Backcountry Fishing Reports

Great day with Kale, Trey, and Dillard. Winds were not too crazy to start but started cranking late morning to 25 mph! Noaa got it wrong. Didn’t slow the fishing down too much though. We hit a spot on low tide first thing in the morning, a little tricky getting in with the negative tide but we made it. We picked a few reds there but not a whole lot. We then ran and hit the creeks. Fishing was pretty good here and quite a few snook which was our target species. No big packs but we caught a good handful in each spot really. A few reds mixed in and a nice juvenile Goliath too. Trey got the biggest snook of the day, picture doesn’t do it justice but Id say a solid 12 lber. Lots of crocodiles out on the prowl back here and we saw someone who got stuck in the mud the day before and the tow boat had to pull them off! Afterwards we hit another area on the way home on the top of the tide, and good luck there lots of reds, a good handful more snook, and a couple black drums, trout, and Jack’s. All in all we beat them up pretty good nice to see the fishing so solid back there with not so great conditions. Taking a day off tomorrow I caught a cold fromy boy, hopefully back at it Friday.

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

Fun day today with lots of action! Ethan caught his first redfish and many, many more. Along with some trout, black drum, and snook. We wanted to keep the rods bent so we only really made a couple moves all day but the fish kept us busy. I hope everyone has a happy new year and gets to go out fishing soon in 2019! Fishings great and I have availability in January starting on the 2nd, so give me a shout if you wanna get out!

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

Great day with Brian and Becky! They were down for a wedding and suppose to fish with my brother last week but got blown out with the crazy wind. He saw I was available today last night so he called and we set it up! We did a 3/4 day, he really wanted to catch a redfish and I said it shouldn’t be a problem. We got into them really good, catching them on shrimp and artificial! We got one small snook as well. After that, we had a good bit of time still left and Brian was interested in tripletail too. We didn’t see many yesterday but said we could probably find a few. We did and we missed one, but the second one he got not a huge one but a tripletail none the less. We checked a few spots for cobia after that without much luck, but plenty of small jacks there. We got lucky and found a bigger tripletail later which we got, very nice! We saw a school of bonita chasing some ballyhoo which was cool too, but no luck getting them to bite. We headed home after that, all in all a great morning and mission accomplished with two target species catches! I’ll be back at it tomorrow then I have some availability in early January, fishing is still good of course so give me a shout! It’s a great time to fish and the crowds will be thinning after new years.

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

What a day with Mike and his son Chase! Chase fishes some bass tournaments in college and was looking forward to doing some saltwater fishing down here. The winds laid down nicely from yesterday, it was near flat calm in the backcountry. Often this happens when the water is a little chillier back there, the wind can be blowing on the atlantic side but really changes as it gets over the colder bay. It looked like conditions where big things could happen. We started off looking for redfish and snook on the top of the tide. Very stirred up in a lot of areas from all that wind we had, but we picked a couple reds in several spots and lots of jacks. Eventually we got on to a better bite but it took a little bit to get going. But we ended up getting into the reds pretty good and actually quite a few snook as well! Nothing huge but some reds up to 18/19 inches, and some snook up to 25 inches or so. The tide was getting low after a bit though and we then had to keep moving! Next stop we found a couple nice black drums to pull on and another redfish. Lots of catfish here too but to be expected with how muddy the water was. But we got what we were after! We then decided to check out the gulf as it was slick calm out there now. We looked at the buoys for some tripletails but did not see a whole lot. We did see a handful, but unfortunately they were a little spooky for us and didn’t eat before shutting off on us. We made a stop on a spot to look for something quality where some boats were just leaving and figured we’d give it a shot for something nice. We caught a few jack crevelles, then all of a sudden a big cobia chased the jacks right up! Next cast, Chase was hooked up to a cobia and another one followed him up along with a permit! We pitched at the second fish a few times, and eventually got him to eat too but he didn’t stay buttoned on. After a 30 minute battle though, Chase landed his cobia, close to a 40 lber on 20 lb spin tackle! His biggest fish ever! We got some pics and let her swim away as the boys didn’t want to keep any fish and I like to get some good fishing karma. We motored back and had one pinfish we put out. After about 10 minutes we hooked a few more jacks and same thing, another cobia came barging in after them! Mike reeled his pinfish up in front of him and soon he was hooked up too! Again another good battle and we landed Mikes fish as well, which was a personal best size fish for him too! It was all smiles after that, we looked for some tripletails on the way home and did have one more shot but the fish just stared down our shrimp before swimming off. But all in all a banner day, the boys want to come back to do some tarpon fishing next year and I look forward to that!

Lots of fish today for Andy, Zack, and Alec! I just got back in town from spending Christmas with my in-laws. We had to extend our trip so I was back a day late. But the fish were ready and waiting for us. Quite a windy day I guess it’s been cranking since I’d been gone. The boys wanted some dinner so we focused on that. Snappers we’re thick though lots of little guys, though after some moving around and persistence we wound up with some nice keepers. After that we picked a few redfish off a couple spots. As the tide fell we got into a hot trout bite! Lots of trout on artificial which was fun and a handful of nice 18 to 20 inch fish. Later in the day as the tide got closer to bottoming out, we got into the redfish really good! Not quite every cast but every couple minutes we caught one and a few nice size ones as well. After that it was time to head home but an action packed day and plenty of food for the table. Back at it tomorrow looks like the winds will be laying down somewhat so looking forward to that. I have a couple open days on the 30th and 31st, and after New year’s. If you want to get out give me a shout, fishing is still very good!

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