March 2019

Got out with return customers Robert and his son Mark today.  They follow me online and knew the tarpon fishing had been decent.  So we decided to focus on that for the beginning of the day.  Conditions had deteriorated however, with a strong 20-25mph wind out of the east – more typical March type weather as we’ve been spoiled by the calm days the last couple weeks.  Anyways that was also coupled with a very weak tidal cycle, so we had nearly 2 hours of no moving water which is never a good thing for trying to catch tarpon.  Anyways we stuck it out, sharks kept us somewhat busy.  Tarpon were around too, so we had hope.  Just hard to get lined up on them, as soon as we stopped it kind of felt like they were going away from us.  We moved 5 or 6 times, and eventually Mark hooked up a nice 85 lber that we landed, so it was all smiles.  The boys wanted some dinner after that, so we hit a nice trout spot.  Very good trout fishing with some nice 25 inch fish mixed in too… great to see.  We decided to try for a snook the last hour of the day, found a handful catching about a half dozen, and a redfish and big snapper to add to the cooler.  All in all not a bad day, just not quite as good as it has been but that good stretch of weather as I said had us spoiled.  Looks like tomorrow will be more of the same… very windy.  But Friday through the weekend it looks like it will be nice again.  I won’t be fishing, but I’ll be back at it sunday after that.  Unfortunately next week as of now, looks like a crazy hard blow out of the north on Tuesday, probably a cold front, and then strong northerly winds after that for a few days.  Back at it tomorrow.  1 for 1

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

Great day with Jim and his daughter Alex. If was a gorgeous morning nice and calm. Tarpon were around still looked like it’d be a good day with the conditions. We has good fishing though had to work at it a bit, or maybe we’ve just been spoiled by how good it has been. They landed 3 tarpon, all big fish 100+ lbs that took a while. We also jumped off a few others, plus several sharks including some big spinners. We finished up the day with a bunch of trout and a handful of redfish. Looks like winds will pick up tomorrow for a couple days, but hopefully won’t slow the fishing down too much. Back at it manana!  3 for 6

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

Great day with Bernie and Lonny down from Montana. Tarpon was on the agenda and I told the boys we had pretty good fishing yesterday so it looked promising. We headed out early and checked a few spots. Didn’t see a whole lot where we had seen some fish yesterday, so we kept moving. Found the big school we were after and it was game on. Missed quite a few bites, fish were really blowing the bait out as soon as they grabbed it. But we stuck a few, Bernie caught a big 120 lber or so, and then later on close to a 100 lber. Lonny got a couple fish as well, a 75 lber and the another that was close to that size as well. Only got one fish to cooperate for boatside pictures, but that’s how they are sometimes fighters until the end. But plenty more action, including missing a double header. Lots of sharks to keep us busy as well. March fishing had been incredible, shaping up to be one of my strongest Marches ever. Back at it tomorrow!  4 for 10

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