Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out for a full day and an evening trip today.  This morning we caught a tarpon around the bridges on the end of the falling tide.  The fish ate a nice live mullet.  After that we went and caught some snappers for dinner.  We gave the tarpon a try again later in the morning and mid day on the incoming tide, though we didn’t have any bites.  Saw some fish in different areas but they were unresponsive and we came in early calling it a day by 1:30.

This evening fishing was much better we got out at 3:30 and caught the start of the falling tide.  I fished some of the local channels with Mick who was down here in south florida on business and wanted to try out tarpon fishing.  We had a good trip we found some fish early on and got some action pretty quick.  We missed a couple bites but then caught a 90 lb fish, followed soon after by a 100 lb fish.  Both put on quite a display and we got them boatside for good pictures.  We tried another channel after the bite slowed but not much there.  Then we ran into the bayside to try a last spot for the final hour.  We moved around a little and by 7:00 we saw a nice fish roll and lined up on him and got another bite.  A big fish to end the night of 140 lbs!  We made short work of him Mick landed all 3 fish and all of them in under 20 minutes.  A great night of fishing it was nice to see them biting again after having a few slower trips lately.  1 for 1 and 3 for 5

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Tough fishing for me again today we had a stiff northerly breeze and a mild cold front get us again.  Temperatures got into the mid 60s not terribly cold but the fish aren’t liking it.  We got out around the bridge where they bit a little yesterday and we did have some action early on with the last of the falling tide.  I tried to get my guys to go as early as we could we left the dock at 630.  Saw some boats hooked up on the way so they are feeding on the falling tides in the dark a bit more with the chilly weather I think.  Anyways we had several cheap shots and finally hooked a nice 50 lb fish though we jumped him off unfortunately.  That was all in the first hour and not much action after that.  I tried a few channels close to home and didn’t see much.  My buddy did say they had a couple bites in another channel near home and I guess a couple other boats did there too.  Right now there is no consistency to it as I have mentioned, if something works one day you may as well just try something completely different the next day.  Anyways looks like we are getting more easterly winds later in the week and hopefully the temperatures will rise a little more too.  Day off for me tomorrow I can use one for sure!  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Got out for a half day this morning.  We had another weak cold front hit us though the temperature didn’t drop much the wind swung around from west last night to north this morning.  We found plenty of fish everywhere though they were in that unhappy mood.  Giving high tail flaps when they were rolling and smacking the water – usually not a good sign.  We had several fish up and after the bait but they were making an almost angry pass at it, slapping the water very hard and creating a big explosion, but would keep missing the bait.  Never to come back again for it.  We also had about a dozen fish ‘flash’ the bait, where they come right up like they are going to eat but turn away at the last second, leaving a big flash of silver in the water and a boil in the surf.  Anyways it was frustrating there was one group of fish biting though only a couple boats were properly lined up on them out of about a dozen boats fishing the bridge.  We did manage to hook a fish nearby there though we jumped him off soon after.  Sucks to strike out but I gave it everything we even tried a last spot where we probably saw 500 fish rolling but they kept doing what I mentioned above – never quite getting the bait and flashing it most of the time.  Winds are suppose to stay north tomorrow but hopefully they will be more cooperative.  I’m sure the weekend will be even busier than today, I hope we can get a fish!  0 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk