1/5/15 January Islamorada Fishing Report

Well the big story of January 2015 here in Islamorada, Florida is the warm weather!  It feels like late spring time with highs in the 80s.  The fish are a little confused but that is not a problem.  We’ve started doing some of our normal ‘spring time’ fishing trips a little early.  Tarpon have been around in good number and we’ve been getting shots at that almost every trip the past week.  I’ve had several over 100 lbs which have given my anglers some very good battles.  Of course this won’t likely last and when we get some more cold weather, things in the everglades such as redfish, snook, black drum, etc.. should pick back up.  In December that was still fairly good, though with it being warmer the snook and reds are much more spread out in the creeks where we often fish in the winter, so you must have patience to cast and work areas thoroughly.  Mixed in with tarpon have been a variety of sharks as well, including big black tips which put on a helluva show when they jump and take off!  We also got a nice hammerhead shark one day.  Otherwise we’ve been fishing the gulf a lot and the spanish mackerel bite has been very good, probably the most consistent thing around right now as far as making sure to get the rod bent!  Mixed in with them are plenty of big ladyfish, mangrove snapper, and the occasional trout and pompano.  We’ve had a few cobias the last week as well.  On the nicer days when the water is pretty you can find them on many of the gulf wrecks.  Looks like in a few days we will be getting another good cold front, so I may venture back to the usual winter time haunts of cape sable and flamingo.  Drop me a line if your interested in fishing this January.  Depending on the weather just about anything may be possible!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk