Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Stephen and Daria today down from NC for a full day of tarpon fishing.  Very light winds, more easterly today as opposed to the south wind we had early yesterday which I never like…  We headed out early and caught some bait.  Had to dodge a few showers but didn’t get too wet luckily.  A little lightning off in the distance but didn’t ever get too close.  We tried one of the channels early on where I had caught some fish a week or two ago, but not much going on there this morning.  We fished the last bit of the incoming tide.  When it slowed down we headed out into the main basin, and a buddy of mine hooked a fish right then nearby.  We set up, and had slack tide for a bit but caught a shark.  When the tide started going, we started getting some tarpon bites and seeing a handful roll occasionally.  Stephen landed a nice 65 lb fish that we chased and got to the boat.  Then it was Darias turn with a large 90 lb fish!  Pretty big for this time of year and put on a good fight with some great jumps!  After that we jumped one more fish for Stephen.  Things slowed down and we ran further west to try near the mainland areas.  We had a good day there the day before yesterday, but yesterday we didn’t see much but I think the wind had something to do with that.  Saw some little tarpon rolling near shore as soon as we pulled up, and we put our lighter setups out there and had several shots at fish.  Daria landed two more tarpon and jumped off a couple more, little guys in the 15-20 lb range, but lots of fun.  Stephen was the shark man and he hooked several big sharks, we got a couple to the boat but most were cutting us off.  Though he did jump one more tarpon before our day was done.  It was still fun pulling on all of them.  After that we headed home, a banner day for this couple!  I have the next 3 days open if anyone is looking to go, then booked up mid week and going out of town next Saturday for a few days.  It can get a little hit and miss this time of year with tarpon, but for the most part it’s been a hit.  Let me know if you are looking to get out there.  4 for 7

P.S. We normally do not lift tarpon out of the water, though if they are under 40 inches like the one pictured it is allowed as long as you are careful with them, support the belly, and release and revive them unharmed.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with Tony and Ron down from New York today for some tarpon fishing.  They’ve been coming down here for a long time and really enjoy the fishing the Keys has to offer.  We planned for a 3/4 day and headed out into the backcountry.  We stopped and caught a little bait on the way, and I had plenty of leftovers from yesterday.  Winds were blowing a little out of the south, once we got back around the mainland it was a little choppy but not too bad.  We ran right where we had found a bunch of tarpon yesterday.  I saw a bust as soon as we pulled up, and we set up and soon saw a fish roll.  After a couple sharks, Tony had a tarpon bite but unfortunately we missed him.  One of those smaller fish that were beating us up yesterday, they can be very hard to stick sometimes!  Ron did get a nice size black tip though that gave a good fight.  After that the winds laid out and I was hoping we’d see some fish rolling or making some kind of signs, though we really didn’t see much of anything.  Not sure if they moved out with the southerly wind we had overnight, but it didn’t blow very hard so I wouldn’t of thought so.  I made a move and just anchored randomly out further near where I had been yesterday, and we had a couple more shark bites and that was it.  I figured we’d of seen the fish if they were there with as calm as it was, so we ran and hit one of the channels.  Some tarpon were there, and we made 3 moves trying to get in front of them, but they just didn’t seem very happy and eventually didn’t see much any more.  We caught a couple more bonnet head sharks, and that was it.  Tried another channel where I hadn’t been in a while to give it a look since it was on the way home and we didn’t have a whole lot of time left on our 3/4 day.  We caught a couple more little sharks, and didn’t see much for tarpon.  The winds kind of kicked up a bit again, and Tony decided he’d like to stay out a little longer.  I said no problem and we tried another channel over near flamingo.  We saw a fish roll and got set up in the area, but unfortunately the little blacktips started to eat us up and we went through the rest of our bait rather quick.  We gave it a good 30 minutes though and I was hoping we’d of gotten another bite but it just wasn’t our day.  We gave it a good hard effort though things just got a little tough.  Anyways the guys had a good time and it was a beautiful day out there, stayed nice and overcast so it wasn’t too hot.  Hopefully things get a little better tomorrow, looks like we’ll have nice calm conditions the next several days.  After that I don’t have anything on the books for a while so if you are looking to go fishing, it can still be a good time to go after some tarpon.  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

8/8/17 – Got out for fun with my dad and Stephen Byrd, marina manager, yesterday.  We were trying to do a little photography and filming with some tarpon.  The bite wasn’t quite as good as the previous day but we managed to hook 3 fish, unfortunately 2 of them came off (on myself of all people… goes to show it can happen to anyone!)  But Stephen landed a nice 60 lb fish we got some good video and some good photos.  We tried for some triple tail later on, saw a few but they didn’t want to eat and was hard to see them anyways with bad lighting from clouds.  Anyways a fun day.  1 for 3

8/9/17 – Today I had Brad and Mike down from Ohio.  We started off in the same area as the last few days, but today it was even slower.  After a bit we saw a jumping tarpon, we moved over and managed to get a bite and Mike landed his first tarpon.  After that we got a shark and things slowed down.  I ventured further out west to open water, since the winds had laid down a little from the last few days.  I hadn’t been out there in a couple weeks and wanted to give a look.  We didn’t see much, but after a couple moves we saw some busting and got on to some tarpon.  We had 6 bites, mostly on the slack tide, and smaller fish that were tough to keep on the hooks.  But Brad finally was able to land one so he got his!  After that the sharks bit well we caught some big blacktips, lemon sharks, and a nice hammer head.  It was a great day the guys enjoyed pulling on anything big and we had plenty of that.  2 for 7

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk