Backcountry Fishing Reports

Absolutely sick day with long time customer and friend Jeff G. The winds laid down after kicking up hard Southwest yesterday. I wasn’t sure what it’s be like out back sometimes that bad wind direction can turn it into an absolute mudhole. We caught bait and headed that way. Once there it didn’t look terrible, not the greatest but looked somewhat fishy. We stopped on a few spots, a medium snook and red to start, then nothing but catfish. Poked around another spot and then we got into some big girls! We got several nice size snook and lost a couple others with Jeff getting his biggest ever 37 inches and probably near 20 lbs! I dont like to hand em to weigh them though as it can kill the fish. After that we caught a nice redfish and a few other snook but nothing quite as big. After an hour things slowed down and we went and tried some shoreline stuff. Tons of smaller snook here we lost count on small 2 to 5 lbers. After the tide quite we decided to look for some big ones again as the wind really layed out flat and it looked good with the water getting a little green. Sure enough the big ones were chewing! We got a couple nice black drum in one spot, then found the nice size snooks again. They really started biting on the ride change and we got probably a half dozen in the 30 to 34 inch range, and some others a hair smaller. We also got a nice tripletail and jumped a couple small tarpon that didn’t stay buttoned. And also a juvenile Goliath grouper. Wow what a day love ’em like this and always fun with such a great customer.

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

Awesome day with Glen and Alan! We started out in hopes of some bigger fish. We had some luck and found some nicer black drums and snook, with some decent redfish mixed in. Unfortunately our nicest fish got away. Alan also got a tarpon to the boat which was cool,first cast! Later we had hooked up a double header of a big 20+ lb snook, and s 25+ lb black drum ! The snook came up shaking his head after a long 40 yard run, and chaffed the leader. Then the drum showed himself one time, and we saw a huge boil where a shark got him and that was that! Heartbreaker! We pulled hook and broke off a couple other jumbo snook, they just had our number today. But we still landed a few decent ones though. After that we found a ton of smaller snook, just about every cast for an hour! Afterwards we picked some more snook in other areas, as well as a juvenile Goliath grouper and a Cobia. Just an awesome day, hope this great fishing keeps up! It’s gonna be an awesome winter!

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

Fabulous day fishing today with my dad, wife Elizabeth, and our friend Clay. It was a little windy but not as bad as it had been, and a nice northeasterly direction in the Backcountry. We got into a great bite of black drums early on which was a lot of fun. I’d been finding a few the last week, and with the early fall conditions some more were around today. No jumbo monsters like last week, but still some very respectable fish. Always love catching them. We also got a few medium and one large size snook, and a few nice reds as well. My wife had a great battle with a big bull red that was probably 35 lbs but he got under the boat and broke her off! Later in the day we caught a bunch of smaller snook fishing some shorelines and sandbars, and finished up with a nice juvenile Goliath grouper on light tackle. Fishing has been really good and should continue with the fall bait run in effect, never know what you’ll find out there unless you go!

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

One of those days you dream about today… The wind finally let up yesterday a bit and we’ve had a true taste of fall with a slight north breeze and a slight temperature drop. Water temperatures in many parts of the bay are down to around 80 degrees as opposed to the very hot 85+ degrees of summer. I had the day off but conditions looked so good and we found some quality fish yesterday in a few areas, that I didn’t want to pass it up! My dad and our friend/marina manager Stephen went out for a morning trip. We left early and caught the last trickle of falling tide which didn’t produce much as far as fish went. Stephen missed one good bite, but then nothing but a whole lot of catfish for a little bit. The tarpon put on quite a show though first thing in the morning as the mullet run is in effect, but we didn’t really mess with them as we were looking for snook, redfish, drum, etc… Once the tide turned back in and started moving, the fish turned on. We got into some very nice snook up to 36 inches, nice fat healthy fish! We also got a good handful of quality redfish in the 8 lb range (didn’t get any pics of them). Eventually we also got into a few very large (for here) black drum, one probably being close to 25 lbs! So awesome to see as they are a rarity for us especially over 10 lbs or so, usually we only really get them on the freezing cold days but funny we found one yesterday and got a few today. On the way home we stopped at one more spot and the big jack crevelles tore us up, but we also got a couple small goliath groupers and Stephen got one last big snook to finish the day up. Back at the dock by noon for lunch.

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

Great couple of days with Gary and Melissa visiting from across the pond!  We had tremendous wind yesterday and we decided to make a long run up the coast to get out of it.  Luckily the Contender is quick and great for those 50 mile runs like that.  We had good fishing, nothing red hot but quality for sure!  A good half dozen reds of nice size, and maybe a dozen or so snook.  We also got Gary a tarpon for the SLAM, and Melissa caught a nice 30 lb goliath grouper.  We also had a good mix of ladyfish and jacks to keep the rods bent.

On the second day the winds let up nicely and more northerly.  We fished a little closer to home around the Flamingo area.  We had great fishing, getting into a ton of smaller snook and redfish.  We got one nice snook and a handful of better size reds too.  After that we went in search of something bigger.  We were hoping for some big snook but no luck with them, though I think we did miss one good bite.  But we did get a few decent size reds, and a couple black drum.  One of the drums was a whopper too close to 20 lbs!  Unusual especially that size for it not being real cold yet.  Anyways a fun day 2.

The fall bait run is totally in effect and there are definitely good fishing opportunities.  Lots of tarpon around I didn’t really mess with them today, but that could be good fishing too.  Give me a shout if you want to get out there, October is one of my favorite months of the year to go fishing.

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