Fishing Reports

Great day with Trent and Shannon down from NY. They got stuck in bad weather we were suppose to fish yesterday, but luckily I had today scheduled off for maintenance and I was able to get Caribee Boat Sales and Marina to do my service/warranty work Thursday afternoon. They do a great job looking after the guides with Yamahas. So we went today and it was a little better weather wise anyhow. Winds were slightly less though still a little breezy. We found a bunch of bait early on which we got a few throws on and loaded the wells. Tarpon was on Trents list, and I told him we’d been catching a few but we’ve had to put a little time in as they weren’t pulling us out of the boat quite yet with the chillier water. But things have warmed up each day, and today I think the water was close to 80 degrees back there. Anyways we didn’t see a lot of tarpon at first, but I did think we were in a few of them. We set up and within 10 minutes had a big shark on, and then about 5 minutes later, Trent had a nice tarpon on! We landed her, about a 60 lber. Got a few good jump shots and had the fish to hand on the leader, but she shook loose before we could set up for a boatside picture. After that, we decided getting one right off the bat was good so we went after some other stuff which I felt was a good move. We had to work at it, but as the tide dropped low the fishing got better and better. We got into quite a few redfish, and about a half dozen or so snook. Also Trent caught another small tarpon, and we had a couple other bites out of them. Great fishing! Once the tide came up, we ran out towards the gulf as the wind had laid down a little more. We found a few tripletails and caught several of them. We found a pack of tarpon offshore while doing that. We set up and caught a shark, and then made a move and soon Trent was hooked up to his 3rd tarpon of the day – a big 130 lber! We fought her and same thing got the fish to hand, but she made one big run and got under the boat with the big swells and popped off the leader before we could get pics. Oh well, again we got some good jump shots. Anyhow, fantastic fishing we seemed to just do everything right today and made it look easy, which it definitely wasn’t an easy conditions today. But you never know unless you go!

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

Another great day with Irv and his friend Bill. Winds were cranking 25 southeast, not great for fishing usually but we made it happen. Had a little rain to dodge as well but not too bad. We caught our limit of snapper early and then went back in the creeks to hide. Wasn’t a bad ride over really. We caught the bottom of the tide and picked a few redfish and couple snook to start. Seemed like it was gonna turn on but then seemed to go quiet. We waited for the tide but that didn‘t help either. We ran around and tried another spot. Caught a couple good snook there, and missed a couple others. Tide was racing in and got kinda high quickly .we bounced around again, blanking in the next stop. But then we found the right place at the right time! Bill got several small tarpon and missed a couple more. Irv got one too and missed one. We also caught a good handful of snook and redfish as well. The small tarpon flurried at first then they slowed down but it was cool! We then caught a few nice trout and small black drums. Last stop we picked a couple more redfish. All in all not a bad day at all considering our conditions. And both guys got a backcountry SLAM and then some!

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

Fun day with Jay, Larry, Rex, and Trip. We had some left over bait from yesterday and tried tarpon fishing first. Found a good number of fish, jumping and splashing putting on a show. Not biting real well though. We had a couple shark bites, and after 3 or 4 moves we finally jumped a tarpon. Soon after that though we got another shot. Larry got a technical release on this guy, getting him to the boat on the leader but unfortunately he threw the hook before we could lay him out for a picture. After that Jay hooked up to a big sawfish, but we weren’t able to get a look at it as it just sucked on to the bottom. We then tried to run and catch some mackerels. But mackerel fishing was tough for us, never really got them going we just caught 1 and a big trout. We had to tack into the wind to get back to where we were due to the waves, so it was a little bit of a ride back to the tarpon grounds. We tried again for a little, and hooked some big sharks but no more tarpon action. We finished up the day catching a bunch of redfish for Rex and Trip. All in all not a bad day. Back at it tomorrow looks like it’ll be another windy one.

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

Great day with Mike, Michael, and Don! The boys wanted to get into the backcountry creeks and such, but with it being calm with the light south wind, I told them we might be better off fishing open water. We tried it early on and bugs chased us away. But we went to plan B and got into an insane mackerel bite. Had to take the chum out of the water and we were throwing bare hooks catching them as fast as we could. But lots of cut offs, thats what we call it when it’s too good. We ran back inshore and found a good load of tarpon moving through the gulf. We set up and within 20 minutes, Michael hooked a big one! We had something else on the other rod too. But stayed with the tarpon and landed him, though the other fish had run out all our line and snapped us off! I think it was just a big Ray or something. Anyways we were happy you have landed the tarpon. Got some pics and let it go. After that the tarpon didn’t seem to respond much, but we had plenty of big shark action. We ran over a monster tripletail running back inshore and landed it, probably a 14 lber. We tried a snook spot without any luck but got a bunch of nice trout. Then we had a few more minutes and stopped in a redfish hole, catching about 20 of them in 15 minutes before heading home. Back at it tomorrow!

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

Fun fishing with pops again, and his lucky streak continues! We were hoping it’d be flat clam and we might find those permit again. Though we started to run back there and it seemed to be rough and just didn’t feel right, so we bailed on that. Tried a few other spots out there and did get into a mess of spanish mackerel and jacks with some big sharks mixed in. We ran back inshore and checked a few other areas too, way up the coast but the tide was high too high for the spots I wanted to hit, and too low to get up in the other areas. But we decided to work another area I don’t often fish just to try something new. We didn’t have much luck at first, blind casting on the trolling motor. But after a little while and some patience, I hooked a big snook that made a blistering run! Unfortunately the hook pulled, and I was using a smaller hook as I wasn’t expecting such a monster. I thought that might be our shot at the fish of the day, but my dad made a cast right in the same area and then he hooked a monster too that made the same type of run. He landed a gorgeous fish probably a 15 lber! We ended up getting a double header a little later after that which was cool, and then walking the shore my dad got another one. He had been wanting to get a nice picture with a snook on the shoreline which we had the perfect opportunity. After that we had to run in, but what a way to end our day.

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