Got out with JP, Ethan, Chase, and Christine today for a full day of fishing. Was rainy over Islamorada and we had to run through it on the ride out, but once we got to the fishing grounds it was nice and clear skies. Mackerels bit well, we caught probably 40 or 50, lots of larger size fish there. Great action for the kids. After that we hit some channel run-offs for some redfish. I hadn’t tried these areas in a good while but figured it was worth a shot. Didn’t look great as the water was kind of muddy and the tide wasn’t super low, but we did catch some fish. Not a super hot bite but I think we probably caught a dozen reds in about an hour and a half, and a few trout as well and I think we missed another 6 or 8 redfish bites. Good to know those fish are there! After that we decided to use the last couple hours to try for something big. First couple spots didn’t produce much but we did get a couple big lookdowns, a few lane snappers, a shark, and a few croakers. But we hung in there and at the 3rd spot we got a nice ‘big nasty’ black drum about 18 lbs, great way to end the day! Tomorrow is my last day for a week or so as we are going out of town, conditions look good we have a mild cold front and nice north wind then fading out in the afternoon… might be big fishing! But surprisingly not a lot of cold weather in the near future though we may get a decent cold front next weekend.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
