capt. Nick Stanczyk – Islamorada Shark Fishing

5/15/14 Tiger Shark for the UK guys!

Well I finally got out on another monster shark fishing charter here in Mid May in Islamorada Florida Keys. I had a pair of friends from the UK aboard the Bn’M II and they wanted to catch something big. In the morning we trolled for a little while and caught a couple wahoo, a big mahi, and then went and did a little vertical jigging. We caught a handful of almaco jacks and 1 amberjack. From there it was time to find a shark! We ran out to my favorite shark area and set up on our first drift. It didn’t take too long and we had a bite. The rod bent over slowly and the fish started walking off line. But the excitement was short lived, the whole jack came back with full of teeth marks. We reset and put down another live jack. After about 10 minutes of drifting the rod loaded up. The tip lowered towards the water and we were tight! I had a feeling it was tiger, because it didn’t panic when hooked. The guys took turns on the shark, and after 3o minutes we had a 400 lb tiger shark boat side! We took a few pictures before releasing the shark to fight another day. The guys were happy and it was high fives and back towards Islamorada to celebrate!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

4/15/14 Big Tiger Shark on the Bn’M II

I had Nick and Caroline from London out fishing in Islamorada on the 15th, and Nick said he wanted to catch something big. Well the old saying goes, “be careful what you wish for”. And the old saying is true many times, but I like to change it up just a little, so I told him “be careful what you fish for”. We caught some live minnows in the morning, and started heading offshore to try to catch a monster shark. On the way out we caught a few mahi, and we finally reached the spot I wanted to fish. We set out two bonitos, which I had caught a few days before. We made our first drift, but no bites. I was a little discouraged because there wasn’t hardly any current, so I wasn’t sure if we’d get a bite. We reset and put out the two rods again. Bam! We got a bite on the deep line, but pulled the hook immediately. We wound it up to check it and it was just an empty hook. But then we saw the float on the shallow rod lay side ways. Usually it’s up and down vertical with the weight of the bait and sinker on it. We started cranked and the rod slowly bent over. Nick got in the chair and went to work.

The shark didn’t do much at first, so I thought we might have had a small dusky or bull shark on. But then he woke up and the battle was on. It was an hour tug of war, and when Nick finally got the giant shark up on the leader he couldn’t believe his eyes! It was a 10′ , 500 + lb tiger shark! He was literally speechless. We got a little under water video of the beast boat side, and after a few minutes we broke the leader and the fish swam away healthy.

It was an awesome fight and an awesome fish. Fishing for big sharks takes patience, but if you get the right bite you’ll have a memory to last a lifetime! Congrats Nick! email me if you’re serious about trying to catch a big shark at bnmcharters@gmail.com

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

3/25/14 Monster Shark Season has begun in Islamorada!

Well Monster shark season is here folks! I did two shark fishing charters the past week and we were successful on both of them! We fished on the Bn’M II. Just catching bait was a blast. We had amberjack on vertical jigging outfits from 10 – 50 lbs!

The first trip we caught a big tiger shark about 450 lbs. The next trip we had a 15 year old kid from Minnesota who said he wanted a shark. And boy did he get a shark. Two actually, and his dad got one to finish up. We caught amberjack in the morning, and then ran to the shark grounds. We fished one bait on a buoy, and one deep line. We put the baits out and within 5 minutes we hooked up!

Young Charles got in the fighting chair and after a 15 minute fight had an 8′ hammerhead, about 200 lbs boatside! We took a few pics and released the shark to fight another day.

We then made a couple more drifts with no action. We didn’t give up though. I wanted Charles to get that monster! We put on some fresh bait and sent the baits back out. Within 10 minutes we had a bite. A big bite. Charles got harnessed up in the chair. The Shark smoked the reel, pulling drag at will. He then raced to the surface, and headed west. I knew it was a big one. Then the shark went deep. Charles fought the beast for an hour. Then we had a visual.

It was a monster tiger shark. Over 500 lbs! We got the fish next to the boat and took some pics before releasing it to fight another day.

Dad wanted a shot too, so I said lets make one more drift, but I don’t know if we would get lucky again. Well we were letting out the baits and the deep line got a bite. Mark went to work in the chair. After a 30 minute fight he had a 400 lb dusky shark under the boat on the leader. We didn’t get any good pics of it because the hook pulled on the leader, but he still got to see it and experience the brute strength of a giant shark! April is my favorite month for big sharks, so send me an email at bnmcharters@gmail.com when you want to try your luck at a monster shark!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

10-3-13 October Deep Sea Shark Fishing Report

Well the Fall sharks are here! The humps and reef have both been producing some hard fighting sharks. All of our shark fishing in the Florida Keys is catch and release, and we typically use circle hooks to ensure the safest hook placement in the corner of the mouth. On the 2nd we went offshore to start the day and caught a bunch of tuna. The tuna would make good table fare as well as shark bait. After getting what we wanted we put out a live skipjack tuna on the 80 wide reel. It didn’t take too long till we had a bite. After a quick drip back we set the drag. Vinnie worked the rod and after a 2o minute fight had an 8′ long, 250 – 300 lb dusky shark along side the boat.

We took a few pictures and then sent the shark back on his way. It was the biggest fish Vinnie had ever caught! We then came back to the reef and were having plenty of action with small fish and then decided to try for some bull sharks. We had 3 bites in one hour of fishing, but unfortunately they all got away. The next day I headed back out to the hump and saw a couple of hammerheads swimming down the waves. We rigged up a butterflied skipjack tuna and sent the bait out. After a few minutes a shark had found it, and after a 25 minute battle we had a 7′ hammerhead shark next to the boat.

We took a few pics and then released him to fight another day. The hammerheads are definitely one of the strongest fighting sharks around, and also one of my favorite since their head shape. We should have some more sharks around all this month, so if you want to catch something big in Islamorada, Send me an email and fishing for sharks might be the right choice!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

Late August SHARK fishing in Islamorada!

The “humps” offshore of Islamorada have been holding some big sharks lately. We stopped by one of them last Sunday and made our first drift with a butterflied skipjack tuna. We didn’t get a bite and I was disappointed and a little shocked. Luckily I had my charter there to say “hey, that was only one try”. So we reset and drifted over the hump again. It didn’t take long this time and the 80 wide reel started ticking off. We feed the shark a few seconds and then put the boat in gear. The shark made a blistering run, dumping off a hundred yards of line line like nothing. We had a lady angler out for her birthday so she got in the chair. She had just seen shark week so she was very excited to see what she had on the end of her line. It was a 30 minute battle, back and forth, but eventually she worked the giant 350 lb dusky shark up next to the boat and we got a few quick pictures before releasing the big creature to fight another day. We fished yesterday as well for a couple hours before a big thunderstorm chased us in. We caught a small almaco jack on the hump and then rigged him up for shark bait. It didn’t take too long to get a bite, but unfortunately the shark broke us off after a few minutes. We didn’t get to see him but I know he was BIG! With the wind blowing 25 knots and the rain coming we had to cut it short that day, but I’ll be back out there soon! Email me if you’re interested in trying to catch sharks in the Islamorada!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com