Backcountry Fishing Reports

Got out with Mark and his son Charlie today for a short notice half day trip.  They booked yesterday however the guide they had was nervous about the weather forecast… it was suppose to be very rainy and hard southwest wind.  I guess he didn’t want to get up in the morning to see, so I was happy to give it a go if it ended up being a nice morning.  Sure enough it was, it was very calm and the rain held off so it was really a gorgeous day to be out at least for the morning.  It was Charlie’s birthday and they had gotten a little sea sick the other day offshore with as rough as it was out there.  So we headed out into the backcountry.  I told them the redfish fishing had been really good and that sounded like fun to them.  Sure enough we got on to a great bite of reds.  It was almost every cast.  Charlie literally dropped a bare hook over and caught one once!  We hit them with bait and artificial.  It was so good it got a little boring, so we decided to just move around in hopes of maybe finding a snook.  Every other spot we hit though there seemed to be a handful of redfish.  But nothing like the first stop.  We did eventually get a snook though so that was good.  Being a half day we just had a couple hours back there, but I think we landed probably 40 fish or so.  We made our way back, still very nice out, and just got back to the dock with about 15 minutes to spare before a squall line came in and it rained for a little bit.  Anyways I always tell my customers just show up in the morning, the weatherman is wrong just as often as he is right!  I’ll be busy the next week until I go out of town for Christmas, but still have a couple open days from Christmas to New Years, then more in January.  January is a very good month to fish for our winter time cast of characters so don’t miss out!

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

Another fantastic day with Graham and Steve in the Everglades today. Things really warmed up compared to yesterday and the wind was honking in Islamorada out of the southeast. However when we got a few miles into the bay first thing in the morning, it was slick calm. Sometimes this phenomena happens as the bay water is still super cold and it seems to kill the warm gulfstream winds. So made for a nice ride over and great fishing conditions early on. We caught fish in every stop today, some of course better than others. But a couple spots with just about all the snook and redfish you wanted! A few black drum, nice sea trout, and sheepshead mixed in as well. Graham got his PB snook about a 30 incher. We also caught a couple of very large look downs out in the near gulf which was an unexpected surprise! Graham kept one lookdown for a giataku print which he practices for fun, where they roll print the fish on rice paper. Just a great day on the water though, the winds did kick up later in the morning back there but not too bad of a ride home. Looks like tomorrow will be a little nastier and possibly Saturday, though another weaker cold front coming in Sunday to cool things off again. I’ll say it again fishing is just as good as it gets right now in the backcountry. Come on down before the crazy xmas week if you can, or of course January offers some of our best winter time fishing in the Keys. The frequent harsh cold fronts can bring out the large snook, drum, and redfish!

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

reat day fun fishing with my dad Richard Stanczyk Sr. and wife Elizabeth Baxter! We hit the ‘glades early as we had a cold front the last couple of days chill things down again. This often gives us some great opportunity at quality size fish in the backcountry! We had falling tide all day long and were loaded up with shrimp. We fished sevearl areas hard early on, nothing was red hot we had to put our time in, but all of them seemed to hold a handful of fish. We started the day off with a nice big black drum of 20 to 25 lbs! These ‘big nasty’ creatures seem to bite best on some of our coldest days of the year and when the biggest ones come out to play. You can see the mustad fishing chartreuse darter jig in his mouth, these wide gap hooks are perfect when you may have a shot at a larger size fish. After some more hard work, my dad got a couple of real nice size snook on our SpinFisher Vs! We caguht a good handful of nice size trout as well, and then a few smaller snook and drum. We moved around and found a few more drum and snook in a couple different areas. Nothing red hot though again seemed each spot held a handful. We moved to another area and set up and then we got on a decent bite of snook and redfish. We gave it a bit there and then worked our way towards home. We decided to stop and fish an area I hadn’t fished in a long time as we had a negative tide situation. The cold fronts often help push the water out of the bay, and at low tide the flats get exposed really trapping fish in some of the runoffs where it is slightly deeper. We got into the area and then just started bailing redfish! It was awesome to see, nothing huge but just about every cast. We didn’t stay long as I was just testing to see if fish were there, and they were very nice to see. We headed on home after that. Things started to warm back up and the wind was more easterly. Looks like it’ll swing more southeast tomorrow and likely continue to warm up… Then another weaker front on Saturday and chilly for a few nights. It’s definitely winter time here in the Florida Keys, but the fishing is hot!

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

Got out with Mike today for a 3/4 day.  He wanted to try and catch snook or tarpon.  I told him snook shouldn’t be too difficult right now, tarpon we may have a shot but it’s of course hit and miss with the cooler water temperatures.  We left early and tried some of the cold weather spots to start as there was very good fishing there yesterday.  Today however things warmed up considerably and the water was back near 70 degrees.  We had a bit of action to start with a snook and a redfish and a few trout, however that was about it.  I was hoping we’d maybe get some larger ones but none of the big boys that were around yesterday while it was still cold.  We moved around and then got on a decent redfish and black drum bite, picking a good handful of fish, and a few snook as well.  Mike got a decent snook here as well just before we were about to pack it up!  We ran back to another area on the bottom of the tide to catch the start of the incoming.  A couple quick stops without much, then the next stop we got the biggest snook of the trip, nothing monstrous but a decent 6 lber.  I was hoping we’d have enough water to get into another area however with the negative tide and only have about 45 minutes left, I didn’t think we’d get where I wanted to go.  So we tried some other grounds I had not fished in a while.  It turned out to be fairly productive.  We caught about 5 snook in one stop, then a couple more in the next stop, and then a couple decent redfish in the 3rd and final stop… all in the same stretch of creek.  So good to see.  Not a bad day at all with probably a good 16 snook, dozen reds, and 8 black drum.  I’m off tomorrow and then pretty much wide open all week!  Looks like we’ll have a couple more cold fronts, dropping us back down into the 50s.  That should be good for our big snook and big black drums in the ‘glades.  These are the days I look forward to.  Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday should all be good for those braving the cold winds and wanting to leave the dock a little early.  Might even take one of those days for myself!

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

A little cool off again yesterday and some of the bigger fish we like to see showed up! I had Matt and Adrienne down from Port Charlotte, visiting for a wedding. The winds laid down somewhat though still a little breezy. Negative tides out back so you really need to pay attention running around! We had plenty of nice, healthy snook with several drag screamers. A fair number of black drums as well, including one of those “big nasties”, a 30 lb monster! Not so many redfish for us today but a handful of little guys. We did get a few nice trout and sheepshead as well. Adrienne had really wanted a tarpon, and we did see a good handful but they were unresponsive. So it goes especially when it’s cold! However all in all, a lot of fun. By late morning it had warmed up considerably and it was time to take the jackets off. Matt booked me for May next year during prime tarpon time, so we can go after the silver king!

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