Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Chad today down from Tennessee, tarpon was on his list and I’ve been good at finding them lately!  We had opposite tides from last week… last few hours of the fall this AM.  Bait wasn’t at the usual spot, but we found it in another area that is better on this tide.  We were able to catch about 3 dozen or so, and a ton of grass as there has been a bunch of dead sea grass floating around with all the heat, so it was a little messy but we got what we needed and then some.  We hit some channels nearby where the tarpon had been, and they were here today as well.  It was pretty windy, blowing 20 mph southeast, but didn’t seem to bother them too much early.  We had to move once but when we got in front of them, we hooked a nice 70 lb fish and Chad landed him.  We had both rods hooked up actually, the other likely on a big shark.  But by the time we landed the tarpon the shark cut us off.  We did get a nice lemon shark later on, and then we jumped another tarpon and hooked one right after that.  This one was a larger fish too, 80 lbs or so.  Nice to see some bigger ones this time of year!  He fought well and we got him boatside for some pictures too.  After that the tarpon slowed down, I could still see them rolling and busting a little, and we had good current for a while longer, but they just didn’t want to play any more.  We moved a few times, and had a couple other shark bites, and that was it for the big stuff.  We did however catch a lunker 14.5 lb triple tail which was very cool, he floated by us while we had our tarpon gear out, and got him on a small rod with artificial bait!  That was enough for dinner for both of us and the wives.  After that it was time to go home, a great morning had by Chad hopefully tomorrow will be the same.  Not booked on Sunday or Monday if anyone wants to go and plenty of time later in August, fishing is really good right now.  2 for 3

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with Luke and his dad Stuart today, down from NC they were after some tarpon.  I told them fishing had been very good.  I was using another skiff as my boat is now out of the water getting some work done.  We had some bait from the other day and went to work.  Same routine as the previous several days, the fish were there!  Luke caught one right away a nice 50 lber, then a shark, then dad got a tarpon that was a little bigger maybe but pretty close, and another shark, and then things quieted down for us there.  We hit another channel and saw fish roll as soon as I pulled up, several as a matter of fact.  I knew it’d be good and soon we were hooked up again, Stuart landed another nice fish, then we hooked a double header!  A larger fish of 60 lbs or so, and a little 30 lber.  We got both fish to the boat for pictures, just incredible fishing!  After that Luke jumped off another tarpon, well actually we got wrapped around the other line I think and it cut through.  After that we caught some dinner on the way home.  It was just a banner day of fishing, and it’s as good as tarpon fishing gets right now!  I just booked a few more days this month, but I have tomorrow open then fishing Friday and Saturday, but after that I have plenty of dates next week.  If you want to tango with the silver king, now is a very good time.  5 for 6

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk

Got out with Sean and his son Kyle today for a full day in the backcountry everglades in Islamorada for some tarpon fishing.  The winds were kicking southwest about 20 mph, and it was forecast to be nasty with rain but didn’t really show up until the end of the day thankfully so we made it out.  Bait was easy we caught a bunch and headed to the tarpon channels.  Plenty of fish in there this morning, saw several busts and a few rollers, and was marking a lot on my sonar.  I figured we’d get bit up quick since it was pretty good yesterday.  Though today they were not quite as happy, we waited it out and after 45 minutes or so, Kyle hooked a nice 70 lb fish.  He did a great job and the fish fought hard but we got him up for pictures.  After that things slowed down we had a few small sharks that was it.  We tried further up the channel and got a big sting ray.  After that we made a move and hit another channel where I had gotten them the other day later in the day.  We got a bite right away and kyle landed another fish, smaller guy about a 35 lber – fun size!  After that it was dads turn he hooked a nice larger fish again about a 70 lber.  We fought him for about 5 minutes and got him to the leader and he made a glorious jump off the bow but threw the hook.  We got some great pictures though and they don’t all cooperate for pictures, but we had the leader to the tip for a technical release.  After that Sean hooked up a big hammerhead we landed, and then got a smaller hammer, which was very cool.  The rain started to show up off the mainland and we stopped to bend the light rods with some ladyfish and then headed home.  Quite a lightning show offshore of Islamorada when we got back there, luckily we made it home without any trouble.  Taking tomorrow off to pull my boat for some boat work, and then I’m open later this week.  As you can tell fishing is really good right now I hope it will keep up, August is still a great time too.  I have plenty of availability so if you are thinking about it, look me up!  3 for 3

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
@richardstanczyk