Got out with Reg and Lucinda today. They found me at the dock yesterday afternoon and said they were going to be down here for a while as they are snowbirds. Asked when I had something available if i’d give them a ring to go. I said today was available, and conditions looked great and fishing had been really good… so we decided to go for it! Things warmed up slightly though still chilly in the morning. Winds were more easterly, and not blowing as hard as yesterday, so the ride wasn’t too bad. We hit the drums to start. Not a red hot bite by any means, but a slow pick. We managed to catch about 8 or so in little over an hour, plus a few redfish and trout. Lucinda did get a decent size drum not a monster but a 13ish lber. After that we tried another area and got into a decent snook bite, landing 7 or so and a few more redfish. Several nice size fish too which was great to see! We tried one other spot nearby and got a little dink snook there. After that we tried an area up in another spot that was good a couple weeks ago, though tide was high now and water muddy, so we didn’t have much luck there. With the tide higher now, we decided to run to another area to try some things. I hadn’t fished these spots in a couple weeks and was interested to see how the bite was there as previously it had been good. Lucky for us it was on fire! It was a redfish every cast, and we got another half dozen snook too including a couple nicer size ones! A few trout too. Great fun we just stayed about 45 minutes and then decided to check some of the spots for something glorious. I had been having some luck with big snook in some areas with the nice conditions, and said we should give it a try. Nothing but catfish for a little bit there, but we did catch a few redfish eventually then a few trout. Then Lucinda hooked something that screamed off some line! Unfortunately the hook pulled, but I was pretty sure that was our snook that we missed! After that Reg got a black drum, and we decided to try one more spot as we had a few more minutes and it was just getting gorgeous out and looking super fishy. The last stop Lucinda got revenge and landed a nice 16 lb snook! Reg got a fat redfish too probably about the same size! What a way to end the day! We headed on home after that. Reg and Lucinda can’t wait to go again and want to try for some tarpon soon, so we’ll likely be trying that when things warm up and get right!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
