Backcountry Fishing Reports

Mixed it up today with Scott and Leslie. They caught tarpon the other day and wanted to see the backcountry. We had decent action throughout the day, had to work at it somewhat but caught a good handful of snook, quite a few redfish, a juvenile Goliath grouper, and several trout and Jack’s. Weather was gorgeous and we got to see plenty of birds and crocodiles too. The next few days I have some regulars and we will likely be doing similar stuff I don’t think tarpon will be the main objective.

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

Fun day 2 with Brent and Colin! We decided to mix it up and went after snook in the Everglades. We first had to catch some pilchards, which we found near home. Got one good shot on them and wound up with 5 dozen baits or so. We headed out back after that. First stop we caught the tide change. Nothing at first, but soon we hooked up a nice snook Colin landed. A beauty around 15 lbs! That wound up being the biggest of the day. After that we caught a smaller one, and broke off a other one that was probably a larger one. We then tried some shoreline area without much luck. We hit the creeks and picked a few more snook out of there about a half dozen or so. After the tide got higher, we snuck out to where I hoped a school of reds would be. There weren’t many reds, but plenty of more snook! We caught a dozen or so more and a couple reds as well as a big trout. We then ran back towards home in hopes of a tarpon. Gave it a try for the last hour or so but no luck. Anyways overall a great day fun to do something different again. Back to the tarpon grind tomorrow, then off for a couple days. Looks like undesirable weather Friday and Saturday with another late cold front wind swing, so won’t mind being off!

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

Well got cancelled last minute so my dad jumped at the opportunity. We took our friend Brandon who works at bud n marys. Near slick calm but still a slight west breeze early. Water was super muddy in a lot of areas from the undesirable wind the last couple days. We found a few big snook early, several cut us off but we landed one. Also Brandon got a nice small tarpon to the boat a few times before he jumped off. And my dad had jumped off another later. Also played with a few big Goliath grouper, but no luck getting them outta there hole some sharp stuff down there to cut us off! After that we went searching for permit. Didn’t seem real hopeful water didn’t look great but the wind laid out and tide was falling good. We checked a couple spots and caught a few mackerels, jacks, and sharks. Finally we had a little time left we decided to just cruised and look. Low and behold we found what we were looking for! They were running hard but we chased them and presented a few crabs, after a couple turn down Brandon hooked up! We tried to continue after the school but eventually we were worried we’d get spooled so we slowed down and caught our hooked fish. After that it was near time to go home, we looked around a few more minutes but never saw the fish again. Really felt like we found a needle in a haystack! Nice ride back home and great end to a fun day.

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

Fun day with new customers Jon and Ronda. They did not want to go after tarpon and I was fine to give them a break today, as it was forecast to be pretty windy and not ideal conditions. It ended up being not so bad early but got windy as the day progressed. We had good luck snook fishing early on, fishing baits along the shoreline we caught 8 or so nice size snook in the 5 to 8 lb range. Also a handful of whopper trout that were over slot. After that we hit the creeks and picked away at snook in there. Had to move around but I think we got at least one fish in each place we stopped. Last stop in there we had a little rally and hooked probably 5 more snook but only landed one as they were pulling off and breaking us off on a tree. Jon also got a juvenile Goliath here. After that we decided to switch gears and went to the redfish hole, which was solid again we caught probably 30 reds, and also another 4 snook there including one nice size one. Great finish to another great day. Back at it tomorrow the winds are suppose to lighten somewhat and go more easterly. Not sure what the fishing plan is yet but we will be ready for anything!

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

Had David and Jared out today after a day off yesterday. Winds were howling a little bit, east though so not a bad direction. Water temps still on the chilly side. We opted for action and to maybe try for a tarpon later in the day. We found a few large reds and black drum to start the day. David landed a nice one of each and we got a few smaller as well. Also a ton of trout. We made our way into the creeks as the wind picked up more. Much weaker tide then a few days ago, funny how fast it can change. Actually not a very low tide at all it stayed nearly a foot above the low from two days ago. We worked around and picked some reds in one spot, then found a couple small snook in a couple other spots. After that we had a dry spell the next couple stops. Finally gave it one more whirl and got into a decent snook bite catching a half dozen or so plus a few more reds and a baby cubera snapper. We ran back to Islamorada to try for tarpon the last hour. No luck though. Water is definitely in the temperature range but with the howling winds we didn’t see many fish. Looks like it’ll calm down tomorrow so it could be better. We will find out! Unfortunately another front on Wednesday to cool things off again. Never know with this early spring weather.

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