Well I have not fished much the last month or so. Mostly have had Capt. Brandon running my trips on the seacraft. Fishing has been decent bait has been easy with a nice long fall bait run going on. We’ve had a few weak ‘cool’ fronts with some wind and not much temperature drop, but the water temps are starting to get into the lower 70s so it’s definitely not summer any more. Today we had some winter level water levels finally with the flats getting exposed in the backcountry early on. Fishing was a little tough to start but got better as the day went on. Some times this time of year is what we call ‘transitional’ it’s not super cold yet but it’s not super hot either, so the weather is in between and the fish are kind of not super happy either. Once it gets cold and stays cold they get adapted and just as with the summer they get adapted too, so when we have big weather fluctuations like a cold front you get a day or two of tougher fishing with smaller windows where it often gets good. But you learn that from fishing through them year after year. Anyways slow start but it picked up later on and we wound up with 20 or so snook with some nicer size ones in the mix. We found some big girls at the end of the day too which was exciting to see as I haven’t been catching many big ones the last few months, it’s nothing like it was a couple years ago where they were making regular appearances! Anyways ‘pops’ will be happy to hear that and is coming back from the Bahamas tomorrow so I’m sure we’ll get out a few times in the next few weeks. Also lots of tarpon were jumping around back there too even in December, everything is just a couple months behind schedule with the warm warm fall, mahi still being caught offshore. So again you never know what to expect when you go fishing here that’s what makes it so fun hopefully we get some cold in January and some larger snook and drums showing up, looking forward to that time.
I’m also taking bookings for January now if you want to get on the schedule I will be away from Xmas week, but I’ll be available starting Jan 4. Drop me a line or call the marina office and ask for Capt. Rick. If I’m not available ask for Capt. Brandon or Capt. Trentin they are running the other boats for me and are out there more than me these days so they are dialed in with the bite and we all work together to make sure you have the best trip possible!
: @richardstanczyk
: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
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