Backcountry Fishing Reports

Another great day with Irv and his friend Bill. Winds were cranking 25 southeast, not great for fishing usually but we made it happen. Had a little rain to dodge as well but not too bad. We caught our limit of snapper early and then went back in the creeks to hide. Wasn’t a bad ride over really. We caught the bottom of the tide and picked a few redfish and couple snook to start. Seemed like it was gonna turn on but then seemed to go quiet. We waited for the tide but that didn‘t help either. We ran around and tried another spot. Caught a couple good snook there, and missed a couple others. Tide was racing in and got kinda high quickly .we bounced around again, blanking in the next stop. But then we found the right place at the right time! Bill got several small tarpon and missed a couple more. Irv got one too and missed one. We also caught a good handful of snook and redfish as well. The small tarpon flurried at first then they slowed down but it was cool! We then caught a few nice trout and small black drums. Last stop we picked a couple more redfish. All in all not a bad day at all considering our conditions. And both guys got a backcountry SLAM and then some!

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

Fun day with Jay, Larry, Rex, and Trip. We had some left over bait from yesterday and tried tarpon fishing first. Found a good number of fish, jumping and splashing putting on a show. Not biting real well though. We had a couple shark bites, and after 3 or 4 moves we finally jumped a tarpon. Soon after that though we got another shot. Larry got a technical release on this guy, getting him to the boat on the leader but unfortunately he threw the hook before we could lay him out for a picture. After that Jay hooked up to a big sawfish, but we weren’t able to get a look at it as it just sucked on to the bottom. We then tried to run and catch some mackerels. But mackerel fishing was tough for us, never really got them going we just caught 1 and a big trout. We had to tack into the wind to get back to where we were due to the waves, so it was a little bit of a ride back to the tarpon grounds. We tried again for a little, and hooked some big sharks but no more tarpon action. We finished up the day catching a bunch of redfish for Rex and Trip. All in all not a bad day. Back at it tomorrow looks like it’ll be another windy one.

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

Great day with Mike, Michael, and Don! The boys wanted to get into the backcountry creeks and such, but with it being calm with the light south wind, I told them we might be better off fishing open water. We tried it early on and bugs chased us away. But we went to plan B and got into an insane mackerel bite. Had to take the chum out of the water and we were throwing bare hooks catching them as fast as we could. But lots of cut offs, thats what we call it when it’s too good. We ran back inshore and found a good load of tarpon moving through the gulf. We set up and within 20 minutes, Michael hooked a big one! We had something else on the other rod too. But stayed with the tarpon and landed him, though the other fish had run out all our line and snapped us off! I think it was just a big Ray or something. Anyways we were happy you have landed the tarpon. Got some pics and let it go. After that the tarpon didn’t seem to respond much, but we had plenty of big shark action. We ran over a monster tripletail running back inshore and landed it, probably a 14 lber. We tried a snook spot without any luck but got a bunch of nice trout. Then we had a few more minutes and stopped in a redfish hole, catching about 20 of them in 15 minutes before heading home. Back at it tomorrow!

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

Fun fishing with pops again, and his lucky streak continues! We were hoping it’d be flat clam and we might find those permit again. Though we started to run back there and it seemed to be rough and just didn’t feel right, so we bailed on that. Tried a few other spots out there and did get into a mess of spanish mackerel and jacks with some big sharks mixed in. We ran back inshore and checked a few other areas too, way up the coast but the tide was high too high for the spots I wanted to hit, and too low to get up in the other areas. But we decided to work another area I don’t often fish just to try something new. We didn’t have much luck at first, blind casting on the trolling motor. But after a little while and some patience, I hooked a big snook that made a blistering run! Unfortunately the hook pulled, and I was using a smaller hook as I wasn’t expecting such a monster. I thought that might be our shot at the fish of the day, but my dad made a cast right in the same area and then he hooked a monster too that made the same type of run. He landed a gorgeous fish probably a 15 lber! We ended up getting a double header a little later after that which was cool, and then walking the shore my dad got another one. He had been wanting to get a nice picture with a snook on the shoreline which we had the perfect opportunity. After that we had to run in, but what a way to end our day.

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

Day 2 with Howard and company along with Capt. Bill Bassett. Winds laid down nicely 12 mph out of the north or so and getting very calm by the afternoon. We fished some shorelines and had good action with nice size trout, with a few redfish, a black drum, and a good size snook too! After that we hit the creeks, getting into a mess of smaller redfish. We then ran out and caught some tripletails on the buoys. Saw quite a few but nothing real large. We hit a couple wrecks quickly that held mostly Jacks but Howard did have a big Goliath grouper eat his light rod, but we couldn’t do much with him. He seemed hesistant to eat any larger bait we tried to put down. After that we tried a few spots we had luck at yesterday, not a whole lot there but did get another snook and redfish. Called it a day after that, lots of fun and great action. A couple days off now though should be warming right back up with some calm weather!

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