May 2018

5/30/18 Late May Fishing for Tarpon in Islamorada

Got out with Nick today for a full day of fishing.  I told him the tarpon bite had been very slow so he was good with mixing things up a little bit thankfully. We tried for tarpon early without any luck didn’t even see any fish.  We then mixed it up with our light tackle tried for a bonefish for a little bit with no luck, but then went into the bay and had very good action for snapper, trout, mackerel, and big ladyfish.  Nice to bend the rod and get some stuff to eat!  We checked a few backcountry channels after that and just absolutely no life whatsoever again, not even a shark bite!  Unbelievable really.  We ran back towards home and got a little more fresh bait and tried by the bridges where I had seen a few tarpon yesterday.  Didn’t see any today though did hear a report that one had been caught there.  We gave it some time and did catch a shark, but never saw a tarpon.  Though one boat did hook one as we were leaving in the general vicinity.  Anyways there are a very small handful of fish around, hopefully after this full moon we will get another push of fish.  If you are fishing down here now, it definitely is advisable to be flexible with what you are targeting!  0 for 0

5/28/18 + 5/29/18 May Tarpon Fishing Florida Keys

5/28/18 – Got out with Dave and his family down from Alaska.  We fished for bonefish most of the day, stake-up fishing from a dead boat with shrimp.  It was a banner day we landed 8 bonefish!  We did try tarpon just for the last hour or so in one of the local channels.  It was blowing 25 mph and nasty so I didn’t want to dedicate the day to it.  But we didn’t get a bit though we did catch a shark and a bluefish.  0 for 0

5/28/18 – The first nice days we’ve had in a long time.  It was still overcast with some slight drizzle, but it was just a light 10 mph out of the south that slicked out during some periods.  We ran way into the backcountry looking for tarpon.  But we found an absolute mess of mud and seaweed due to the tropical storm a couple days ago.  I was hoping my further area would have been up the coast far enough that it didn’t get brutalized by the conditions but I was wrong.  We did see a couple tarpon there but not enough worth trying to fish for in my opinion.  We backtracked and tried some other backcountry channels, one looked OK not too crazy muddy, but never had a sniff of anything and we fished it hard.  Did see one tarpon roll here.  We tried another channel and same thing but didn’t see any sign of life at all.  Another channel we drove through and looked hoping to see a roller or two, but nothing.  The seaweed looked horrendous here so I figured it wasn’t even worth trying.  At that point we decided to run back and try near Islamorada.  Saw a couple fish in a couple spots, but literally just a couple and no bites out of them.  I got a couple phone calls and texts of people asking where they were biting, So I knew it had to be tough.  Anyways we looked around and fished several other areas without much luck.  The sargasm weed was horrible in a few spots due to the storm making it almost unfishable, and the water was definitely chalky and mixed up due to the storm as well.  Anyways hopefully after a few more days the water will clear up somewhat, and maybe after this full moon some more fish will show up.  We definitely need another push of fish but we had such a good early season, sometimes this time of year gets tough when that happens!  0 for 0

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

5/25/18 + 5/26/18 Memorial Day Weekend Tarpon Fishing Islamorada

5/25/18 – Got out for a 3/4 day we planned on a full day but with weather and bait being tough we opted to start with a half day and then extended it.  Bait was hard we tried to catch some without much luck and the bait guy called me a little later and was able to hook us up.  We fished around town saw a few tarpon early in one spot but no bites though did get a few sharks.  After that we tried near home and got into some nice jack crevelles and some small groupers on our light tackle.  No tarpon sighted here.  Tried another channel with no luck and then got a call that a few fish were biting back at one of the bridges.  We opted to stay a little later then but got down there and it wasn’t easy fishing.  Ripping current and the seaweed was very bad so you had to constantly check your baits.  A few fish were behind a couple of the boats but that seemed to be the only ones, we moved around and tried to get as close as we could but never had any interest.  After that we tried one more channel near home and got poured on and decided to call it a day.  But at least we had some action with other things.  0 for 0

5/26/18 – Nasty forecast today 100% chance of rain and fairly windy due to the tropical storm Alberto.  But we snuck out at 6 and it looked fairly clear but a nice cell of rain formed right as we left.  We avoided that one and fished where we started the day before.  Saw a few fish again in the same area, but this time we moved in and got a bite!  Caught a nice 90 lb tarpon, didn’t get good pics as it started to absolutely pour on us and we couldn’t see hardly 100 feet off the boat.  We landed the fish but he wouldn’t roll over boatside for a picture, so eventually he popped the line.  But my customers did get a little video of the fight and a few jumps so that was good.  We also caught a sting ray and bonnet head shark.  Called it a day after that as the rain didn’t quit but it did lighten up a little, enough to see to get home!  Glad to be on the board again hopefully fishing will get a little better overall after the full moon here and maybe our summer time fishery will start to get more consistent back in the everglades.  1 for 1

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing