Fishing Reports

We are half way through September and the last couple weeks you can really tell we are in ‘off season’ mode here in Islamorada, Florida Keys.  I was out of town for a couple weeks the last part of August getting married and have been back here since early September.  I’ve only fished a few days mostly for fun and a couple charters, but its that time of year to relax and take a breath.  Business was extremely good this year and I was fishing every day up until I left, so I’ve been doing some work on the boat and enjoying myself a bit too.  Anyways the fishing has been fairly good the few times I’ve been out, and I’ve been talking to others who have been getting out here and there.  Still some tarpon in the backcountry we caught a nice 70 lb fish last Saturday. Tarpon fishing is definitely still a viable option through October, and we also usually get an insane ‘fall bait run’ during the month so if your here during that, tarpon fishing can be epic before things really cool down.  Also we caught several goliath groupers with the big rods that day.  We finished the day with some lunker mangrove snappers (2 to 3 lbs!) we caught drifting chunks, and had some snook action too.  The snook and redfish fishing should continue to get better as we get into October, as things cool down and these fish move into the deeper creeks, canals, moats, and other areas where larger boats like mine fish them in the fall and winter.  Many of the local shorelines and islands are loading up with small pilchards (baitfish) which is the norm this time of year.  Once we really get into the fall these guys should grow in size and will be great bait for both offshore and inshore fishing.  They are what we like to call ‘snook candy’!  I was out sight fishing for fun yesterday with a fellow captain and we had a blast.  We poled some shallow shorelines areas and around some islands in the backcountry around flamingo.  We saw about a dozen redfish and a dozen snook, though only had a few bites out of the reds and landed a couple nice ones.  The snook were leary and not interested in the shrimp we offered them.  But it was very cool to be on the bow doing that as I don’t get to do much of it myself when running my boat!  The best part about fishing the next couple of months though is just being out there.  The boat traffic we see in the spring and early summer is gone, so you often feel like you have the entire backcountry/everglades all to yourself.  As things cool off too look for the spanish mackerel fishing in the gulf to pick up, that is always a great option for rod bending action and those fish can pull some drag!  Plenty of big blacktip sharks usually in the mix with them as well as other varieties of fish.  The patch reef fishing heats up too with hogfish, porgy, grouper, snapper, and the like – perfect if you want a half day trip of eatin’ fish!  Drop me a line and lets go fishing this is a great time of year to get out!

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

Can’t believe it’s the middle of august already, boy time flies!  I’ve been as busy as ever still fishing just about every day though I am getting ready to go out of town here for a couple weeks to get married.  August Florida Keys Fishing has been so good figured I’d share before I left – if your interested in booking a charter don’t hesitate to email me I can line you up with a good guide while I’m away!  I’ve been still doing a lot of islamorada tarpon fishing charters.  Things have been very hot mid day and the fishing has often been a bit slower come that time so early starts have helped.  We’ve had mostly light breezes, if any at all, out of the south which is a much warmer wind usually.  I’ve still been getting mullet regularly first thing in the morning with the 6 AM departures.  The backcountry tarpon fishing off the beaches of the mainland has been very consistent.  My last 7 trips we have landed 14 tarpon, so averaging 2 per trip and all trips caught 1 fish at least – not bad at all for mid-august!  Many tarpon in the 30-60 lb range which we consider on the smaller side or ‘resident’ size tarpon.  I’m happy to see that and hopefully if the weather stays relatively stable these fish should be there for a bit longer.  There are plenty of sharks, mostly blacktips, mixed in with them too.  When not fishing for tarpon I’ve still been doing some trout and snapper fishing in the bays.  Using small cut ballyhoo, chunks of mullet, or even GULP artificials can do the trick, however as I tell my customers most the best keys tarpon fishing is the first few hours of the day.  So often it’s a pick though when we have a lot of bait and chum you can usually get the snappers going pretty good at least if nothing else.  When pilchards or pinfish come up we are still catching those and I’ve been catching a few snook here and there around the islands and mangrove-laden shorelines.  But to be honest this time of year I am happy to do a 5 or 6 hour day, put in the hard work early for a few tarpon and sharks, and be back home in time for lunch!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

August is officially here!  We’ve just finished up with lobster mini-season.  It’s quite a zoo down here with everyone diving and snorkeling for the crawling critters on the bottom.  Regular lobster season opens this coming week and will be crazy for a week or two, but that soon dies down again.  Luckily most the fishing I am doing is back in the everglades as of late or the gulf, where we aren’t bothered by all the people.  The last couple days I fished were truly incredible.  In two days we’ve released 9 tarpon, 7 big snook 10-15 lbs, another 6 smaller snook, 8 goliath grouper, half a dozen large blacktip sharks, some big snappers, and a handful of other critters.  The bait in the backcountry is still readily available, I’ve been catching mullet early in the mornings really every morning.  Also on full days I’ve still been having good luck chumming pilchards up which we are using for snook and big snappers.  That is great fishing any time of year, let alone the beginning of August fishing islamorada, which is typically considered the ‘slow’ period here in the Florida Keys.  But as I always tell people – conditions really dictate the fishing here, it doesn’t matter whether it be in ‘season’ or not.  However I will say fishing had gotten a little bit tougher in days before that.  The winds now are east/northeast which is great, but days in the previous week before they were southwest which is not really good for much.  We had seen tarpon on some of those trips though they had gotten much tougher to get bites out of, you could sit for hours waiting for one bite, or maybe not even get that.  Sharks were not even very productive.  Some of the snook I had been wailing on in early July had disappeared from many of the spots I was fishing.  Almost any spot I went to a few weeks ago that you would normally find snook had some fish, though last week only a handful of spots produced any fish at all.  Though most days I was still able to work hard and put together a decent catch, whether it be a handful of snook, a couple tarpon, sea trout and snappers, or pulling on sharks.  That’s the great thing about fishing in the florida keys there is usually always a plan B!  As we get more into August the fishing can still be really good.  Tarpon are still not uncommon and on the right days can be really good.  Snook should still be around and getting the right bait (pilchards) will make the fishing much more productive.  Redfish on the flats, trout and snappers the bays.  The gulf can hold loads of permit too, I have not done that much but may try it if anyone asks.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

This july fishing in islamorada has really been sensational.  I’ve been mixing things up a bit though still doing a lot of tarpon fishing.  The early departures at 6 AM have really helped especially with the catching of bait.  We are loading up on mullets easily before the sun gets really high which increases the chance of catching a tarpon tremendously having the fresh bait.  The backcountry channels and beaches have had consistent tarpon action and I’ve caught tarpon on every trip this July with exception to one where we only had a half day and just didn’t have time to move around much.  Though we did catch plenty of sharks that day and saw some tarpon that just would not eat.  The afternoon tarpon bite has been good too if they don’t cooperate or stay on the hook in the morning, your chances are still very good in the early afternoon.  I often like to try again for the last hour of the day before we head in.  Other than tarpon the trout and snapper action in the bays has been great.  That is the best option for ‘dinner fish’.  I’ve also been finding some nice white bait a.k.a pilchards in the gulf.  When we are able to chum those up and net them the snook fishing has been stellar.  Many days we are catching double digit snook and some days they are pulling us out of the boat!  A few red drum are mixed in there and we’ve had several days with backcountry SLAMS consisting of redfish, snook, and tarpon. The gulf  is also a good option with the calm weather there have been a few permit and cobia out there and of course the big dogs goliath grouper and bull sharks!  I am pretty booked up through the middle of the month when I am going on vacation  though I have some open days when I get back near the end of July.  August is also pretty wide open and that can still be a great time to fish tarpon and other species as well!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk