Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Today we weren’t planning on tarpon but we came across them anyways.  We were snook fishing with some live baits and the tarpon were rolling in the canals.  We ended up hooking a couple and getting two to the boat before they broke off and missed a 3rd bite.  Fun with the baby tarpons.  It was a stellar day with snook, trout, snappers, shark, cobia, and tarpon.  2 for 3

Last night we fished locally and it was tough.  We had one crush a crab and pull it off the hook but that was it.  Stayed an extra half hour too but no luck unfortunately.  Gonna mix it up again tomorrow with the corporate group I am still fishing so may tarpon fish a little we will see.  And going late tomorrow night to fish the falling tide at/after dark.  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well couldn’t talk my folks into going early today they wanted to do the standard hours.  Anyways we did try a variety of things today though nothing much was really happening across the board.  Several people I talked to were struggling with the water temps dropping into the mid 70s in the middle of May.  We tried for tarpon a little while in town for the first hour but didn’t have much activity.  After that we ran into the backcountry to try more for sharks and tarpon, though didn’t have a sniff after an hour of hard chumming and fishing.  We then tried to bend the light rods a little and caught a trout and a spanish mackerel, gave up on that after a little while longer with not much happening.  Then we did at least get on to some ferocious lemon sharks and caught several of them before just calling it quits around noon on a 3/4 day.  Anyways the guys were happy they were just winding down after a couple long days of offshore fishing, but as I’ve been saying getting out early has been the ticket for catching tarpon consistently right now.  I am part of a large corporate group the next several days so we will be doing a mix of things.  I do have Wednesday evening available and am willing to go later hours (6 to 10) I think it will be very good fishing near sunset and after dark with the falling tide, so if anyone wants to go drop me a line!  0 for 0

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Winds laid down nicely last night and it was just a breath of breeze out of the northeast this morning.  The temperature didn’t drop too much again it was a little chilly but nothing like the previous morning.  Anyways the tarpon bit well for return customer Zeb and his family.  We left very early and fished in the dark but we hooked up right away and ended up landing 3 out of 5 fish.  It was great to be there when they were chewing after some long trips with only a shot or two a trip!  Around 7:00 however though it was all over with we fished until 8 and had a few fish rolling right near our baits but they didn’t show interest any longer but as they say the early bird gets the worm!  I did hear that at least one boat was having a good day today as well which is nice to hear, the day time fishing has been very off this year which is why I’ve been doing earlier mornings/later evenings.  I always suggest if you are serious about catching tarpon, it’s important to be flexible in that regard.  3 for 5

Almost forget I also fished last night it was a little breezy out of the northwest still though it flattened out around 6:00.  We didn’t see much around the big bridges as far as fish went.  We came back up around town and the tide was falling until 8:00 or so which was good.  We fished a couple spots didn’t see much in the first area, one fish rolled we tried to get in front of though no response.  Though we went in one of the other channels and tarpon everywhere!  No response though right at sunset around 7:50 one finally bit a crab.  We landed him by 8:05, glad to have gotten one.  The report was the same for most the fleet, a few guys caught them but not until near the end of the night.  Though many reported seeing fish on the local channels which is good to hear – why I made my early morning move the way I did!   1 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk