Backcountry Fishing Reports

Got out with my dad and marina manager Stephen Byrd for a day of fun fishing.  I just got back in town from vacation myself after a week.  Looks like a busy week coming up and it was such a nice day so wanted to take them while I could.  We did a little bit of experimental stuff and hit  some deep gulf wrecks, areas I hadn’t been since the storm.  We did catch one nice big snook on the way out in the ‘glades, so that was cool.  Also saw plenty of tarpon in that area, which we didn’t mess with but will likely give it a shot in the next few days.  The gulf water looks great, nice color and quite a bit of bait on several spots.  However there just wasn’t much life as far as quality fish went, and a few spots had disappeared.  We did find some nice sheepshead on one spot with a ton of little mangrove snapper as well, got one sheep to eat and got a nice one.  Lots of fog out there too which was really cool, it really enveloped us and you could hardly see through it for a while.  Saw a few tripletails but didn’t spend much time on them as we were making a 60 mile run one way.  We hit a few other spots on the way back, and no life on either of them.  I was surprised because it seemed like the type of day where there would’ve been some good fish out there.  We looked in some channels on the way home and found a few more tarpon in there, caught a nice pompano on a jig messing around, and called it a day.  Anyways I think tomorrow we will do some mackerel fishing early I know thats been productive lately, and then give the tarpon a try after that.  But it was cool to get way out there and at least I know there is still some structure in a few of those areas way out in the gulf.

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

Got out with Bo today after having to cancel the last two days.  My customers yesterday had some health issues so didn’t feel up to going and I didn’t blame them as the winds were howling 35 mph.  The day before really wasn’t all that bad but I let my customer off the hook to rebook since he was local in south florida.  But normally 20 mph winds we don’t bat an eye at.  Today was honking though 35 mph again, but really wasn’t all that bad with the ride.  Wind direction plays a big role, and it was east so it’s much easier to hide from and there are only a few spots where you have to just go slow and ride easy in the waves, and the majority of the ride into the backcountry you can stay in 2-3 feet of water and it’s calm and fairly dry.  Fishing started out slow we picked away at a few black drum and trout.  Not red hot we just caught a handful of each the first couple hours.  We eventually hooked a big tarpon which was fun but he got off after about a minute.  We tried a few other areas tucked way up inside some creeks later, but not much luck in either of those just 1 trout.  We went back where we started and caught a few more drum so that was nice.  But as the tide started to fall we got into a very good snook bite a little later.  And when I say good it was insane!  Every cast Bo was hooking up for the last hour of the day, I didn’t keep count but he caught probably 2 dozen or so!  A lot of little guys, but a handful of 4 to 6 lbers which were nice!  He also had another little tarpon on for a second that threw the hook.  Just amazing!  Right time, right place, sometimes that is where you have to be.  Just goes to show you, you don’t know unless you go.  We can fish in just about any condition here in the islamorada backcountry, especially in a big comfortable boat like mine.  As long as it’s not dangerous with lightning, wind we can work with.  Fishing may not always be red hot like this but it can be.  But that is true with any day of the week!  Anyways I’ll be out of town for a little while now to go skiing, but I’ll be back next weekend.  Hopefully there will still be a few fish around when I get back here.

Also early this morning we saw this crazy fish, not sure what it was but looked like an alien!  Check him out!  A few people have said possibly a batfish or flying gunard…  I dunno he looked like he was straight out of the movie alien to me.

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

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