July is rolling right on by and summer is here! I’ve been busy fishing and missed updating last month. Though the fishing is pretty good we’ve been still catching quite a few tarpon in the everglades. I haven’t been doing many night trips any longer for tarpon as it was a busy year and I was getting a little ‘burnt out.’ So have been focusing more on the 3/4 and full day trips into the everglades. The tarpon fishing back there hasn’t been quite as consistent as last year but we’ve been getting into them pretty good. Bait has been up and down which really makes or breaks your fishing. If the bait is easy you can usually count on getting a few shots. If bait is tough you have to spend a good amount of time looking for it, it eats into your day and makes things just tougher overall. But as of late the bait has been much easier and the fishing has been decent. We’ve also had tremendous snook fishing which I’ve been doing a lot of. On calmer days the shorelines have been loaded with snook, we’ve had days where we’ve landed 30, 40, or more! Also plenty of small tarpon too. The pilchards have been easy to catch and with a load of them you can bet on getting into some snook usually. Also in the bays trout, snapper, and ladyfish have been keeping us busy. This is a great option for kids or for those looking for a little something for the grill. I’ve got some days near the end of July still open, and August can still be great fishing too especially the first couple weeks!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
May Islamorada Fishing Report
May is in full swing and it is feeling like summer time. The fishing has been up and down to be quite honest. I’ve been mostly tarpon fishing though mixing it up a little bit more too since the bite hasn’t been predictable. We’ve been getting good fish though but often it’s a bite or two a trip and you need to make the most of it. I’ve fished several evenings and had luck on just about all of them. I’ve been fishing a little later though, usually staying until a little after dark to catch the sunset/after dark bite. Crabs have worked well for this and the falling tide usually gives you the best opportunity at catching a tarpon in the evening. The last few days we’ve found fish in the everglades backcountry and we did catch a few tarpon back there. Snook fishing was phenomenal last week we had probably 60 snook in 4 days of fishing. It was nice to mix it up and do that. Live bait is plentiful in the backcountry, chumming live pilchards and pinfish off the flats. This should be a good option for something different for the next couple months. I often like to tarpon fish the first couple hours of the day, then hang the chum bag and catch some livies for throwing at snook on my full day trips. While doing that we were also able to catch some decent trout and mangrove snappers for dinner, so you can have some fun while we catch bait too. We also have had some decent triple tails still around. Many of them are just free floating as most of the crab traps have been pulled. Anyways summer time is my favorite time of year to fish and so far it’s been good. I think our tarpon fishing will be the best of the year June – August. I can do some short notice evening trips if I have bait so don’t hesitate to ask. We also have another captain running a boat for us so he will be available for night trips as well.
April Fishing in Islamorada
April is here and so are the big tarpon! We had a lot of variation in weather throughout March including high winds that would change daily plus some late cold fronts. This led to some inconsistent fishing with the tarpon however we still caught a decent number of fish. Just not quite as good as the previous years. Though that could mean good things for the rest of ‘prime time’ tarpon season which is April through July. A later start often means fishing stays better longer this time of year as the fish aren’t already beat up and pounded on in the early part of the spring. Anyways yes the tarpon have shown up and are in many of the usual haunts – both in the backcountry and locally around Islamorada. In the backcountry there have been a good mix of sharks as well as the occasional cobia, goliath grouper, sawfish, and other various sea monsters! Locally the tarpon have started to feast on live mullet which is a truly spectacular site to see. Nothing beats watching a live mullet run for his life as a 100 lb fish is doing his best to gobble him down. We’ve had fish in all size ranges from 30 lbs up to 130 lbs. Last week one of the largest fish I’ve caught this year dragged us around for 2 hours and even through a set of bridge pilings! We had to throw the rod overboard on a float to float it through the bridge, and we got it on the other side and still landed the fish. The last few days we’ve landed multiple tarpon which is good and the bite seems to be getting a little more predictable. Hopefully the weather will stay warm as it should and the fishing should be good the next several months for the silver king. I do that more than anything else this time of year. I am booked pretty heavily the next couple months but I do have some evenings available. I am generally not doing evenings after my full day trips as I get a little too burned out and it is tough to keep up with the quality of fishing I like to provide my clients (catching enough bait, etc…). However I will be doing some short notice when I know conditions are good and I have plenty of bait available. Drop me a line if you are looking to get out, and don’t forget June and July are just around the corner and those are some of my favorite months of the year to fish for tarpon. It doesn’t book up quite as fast as April and May so you can probably get something in the books a few weeks to a month out.
3/5/16 March Fishing in Islamorada
Well spring has finally arrived! It has taken it’s time and the temperature is still on the chilly side, but we’ve had several flat calm days and the water has had a chance to warm back up into the mid 70 degree range. That means tarpon are starting to show up finally and that is what we all look forward to this time of year. Now that being said, with the water temperatures still on the low side we aren’t quite yet seeing the massive schools of hungry fish quite yet – you may have to put some time in just to get a bite or two. But it is possible and I’ve caught a couple the last few days. I would say currently it is still a good idea to keep the fishing options open and try maybe try for tarpon for part of the day as there are plenty of other things that are still biting well. We’ve had great spanish mackerel action lately in the gulf as well as loads of triple tail out there with some cobia mixed in. We had several days with our limit of triple tail, though you have to run far to find the larger fish. Cobias have been on some of the wrecks and occasionally following big sharks and sawfish up too. We had a few nice ones the other day off some gulf wrecks in the backcountry. In the everglades the snook and redfish fishing has been fair, though with the calm weather the bugs have been a little tough to deal with in some areas. Out front on the patch reefs there are still plenty of options including hogfish, porgy, snapper, grouper, and even a few permit on occasion. Last week we had one of my best days fishing ever in the gulf. We got lucky and got in on a school of lunker redfish between 20 and 35 lbs! We caught 15 of them in that size range, plus a big 15 lb snook. It was truly unbelievable I’ve never seen anything like it. All caught on simple shrimp and jig rigs. The day before we had caught one nice redfish of 25 lbs or so, and the following day there was just a massive school of them there. That being said I wouldn’t count on finding that again for a while, one of those things you just had to be here to see. Big schools of mullet are starting to show up, so the big tarpon migration should be right around the corner. Once we have a nice calm day where the sun shines I think some bigger schools will push in from the gulf and down from the atlantic side. As stated anything goes right now, but as we get later into March and especially April, tarpon will be the name of my game!
Tiger shark clip
Here is a quick clip of a 300+ lb tiger shark anglers caught with Capt. Rick Stanczyk! Fishing in the shallow gulf (20 feet of water) with medium 30 lb spin gear and cut mackerel for bait. Don’t go swimming out here….
