Backcountry Fishing Reports

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

Well what a day we were filming for our YouTube show again today.  Had my dad and our friend Ron Modra, along with Ricky Walker from Scotland who is a film producer there.  He shot the film for us today.  We fished in the backcountry and it was pretty good.  Seemed to be some fish just about everywhere we went.  Lost a few good snook early to some sharks, and missed another in the net, they weren’t playing nice with us!  We did get a few smaller ones and one decent one, plus some good redfish.  Next stop some black drums and reds and one good snook.  Then we got into a mess of smaller reds, snooks, and some nice trout.  All in all good fishing and perfect for the filming.  We tried some spots again for some big fish, again we had broke one off and lost another at the boat just frustrating one of those days.  Finally last stop of the day we hooked something big right away.  I thought it was a big redfish, as that’s what we’d caught there the last couple of days.  My dad hooked up too so we had a double header.  All of a sudden Rons took off, and I thought a shark had eaten it so we yelled Shark!  My dad put the wood to his fish, and unfortunately it ended up breaking off but jumped one time and we could see it was a monster snook!  Ron’s finally stopped running, and he started reeling it back in… I was expecting to just see the head of some big redfish, but sure enough it was a monstrous snook!  We got it to the boat, and it came off the hook but luckily I got it’s head in the net and we landed it.  A huge 40 inch once in a lifetime fish!  Getting that one made up for all the rest we lost, and what a way to end our day.  We did have one more bite on a pinfish that we missed, and that was it.  Awesome day out there, always nice when you get a fish like that which we’ll forever remember.  And the ones you lose make for good stories down the line.

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

Well another awesome 3/4 day with my friend Peter and his buddy Will. We went out into the park this morning. Chilly again with a decent north breeze though not crazy rough. We fished around several areas and had some luck in just about all of them. Caught a good handful of reds and a couple snook in the first stop, got one decent 10 pound red here. Next stop we got into a mess of smaller ones but still respectable a lot of 3 to 6 lbers. A few small snook too and a couple black drum. Next stop we got a decent snook of 7 lbs or so. Then on the way home we stopped where we had found a handful of big redfish yesterday. I was interested to see if they would still be there or if it was just a fluke. Sure enough first cast we scored a big nice one! Caught 4 more I think all in the 12 to 16 pound range very nice for Florida bay redfish. Then last cast Peter hooked into something huge! After about 5 minutes of tug o war we got a glimpse, it was a huge black drum a.k.a big nasty! We fought it for another 5 minutes or so, very hard to turn him over. But we got him, wow what a fish id say in the 30 to 35 pound range! Just an awesome way to finish our day. Back at it tomorrow folks.

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