Got out with Aastin today who was visiting down from NJ to escape the cold -2 temperatures! Unfortunately the weather followed him as we are experiencing some of the coldest weather we’ve seen since 2010! Temperatures dipped to around 50 degrees here last night and got to around 40 in the backcountry everglades areas. Water temperatures back there were a chilly 54 degrees in some areas, brrr! Also it was blowing a good 20 mph on the ride over, so definitely needed to bundle up and break out the ski gear. Once we got over it wasn’t too bad though and the sun came out. Fishing was a little slow for us there. We managed a handful of black drum and a sheepshead. Didn’t seem like a whole lot was going on early, so we headed back towards Islamorada to finish our day on the patch reefs. Luckily that fishing was really good we caught a bunch of various snappers including lanes, muttons, and yellowtails. Also plenty of yellow bar jacks. I heard the backcountry bite did turn on somewhat a little later after we left, things warmed up slightly and the tide turned (figures!). Some times it’s hard to sit and wait it out though when you haven’t caught a whole lot in a few hours and you know you only have so much time left. Anyways that could likely be the trend the next few days with the temperatures dipping down to a little colder even tonight, likely be an afternoon bite tomorrow! Anyways we still had a fun day and caught some fish and Aastin got to see some cool stuff like crocodiles and plenty of wild birds. I’m off tomorrow and back at it Saturday, then plenty of availability next week! I think it’ll really be going off by sunday or monday as we will be on a warming trend then, some of the winter holes where fish stack up should start going off!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
