Well the december islamorada fishing has been pretty fantastic so far. The time between thanksgiving and christmas sometimes is a bit slow for us with business, but with the few charters I’ve had and the fun fishing days, I’ve been keeping busy! Things are picking up though this week the fun has rang a lot and most my days from the 20th through New Years are booked solid. Still have a few days though before that if anyone wants to go out, and of course January is still great for florida keys winter fishing. Today we had an epic day we had a good cold front come through the last few days, though the wind died down to less than 5mph today. It was chilly though, in the 50s in the backcountry this morning. We started out in the gulf and put the chum out, within 30 minutes we had a good spanish mackerel bite going. We landed probably close to 3 dozen mackerel in 2 hours. Mid day we ran back around the flamingo area to look for some snook and drum. We found a good load of snook around some islands, and caught about 20 or so. All feeding on lively big shrimp which are plentiful here in the winter time. We also caught a handful of redfish and sheepshead. We tried some of the channel runoffs the last hour of the day, though did not find much there, but my anglers arms were sore anyways so it was all good! The last couple week during and after the cold fronts there has been good fishing in the backcountry, just have to catch the spots right. Redfish, black drum, snook, and sheepshead are all on the menu. Earlier this month I’ve mostly had half days fishing the patch reefs. The action has been hot and heavy out there, with a good amount of porgy and hogfish around. The hogs were very nice size a few days ago and we had half a dozen in the box for dinner. Elsewhere in the islamorada backcountry the trout have been showing up in the ditches too, and the nice size big ‘winter time’ trout. This is a fun option for half day trips, and you can stay in fairly calm water too. Drop me a line and lets plan your next florida keys fishing vacation.
12/11/14 December Fishing in Islamorada backcountry
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Capt. Rick Stanczyk is a locally born and raised charter fishing captain in Islamorada, FL. He caught his first bonefish when he was 3 and has been 'on the water fishing' ever since. He loves what he does and enjoys showing his clients a great time fishing in the Florida Keys. Contact him at 305-747-6903 or rick@fishingislamorada.com!
