May 2013

Sorry for the lack of updates been crazy busy!  The mullet in islamorada have been a little tough to come by the last few days.  Even the commercial guys have had a tough time and did not show up with live bait a couple mornings.  Today we were able to get them pretty good luckily and it paid off.  We caught one nice 75 lb tarpon by channel 5 bridge on a live mullet.  A lot of fish on the oceanside but did not see any other boats hook up.  Later we moved by channel 2 and caught one there on a dead mullet, a big 110 lb fish.  Again a TON of fish rolling for almost 2 hours, saw one every 20 seconds probably.  They were tough to get to bite but we hung strong and got them.  We also caught a few sharks including a big black tip plus a couple of really big jacks.  The may islamorada tarpon fishing should pick up and I think crabs will become the bait of choice soon!  The last few days the fishing has been OK we did have a tarpon on yesterday though we lost him and caught plenty of other things, the day before we fished the gulf and had a good day.  We did catch fish the last few nights but its only been a bite or two a night.  I’m sure if you stay later past sunset the bite will be better on crabs and the tide should fall till late.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@islamoradatarpon.com

Well we had a mild cold front hit us, not that it got very cold but chilly north/northeast wind today.  The tarpon really dont like the northerly winds as it is a winter time wind and usually cold.  We were successful in finding some that were willing to eat though around some of the local bridges.  We caught one smaller fish of 35 lbs and jumped another one off. Had a couple other ‘cheap shots’ too so although not red hot it was still good action especially given the conditions of 15-20 MPH north winds in the morning, then northeast more towards the afternoon.  We were able to catch some bait early and there were some big massive schools of mullet around later in the morning too which is good to see.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@islamoradatarpon.com

Yesterday we caught 2 out of 4 tarpon in the morning.  Last night we caught 2 out of 2.  Much slower fishing in the evening with lots of boat traffic.  Tonight we fished an area that is out of the way of many boaters which worked out well.  Caught 4 tarpon on our evening trip plus a nice bull shark.  Great day on the water!  The may evening tarpon fishing in islamorada should be good the next few days, falling tides into the darkness.  This can be feeding frenzy time.  Fish begin to feed on crabs much more as the mullet thing out – these can be deadly especially fished at dark and after dark!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@islamoradatarpon.com