Had a full day today with the three stevens… grandfather, father, and son! It was blustery blowing 25 mph northeast! Still chilly but not as cold as it’s been, though suppose to get cold again tomorrow night. We stuck close as the guys wanted to have action, possibly something to eat, and to try and catch sharks. Sharks aren’t always easy when the water is cold in the bay… so by sticking close we stayed near the warmer atlantic waters where I hoped they’d be more active. We fished the bay to start, and had a little variety with good handful of spanish mackerel, blue fish, blue runners, and even a small cobia! Almost though the cobia was a remora, they look very similar when that size and behave the same way sometimes. He was just swimming in the chum right by the boat. After we had enough mackerel for bait we put the shark rod out. It wasn’t instant action but we did catch a couple sharks over the next hour, a black tip and an atlantic sharp nose. After that we went and hit the patch reefs out on the atlantic side. This was good fishing, and not too much rougher than it was on the bay really. We had a lot of lane snappers, which we kept for dinner, and also some porgy and a hogfish, along with a few other random reef fish. Good fishing! We also got another shark on a light rod that ate a shrimp. We tried another area for sharks after that without any luck, and then ran back to where we started. We caught 3 more sharks in the last hour with the tide switched around now, and also a few more blue runners and bluefish. All in all an action packed day, we kept it simple but got exactly what the guys wanted – i’ll take it! Off the next few days until Saturday, but with the cold front water temperatures should stay low. Fishing should stay decent as the fish seem to have adjusted to the cold at this point.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
