Backcountry Fishing Reports

Got out with Lee and his wife today for a quick little half day islamorada fishing charter.  We hit the patch reefs since the winds were light and there has been pretty good action out there as of late.  They also wanted eating fish and that is usually a good bet for that this time of year too.  We got into some big bar jacks and cero mackerel in the first stop.  The cero mackerel is the best eating of all the mackerels and we usually find them on the ocean side patch reefs.  Though not as consistently as the spanish mackerels in the gulf.  But they were fun and great action!  The next few stops were mostly snappers… mangroves, yellowtail, lanes, and muttons.  Nothing huge but some decent mangroves for dinner at least.  We also got one nice hogfish but it was his lucky day, they are out of season now until May so we really can’t keep them any longer as our fishing season for them is in the winter and spring.  The last stop also had some small juvenile groupers which were something different to pull on.  All in all just a gorgeous day here winter time in islamorada florida.  Got the next few days booked and xmas week is looking pretty busy.  I have a few openings right after xmas the 26th and 27th, if anyone wants to go let me know!  Also can go the morning of the 23rd, saturday morning.

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

Well another flat calm gorgeous day in Islamorada and I wasn’t booked, but couldn’t pass up the great opportunity to fish today!  Just ripe conditions with the cold water and stillness that would create a warming trend, where the fish will often really go crazy as things get nice everywhere.  I took my dad and our friend Capt. Dave Peck.  Good fishing was the case and the water looked gorgeous most everywhere we fished, and we caught in probably 7 or 8 different spots… wonderful to see!  We started off at cape sable fishing and got their early to beat the crowds.  We got into a good mix of snook, redfish, and black drum.  A few nice size florida keys snook and redfish.  Then mostly medium sized guys would bite in little flurries.  Eventually we hooked a nice snook and a big black drum – double header!  Landed both fish which really made our trip right their.  The big islamorada black drums a.k.a ‘big nasty’ are one of my winter time favorites.  There are only a few spots we catch them regularly and only when conditions are right (usually cold).  Though many boats know these areas so you have to beat ’em there.  After that things slowed down we caught a few more redfish as the tide died.  We moved over and tried another area with the trolling motor and caught another nice red, then I got a good size snook, and Dave got a december islamorada black drum.  After that we slid into a creek and caught a nice red and missed another bite fishing the mouth.  We went further in where I hadn’t really done much in recent memory but figured it was a good day to give it a look.  We found one area where we caught several more redfish and a couple black drum which was cool!  Got way up shallow inside there further then I had been, but couldn’t proceed further so we had to turn around.  We then fished some shoreline areas and got on another great redfish bite!  I think we landed close to a dozen and a few black drum here, with some double headers and even one triple header… really good fishing!  Looked like several other boats were catching down the shore too, really good conditions for that being so calm with the clean water and high tide.  We then hit the gulf to look for triple tails on the way home but only saw 1 which was funny as I’d been seeing quite a few the last couple days.  We hit a few old school spots on the way home to check for more reds or snook, and low and behold a couple spots were holding even more redfish!  Think we got 6 in one spot and 3 in another.  Really great to see that in areas that had been fairly dry the last couple years.  All in all a banner day I really lost count of the redfish but probably close to 30 of them alone, and maybe a dozen black drums and a dozen snook.  Doesn’t get any better then that!  I’m not booked at all until next Saturday so if you want to go fishing this week it should be fairly good.  The cold weather will be going away so this epic bite may slow down somewhat, but as long as the winds dont crank a funky direction it should stay fairly good.  That looks to be the forecast and midweek anyways maybe Wednesday looks like another calm one.  Give me a shout let’s go fishing!

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

Day 2 for Pam and Lars.  We headed out early with live shrimp in tow, it was still chilly but not quite as cold as the last few days.  Flat calm too it was a gorgeous day all around.  We hit the same area we did yesterday and got two nice jumbo snook in the first 20 minutes!  After that it was a solid trout bite for about 45 minutes, nothing else…  I was about to call it quits but then we started getting some snook and redfish again.  Not quite as good as yesterday but a solid pick, with a few nice size redfish and medium sized snook.  After we caught our share we tried some other stuff.  Not much luck with that, a few shallow spots I tried on the higher incoming tide and the fish just weren’t there, maybe still too chilly for them?  We tried other stuff in the canal where it was deeper, but the current was now ripping and it was fairly muddy.  You just know sometimes when it doesn’t look right.  We ended up going right back where we had left earlier, and luckily nobody was there.  We got another big jumbo snook right away, and missed another nice one.  I think this was the biggest of the two days for Lars, close to 12 lbs or so!  Then we caught several more medium sizers, and quite a few black drum and trout.  Lars also got a tarpon to top off his backcountry SLAM, unfortunately no pictures for us though he broke off on the leader before I could net him.  We headed in after that and appreciated the gorgeous day and great fishing on the ride home.  Lars and Pam won’t soon forget their trip to Islamorada, they made sure to take my cards for their next visit!  Well I don’t have much coming up this week, think I have the next 7 days open!  May go fun fishing with dad tomorrow since it’ll be the last day of the colder water temperatures until we get another front.  But if you want to go any time coming up give me a shout, i’m still offering my IRMA discounted rates until 12/23/17 so take advantage!

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

12/13/17 – Got out for an afternoon half day with my mother-in-law Ginger and her boat captain Tyson.  Ginger brought her boat down from Hollywood to enjoy some days in the Florida Keys.  They wanted some eating fish and it was very rough early in the AM so we postponed until the afternoon.  By noon things had laid off to 15 mph and continued to drop, we headed out about 1:00.  Fishing was a little tough as far as finding legal edible fish went.  We caught some bar jacks and kept a few of them, and got a nice big sheepshead which is not common on the patch reefs but do get a few once in a while.  We also got a cero mackerel.  After that it turned mostly to blue runners so we moved.  Tried some areas further south but the water was cold coming out of the bay and muddy, so we didn’t even stop to fish.  I turned back around and we tried some deeper patches out in 20-30 feet as it was much calmer now.  First stop was random fish but nothing edible… some small snappers, grunts, more jacks.  The next stop though we got some porgies, and then the hogfish started biting!  We caught probably 15 hogfish which was cool, but unfortunately you have to throw them back now as the rules have changed.  The hogfish in islamorada had been beat up the last few years so hopefully they will come back stronger now with protection.  We did manage a few keeper snapper here too, so we ended up with a good bag of fish for the restaurant for dinner.

12/14/17 – Today I had Pam and Lars down from Arkansas.  They are also fishing with me tomorrow.  We got out early and headed into the backcountry.  It was still pretty cold but the winds stayed low.  We caught the start of the incoming tide and were loaded with good live shrimp.  We started catching right away… a lot of nice size snook!  The big girls came out to play in the cold for sure.  Also a mix of black drum and some nice size redfish!  Then Pam and Lars both caught small tarpon of 15 and 25 lbs!  Just unbelievable fishing and they each got a backcountry SLAM!  We continued to catch more fish and even a few trout which we kept for dinner.  Don’t like to kill the reds or drums if I don’t have to.  We had a banner day and ended up with probably 2 dozen snook, maybe 15 red and black drum, 2 tarpon, and 3 trout.  We tried another spot at the other part of the canal but not much there, tide wasn’t right and water didn’t look good.  But on the way home we found some tripletails and caught several of them including one keeper for dinner too.  Fishing doesn’t get better then this, really the type of day you dream about all year long.  It may be that way again the next couple mornings too before things warm back up.  But the december backcountry fishing in the everglades is on fire right now that is for sure!

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

Got out with Alec and Zack today for a full day in the islamorada backcountry.  With the cold weather the black drum in islamorada have been active.  We had a nice day though it was chilly but the winds laid out.  We found the drums this morning it wasn’t as red hot as yesterday but a solid pick.  We bagged a few sheepshead too and one snook while doing so.  Yesterday we had a lot more snook action today though not so much.  But the tides were a little weird it was incoming and stayed high for the whole time we were back there.  Later on we found a good handful of redfish in another area, and got a couple more snook there too.  An area I haven’t fished much lately but good to see them there.  We also hit one more pocket that had some nice sea trout in it.  Always good to see trout they are a sign of healthy water.  On the way home we ran the gulf side trap lines looking for triple tail.  I didn’t see much further up where we were but once we got into the right zone we found a lot of them!  Not many large ones but enough to throw at and have fun, the boys each caught one and we called it a day and headed home.  Great day on the water looks like another reinforcing front is coming in though and it’ll be a little windy tonight and tomorrow, but late tomorrow it’s gonna be calm again and thursday and friday look very nice!  Should be great fishing.  I’m booked those days but come this weekend and next week I have openings, give me a shout if you are looking to go!

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