Backcountry Fishing Reports

Got out for a 3/4 day with my friend Dave Limroth and his buddies Bob and Chris.  Dave has been fishing down in the keys for over 30 years and always stays at bud n marys in October so I’ve known him for a while.  We had a little weather change the winds kicked up a good bit and things cooled off a hair with a mild front dropping temperatures a few degrees.  We got into the backcountry and the wind swung more northerly, making it nice and calm back there early on for the first hour or two being in the lee of the wind.  Fishing was pretty good, it took a little bit to get going but boy it was a total change from the last time i was in these areas.  Lots of big snook showed up, we probably caught 15 or so in the 10 to 20 lb range.  Also plenty of redfish up to about 13 lbs or so, and a couple of nice black drums of 15 and 20 or so lbs.  And don’t forget a couple juvenile goliath groupers.  It was just good fishing honestly doesn’t really get a whole lot better than this.  We fished mostly with our jigs and shrimp but did catch a few fish on pinfish too.  Finished the day on a new spot I found that had a bunch of smaller redfish and some very nice trout which was cool too.  We’re filming episode 4 of the BNM YouTube show tomorrow, hoping to get out in the gulf for something new.  But I have several days open next week fishing has been really good so give me a shout!

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

Got out for a full day today with Bill and his buddies.  We fished around Flamingo and had a great day!  Just stuck with our shrimp, we checked a few spots for bait but didn’t see much just a handful and didn’t really seem worth messing with.  But we hammered the snook in the first stop, I think we probably caught 50 or so.  Also a handful of redfish and snappers.  Sharks started to find us after a little while but didn’t lose too many.  Afterwards we fished a few other islands and worked around, just a slow pick of fish from there on it but probably managed another 8 or so snook and a few more reds.  After that we decided to run in the gulf and look for some tripletail.  We found some good numbers right away, although small, but eventually got a nice 10 lber or so.  Then we looked for a while and didn’t see much, and eventually got into another promising area where again we saw quite a few small guys then another keeper size that unfortunately wouldn’t eat for us.  After that we looked a bit more but things dried up and the water started getting nasty.  But all in all a great day!  Still very warm, suppose to get a ‘cool front’ this weekend, just dropping 4 or 5 degrees but it’s something.  Fishing is still good though but looking forward to a little cool off, and may make the fishing even better!

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

Got out for a few hours of fun fishing with my brother in law Jonathan.  They were down visiting for the weekend and we had some time to play.  Just tried to hit a few of my spots hopefully for a big snook, redfish, drum, etc…  Water was gorgeous some of the prettiest I’ve seen in those areas and looked like it was going to be very very good.  Though to be honest it wasn’t – i was surprised!  Tons of jacks, mackerels,  and little sharks in a couple of those areas, hard to get through them.  We did catch some snook and a few redfish in the first stop, nothing super big but a handful.  Spot 2 we did get one nice redfish about 10 to 12 lbs for him so that was cool, then it was very hard to get through the sharks.  Next stop we got a decent snook same thing about a 10-12 lber and some more jacks.  Then we made one more stop and caught a few more redfish.  Then we stopped again in the area where we started as the tide had changed and thought it may pick back up, but we picked a few more snook and redfish.  So it was a decent pick of fish and a lot of action if you were into the jacks, mackerel, etc… but with as clean and nice as  the water looked with the nice lighter north breeze early on, I was hoping we’d of whacked ’em good but just wasn’t the case.  Need a cold front to move some fish around I think.  But all that being said I’m sure we could’ve done well fishing some other areas, and especially if we had more time, but since it wasn’t a pay trip where I felt I had to produce numbers we were just trying to go for the big boys.  I’m pretty busy the rest of this week we’ll see what happens out there.  Looks like this weekend we will finally get a slight cool down just a few degrees, but hopefully it’s a sign of more to come.

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

Fun day filming episode 3 of the Bud n Mary’s YouTube show. We had our friend Capt Jim out today along with my dad. Fishing was pretty good we ran deep in the Backcountry. Decent snook bite with a few reds mixed in. Plenty of Jack’s and ladyfish. Jim had a big 100+on tarpon eat a jig that broke off. We finished the day with some trophies though! Dad got a snook close to 20 lb, and I got a red close to 15 lbs! Jim got a good handful of nice reds to close out as well. Will let you know when the show is out next week!

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

Awesome half day for Sun and John. Lots of snook and Goliath’s, handful of reds, 1 for 2 baby tarpon, and all the 12 to 15 inch mangrove snappers you wanted. Incredible!  The day before we had the same crew, plus their friends Tom and Grayson.  4 people which is a crowd but will do it on occasion as long as everyone realized we gotta take turns fishing and that kind of thing.  But we went in the backcountry, was really windy the day before and muddy as heck.  But we still picked away, a few black drum and snook to start.  Then a mixed bag with some jacks, trout, reds, etc…  Then at the end of the day when the tide got high we crushed some nice reds and snooks so awesome finish!  We’re back to filming our YouTube show this Wednesday and fishing a few more days at the end of the week.

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