Got out the day after Christmas with my dad and our good friend Ron Modra. It was a gorgeous day with light north winds and low 70 degree temperatures. The whole week looks very nice and that is a plus as it is always a busy week here in the Keys. We left out early of Bud n’ Mary’s around 6 AM. We were light on bait as the pinfish we normally like to use had been a little difficult to catch as of late. With the fluctuating water temperatures they aren’t always super abundant where we normally fish. Though luckily I had about 30 penned up in a cage that were nice and lively and we had some decent shrimp the day before. The tide was just starting to trickle out in the backcountry and we stopped in an area where I’d caught some of these big redfish before, though I hadn’t seen much there in months. We pulled in and all of a sudden my sonar lit up like a christmas tree! Swarms of big fish swimming everywhere! Ron cast in before I could even get the trolling motor down and he hooked up instantly! It was a monster 25 lb bull redfish and we could even see more chasing that fish up. We proceeded to catch another 4 or 5 in the next 30 minutes, even a double header for my dad and Ron. The type of day we dream about! And the best thing – no sharks chasing them around or eating them! They ate shrimp and pinfish it didn’t seem to matter much. After that things slowed down and we checked a few other spots. We marked a few fish on a couple of those spots but no bite. Then we found another spot with similar markings of fish and we hooked up again. Nice redfish for pops but this time a shark came up and grabbed it after about 20 seconds… Ron hooked another and same thing happened so we decided to leave that spot alone. Sad to see but such is life these days with the sharks. After that it was fairly quiet but that first 30 minutes more than made the day. While this doesn’t happen every day it is definitely a possibility and you don’t know if you don’ go! January is often my best month for monster redfish and drum with those cooler water temperatures. If you want to give it a shot give me a call.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
