Backcountry Fishing Reports

Well I have not fished much the last month or so.  Mostly have had Capt. Brandon running my trips on the seacraft.  Fishing has been decent bait has been easy with a nice long fall bait run going on.  We’ve had a few weak ‘cool’ fronts with some wind and not much temperature drop, but the water temps are starting to get into the lower 70s so it’s definitely not summer any more.  Today we had some winter level water levels finally with the flats getting exposed in the backcountry early on.  Fishing was a little tough to start but got better as the day went on.  Some times this time of year is what we call ‘transitional’ it’s not super cold yet but it’s not super hot either, so the weather is in between and the fish are kind of not super happy either.  Once it gets cold and stays cold they get adapted and just as with the summer they get adapted too, so when we have big weather fluctuations like a cold front you get a day or two of tougher fishing with smaller windows where it often gets good.  But you learn that from fishing through them year after year.  Anyways slow start but it picked up later on and we wound up with 20 or so snook with some nicer size ones in the mix.  We found some big girls at the end of the day too which was exciting to see as I haven’t been catching many big ones the last few months, it’s nothing like it was a couple years ago where they were making regular appearances!  Anyways ‘pops’ will be happy to hear that and is coming back from the Bahamas tomorrow so I’m sure we’ll get out a few times in the next few weeks.  Also lots of tarpon were jumping around back there too even in December, everything is just a couple months behind schedule with the warm warm fall, mahi still being caught offshore.  So again you never know what to expect when you go fishing here that’s what makes it so fun hopefully we get some cold in January and some larger snook and drums showing up, looking forward to that time.

I’m also taking bookings for January now if you want to get on the schedule I will be away from Xmas week, but I’ll be available starting Jan 4.  Drop me a line or call the marina office and ask for Capt. Rick.  If I’m not available ask for Capt. Brandon or Capt. Trentin they are running the other boats for me and are out there more than me these days so they are dialed in with the bite and we all work together to make sure you have the best trip possible!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

: @richardstanczyk
: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
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Had John, Art, and Joe out for some backcountry fishing on the 4th of November.  We had a great trip catching some pilchards early on to start our day.  The backcountry was fairly lively we got into a decent snook bite early on.  Sharks were a bit of a menace but we avoided getting many eaten though unfortunately they got a few fish.  That was fishing some island moats on the last of the falling tide.  After the tide quit and we had our fun for the first couple hours, we moved further west to catch the tide coming in along some shorelines.  More snook action and a few redfish in the mix as well.  The number of reds hasn’t been great but there have been a few starting to show up and you may catch one for every dozen or so snook that you get.  The last fish of the day was a nice juvenile tarpon too for a cherry on top which was a nice way to finish.  The backcountry fishing should stay productive through the rest of fall it’s a nice time to fish with the weather cooling off slightly and happy fish around!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

: @richardstanczyk
: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
Follow for daily updates!

Well we’ve had some great fishing around the ‘fall bait run’ in the last couple weeks here in the Florida Keys.  Typically October we start to get a lot of bait pushing down the coast as it cools down up north.  Lots of predators follow these baitfish including the ever-elusive tarpon!  We’ve had some days where hundreds of tarpon can be seen crashing these huge schools of baitfish and have lead to some epic fishing opportunities!  Unfortunately it’s never a guaranteed thing – and this week I’ve seen it about as good as it gets, and a day or two later seemingly all the fish dissappeared!  Not that we didn’t catch anything but again it’s fishing so you never know unless you go.  But those baitfish and tarpon are still around things as always just shift around with the weather and some days you just don’t have the time or luck to stumble into them.  Anyways that opportunity is there right now and if it doesn’t happen we’ve had some good snook fishing that’s been fairly consistent as well.  The patch reef fishing on the ocean side is heating up too as we get into Fall so bottom fishing on calmer days is always a fun half day option and Capt. Brandon loves to do that.  Check out a couple of our recent tarpon catches here and give me a shout if you want to go fishing!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

: @richardstanczyk
: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
Follow for daily updates!

Well fishing was phenomenal today for Capt. Brandon Storin back in the ‘glades.  Things had been mixed up after Hurricane Ian grazed by but now a week later the waters finally started to clear up and we’re starting to get some hints of the fall bait run.  They got into a bunch of snook early on using live pilchards which have been found around the Islamorada area.  Then when the tide turned he said huge schools of mullet came out of the creeks they were fishing and tarpon were blowing up everywhere!  They caught the mullet and had double digit bites on tarpon, landing quite a few!  After that they got into a few cobia that came in from the gulf and were crashing the mullet as well.  They also caught a nice goliath grouper back in the creeks as well.  October is the time of year these things happen when the bait run is strong, and looks like we’re starting to get a little bit of that now.  If you want to come book a trip, give us a shout!  Capt. Brandon is offering 10% off on trips booked for this month in October and you can get off season rates on rooms staying at Bud n’ Mary’s as well (we recommend the Lucky lady trawler or the swordfish house boat – they’re awesome!).

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

Well we’re nearing the end of September and I haven’t been fishing a whole lot, just about a day or so a week.  We’re actually having somewhat of an ‘off season’ this year as compared to the last couple of post-COVID years where business just kept rolling right on through the normally slow months of September and October.  But honestly everyone down here in the Keys is ready for a little break I think truth be told.  Anyways fishing has been decent I will say – not red hot but not terrible.  Really the last several times I’ve been in the backcountry over the last 3 weeks we’ve found snook, redfish, tripletail, and a few small tarpon (though haven’t caught tarpon as of late).  But no big rallies of fish numbers you fish your good spots where you may normally expect to occasionally bang away at a number of fish and you only end up catching one or two after putting a little time in.  So not a bad thing but you just have to jump around and fish hard to put up OK numbers instead of finding one or two of those magical spots where you catch that many fish in one sitting.  Personally I don’t mind that – I like to have to work around to catch fish it’s a lot more rewarding and you feel like you are doing something as opposed to sitting on a spot and getting them one after another.  Now don’t get me wrong as a guide we always like to get on those spots for at least part of the day to kind of take the stress of finding fish out of the equation!  But as mentioned right now just seems like everything is a bit spread out and making you work for it.

The good news is the bait has been plentiful and easy to catch as is often the case in the Fall.  And a lot of the bad algae bloom water in the middle bay of Florida is starting to get pushed out towards the gulf where hopefully it’ll get sucked out and go away.  We’re currently monitoring this tropical system that is developing and will likely give us some low level tropical storm conditions next week, but this honestly will be a welcome thing as long as it doesnt become a major hurricane as the heavy winds/rain should continue to help clean up the bad water in Florida Bay and give a much needed shock to the system.  Look for our post-storm fishing to hopefully get a lot better!

So anyways last couple trips last week I had guys from Pure Fishing (Penn, Berkley, etc…) out and we fished some new artificial baits they were wanting to try as well as our pilchards.  Again we picked away on snook probably catching 15 or so, as well as a couple redfish, small goliath grouper, and a tripletail.  We did catch 4 or 5 snook on artificial too so that of course was a win!  We did end up just fishing a 6 hour day on this trip.  And just yesterday I had one of my return customers Lee and his buddy John out for the full day.  Lee started fishing with me 15 years or so ago when I first started and still comes down.  We had very similar fishing though we just fished bait all day.  We had 4 or 5 small goliaths, maybe 18 or so snook, and a couple redfish.  So lots of jumping around and working at it but fun day none the less.

So if you are wanting to come down in October give me a shout, fishing should stay fairly good and might get really good after things settle from this storm.  Myself and Capt. Brandon have plenty of availability and I’m still offering discounts on trips with Capt. Brandon of 10% and can even offer a discount on lodging if you need it to.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

: @richardstanczyk
: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
Follow for daily updates!