2/4/11 Florida Keys tarpon and big 500 lb sawfish!!!

[syxx]

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with his father, Capt. Richard Stanczyk Sr., and friend Capt. Dave Peck from North Carolina down here for the winter today for some florida keys fishing. We fished some channels between Islamorada and Flamingo in the morning, got a late start around 8:30, but still had some good falling tide. Caught plenty of seatrout, some ladyfish, and a couple good pompano for dinner. After hitting a few spots we moved out to hit some good tarpon holes as we had heard there were some free-jumpers spotted the day before, and we saw a couple in some deeper channels while we were running around back there. We set up about 11:00 when the tide started coming in, and boy was it fantastic! Our florida tarpon fishing trip saw 4 tarpon hooked in the air, however we were only able to get one to the boat. We even hooked one on a light rod with jig/shrimp. We also caught a couple of blacktip sharks. We also caught a 500 lb sawfish on accident, Capt. Dave Peck had never caught one so very exciting for him! We caught him on a tarpon rod with 80 lb mono leader and a small 4/0 hook, amazingly, he took off like a freight train then stopped dead in his tracks and hugged the bottom while we finger-tipped him up with the leader and got a good look at him. We released him unharmed as these are very rare and protected fish - true dinosaurs!!! Hopefully this is a good sign that it will be a fantastic year for our Florida Fishing Charters!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
rick@seethefloridakeys.net
305-747-6903

 

[fishingfreak]

Beautiful pics! Looks like you had a blast! Good job! Thanks for sharing!

FF

 

[Anyfishisfine]

Sometimes I'm torn between the fishing we have here and tropical fishing like I used to do.

I have to go with the fishing here since it happens in the rain and snow. There is just something pleasing about that.

 

[nwkiller]

wow, im so jelouse

 

[brandon4455]

nice fish! you know, when i was 12 i had a dream a sawfish knocked me off a boat and tried to kill me LOL. not a joke it was creepy

 

[Moe]

Man I wish we had saltwater action like that over here. but then again you guys dont have sturgeon/salmon/steelhead or for saltwaters giant halibut

 

[Sgrunig90]

Wow thats one huge fish! Ocean fishing scares me lol

 

[rainbowfisherman]

Man I wish we had saltwater action like that over here. but then again you guys dont have sturgeon/salmon/steelhead or for saltwaters giant halibut

It's kind of like the grass is never greener. If I had to choose, I'd rather have the great trout, steelhead, and salmon fishing we have. But that doesn take away from those amazing fish! Congrats on those beasts.

 

[bigcat1967]

wish I was there. nice pics.