Got out with Mike today for a 3/4 day. He wanted to try and catch snook or tarpon. I told him snook shouldn’t be too difficult right now, tarpon we may have a shot but it’s of course hit and miss with the cooler water temperatures. We left early and tried some of the cold weather spots to start as there was very good fishing there yesterday. Today however things warmed up considerably and the water was back near 70 degrees. We had a bit of action to start with a snook and a redfish and a few trout, however that was about it. I was hoping we’d maybe get some larger ones but none of the big boys that were around yesterday while it was still cold. We moved around and then got on a decent redfish and black drum bite, picking a good handful of fish, and a few snook as well. Mike got a decent snook here as well just before we were about to pack it up! We ran back to another area on the bottom of the tide to catch the start of the incoming. A couple quick stops without much, then the next stop we got the biggest snook of the trip, nothing monstrous but a decent 6 lber. I was hoping we’d have enough water to get into another area however with the negative tide and only have about 45 minutes left, I didn’t think we’d get where I wanted to go. So we tried some other grounds I had not fished in a while. It turned out to be fairly productive. We caught about 5 snook in one stop, then a couple more in the next stop, and then a couple decent redfish in the 3rd and final stop… all in the same stretch of creek. So good to see. Not a bad day at all with probably a good 16 snook, dozen reds, and 8 black drum. I’m off tomorrow and then pretty much wide open all week! Looks like we’ll have a couple more cold fronts, dropping us back down into the 50s. That should be good for our big snook and big black drums in the ‘glades. These are the days I look forward to. Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday should all be good for those braving the cold winds and wanting to leave the dock a little early. Might even take one of those days for myself!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
