Fishing Reports

It’s April and the tarpon have made their presence known here in Islamorada and throughout the Florida Keys.  Islamorada tarpon fishing is the big thing here for the next several months.  We’ve had a great early season and the weather is now really getting right for a big month in April.  Plenty of big schools of baitfish (mullet) have been showing up, several big ‘balls’ of thousands at a time that we use for bait.  The last few days I’ve been having great action fishing live mullet for tarpon.  We’ve had 6 fish to the boat in the last 3 trips, and over another fifteen or so that didn’t quite make it there!  Lots of other fish boiling, flashing, and busting the baits that weren’t hooked too.  It’s game on here for april tarpon fishing in Islamorada.  The fishing should only get better.  I’m booked most every day but I do have evening trips available that go from 4 to 8 PM so check with me.  It is a great time to go after big tarpon and the bite around sunset usually goes off!  You can see from the pictures below we’ve been having wild action the last month, and as stated before April only gets better.  The weather usually stabilizes and the big schools of migrating fish show up along with the schools of mullet.  It’s a mixture for tarpon craziness that you don’t want to miss!  Drop me a line lets get you hooked up to the fish of a life time!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well it’s spring time here in Islamorada and that means we are kicking off with march fishing in islamorada.  For myself that usually means starting to target larger things – tarpon, sharks, mud marlin, goliath grouper, and more.  Most of February the tarpon fishing in the florida keys area we fish was fairly good.  We caught fish just about every day we tried for them aside from a couple.  However this time of year can be hit or miss especially when we have late season cold fronts, that really turns tarpon off.  We did have a few banner days, one day we had 6 nice tarpon to the boat between 60 and 90 lbs.  Most days however we are getting a variety of sharks, the occasional large ‘mud marlin’, and a handful of tarpon bites.  Tarpon have been biting a bit around town locally too if you can get fresh mullet like we have been, that can be a good option.  Evening tarpon trips are a possibility, again though warm weather is key.  Looks like we have a minor front coming in this weekend so that may slow the tarpon bite down but it will likely pick up again quick as it’s not getting too cold.  Other than tarpon we’ve been doing a lot of trout and snapper fishing in the bays.  Lots of juvenile trout showing up from the gulf with some larger ones mixed in.  The gulf is also a good option this time of year, I haven’t been out there much but this time of year tripletail are often out there plus some cobia, goliaths, and more on the wrecks.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well it’s February fishing in Islamorada and that means we are getting into our ‘busy season’.  Spring offers the most variety of fish as you have a shot at catching just about anything at this time.  Today I wanted to let you all know we tarpon fished as it’s been warm for several days and looks to continue to be throughout the week.  This is a perfect recipe for early tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys as big groups of migrating tarpon come in from the gulf.  We had some luck and caught 2 big tarpon in the 80-100 lb range plus several black tip sharks on a half day of fishing.  Mullet muds are found pretty easily throughout the bay so bait can be caught first thing in the morning many days.  Before the last few days of nice weather we had a mild cold front with some rain and cloudy weather, though fishing was good.  We had a fun day with close to 20 snook, a dozen reds, and a few other fish.  Fishing the mainland ‘cape’ areas as well as some of the backcountry flats.  Give me a call or email if your looking to get hooked up to big fish, the spring time is a great time to go fishing in Islamorada and February is often the start of that!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Fishing in Islamorada in January has been good so far this year.  We’ve only had 1 cold front however this evening it is already starting to cool off again for our second.  While the fishing back there can get tough when the temperatures drop dramatically, as soon as it starts to warm back up it can get really good.  We had some excellent post cold front fishing last week.  One day we had over 50 fish of the redfish, snook, and black drum variety.  We also had good catches the few days after that.  Yesterday we got into the snook really good, catching close to 20 of them fishing some of the creeks and canals of the mainland everglades.  Some were very nice size, we also caught half a dozen red & black drum.  Pilchards were the hot ticket and the fish couldn’t resist.  However when the temperatures are below 70, shrimp works best for everything back there.  The fishing a couple days after this next front could really light up back there again, as the fish really congregate in some of their deeper holes to stay warm and when they start feeding again it is game on!  When the temps are too cold back there though there are always other options such as fishing the gulf or even out on the patch reefs on the ocean side, which can be really good since the fish in the bays often flush out there in search of warmer water.  Drop me an email I’ve got a handful of days open still the rest of the month, and of course February – May is filling up FAST!  Tarpon fishing season is just around the corner!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk