Backcountry Fishing Reports

Got out with Jim and Gwen today again, who fished with me a couple days ago and had a stellar day with big snook and black drum.  They wanted to mix it up a little bit so we tried a few different things.  Jim’s always wanted a permit and it’s one of the few fish he hasn’t caught with me, so we tried that early on drifting some crabs on some coral heads on the Atlantic side.  No luck with that unfortunately, and Jim and Gwen are usually pretty lucky anglers!  We then ran out into the gulf, the winds had kicked up slightly out of the north but not too bad.  We fished for spanish mackerel with our jigs and shrimp, chumming the water with frozen chum.  It wasn’t a red hot bite, but good enough we probably caught a dozen or so, with some blue runners and bluefish mixed in.  Nothing real big but that was OK.  After that we decided to try some tarpon fishing, Jims caught a few tarpon with me in the past and always enjoys them.  I didn’t have very high hopes as the water still seemed pretty cold, but I had a report that some tarpon did show up in a few spots yesterday.  We didn’t see much when we got there, but as the tide fell the water continued to warm up and we started to see a few tarpon.  After 40 minutes or so, Jim got a nice 85 lber on and it was game on!  He put up a good fight with some very acrobatic jumps.  We got some nice pictures.  We caught several sharks too after that, they were biting pretty well.  By the time we left the water was almost up to 75 degrees, from 68 or so when we got there.  Quite a change!  We had one more tarpon bite before leaving but unfortunately he didn’t stay on the hook for us.  Bummer, but we were happy to get one that’s for sure.  Nice ride home the sun came out and things looked pretty.  But that won’t last it’s suppose to start blowing 25-30 tomorrow for a few days, and then maybe even again on Tuesday for several days.  I think my hot streak of fishing is going to come to an end with the terrible weather, but I am going out of town on Saturday so it’ll be a good time to go.  Usually never works out like that it’s always nice and great fishing when I got out of town lol.  Anyways cancelled for tomrrow but  I have Jim and Gwen again on Friday, we may move to tomorrow it’s suppose to be slightly less windy, and then we’ll see what happens with my Saturday trip.  Give me a shout if you want to get out fishing in February when I get back, if it gets warm again which it likely could it’ll be tarpon time here in Islamorada!

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

Got out with Joe and his dad Harold today, return customers of mine who have fished with me the last few years.  It was slick calm and still chilly, and I told them what kind of fishing we had yesterday.  I said if they wanted to take a little gamble, we could try the same thing again as the conditions were right.  They were game for it so we headed out a little early to give it a go.  No tide when we got to the spot, but I marked a few fish swimming around so I had some hope.  We didn’t have a bite for 45 minutes or so, and after about 30 minutes another boat had arrived so I was glad we got out early.  I waved them in and they fished nearby.  We caught a drum eventually, then another one a little later, but still a slow bite.  After that though Joe got a nice snook we had to chase around structure to prevent from cutting us off but we got him!  After that we had a little rally of drums, decent size fish mostly in the 8 to 12 lb range.  Harold had his turn at a big snook after that, this one got us around some snags which we chased and got off, and were tight chasing him again but he wore through the leader!  What a heartbreaker.  Oh well that is fishing some times!  After that things slowed down, we picked a few more drums on our shrimp and jigs.  After it died out all together seemingly, we ran into the gulf to try for some triple tails.  It was calm and looked like it’d be good, but surprisingly we didn’t see a single triple tail out there.  We ran a couple lines and spent about 30 minutes doing so.  We were about to bail and go mackerel fishing but I told the boys we should try one more time for the ‘big girl snook.’  We did and boy did that pay off big time!  We caught another half dozen snook in the 15-20 lb range, with one of them a little over 20 I think!  We also caught another 8 or so drums, and Joe got a nice 15 lber which he was satisfied with as he wanted a larger drum.  Just amazing fishing and lucky to experience it two days in a row like that!  After that we headed home.  Looks like tomorrow it’ll be a little windier, but not too crazy.  Then Thursday it’s suppose to start cranking like crazy unfortunately.  I’ll be headed out of town Saturday for a week or so, but back at it in early February.  If you want to wet a line then give me a shout, it’ll be tarpon time here before you know it.

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

Got out with two of my regulars today, Jim and Gwen Johnson, down from Nebraska.  The winds had laid down nicely and we were on a mild warming trend after very cold weather several days ago.  We ran far up the road to try some spots I had heard were holding some fish.  It’s a far run and a bit of a gamble, but Jim and Gwen are always good luck charms and they are fishing with me a couple more days later this week, so I figured we’d take the chance.  It paid off in a big way!  We caught a half dozen nice snook, all between 12 and 20 lbs, with one lunker that may of been 25 lbs!  We lost a couple more, and we also caught about a dozen black drums in the 8 to 15 lb range.  Just absolutely magical!  Everything was biting shrimp with the colder water temps.  We also had a big redfish that I’d guess was close to 35 lbs on for about a 10 minute battle.  Unfortunately the fish opened the hook on us and poor Gwen had to watch him swim away.  At least we got a good look at it though and new what it was, that’s all part of fishing.  Later on we made our way back to some of the more usual haunts.  It was very busy in the canal there again today for a monday, but we slid into a spot and caught fish right away!  Nothing quite as big as in the morning, back to reality with 4 to 8 lbers, but still lots of fun.  We caught another 8 drum and a few snook.  After that we found a few crocodiles to look at, and made our way back home.  It was just an epic day no other way to put it, one that you dream about and maybe get a handful like in a year as a guide.  Definitely appreciate them after all the tougher days we have to fish.  Back at it tomorrow hopefully it’s near as good, then on Thursday the wind machine is going to crank up.  I already had my thursday trip cancel, we’ll see what happens on Friday and Saturday but hopefully I can sneak out for a half day at least.  If anyone wants to go Thursday that will definitely be possible, but I wouldn’t expect anything like today unfortunately!

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

Got out for a 3/4 day with Ray and his son Jeff today down from Maryland.  We planned to leave early at 615, but had to wait a little bit for the shrimp delivery so didn’t get out until 645.  I had shrimp stashed away but had to give some away to some guides in need yesterday afternoon who couldn’t get any bait in town.  So was hoping for some good fishing karma!  Luckily we got it today.  I knew it’d be busy out back on a saturday with the nice weather, and had almost bailed to go out mackerel fishing and not stress about boats being everywhere I wanted to go, but we gave it a shot anyways.  I was able to get near the spot I wanted luckily.  It started off slow we didn’t get much straight away, but after 20 minutes or so Jeff got a nice snook of 12 lbs or so!  A little bit later Ray got a nice snook roughly the same size!  The bite never got super red hot, but we had patience and every so often we’d get a very nice fish.  I think all the snook except one were over 10 lbs, and the other was probably 8 lbs, so very nice fish.  Probably a dozen in total I think!  Ray later had a good thump on his bait and got a nice juvenile tarpon.  We don’t catch many of them in islamorada in january when it’s this cold, so a nice surprise.  Jeff had a few black drum later, and then Ray got a redfish to complete his backcountry slam!  Also a sheepshead was caught, who I know was stealing our shrimp some too.  The last hour or so the tide quit and the bite slowed down, but we had an epic day for sure!  Quite a few nice, quality fish which if you caught just one of those snook in a day, you didn’t have a bad day.  The ride home was very nice the winds laid down even more.  Looks like we’ll be on a warming trend throughout the week with no more cold fronts in the short term.  I’ll be busy all week, after a day off tomorrow (so far), and then out of town next weekend after Saturday.  Might be time for tarpon when I get back we will see.  But give me a shout if you are wanting to get out fishing in February, it’s good!

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

Got out for a 3/4 day with Peter, Bill, and Sam who were visiting down from up north, and Bill lives in ft. lauderdale.  It was chilly as we had another major front a couple nights ago, where it got down into the high 40s in key largo the night before…. brrr!  We braved the ride into the everglades, it was cold but the wind wasn’t too crazy.  Water temperatures were down in the low 50s, very cold for here.  There were a few boats back there already, we got on a spot that I like that can be very good some times.  It wasn’t red hot action this morning, but we did catch a few black drum, a nice redfish, a snook, and a sheepshead there.  So a nice mixed bag and slow pick of fish but at least we were catching.  The bite quit and we made a move towards another area.  There were a lot of boats here unfortunately, 6 to be exact!  We slid in and worked a spot that we could get near, and got a black drum but nothing else.  Saw a few boats catching snook.  I knew the captains and we eventually were able to slide in near them.  We were able to pick a few snook from that spot and caught probably 5 or so, including a nice 10 lb fish for Bill!  That fish made the day for sure.  After that it was time for us to go since we just had a 3/4 day, I heard the bite stayed on there for another hour or so until the tide got high and ripping in.  Anyways glad to have caught some fish in some extreme conditions!  We’ll be on a warming trend throughout the week, still suppose to be a little breezy but not too bad.  I’m booked every day except this Sunday for the next week and then going out of town after next Saturday.  If you wanna go fish on Sunday give me a shout, otherwise I’ll be back at it in early February if you are around then.  I’ll have another report tomorrow back on the grind.

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