunately we didn’t get the rod tip high enough to clear the poling platform and he got wrapped up around that and broke off.  Sometimes those tarpon are sneaky!  After that we moved around again and had a couple more shark bites.  We made one last move where I saw a tarpon roll off in the distance a few times, and had one more nice tarpon there.  This one stayed on and we chased him down a nice 50 lber.  We got him up on the wind on leader next to the boat and looked like he was slowing down and would cooperate for a picture, but this time the hook just pulled.  Have had some bad luck with pulling hooks the last few trips.  Anyways another technical release but I’m sure the guys would’ve loved some pictures, unfortunately sometimes the fish have other idea.  We had a good time and the action was pretty steady between the tarpon and sharks so we’ll take it.  Back at it again tomorrow but I’m open Friday and Sunday if anyone is looking to go, good tides the next several days for catching bait which can be the hardest part of the trip this time of year, so if you want to go give me a shout!  2 for 3

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Here is a little video clip from last week’s tarpon fishing with Mike McKenstry.

Got out with Mike today for a full day of tarpon fishing.  I had plenty of leftover bait from yesterday and am going out of town tomorrow for a few days, so didn’t have to bother with catching them.  We headed out to some channels I hadn’t fished in a while but heard some fish showed up there… we had a little time to wait for the tide change where I had been fishing anyways.  We pulled in and tarpon were rolling around.  The tide was just starting in here.  We sat for a bit waiting for the current to move.  The tarpon were a little finicky, had them roll right over our baits a few times but nothing.  After about 45 minutes and where I was almost ready to move around a bit, we hooked one and caught a nice 45 lb fish.  After that we got another about 55 lbs.  Mike had a blast fighting both of them.  Things quieted down after that, we had a few bonnet head sharks, and moved once where I had seen some tarpon rolling.  No more tarpon bites but we did get a couple big jack crevelles.  After that we headed inland and tried the other area where I’d been having good fishing.  Not much going on there today though didn’t see any tarpon rolling or splashing.  My buddy said he had jumped two nearby right when he pulled in but that was it.  We each made a couple moves without much but a few sharks.  We got a nice big triple tail though, and had some shots at some others but couldn’t connect but got a nice fish for dinner.  After that my buddy called me he had found some tarpon and caught a double header!  We headed over as he left, saw a couple fish roll after a bit.  But no bites there we moved a few times and fished hard, but sometimes you gotta be in the right place at the right time.  Anyways we hooked a big shark that cut us off and a sting ray, and ended up calling it a day.  2 for 2

I’m out of town like I said but later in August I still have some availability.  Tarpon fishing is possible all the way through October, and as I’ve said we had the best fishing we had all year last year in September and October.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with Scott and Sherry down from Atlanta.  It was their 20th wedding anniversary and they wanted to try catching some tarpon – sounded like a great idea to me!  We headed out early and caught some bait on the way.  Bait was a little tougher we had the falling tide early on which has been a bit harder for our bait catching.  Just had to work at it and got extra messy with grass and weeds, but we got plenty of bait.  We caught the tide starting in when we got to our fishing area.  I didn’t see a whole lot of tarpon activity where we had been the last few days, so I slid further down just to fish some numbers where I’d figured they’d of been too.  We eventually saw a few roll and caught some sharks.  Then we pitched a bait out and Sherry hooked up a nice 75 lb tarpon almost instantly!  She fought him well and we got the leader to our rod tip, but he just wouldn’t roll over and unfortunately ended up throwing the hook before we could get some good boat side pictures.  But a legal catch none the less.  After that we caught a few more sharks, and then moved the boat over where we had seen more fish roll.  Soon after that it was Scotts turn and he hooked a fish of similar size.  This one fought very hard too we got him to the leader as well for an official catch, but this one we ended up just pulling the hook without a jump even.  Just bad luck for our boat side pictures today, but the fish don’t always cooperate for those!  But they got some good video of him and I got one decent jumping picture at least.  After that things slowed down for us we saw a couple triple tails but didn’t get a good shot at them, had a couple more shark and sting ray bites, and then some storms blew in and it started blowing like crazy right before it was time to head home.  Fishing seemed to slow down a little from what it was the last couple of days, but those days can spoil you as two tarpon in a day is always good with me.  Scott and Sherry said they’d be back with their son Zack next time to catch some more silver kings, I’m looking forward to it!  2 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk