Today it was slick calm in the morning, and then the winds started to kick out of the west a little as we have a weak cold front coming in. First thing we tried an area for mackerel out in the gulf where we had seen a lot of activity while running around last week. Today though it seemed like a dead zone, not much life at all. So we ran back towards shore. Tried another spot and we hooked up a big snook! Unfortunately he got under the boat and around the engine, breaching one time and head-shaking, but then the line snapped. It looked to be at least a 20 lber! Heartbreaker! After that we had a couple big goliath groupers eat us but we didn’t have the tackle to tango with them. Things slowed down there we missed the one we wanted, so we tried another similar spot but no luck at all there but catfish. We then ran and tried some areas on the bottom of the tide where I hoped some redfish and trout would be. We got there and unfortunately with it being the weekend, there was 4 other boats working the area. But that’s just what you have to deal with on the weekends sometimes. We still managed to catch some fish though, about a half dozen redfish and maybe 8 trout. We gave it an hour or so, and then tried some other spots as the tide began to rise. The wind kicked more west now, and unfortunately we just could not get much going the next several stops. We tried 4 places without a strike aside from catfish! But when the tide got right, the last stop of the day produce big for us. We caught about 30 redfish, and one good snook that at least partially made up for the one we lost earlier in the day. We were really feeling good after that last stop thankfully it saved the day. I’m off the next couple of days, and then have some availability starting Tuesday if anybody wants to go! Give me a shout!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
