Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Fun day 2 with Mitch and Eddie. Ideal conditions again with a calm north wind. The tarpon seemed a little happier today as it warmed up slightly more. We first stopped and bailed a bunch of redfish in a spot, probably catching 30 or so. After that it was tarpon time. We found a few and soon Mitch hooked a nice one about 85 lbs we landed. A little later some sharks, and then we got into a few more tarpon. Eddie missed one and soon after Mitch had #2 on. A bigger fish 100+ lbs. He screamed out line Greyhound in we had to chase him fast! We caught up to it, and battled for a while. Got the fish boatside several times, but just didn’t want to roll over and we ended up popping it off on the leader. After that we moved around and not much , but next stop Mitch hooked a 3rd tarpon this one was small. We reeled it right to the boat as it jumped and spit the hook… A technical catch as we had the leader in the rod tip, but of course didn’t really feel like it. We ran around to another spot and found a few more tarpon. No luck keeping those guys on though, we jumped a couple more fish and caught a few more sharks. Eddie got a big tripletail too that floated by. All in all antoher fabulous day. Suppose to get colder tonight, and stiff north breeze tomorrow. The backcountry tarpon won’t be happy I don’t think, probably won’t mess up the local Islamorada tarpon as much. Not sure what we’ll be doing, but make that call in the AM!  3 for 6

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Fun day with Mitch and Eddie. Winds calmed down and things warmed up a bit. We focused on tarpon for most of the day. Tried a spot with some shrimp early, plenty of trout and some big lookdowns which was cool! Also caught a double header sting Ray and eagle Ray. Not sure if we snagged the eagle or not, but had me going I thought it may be a big permit. Oh well! Tarpon started to show a little, we caught a few sharks then Eddie hooked a big poon about 130 lbs. Chased her down and landed her, but she didn’t want to roll over for pictures. After that a few more sharks, we made a move and then Mitch hooked a smaller 30 lb tarpon. Got that one on the leader but he got under the boat and pulled the hook. After that things simmered down, a few more sharks and did get a nice tripletail that floated by. Eventually we got into another good pack of tarpon, but no response from them. Headed on home after that and caught a bit of fresh bait for our day tomorrow as the boys have me again. Looks like it’ll be a nice calm day again should be OK fishing! But unfortunately cranking up again tomorrow night and another cold front, then big winds on Thursday. Not gonna help out the backcountry tarpon. Might be sticking to the bridges again for a few days.  2 for 2

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Well we had a late cold front several days ago and I had yesterday off.  So I hadn’t really given the tarpon a try as my anglers have opted for action over sitting there waiting for a bite all day.  Unfortunately with these cold fronts, the backcountry waters where I’ve been fishing get a few degrees colder than the local Islamorada waters, and it’s far from the gulf stream, so it takes some time to warm back up.  For the most part the big schools of fish back there are spread out probably hiding in the deeper gulf waters waiting for it to get nice again.  There are some tarpon locally around islamorada that are a little less affected as the warmer atlantic is nearby, however they still aren’t super happy plus you have a bunch of boats out there being spring break.  Anyways we decided to mix it up today and we hit the backcountry first.  Put a nice catch together of about 15 redfish, 8 snook, a couple black drum, and maybe 20 trout.  Had to work at it a little the areas we fished were a little more affected by the ripping winds, but we made it happen.  We spent our last hour in town around Islamorada trying for a tarpon.  Did not see much, but the water did get up to 75 or so, definitely in the range to get a bite or two, but just did not happen for us.

Tomorrow and tuesday morning look nice and calm, so that may be a better window for the tarpon out in the backcountry.  Then we unfortunately have another cold front tuesday and wednesday night.  Not getting super cold but it’s not going to do the backcountry tarpon any favors.  So it’ll likely be good for snook/redfish/etc… but if you want tarpon, may be best to sit around the bridges and such.  We’ll see what my anglers want to do when the time arrives.  0 for 0

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing