Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Fishing Islamorada

Well we had a late cold front hit a few days ago with another one on the way here Thursday night.  It kind of turned off the tarpon bite a little bit though still plenty of fish around.  We managed to get a big one today of about 120 lbs!  Very nice day out but it’s the calm between the storms as I mentioned with another front on the way.  We also got a big snook today a gorgeous one that was close to 20 lbs.  Some tripletails as well.  There were plenty of them floating on the buoys and drifting around in the gulf, so hopefully when things calm down again that should be a good fishery for us.  The other day we found a ton of hogfish on the patch reefs as well as some various small groupers, it was fun rod bending action.  Snapper fishing was also decent around some of the islands though we had to put some time in looking for the keeper size ones.  Some big sharks were caught today as well by my anglers including some nice bulls and lemons.  My guys a few days ago also caught a monster bull shark in the channels close to home which we normally do not see there, but the past week it seems some have moved in there as I’ve heard of multiple catch reports stating that.  Spring time is here even though we are dealing with some fronts, the tarpon fishing should be decent when things begin to warm up again!  The fish are definitely around and I don’t think it’ll get cold enough for long enough to really blow them out, but just may be slow fishing for a day or two as I said.  I’m really busy through May, but if you are wanting to get out let me know I can definitely recommend some guides.  Also summer time is a great time to fish here as well so don’t sleep on that June, July, and even August!

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

Well I’ve been more or less in full on tarpon mode with it being so warm so early down here.  Haven’t been updating this blog as much but my daily reports during tarpon season are on my other website islamoradatarpon.com.  The fishing has been a little up and down the last couple weeks.  We had a lot of wind earlier in the week, and out of the southerly direction a few days, which did make fishing a bit tough.  The tarpon bite was hit or miss and a lot of fish got moved around.  We were inundated with nasty muddy water in some of the backcountry areas that had been holding fish consistently.  Even the sharks were a little hard to come by some days.  We did find a few local tarpon a couple days though.  I also mixed it up and did some mackerel fishing in the gulf which was still pretty good considering how warm it’s been.  There had also been some trout and snappers in the bay which made for some good tablefare.  Today though we were rewarded for making a long run.  It was a gamble… a 50 mile run back into the ‘glades.  We found the mother load of tarpon though and some nice clean water after running through miles and miles of mud and nastiness.  The tarpon were hungry too… My anglers Irv landed three huge tarpon, up to 150 lbs.  Though the biggest fish may of been closer to 175 I am often conservative in my estimates!  It was a day to remember and we also caught a few tripletail on the way home before things got too rough.  Anyways looks like we will be having a cold front come in over the weekend so things may cool off for a few days.  It might slow the tarpon down again, but I think overall its a good thing as its been so incredibly warm.  If you are looking to get out fishing give me a shout I have a few days in March still available, and then the summer time tarpon bite can be very good as well and doesn’t book up quite as fast as april/may which is already heavily booked.  Tight lines!

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

Had a group trip the last two days with the Kurt Butcher group down at Bud n’ Mary’s.  We had good fishing both days.  Yesterday was fairly calm light winds, today it kicked up a bit out of the southeast but not too crazy 15 mph or so.  Yesterday we tarpon fished all day.  Caught bait to start the day which went well.  We caught a big tarpon 15 seconds after our first bait hit the water!  A nice 100 lber for Cody.  After that we got a bull shark about a 50 lber.  The tarpon bite slowed down we didn’t have another bite for a couple hours.  We decided to check some other areas I hadn’t fished yet this year.  Didn’t see much at first but caught a big lemon shark and a sting ray.  We took a harder look and did manage to find a few tarpon floating through the area.  One ate a live pilchard we missed, but then we caught two more later on and a couple more sharks.  Great day 3 day time tarpon in February!  Today we tried the same thing but the weather had other plans.  Lots of rain in the AM so we stayed close and fished our light rods for jacks and big ladyfish for an hour.  We did catch mullet too and then when the rain cleared we headed out back.  Similar as yesterday the tarpon didn’t want to bite too well on the early morning falling tide.  We got another bull shark and several black tips.  Then when the tide turned we moved around, got a nice 20 lb cobia and then hooked a double header tarpon!  One fish didn’t stay buttoned though but we caught the other.  Then later on we got another one so both my anglers Jay and Dustin caught their first tarpon.  So 5 tarpon in 2 days and all 4 anglers got to catch their first tarpon… not too shabby for february tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys!  Looks like the winds will be kicking up tomorrow so may have a little tougher fishing but hopefully something will be productive.

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

Got out for a 3/4 day with John, Michelle, and Phil today.  We departed around 6:45 and headed to the spanish mackerel grounds.  Fishing was pretty good we caught about 2 dozen in just an hour or so.  It was action almost every cast!  Good to see them still around thick as they are sort of our bread and butter this time of year.  After that we ran to find some tarpon.  We tried the channels where they were milling around yesterday and they were there today again too.  The winds were nice and calm and we had the last trickle of falling tide, but the tide quit out on us early.  We managed to hook a shark that cut us off, and then on the change of the tide Phil hooked a nice 85 lb tarpon!  He to under and around the trolling motor, all the places you dont want them to go, which often happens when they bite on a tide change as the line and stuff is wanting to drift under the boat.  Anyways we avoided cutting him off and Phil landed him nicely.  Later on we caught a big lemon shark when the tide changed and started coming in, and while fighting him, Michelle hooked a nice 45 lb tarpon.  She got the wind on leader on him but unfortunately it was a quick release as he spit the hook on a jump but we had the leader for a technical catch.  It was time to head home after that but a great day on the water for these 3!  Back at it tomorrow.  We seem to be in full tarpon season swing right now with no cold fronts in site.

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

Got out for a full day with Howard and Mike, two return customers who fished with me last year.  We mixed it up a bit and tried a few different things, having some success with each.  We caught some pilchards to start our day and I had hoped we’d get in on some juvenile tarpon action that was good a few days ago.  We found the little tarpon, but they weren’t as active as I would’ve liked.  We couldn’t get them to respond but we did catch a couple nice mangrove snappers and a small barracuda.  After that we hit the gulf to try for some mackerel and other species.  We found a few mackerel and a bunch of big ladyfish and blue runners.  We moved out a bit further and got on a little bit better mackerel bite.  We saved much of this for bait for larger stuff later on.  We found some larger tarpon in the next stop and put out some bait for them.  Howard caught a nice cobia which was a surprise!  About a 30 lber, lots of fun and a first for him.  We saw a few tarpon showing a little ways away and moved into that area.  Mike had a tarpon bite soon after but he didn’t stay on the hook.  We had one other one that I beleive was a tarpon give us a quick zing on the rod but never got the hook in him either.  We did catch a few blacktip sharks, and Howard hooked what I think was a big sawfish (those are usually pretty easy to guess what they are).  He cut us off though but may of been for the better as it seemed like a big one that wasn’t stopping anytime soon.  Anyways that was about it for us for the day.  I’ll be back at it tomorrow not sure what we are doing and it’s a shorter 3/4 day, but tarpon may be on the menu.  Since it is so warm tarpon fishing will likely be a regular thing from here on out, barring any crazy cold fronts.  Be sure to check out my other website for the daily updated tarpon reports, as once that starts going I usually don’t update this site as much.

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