Backcountry Fishing Reports

Capt. Trentin got out on the seacraft for a full day of fishing today.  It was a prefrontal day… suppose to drop down in the 60s tonight and possibly mid 50s tomorrow night.  But was nice and warm today and calm in some areas.  The type of day something magical can happen for sure.  Trent said they found tarpon rolling in quite a few places when they left the dock.  He ran to one of his favorite tarpon holes and ended up jumping 3 fish.  Not a bad bite for January!  After that they ended up running into some permit and floated a crab out for them and wham!  Hooked a big permit which they fought or about 45 minutes… what a battle he said.  Permit are one of the most sought after game fish in the Florida Keys and if you’ve ever caught one you can tell why.  They got hands on this fish so it was all smiles then.  After that the customers had requested dinner and hoped to get a legal mutton snapper.  With the calm conditions they snuck out to the deeper reef and got there target species a nice keeper mutton.  Also some big lane snappers so they had enough for the whole crew for dinner.  Quite a day!  I will say this front is coming in monday night and will get COLD but after that the wind lays down quickly but the temperatures will stay in the low 60s at night.  I think it’s a perfect recipe for some big fish action in the backcountry/near gulf.  If you want to get out there give me a shout!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Capt. Stephen Byrd got out for half of a day today Saturday morning here fishing in Islamorad.  He had some guys just looking for action and requested to try and catch a little table fare.  Steve was up to the call he had found some good size mangrove snappers the previous evening while out fun fishing.  So they fished some local pilings today there however the big ones seemed to have moved on but they were able to catch there fill of legal size ones none the less.  They did end up finding some larger ones later on, nice mangrove snappers up to 15 inches!  Those babies can pull and such fun on light tackle.  They also had a few various jacks, lookdowns, and other species in the mix.  Capt. Steve had some time left over and they gave it a shot for bonefish on the nearby flats.  January isn’t often a great time for bonefish but we are in between cold fronts right now so the water temperatures have gotten to a tolerable level for those fish.  Sure enough they caught a double header within 10 minutes!   One fish was a very respectable sized one too about a 7 lber.  It was all smiles after that!  Great way to put a nice half day together here in the Florida Keys fishing in January.  Looks like we have a front coming the next couple of days and it will drop back down into the high 50s… so some of the coldest weather we’ve gotten this winter.  Good news is it is calming down right afterwards so by Tuesday through the rest of the week it’s suppose to be 10mph or less out of the north and stay chilly.  This should be really a good setup for some larger backcountry snook, drum, and possibly some cobia in the nearby gulf!  I’ll be getting out with pops on Tuesdays so we’ll see if that is the day but I think the rest of the week could be very good fishing too.  We’ve got a few more days available throughout so if you want to go, give us a shout!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Awesome day in the Backcountry despite some heavy winds! I hadn’t fished much myself the last few weeks so was good to get out there. We had a cold front come over the previous weekend and howling winds since then, so water temps were a chilly 68 degrees. Not my favorite conditions but you gotta work with what you are dealt. We had dead low tide early on in the Everglades. Lots of water blown out with the wind. We spent a short time looking for bait but gave up after seeing the water temps and we had nice good sized shrimp. Had steady action all through the day. Never a red hot bite but seemed to pick a fish or two about everywhere we stopped. Stayed on the trolling motor most of the day and worked patiently. All in all a couple dozen of the target species snook, redfish, drum, and sheepshead. And also a few small snappers and other odds and ends to keep us busy. The ride to and from was easy on the Contender Bay even howling 25 mph we stayed dry and didn’t get beat up.
Spring time is booking up quick I don’t have much personally left for March, April, or May but have a few days open in February. Capt. Steve and Capt. Trent have some days open though running the other vessels. Everyone working together as a team you are in good hands! Weather gets nicer Friday come on and take advantage.

Sunday another front coming and it’ll drip back pretty cold.  But hopefully that’ll be the last of it.  February is when we usually start warming up enough to get some consistent tarpon fishing hopefully by the second week or so.  If you are wanting to have good shots at tarpon while getting to still enjoy slightly cooler temperatures compared to summer and be in the backcountry, February can be your month!  Drop me a line.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Capt. Stephen got out on New Years Day for some January fishing in Islamorada.  It was chilly as we had some cold weather move on in which is normal for this time of year.  It’s one of the few months you can bet on getting some cold fronts and it can present some great backcountry opportunities.  As with a lot in life it’s all about timing and you can catch it when the water temperatures has dropped too dramatically and it can be tough fishing.  But if you are there when things stabilize and get right you can have some of the best fishing of your life!  Often during the day you can see this happening as sometimes you won’t have a sniff for several hours in the morning if it’s gotten cold, but then by late morning after the waters been baking in the sun, the fish can turn on and pull you out of the boat.  The cold also has a tendency to bring out some larger size fish… That’s a great time to catch large black drum, snook, and redfish which you don’t often see other times of year, especially the black drum.  So Capt. Steve and my dad and good friend Ron Modra got out for a days fishing.  We had some cold weather move in a few days ago and today seemed the right day as the winds calmed down somewhat.  They found cobia in several spots in the near gulf, catching a double header in there first stop!  Cobia are a great fight on light tackle and lots of fun!  Later on the next stop they hooked a 50 lber that they had on for 20 minutes, but unfortunately a shark ate it…  Then later they got into some larger size black drum, catching a few including one massive 30 lber.  These guys pull very hard and the large ones are lots of fun and a unique catch here.  After that they even hooked a few more big boys but unfortunately pulled the hook on one, and the other got them wrapped up in some tree limbs… but they figured either very large snook or possibly drum again too.

We will hopefully have a little bit more cold weather this month and this may present more opportunities at these large fish.  The big snook of course can be around any time of year but those drum in particular love the cold of January.  Cobia often stick around through the spring into March/April, and we start to get plenty of tarpon then too.  If you want to get out on the water give me a shout, Stephen or myself have plenty of days this next month and can try and accommodate as best we can with the conditions.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Well we just had some major weather move through over the weekend again.  A late season tropical system developed and it poured rain and blew over 30 knots Friday through Sunday… very strange weather and very similar to the tropical system we had a little over a month ago.  Strange for this time of year.  But a cold front moved in soon after and things dropped into the high 50s last night.  The bay was pretty muddy but not terrible overall and from here on out the wind is suppose to stay northeasterly until Xmas, and then maybe lay out somewhat over Xmas week to New Years but of course that is still a bit of time away so may change.  But no more cold weather forecast to get us until then as of now so I think it could be good stable conditions and good fishing!  Today I had my dad and Capt. Stephen who is now running my Contender just out fun fishing.  We tried for some big fish and were particularly interested to see if some big drums had moved in.  Not a whole lot around but we did find one spot where we managed a couple decent sized black drums, and a pretty good sized snook too!  So that was good to see.  I’m hoping in January when we perhaps get some even cold weather we’ll get a few days where some of those big fish move in quite a few spots, but that’ll remain to be seen.  But overall the backcountry bite has been decent around the recent cold fronts thus far.  If you want to get a trip booked let me know, Capt. Stephen and Capt. Trent both have some availability between now and New Years.  Though of course Xmas week books up quick so I’d recommend getting something on the calendar if you plan to be here then ASAP.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina