The winds laid down yesterday some but kicked up again today. Northerly in the morning which we like this time of year. The tide has been very low, being pushed out by the wind from several days earlier. The last two days we got into a sick redfish bite, both days we caught 50+ fish. A mix of little guys and slot/over slot fish. They are eating shrimp and pilchards, whatever you throw at ’em. Snook are mixed in too. Today we got into some nicer size snook too, while yesterday they were mostly little guys. The ticket with them is live pilchards which have been plentiful. On the ocean side beaches you can find plenty especially with the northerly wind this time of year. As it continues to get into winter time, this type of fishing should stay good. Black drum and sheepshead will move in more and more as it cools off. Cold fronts can provide great opportunity if your in the right area, and many of these spots are protected from the wind and weather so it can be a fantastic trip!
Fishing Reports
10/25/13 Fall Florida Keys Fishing Report
Well business is picking up a little bit. The fishing in the back has been getting better and better as things cool off. Lots of pilchards around which are a favorite of snook in the everglades. The snook bite has been really good we’ve been getting double digit catches regularly. Quite a few redfish too, as things get colder in the winter especially more and more reds, black drum, and sheepshead will move in. Today we caught almost 2 dozen snook and we only had live shrimp as the pilchards we had been catching had left the area. The day before there were millions of them, and tarpon from 20 lbs to 200 lbs were blasting them left and right. It was a sight to see! We had a mild cold front, the first of the season, which can make for some really good fishing. If your thinking of making a trip, November can be a great time as many spanish mackerel move in the gulf as well as big blacktip sharks, cobia, and more. The redfish and snook bite is really good in the deep everglades as well as around flamingo then too, and larger bay boats such as mine can reach them most the time.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com
10-5-13 early October fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys
It’s that time of year here now where we catch a little bit of everything. We are starting to focus more on reef fishing compared to the summer and early fall months where we head further offshore. The last few days in Islamorada we have caught a lot of different species of fish. One day on the hump we caught a bunch of blackfin tuna and skipjack tuna, as well as a big dusky shark. Then we came back to the reef and caught a few snappers, king mackerels, cero mackerels, and yellowjacks. The next day we went to the hump but the tuna’s didn’t cooperate as well as expected, but we did catch a couple and turned one into a nice hammerhead shark which we released. We also caught some nice snapper while bottom fishing on the way in to the reef. Back near the reef we fished a couple wrecks and caught a bunch of yellowjack and then released a lot of bonitos and rainbow runners. Yesterday we went out swordfishing, and we missed one sword bite, but did find some dolphin (mahi mahi) on the way home and caught 8 or 10 and kept 6 of them. The next few weeks we should start seeing a lot of more king mackerel, black grouper, sailfish, and snapper while fishing the reef and wrecks.
Capt. Nick Stanczyk
9/17/13 Late season september tarpon fishing in islamorada
We had some action this morning with september islamorada tarpon fishing around the flamingo area. Mullet can still be found on the flats and around island moats until it really gets cold so this is a possibility all the way through october. We were able to get a few baits first thing to give it a good shot. Had several bites and caught this nice 60 lb tarpon. The tide quit after an hour and the air temperature dropped as frontal cells approached so things shut off there. We went around some mangrove islands and caught some snook. Fall snook fishing in the florida keys is a good bet. There were also plenty of nice mangrove snappers to be had, great table fare if your into cooking your catch. Or you can bring them to a local resturant to have for supper! We also did catch one small redfish completing our ‘backcountry slam’ for the day!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com
8-24-13 Islamorada Fishing Offshore
The Mahi bite has been incredible this August while fishing in Islamorada. Now it definitely is getting later in the season for them, but we should still have action with them throughout September. There was a week or so of nice big fish (slammers), 20 – 40 lbers, and the past week we have had big numbers of small/medium size fish, 3 – 10 lbers (schoolies and gaffers)…[sociallocker] The blackfin tuna bite picked up about 2 weeks ago as well, it was definitely a little slow before that. We catch the blackfins on the humps (big under water sea moutains), and when they show up so do the SHARKS! We caught dusky and silky sharks last week, the biggest pushing 300 lbs. The daytime swordfish bite has been on and off this year so far. We’ve had a few good trips with multiple fish, a few trips with single fish, and then some trips with no action at all. But that’s the name of the game when trying for big ones! The reef has still been active with lots of yellowtail snapper and a couple mutton snapper mixed in as well. Send me an email if you’re looking to get out!
Capt. Nick Stanczyk
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