Backcountry Fishing Reports

1/20/13 January Islamorada Fishing Report in the Gulf.

Had Rich and Luke Cromwell, regular customers of my brother and myself, today in the backcountry and gulf of islamorada fishing january. We started out near the cape and hit a spot on the way out to the gulf looking for some snooks. The action wasn’t hot and heavy and after no bites at the first spot, moved a little further in a creek and ended up pulling a couple snook out, one medium size and one little guy. Luke caught his first snook and was happy on this islamorada snook fishing charter. We then decided to move out into the gulf as the wind was dying out and tide was about to start falling in a bit, a great time to be out there for cobia fishing florida keys. We stopped on a bit of structure on the way out looking for some cobia or big redfish. Casted a couple of pinfish out and let them sit, but nothing happened. We pulled anchor and continued our trek west. As we drove we scoured the crab buoys in search of tripletail. We ended up finding plenty and catching 6 in total including 3 keepers – great for dinner! Triple tail fishing islamorada is great when it is calm. Luke was happy with his first triple tail and did all the work, casting shrimp on a small hook with a bobber up current of the buoys and letting them drift back to the fish – WHAM! He is on! Had a nice permit surprise us and swim under the boat while boating one fish, however we weren’t ready in time and he swam off into the gulf. Never no what will happen on a january islamorada fishing report! We made our way to the wreck just as the tide changed. Put a few pinfish out and in no time had a big cobia on of 15+ lbs. Luke fought him for a while and he didn’t want to give up but we finally got him, lip gaffed for a picture, and released. Again Luke is happy with his first cobia – what a great day! We caught 3 more cobia, as well as plenty of jacks. Some cobia we sight casted too which was fun. Had one goliath bite on a live bait on the bottom but unfortunately missed him, and then a shark stole the bait. We then ran back to the islamorada everglades fishing in search of some trout. We ended the day in some runoffs and caught a handful of nice size trout, islamorada trout fishing is good in the channel run offs in the winter time. Great end to a spectacular day, Luke and Rich cannot wait to come back to the florida keys fishing!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

: gulf of mexico cobia

: triple tail gulf of mexico

January 20, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

1/13/12 January islamorada fishing report gulf/backcountry

We’ve had a gusty east wind the last several days however we didn’t let that put a damper on the islamorada fishing charters. The last few days we’ve hit the edge of the gulf of mexico for the spanish mackerel. Yesterday fishing was red hot, today was ok we caught about a dozen or so plus a nice 8 lb kingfish (king mackerel). A good mix of mangrove snapper off a wreck out there too plus plenty of jacks and blue runners. We’ve also caught some big bruiser blacktip sharks which are lots of fun. They jump, spin, bite, do everything they can to try and get off the hook and they are a challenge! The specimen pictured here was one of the biggest caught and close to 70 lbs! January fishing islamorada is a often good in the gulf here. We even had a big 300+ lb goliath grouper try to eat one of the smaller blacktips the other day which was exciting to watch him lurking underneath thinking about it! Yesterday we also went back into the park as we had a full day and fished several run-off ditches for trout, ladyfish, etc… Some of the trout were very nice size which have not been easy to find the last several months. January fishing the florida keys continues to be productive even with the howling winds and unusually warm weather. If your looking to get out on the water this winter fishing islamorada give us a call we’ll put you on the fish!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

: islamorada spanish mackerel

: islamorada blacktip shark

: islamorada trout

January 13, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

1/4/13 Gulf and Backcountry Fishing Islamorada Report

Well it doesn’t get any prettier than it did today on 1/4/13 while fishing islamorada! We worked some island shorelines on the high in tide in the everglades national park first things this morning. We picked several redfish, black drum, and a few sheepshead in this fashion casting shrimp. On the tide change we went looking for a snook around some other island moats. We did find one eager participant, alas we broke him off boatside. However we did end up catching some more black drum jigging the bottom, as well as some more sheepshead from around the mangrove trees! We then hit some scattered muddy waters in some ditches further towards the gulf area and got into a mess of trout, jack crevalle, ladyfish, pompano, and one juvenile permit. What a mixed bag for this islamorada fishing report! Continued cruising on out into the gulf of mexico along the crab bouys, and saw several tripletail fish. We caught some for dinner, mostly again casting shrimp on a small cork, dragging it to ’em, and WHAM! These high flying acrobats are fun on light tackle, and not bad blackened on the grill either. A gulf wreck was next on the agenda, and we caught some cobias off of it, as well as a goliath grouper that took some convincing to get to bite. Another permit was had in this area too – you never know what to except fishing the florida keys! To end the day we caught some spanish mackerel closer to home in Islamorada. And so ends another tale of wonder fishing islamorada backcountry.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

: islamorada goliath grouper

: islamorada permit

: islamorada tripletail

: islamorada cobia

January 5, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

12/28/12 December Backcountry Islamorada Fishing Report

Another fabulous day fishing in islamorada! The snooks were biting near flamingo as well as east cape. Large shrimp hooked through the horn on 3/8 oz jigs were getting the good bites! Caught half a dozen nice snook and lost a few nicer ones around a few islands early in the morning. The pup drum were also biting pretty good in the deeper water as well, which is normal this time of year when the water temps drop below 70. We had fun for a few hours in one spot not having to move! Later in the day we hit the deeper big canal at east cape. We worked our way through the major number of boats, caught one decent snook. Then went around the bend towards the big open lake. Here we found an area where the current was not running quite so hard, and set up for some fun islamorada backcountry fishing. Lots of redfish as well as some juvenile snook, black drum, and sheepshead here. We were fishing 1 oz weights with a 4/0 circle hook with just big chunks of shrimp, letting it sit on the bottom for the most part. I love fishing islamorada in december.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

December 28, 2012 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

Christmas day backcountry islamorada fishing report!

Merry xmas everybody hope your having wonderful holidays! Took the old man out for his christmas present fishing today along with pal Ron Modra for some december islamorada fishing. We fished the cape area mostly, hit a few gulf spots on the slack tide and caught a cobia and nice redfish on pinfish and shrimp, respectively. When it started coming in worked are way through east cape. Caught a few black drums and redfish, and pulled off a nice snook – dang! Continued through lake inghram, saw a few big old’ crocodiles! Florida keys fishing in december can be so unpredictable with wildlife! Caught a handful more reds and trout in there, then back on to middle cape. We worked some bucktails against some downed trees and forage, and caught 1 snook and then hooked another real nice one… alas we pulled the hook on him. It was mid-day now, and tide was starting to slow. We hit a few creeks though not a whole lot going on in any of them while everglades backcountry fishing. So we decided to try a couple last spots in east cape which paid off. 3 snook out of one of them, 2 of them nice fish! One on shrimp and the other on pinfish – one had us around a large pole that we luckily got around and off. The other was deep in bushes though we coaxed him out as well. I guess this makes up for the couple we pulled hooks on! Also caught a few snappers and trout in there as well. Then back home. All in all a very fun way to spend christmas on the water! Happy to have a good islamorada flats fishing report to give!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com