4/9/11 Florida Tarpon Fishing great in the everglades!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had a great day today with a large corporate group that booked several boats out of Bud n' Mary's for a few days of fishing!  He caught plenty of ladyfish, trout, and snappers to start the day.  They then put the big rods out in the backcountry and the tarpon were thick!  The first one they caught 5 minutes after putting the baits out - a large 140+ lb beast!!!  Then they caught another 75 lber.  A 3rd fish they got up to the boat and jumped off for a palm beach release!  They had a couple other bites they missed and then caught a 75 lb bull shark.  Great action for these guys!  Capt. Perry Scuderi caught 3 tarpon as well right next to me!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net

4/3/11 Great islamorada tarpon fishing with Greg Olsen and family!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had the pleasure of fishing former catcher of the Atlanta Braves, Greg Olsen and family Robbie & Racheal, today on 4/3/11.  It was a beautiful day started out fairly calm with a light breeze and flat water.  We ran in the backcountry and fished a bay area catching a mix of ladyfish, trout, snapper, and a few small sharks.  We anchored up for a bit and netted some ballyhoo for some bigger ladies and snappers as well.  The kids had a blast doing this and so did Greg!  We saved some stuff for bait and moved off in search of larger fish, as Racheal really wanted to see a big shark and Robbie was dying to catch a tarpon!  We anchored up at one of my favorite spots, and almost instantly Greg hooked a huge tarpon!  Unfortunately he jumped him off with a little too ambitious hook set, but got a good jump out of him anyhow!  We then caught two unknown 'sea monsters' that drug us around a little bit, Robbie fought one entirely on his own that we leadered and released.  We caught a few sharks there, some blacktips and one nurse.  Had one other tarpon bite we missed that almost jumped in the boat, then Robbie hooked one himself - a big 120 lb tarpon!  We fought him for about 30 minutes and had him hooked perfect with the circle hook, got a good picture of him, and released him!  The east wind picked up a bit, but tarpon were busting everywhere on the in tide which was great to see after a nasty front came through a few days earlier!  Great day of islamorada backcountry fishing for the Olsen family with Capt. Rick Stanczyk!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net

3/24/11 West wind can be trouble, though turned out alright today!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished Larry and Sherri Kasperek today for a 3/4 day of florida keys fishing!  We headed out back into the everglades around 7:30 am and it was an absolutely gorgeous day - almost flat calm with a slight breeze out of the west.  This is usually not ideal for fishing in our area, though today it didn't seem to bother things much.  We caught plenty of trout, several nice ones in the 17-20 inch range.  Plus lots of big ladyfish which were jumping all over, a few snappers, mackerel, and a pompano - good mix of fish for drifting around randomly in the bay!  They wanted to catch something big like a shark too, so I headed over to one of my favorite spots nearby and put the big rods out with some dead baits on the bottom.  A couple other boats were anchored nearby, Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Jeff Beeler.  Last week I had gotten a bad batch of circle hooks, straightened the circle hooks on two tarpon in a row with my anglers doing everything right! Also straightened one out on a big 'sea monster' that was locked on the bottom after only pulling on him for about 10 minutes, so I know it had to be the hooks.  So we went old school with a traditional J-hook as I've second guessed myself out of using them!  Not much action at first, Capt. Jim had hooked a few small blacktips that he caught, then we had something big grab the bait and start swimming across the stern.  I locked it up and reeled the line tight and handed the rod to Sherri.  Then a big 100 lb tarpon came blasting out of the water, jumping 4 or 5 times behind the boat.  I had Sherri point the rod at the fish to keep from pulling the hook and she did a great job, we tossed our anchor ball and raced after him.  He jumped himself out and we caught up with him, snapping a few pictures and releasing him for another day unharmed!  Sherri said it was the biggest fish she ever caught and one of the most exciting things she'd ever done!  We fished the last hour there without much of anything happening, Capt. Jeff hooked and caught a larger blacktip near us.  Then the other guys headed to another spot and we made our way home as the tide was starting to die and it was time to head in anyways.  Well another successful day with some florida tarpon fishing!

3/19/11 Florida Keys backcountry fishing half day!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished a half day today in the florida keys backcountry.  There was a big mud that's been around for a couple weeks and we caught half a dozen nice size trout in there plus a few smaller ones.  Plenty of ladyfish, some nice sized ones too, jacks, and a nice size bluefish.  Good action close to home about 20 minutes away!  We then set up to catch a shark nearby and put the big rods out.  Soon we hooked a nice size blacktip we drifted down on and caught.  After we reset, one rod started zinging out line - boom - big 80 lb tarpon on!  Unfortunately he jumped crazily and we actually straightened the hook on him, oh well!  We gave it another shot for the last few minutes of our morning and then another shark bite.  Line zinged all over the transom and didn't feel like a big fish, but soon he took off straight behind us and we followed.  A nice 80-90 lb hammerhead, 3rd one I'd caught this week!  We got him up for a picture and released him and headed home!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net

 Captain Ted Wilson also reported this week... Just when we were starting to get used to having tarpon back in the neighborhood again things were turned upside down last week by a late season cool front. But with this week's rising water temperatures the tarpon are starting to move back into their early-season locales. Stewart Sarnac from Jacksonville and wife Angie went two for three tarpon in the 90 to 100 lb range deep into the Islamorada backcountry. Strangely the only bites came on pin fish even though they had a variety of baits to choose from. Whatever their tastes, Islamorada fishing guides like myself are excited to see them back in town and ready to eat.

3/17/11 HOT action islamorada tarpon fishing and sharks!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished Todd Belinger and his son today for some great florida keys fishing in Islamorada on March 17, 2011!  We left out early around 7:15 right before the sun starting rising.  We stopped in the back where I've been having luck lately near flamingo and caught plenty of trout, ladyfish, jacks, and a few pompano on the last of the falling tide back there.  Put a big rod out while doing so and caught a few sharks there too.  Once the tide died we moved further up the channel and waited for it to come in.  We caught several more sharks there and had one tarpon bite we missed, then hooked about a 60 lber we landed!  After the the weeds start really rolling through so we moved on a little further out towards the gulf of mexico and fished another deep channel.  Plenty of small blacktips in there we probably caught another 6 of those in there, and another larger 80 lb tarpon right off the bat!  Then we hooked a 150 lb hammerhead that we fought for about 30 minutes and got him up for a picture alongside the boat!  The waters back to normal and getting warmer as we get into spring, the tarpon are getting happier and soon it will be full on!  Florida Tarpon Fishing is spectacular here in Islamorada!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net