6/15/11 Tarpon fishing action in the Florida Keys

Well the florida keys tarpon fishing is picking back up.  With the winds hopefully moving back from the eastern direction and better tides in the evening this next week should be real good!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk caught a couple nice fish yesterday, one during the day in the backcountry, and a nice one at night.  They also caught plenty of sharks, fought a big 'sea monster', and some nice trout, ladyfish, etc... in the back during the day.  Last night they also caught a nice 20 lb cuda on the bottom.  Going again tonight, falling tide till dark looking forward to it!  The early morning and later in the evening is the best bet, plus you can avoid the heat of the day! Come on down for some great fishing in islamorada!

6/13/11 Some big summer goliaths while florida keys fishing

Capt. Rick Stanczyk has fished the past few days in the islamorada backcountry.  Some nice snappers have been way out west in some of the close gulf areas, white holes, wrecks, etc...  Some goliaths have been out there as well we caught a nice one yesterday and had a couple others cut us off in structure.  A few other captains reported some in some other areas as well.  Today Capt. Rick also caught this nice 50 lber, along with several blacktip sharks, lemon sharks, and some BIG 150-200 lb nurse sharks.  We also jumped a couple of 50-75 lb tarpon, couldn't get the hooks to stay in, but good to see some in the backcountry with the wind laying down.  There was also some good action with ladyfish, trout, and jacks today as well.

5/27/11 Tarpon fishing still consistent!

The tarpon fishing was absolutely on fire about a week or so ago.  Right after the worm hatch the fish were going crazy, especially after dark!  Lots of hookups and catches repoted.  The last few days/nights have been a little tougher.  A hard wind combined with the incoming tide and slack tide at/around sunset/sunrise has made the the fishing a little tough.  Plus the lack of mullet around has made bait tough to come by.  I've been consistent though in producing at least a fish a night, just having to put the time in and wait till they are ready.  Been using crabs mostly, and often fishing a little later into the evening at or past sunset, and early in the morning leaving around 5 am for the best results.  I had Max Mayfield and Bill Reed, the former and current directors of the national hurricane center, fishing a few nights ago.  We went for just a few hours from 7 to 10 to catch the falling tide later in the evening.  We hooked one fish fairly quickly, but took us about 45 minutes to land on the oceanside and it was rough, dragging us out offshore a bit!  Max got it in though and up for this picture, unfortunately that didn't turn out to good but the memories will be there forever!!!  By the time we got set back up to fish on the bayside as it was a little too rough after dark on the oceanside, the fish had stopped biting.  But one is always better than none!!!  We've also caught fish the last several nights and early this morning, with a few other bites.  Going again tonight hopefully it stays consistent!!!

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

5/13/11 + 5/14/11 Some redfish action and some big monsters in the back!

Capt Jim Willcox on 5/13/11, over 100 redfish with Eric & Jack from west coast Florida plus a limit of large snappers! 27 double headers!!!The tarpon did elude us at the end of the day!  Also Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished today on 5/14/11 in the back... caught plenty of snappers for dinner, ladyfish, and some trout.  They put the big rods out in hopes of tarpon, saw plenty rolling but they weren't biting.  Did catch a nice blacktip, big 300 lb goliath grouper, and a 2 out of 3 'sea monsters' that were several hundred pounds!!!  The tarpon did bite last night though, but they are getting a little funny as we approach the full moon!

5/11/11 Backcountry tarpon fishing Islamorada

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Guillaume and his mother Christiane from Quebec out for some florida keys fishing today on 5/11/11!  We left the dock early, they were short on the shrimp delivery so we used some berkley gulps!  We caught several nice big trout, some ladyfish, and some snappers for dinner.  When the tide quit we ran inside around one of the islands and caught one nice redfish, had a couple other bites we missed.  Before the water got too low to get out, we jumped out and set up for some sharks and tarpon.  Caught a few blacktips, and had a few jump and bend out our wire!  Very exciting!  We also had one tarpon bite we missed, and about 20 minutes later, hooked about a 60 lber we caught!  Got him leadered to the boat, but when we tried to get our picture he came unhooked unfortunately.  Anyways a good day backcountry fishing in Islamorada.  Capt. John Johansen also had a nice catch of tripletails from out on the edge of the gulf, and Capt. Dave Sisung reported a good tarpon bite close to home, catching two and having a couple others chase the mullets on top.  Capt. Skip Nielsen also reported catching a huge 300 lb goliath grouper in one of the channels in the backcountry!  On the ocean side, Capt. Nick Stanczyk had a 200+ lb swordfish today offshore as well, I'm sure there will be pictures to come!