3/1/12 Islamorada night tarpon fishing and backcountry redfish

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with Dave and Frank the last 4 days, ending on 3/1/12 for some islamorada night tarpon fishing and florida keys backcountry redfish charters.  The main focus was tarpon as both guys wanted to catch one, day one and two fishing was tough the high winds had stirred much of the bays and backcountry up.  We were able to catch plenty of ladyfish, jacks, some snappers and nice trout.  We saved the ladies for bait and fished them around several different channels back there.  First day we caught several small blacktip sharks and a couple big ones that did put on a show at least, day two we caught nothing but small ones and did have a couple tarpon bites that wouldn't stay on there.  Current was very weak everywhere as well making it tough for the bait scent to get out there, and to encourage the fish to feed.  Day 3 we decided to do the early morning night fishing.  We left at 3 am with some crabs and pinfish and did some islamorada bridge fishing.  First couple spots were very weedy, we eventually moved to another bridge, and Dave hooked a nice 100 lb fish that went nuts!  We fought him for almost an hour, boating him and releasing him unharmed.  Daylight was upon us now, saw several fish in the area rolling, but no more bites.  Called it a day after that, and put a long day in our last day.  Left at 3 again, fished the bridges close to home since the wind was howling a bit more, and did pretty well.  Two bites and caught 1 fish for Frank in our first 2 drifts, of about 65 lbs.  No more action as the tied died, so we anchored near the bridge, as soon as the tide started going out, another one stole a crab.  A few minutes later and Frank was hooked up catching tarpon in islamorada, very strange bite he swam right at us and did not jump until the very end.  Caught him as it started to get light, nice 80 lb fish, and then headed into the backcountry for the rest of the day.  Fished a couple islands and had a good bite of redfish, we poled around hitting several trees, picking a few fish here and there.  Got in to a couple good holes that had 6-8 fish a piece, including a few large slot and even a couple over the slot fish!  All in all a great trip for these fellows who stayed right at Bud n' Mary's. Things started off tough but we made adjustments to put 'em on some fish!

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

3/31/11 More florida keys night tarpon fishing action!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk two nights in a row for my first two night tarpon trips.  Another successful evening we landed this 90 lb tarpon close to home, it was another windy night early though it layed down very nice an hour or so before sunset - prime tarpon time!  Stayed close to home as one of my anglers had a broken ankle and didn't want to get beat up to bad.  We were fishing mostly live mullet again, had a few 'chasers' early in the evening, though didn't come tight on any.  Caught a couple sharks off the bottom as well.  We started drifting when the winds layed down, and this florida keys tarpon went airborne on our mullet!!!  Did everything right and caught him in about 20 minutes.  Drug him up on the flat in shallow water and got this great picture of him.  Worth getting a little wet for this memory of a life time!

3/30/11 Night tarpon action!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished Bob and Stephanie down from NJ for a last minute night tarpon trip.  This was my first night tarpon trip this year, so was anxious to get out there for some sunset action!  We fished some of the bridges down the road first, things were fairly slow as far as the tarpon went.  Had one possible bite that we never came tight with.  Caught a couple nurse sharks on the bottom.  We then drifted around the bridge and back towards the bay with mullet on the surface.  We had them get nervous a few times, and came across some small blacktips, which we caught a couple of.  After that it was getting to be close to 7:00, so I ran to a little spot in the bay I like to fish.  We put them out there, and within 3 minutes had a very nervous bait behind the boat.  Something big chased the mullet around, I figured a shark as it wasn't acting very tarpon-ish.  He missed that mullet and then went after the 2nd mullet on the other side, and gulped him down!  The line came tight and Stephanie started reeling fast like I told her too.  He made a sluggish run towards the bow of the boat, and after a couple minutes, made a huge jump - big 100 lb tarpon!  We dropped our anchor and chased him, my angler did a great job of bowing to the fish when he started jumping crazy which he did after we put some  heat on him!  We fought him for about 30 minutes, finally landing him and getting a few shots in the water.  Great fish, and great way to start my night fishing this year!  Back to a full day tomorrow, though have another night Saturday.  Now's the time to book your night tarpon fishing as most guides are getting very busy from now through June with the night tarpon - the fish are here, and Richie is delivering live mullet in the morning and afternoon, so get on down here!

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!