Backcountry Fishing Reports

Great 3/4 day with Drew, Andrew, and Molly! Steady bite of reds mostly slot size and one above. A few black drum including a nice 18 lber and PB for Drew. And a good handful of snook, Andrews first. Also a few nice trout.  Seems fish are kinda spread out at the moment the last few days.  Really having to work around and pick a fish or two off each spot.  But things can change in a hurry, once things get adjusted to the cooler weather I think it’ll be rocking and rolling again.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got back on the water after a good break for thanksgiving.  We all got some colds and stomach bugs so time off the water was good too.  Unfortunately my anglers today had a little something too and our day got cut short.  But we managed to get on a good snook bite catching a couple dozen or so, and a small cobia plus a few trout.  With the cold front that came in things cooled off a bit again, but a lot of areas that were red hot for me before my trip didnt have much going on but they should get good again as the weather stabilizes.  Back at it tomorrow!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Return customers David and Kathy came down to fish with me again and brought the kids along this time as well.  We had a great day starting off with some lunker redfish that have been around.  A lot of 10 to 15 lb fish very nice to see!  We caught probably 20 or so and then left ’em alone as some other boats were moving in.  We worked around hard for the next couple hours it was a little tough for a bit, we managed to pick a few small fish off a few spots, and then a few spots without much of anything.  Tried my area where I’d found some big monster fish the last few days but it didn’t look too good there, muddy water and ripping tide, and no bites.  We had time to make one last big move thanks to being in the Contender with some speed, and we got on a good spot finishing out the day with another dozen redfish, a few more snook, a black drum, and a sheepshead.  So all in all a great day when you looked at the scorecard.

I’m off until next week going out of town for Thanksgiving.  I hope everyone has a great holiday.  I’ll be back to fishing hard next Wednesday.  The whole week before Christmas is open if anyone wants to go fishing, just read my latest reports you can see it’s been good.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Monsters of flamingo… 38 inch snook absolutely massive head like a 40+ incher, 25 lb bull red, a few 15-18 lb reds, 40 lb Goliath on light tackle and a lot of smaller redfish and snook.  Very good day with Mike and his son Kyle.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Fun day out with my dad and our friends Ron Modra and Ricky Walker. Reds were swarming with a lot of nice size fish. We got a handful of snook as well and a few small goliath groupers. Last stop of the day we were hoping for a trophy size fish. Didn’t look like it was gonna happen and then sure enough I got a nice 25 lb red! We pitched a crab back out and then i got another around 18 lbs. Two nicest fish of the day, but quite a few in the 10 to 15 lb range. Awesome fishing. Another little cold front tonight back in the mid 60s, should keep ’em happy.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing