Backcountry Fishing Reports

Got out with return customer Irv today and his buddy Billy.  Just a gorgeous calm spring day you don’t get any better weather wise.  We had plenty of mullet I had caught over the weekend and also a few big shrimp that were in the tanks.  I was hoping we’d get into the tarpon with the calm spell and sure enough there were tons of ’em out there!  We landed four nice tarpon not monster size fish but more in the 40 to 60 lb range.  Good fighters that you don’t have to pull on forever but you still get all the beautiful jumps and fun.  We also missed a couple others the action was pretty hot & heavy you could say.  Once the tide quit the sharks started to show up a little bit and we decided to switch gears.  It was one of those special days for sure though we got into some big jumbo snook and landed four of them as well!  A couple of those good spots have had some fish the few recent times I’ve been with my dad, and they were there today.  We also caught another one in a spot that we hadn’t caught much lately.  But wow what a day this is the type you dream about.  I’m off for a short ski vacation now and then have kids spring break later this month.  But I have a few days open still in March possibly and if not I have my crew of captains available.  I do have a few prime time spots left in April & May too if you are interested give me a shout!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Got out with my dad and his good buddy Pete who often fishes with us.  Pete hadn’t been down in a while so he was glad to get out on the water.  We had a fair bit of wind though it was relatively calm early in the backcountry with the colder air and picked up as the day went on.  Strong incoming tide though the mid-day falling tide was very weak, on one of those cycles.  This often isn’t necessarily a bad thing for hunting the big trophy fish we like to do as it makes many of those areas much more fishable without heavy current.  Water temperatures were still a little chilly in the high 60s but the water for the most part looked pretty good not too muddy in many areas.  We found a couple spots that we hadn’t really been catching much at that both had some nice black drums.  Not monsters but good 10-12 lb fish, we caught 2 or 3 off each one.  The first one too my dad got a monstrous snook that was super fat.  Not over 40 inches but the belly was just big.  Seems a lot of these big near gulf/everglades fish are like that they rarely push over 40 inches but some of the bellies are just huge so they must weigh more than an average fish that size.  Anyways good to see some big beauties out there.  Doesn’t look like much cold weather in the future so that might be it for the year.  Tarpon should be just around the corner I think a nice calm day or two and they’ll be loading up offshore in the backcountry.  That early season fishing can be good through the next couple months and one of my favorite times to be back there.  You may not get the amount of bites you do when the bridge fishing is red hot, but not having to deal with the bridge and the boat traffic is definitely a plus.  I have open days through the rest of February and some in March too.  Let’s go fishing!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Got out for some fun fishing with my dad and one of our great marina employees Lainey!  Went after the big dawgs not much happening early we hit quite a few areas without much luck though we did catch a couple of juvenile goliaths.  We were really hoping for a big snook or cobia.  Finally after a few hours of jumping around we hooked what we believe was a nice snook though we pulled the hook on her!  Had a few jacks give us some action.  Then the last few stops things started to come alive Lainey hooked a beautiful bull red that she fought for several minutes but unfortunately the hook opened up slightly and pulled!  Quite a heart breaker.  Then we ran to an area we hadn’t fished much lately just because it’d been dead the last few months but today it was lively!  My dad got a nice jumbo snook on the first stop.  A few big jacks at the next stop.  Then the final spot of the day was loaded with some monster tripletail!  We caught two nice keepers 20+ inches and a couple that were near legal that we through back.  And we saw one jumbo slowly swim away slightly spooked.  Great way to end the day and great to see some of them around!  You never know what you’ll find these days.  Also a few days ago got a couple of nice large tarpon with return customer Howard and a few other bites plus a cobia one day, and the day before that plenty of mackerel, snapper, sharks, and a big sawfish!

I’ve just opened my calendar through May and am doing my 2022 rates through February ($1235.00/day for 1 or 2 people , $1335.00 for 3 people).  Then in March through May I’m only going to be fishing three days a week and new pricing schedule so please check with me but that is prime tarpon season and a very busy time.  So I’d recommend getting something on the calendar soon!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Always nice to get a text back from a customer saying how great of a time they had with one of my Captains!  Mike reached out to me a few days ago looking to get on a half day inshore fishing trip.  Mike wanted to try to catch a tarpon however knew it was not the greatest time of year.  After discussing options with him I told him Capt. Trent would be a good fit.  He’s fairly dialed in with the patch reef fishing as he worked on an offshore boat for the last several years doing a lot of that.  So conditions being favorable for that (calm) I said give it a go, and if you whack the fish out there then maybe spend the last part of the day trying for tarpon – that way you aren’t putting all your eggs in one basket.  He agreed and so that’s just what they did.  Patch fishing was excellent Mike caught a bunch of variety including this lunker school master snapper, very large for that species of fish.  They gave tarpon a go for the last bit and fished hard, Trent was able to get them plenty of nice big pilchards for bait, but alas no bites.  I myself spent part of the day tarpon fishing on my full day trip as well and we didn’t have any luck either.  There were some tarpon in the backcountry but it was still a tad on the chilly side in the 70-71 degree range, and they really like it up there closer to 75.  But still worth a shot and you don’t know if you don’t try.  The big blacktip sharks kept us busy though as well as plenty of mackerel and a few tripletail and snook which rounded out a productive day as well.  Anyways if you wanna get out and fish, lemme know.  I’ll shoot you straight and if my guys aren’t the ones for the job I want to make sure you are happy.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina

Capt. Trentin got out with some clients the other day for a short half day trip.  Snook and small tarpon were the desired species which sometimes can be tough on a half day especially if you have to run back in the park.  But they  gave it a go he said bait was fairly easy we’ve still been fishing with pilchards fairly often as overall its been a warm winter side from a couple times where it’s gotten cold.  When its cold everything wants shrimp but when its warm the pilchards are a plus.  They fished some islands in the middle bay and found some decent snook schools and caught a good handful along with some mangrove snappers.  They saw some tarpon but were not able to get any bites out of them but had plenty of fun with the snooks and other rod benders.  We’ll still be doing a fair bit of backcountry fishing for the next month but as soon as it warms up some big tarpon should start to show themselves.  The crew here is ready to go after them and the phone is definitely staring to ring for the spring time so make sure to get your dates locked in.  Capt. Trentin is available for evening tarpon trips whenever anyones wants to go if conditions look feasible too so that is always a good short notice possibility.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina