Got out with Bo today after having to cancel the last two days. My customers yesterday had some health issues so didn’t feel up to going and I didn’t blame them as the winds were howling 35 mph. The day before really wasn’t all that bad but I let my customer off the hook to rebook since he was local in south florida. But normally 20 mph winds we don’t bat an eye at. Today was honking though 35 mph again, but really wasn’t all that bad with the ride. Wind direction plays a big role, and it was east so it’s much easier to hide from and there are only a few spots where you have to just go slow and ride easy in the waves, and the majority of the ride into the backcountry you can stay in 2-3 feet of water and it’s calm and fairly dry. Fishing started out slow we picked away at a few black drum and trout. Not red hot we just caught a handful of each the first couple hours. We eventually hooked a big tarpon which was fun but he got off after about a minute. We tried a few other areas tucked way up inside some creeks later, but not much luck in either of those just 1 trout. We went back where we started and caught a few more drum so that was nice. But as the tide started to fall we got into a very good snook bite a little later. And when I say good it was insane! Every cast Bo was hooking up for the last hour of the day, I didn’t keep count but he caught probably 2 dozen or so! A lot of little guys, but a handful of 4 to 6 lbers which were nice! He also had another little tarpon on for a second that threw the hook. Just amazing! Right time, right place, sometimes that is where you have to be. Just goes to show you, you don’t know unless you go. We can fish in just about any condition here in the islamorada backcountry, especially in a big comfortable boat like mine. As long as it’s not dangerous with lightning, wind we can work with. Fishing may not always be red hot like this but it can be. But that is true with any day of the week! Anyways I’ll be out of town for a little while now to go skiing, but I’ll be back next weekend. Hopefully there will still be a few fish around when I get back here.
Also early this morning we saw this crazy fish, not sure what it was but looked like an alien! Check him out! A few people have said possibly a batfish or flying gunard… I dunno he looked like he was straight out of the movie alien to me.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
