Latest Fishing Reports - Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

2026 Tarpon Season Outlook

Here you can read our latest fishing reports. I try to keep this section updated regularly when we are tarpon fishing consistently. Though remember in the off season we may not be fishing as much or we may be targeting other things.

February is here and we’ve just had a nice warm week of calm weather after some of the coldest weather we’ve seen in 15 years! Some early season tarpon have shown up and it looks like we’ll have some good windows of fishing them the next couple of weeks. Barring any late cold fronts it may be a great early season!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

July 14, 2015 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Uncategorized

3/12/2026 March Tarpon Fishing in the Florida Keys

We’re half way into March and tarpon fishing is firing up! The first week of March brought some tremendous winds but at least the severe cold fronts had come to an end. Water temperatures were back up into that ‘tarpon range’ in the low to mid 70s, and get back into the higher 70s this last week. The first week as mentioned was super windy – 20 to 25 knots every day! I did not fish much but I did fish return customer Jan on Wednesday the 4th. We made it back to the cape and with the early falling tide it was slightly calmer and we found a few jumping showing fish. We set up and moved once I think but eventually hooked him a nice tarpon of 50 or so pounds we were able to land for him. After that we hooked a monster tiger shark that we fought for a long time and got a glimpse of but it was so rough it was difficult to do much with him. The bite shut off after that and when the tide turned it got really sloppy. We ended up trying a couple other places near home but did not have any other luck. This last week the winds settled down somewhat. I fished every day and on Monday we tried for tarpon some in the morning. The bite was a bit slow and again the fish seemed to respond better on that falling tide though we had a very short falling tide window. After a couple hours we did get our bite that we missed unfortunately he jumped and spit it, and we had one other one pick up a bait and drop it. Though we did catch a few different sharks and the boys wanted some dinner so we cut it short and caught a few snappers on the way home. Tuesday I fished Matt and again it was a nicer day. Not much first thing in the AM but again after a couple hours and once we got that falling tide window, we ended up hooking two fish and landed both of them! A big shark tried to eat one of the tarpon but the tarpon was about as big as he was (a 100 lber!) We weren’t able to get boat side pictures but we did get the fish off and pretty sure were able to save him by driving circles around him with the boat to throw off the sharks. Wednesday we fished hard all day out there and did not get a tarpon bite all day! I had three guys though and we did catch over 20 sharks I would say so they at least had action. Tarpon were jumping all over the place and on this day we really got no falling tide window at all (really weird tide it was just a weak incoming all day). We did try another channel on the way home where we saw a free jumping tarpon but alas no bite there for us either. Then yesterday, Thursday, I fished a half day as we had friends coming into town. There were some fish here locally in Islamorada and we were able to put them on one early in the first hour, plus a few sharks. After that though the bite seemed to die out we didn’t really get a bite of anything else the last couple of hours. Though I did hear some tarpon bit better a little bit later in the day locally when the tide turned and came in. So there you have it, we’re starting to catch some tarpon but it’s been a bit of work though lots of fish starting to show up. Hopefully as conditions settle and we get more into April we’ll get some windows of great fishing. The next couple of weeks though its a lot of either fishing 10 minutes from the dock or running an hour to get to them in the backcountry. I’m out of town for spring break now this coming week but I’m back to fishing the week of the 23rd and have some days open starting then as well as the week of the 30th. Give me a shout to get on out!

Also Capt. Stephen has started doing a few evening/night trips for tarpon. They had good luck this week on a couple different evening trips getting a fish and handful of other shots each evening. Including a monster 150+ lb fish pictured below that may be going on the wall with Grey’s Taxidermy! If you want to mount a trophy tarpon don’t forget to ask!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

March 13, 2026 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk March Fishing Rick Stanczyk

3/1/2026 March Tarpon Season kicking off in Islamorada

Got out with Mike and Andy today for some tarpon fishing here in March. The Islamorada area usually starts to fire off more in March with tarpon as it gets consistently warmer and many of those tarpon get a little happier. This year we had a lot of late cold weather in February though it didn’t stop us from catching some at least. About a week ago we had another extreme one with temperatures getting down in the mid 40s again but we had slick calm days yesterday and today. The tarpon definitely were showing back up though water temps were still in the high 60s so on the chillier side than we like. We were lucky though and Mike got on a tarpon in the first 30 minutes. After the tide switched and started coming in he got on another on a couple moves later. Not too shabby especially considering we weren’t seeing quite the numbers I was hoping for. Enough for sure but I think we are still due for a bigger group of tarpon to come in. After that things slowed down for us we jumped around a few times and had a shark bite or two but that was it. We moved further inshore and found another group of tarpon though. Andy had a couple shots pretty quickly he had one fish suck in a bait and lay on it and as soon as we reeled in to check the bait he took off and spit it. Then about 20 minutes later he had another one on that jumped and spit that bait. We were getting down to the wire and had two baits left so we made another move and marked a few fish. Set back up with the last baits and sure enough after 10 more minutes, Andy connected and had a nice 30-40 lb fish that we landed for a nice picture. So all in all a great day landing 3 tarpon… best fishing I’ve had yet this year for them. I’m hoping with that late cold weather we’ll have some better later season fishing as it should’ve prevented a lot of early season fish from getting too beat up. If you’re wanting to get out in March let me know I have some dates open as well as Capt. Steve. I’ve also opened up a little bit of early June the first half or so… for those that are looking to get that end of school year trip in with the kids! June and July can be excellent tarpon fishing!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

March 1, 2026 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk March Fishing Rick Stanczyk

2/20/2026 February Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing

Got out for a busy week here again after a short vacation for the long weekend we had. I fished Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Unfortunately Thursday at the very end of our day my boat broke down and we were a good 30 miles away from home. Luckily we were able to find another guide heading home to assist taking my customer Rich back in to the dock and was able to get Capt. Steve to tow me in. But these things happen even in fairly new boats. Hoping to get that squared away today and back up and running next week. So on to the fishing I had James and Sam down for a couple days on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was Sams 16th birthday and within the first 20 minutes he hooked up to a nice 50 lb tarpon we got to the hand for pictures! Great way to start. We had another bite soon after I’m fairly sure (just zipped us really quick but seemed more tarpon-like than shark-like). Soon after that the tide changed we caught a few sharks including a big bull shark which was cool. The tarpon never really got going much after that though we fished hard on the incoming tide and tried a variety of things. But they just weren’t super happy. The following day we started with tarpon again. Had to jump around a few times but after an hour or so, James hooked up to a 100+ lber! Very good fish and we fought her hard for 45 minutes or so and got her to the hand too. Got a good pic and a healthy release of that fish. The tide had just quit by then too so we opted to do some light tackle stuff as the boys preferred that. Snook and redfish fishing was as good as I’ve seen it in a few years! We caught over 3 dozen fish in just a couple hours out of two different spots. This was great to see as much of our fishing the last year or two it’s really been just picking a handful of fish on any given spot and having to jump around a lot. Especially good to see considering all the cold weather we had just a couple weeks earlier. Yesterday I had Rich out and we tarpon fished as well. It was slow early on we moved 4 or 5 times and grinded hard for a couple hours. The tarpon were really spread out it seemed. We weren’t seeing too many jump around or marking any big groups of them, though they were around just not congregated very much. We finally got into a good looking area where I marked 4 or 5 and then it got crazy for a minute! We hooked a tarpon on a live pinfish, and as soon as we did we hooked another on our mullet. Rich fought the one on the pinfish and I had a feathered jig I was casting which I laid down to grab the other rod with the tarpon on it. That tarpon came off a few minutes later unfortunately but as soon as I set the jig rod down, it bent over too! I thought we had a triple header on for a minute and we did but the jig rod ended up being a big black drum. Crazy to just catch one randomly and on a feather with no bait on it! Rich landed his tarpon and then we set back up and hooked one more a bit later. But after that it was all over. There were a good 15-18 boats out there and I did not really see anyone else even hook a fish that I could tell. So again just right place, right time, it can happen and get crazy. But early season fishing you have to put the time in. We ended up catching a bunch of snook and a few other things including a baby tarpon in the creeks later on too, and then unfortunately broke down but at least we got our good day of fishing in and Rich was just a little later getting to the dock so could’ve been a lot worse.

Now with the weather change this week it’ll likely shut the tarpon down again I’m guessing until the following weekend or so. It’s forecast to get in the 40s possibly again so it’ll be pretty severe. Though all in all I think this will still be a good thing for our tarpon season as it’ll take the pressure off the early season fish for another week. Also as mentioned last week, the tarpon did start biting again even with the cooler water temps because the previous front the water got down to 50 degrees. So maybe they’ll start biting again even soon but time will tell. Anyways I’ve got days open the first couple weeks of March if anyone wants to get out let’s do it!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina