April 2015

Fished a full day today and stayed local.  The backcountry fishing seems to have slowed down a little the last couple days.  We caught good bait this morning and fished the bridges.  First stop the weed was so horrendous you could barely fish.  Mats of sargasm weed blowing in with the wind and tide.  We did have one bite even through the weed though the fish crushed the mullet and missed the hook.  We left and ran back to some channels where I’d heard there had been some fish.  We had action there right away.  Another bite on a live bait and a few more ‘cheap shots’ that missed the baits, flashed the baits, etc…  Eventually we hooked a fish up on a dead bait and caught him.  After that the tide slowed.  We moved around a bit and we had one other fish up that cheap shotted a bait.  We moved channels and had another bite on a live bait in the next channel over though with the weak tide the fish swam towards us and we weren’t able to get a good hook set.  After that we caught a little more live bait for some freshies.  We ran back out and had another fish eat and as we were chasing after him he jumped and spit the hook.  Tough luck!  After that no more action there and we went back to the first channel we caught a fish in.  Saw some rollers though the weed was bad and we couldn’t get set up where they were without the baits getting in the weed.  So we tried some dead bait fishing in the bay to finish up, had some shark action and a big ray and that was it.  So at least we caught one it took some hard work today.  1 for 5

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Little slower bite today than the past few days but was still OK.  Had Stewart and John.  We ran into the backcountry and had some fresh caught bait from early this morning.  We caught 1 fish right away on the last of the falling tide.  Waiting for it to come in and had to move around a bit.  Eventually had one other bite we missed and caught a big bull shark plus got bit off by a few black tips.  Later we ran to the bridges and set up and the tide there was just starting to fall.  A good amount of fish close to the bridge, we had a cheap shot fairly soon after getting set up.  Several tarpon came up eye balling the baits but would not eat.  Eventually we hooked one on a dead bait and chased him through the bridge.  We got him up to the bow of the boat but then he jumped and threw the hook, so a technical release as we were to the leader.  After that we ran back near home and fished the channels.  Didn’t see any fish but it’s been good there.  We put baits out and again hooked one on dead bait soon after.  Chased him down to land 3 out of 4 tarpon for the day. I don’t have many unhappy customers, especially on a day landing 3 tarpon, though it does happen once in a while and I always try to do the best I can.  I would like to discuss it for a bit.  Today John had preferred reeling lefty and we had changed two rods over to left handed for him, a live bait and dead bait rod.  Unfortunately none of the bites came on his rod so Stewart got to catch them all.  I even offered to switch the handle on the last fish after we hooked up but he did not want to do that.  Anyways I could tell he was a little discouraged at the end of the day.  Some guys will tell you that you can’t make the fish bite, well occasionally that is true though we did make them bite somewhat today even though it wasn’t red hot.  But you really can’t make them bite on somebody’s certain rod.  There are a few things you can try to encourage that to happen, which we did, but it just did not happen.  Anyways in all truthfulness, you may not be able to cast and jig all day with a rod set up with the opposite hand your use to reeling with, though if a fish is hooked and your fighting him you should be able to fight him with either hand holding the rod and the other reeling.  It may be a little awkward but I know people can do it… I can do it myself and I’ve never had any issue with it really before.  When tarpon fishing your generally not having to cast and retrieve a bunch – your most often sitting and waiting for a fish to take the bait.  When you get into switching handles and rods etc… especially when tarpon fishing, someone may be a little sour at the end of the day because as stated you can’t make them bite on a specific rod.  Anyways just some food for thought.  3 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

More good fishing today.  We were able to get a few good fresh baits early this morning.  Ran into the backcountry again.  Caught the start of the incoming tide.  Wasn’t as red hot of a bite as yesterday but we got it done.  Caught a couple in the first spot then the ‘red weed’ which often plagues us set in and we had to move.  Luckily we were able to jump channels and it wasn’t too bad in the other channel.  We jumped another tarpon and then caught a smaller fish of about 40 lbs.  Also a couple big bull sharks which was cool.  Then we ran back towards home tried looking for bait.  Not much for big muds though we found a bunch of bait close to lower matecumbe, though it was spread thin on the surface.  So when you would throw the net they would all dart away.  We were able to get about 20 baits in an hour though and several throws.  Anyways it paid off we caught a nice fish in the afternoon on a live bait to finish the day.  4 for 4

Capt. Rick Stanczyk