Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Fishing Islamorada

2-12-13 Fishing Islamorada in February

Well we just wrapped up the last of our Sailfish Tournaments aboard the Bn’M while Fishing Islamorada in February. Yesterday was the 32nd annual Islamorada Bartenders Sailfish Open where a Dozen different bars/restaurants competed against each other for the most sailfish releases to bring the big wooden plaque back to their place for a year. We started out Kite fishing and within the first 6 minutes we had our first hook up of the day. Within two minutes we grabbed the leader for an official release and put the baits back out. About an hour and a half later we had our second Islamorada Sailfishing encounter. After a bunch of jumps we were able to back down on the fish and get the leader for a 2nd release. It was slow fishing overall, with one other boat releasing a double header and 3 more boats releasing a single fish, but we were able to bring the trophy back to Dillons Pub for the 4th time in 7 years. We also caught a 34.6 lb king mackerel off the kite to win most outstanding catch other than a sailfish. Over the weekend we fished the Islamorada Women’s sailfish tournament. We started out Saturday with the first release 15 minutes into the tournament, but that was our only bite until 2:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. At the time we raised a double header sailfish, hooking one but unfortunately he broke the 12 lb test main line when a ton of sea weed got on the line. With a slow bite we still managed to finish in 3rd place overall. Deep Sea fishing in February in Islamorada usually still takes place on the reef, and we should start seeing some spring time fish here shortly. Let us know if you want to get out for some fun on an Islamorada Fishing Trip!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

: 2013 bartenders sailfish open

: february islamorada kingfish

February 12, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

Poor Girls 2013 Islamorada Sailfish Tournament Video

Well we did not win the Poor Girls 2013 Islamorada Sailfish Tournament this year… we did get 3rd and 2nd in the last two years. But we did make the top 5 with 3 fish, and 4 fish overall won it. Here is Elizabeth Baxter catching the last sail of the day out of the kite! Great job Capt. Scott Stanczyk with mates Hunter Barron and Nick Stanczyk.

February 7, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Videos

2-3-13 Offshore fishing in Islamorada

We’ve had great weather here the past couple of days while fishing in Islamorada. The temperatures have been from the Mid 60’s to the Low 70’s and the sun has been out for most of each day. I had John and his dad out on the Bn’M, down from New York for a couple of days of Islamorada Fishing. Today we started out by catching bait, including cigar minnows and ballyhoo and then headed out just past the reef and put the kites up for sailfish. We also put a bottom rod down, which was great idea because after about 30 minutes we got a bite and John caught a fat 14 lb mutton snapper! Great way to start out the day. After that I went back in the tuna tower and headed just inside the reef to look for some sails since we didn’t have any bites on the kites. After about 20 minutes I came across a big sting ray and there was a school of cobia following him. We caught 4 or 5 fish, all just under legal size to keep, but still some good action. After that we went out to a wreck and caught a handful of king mackerel. John then told me he was happy with what we had and he really wanted to focus on trying to get a sailfish. It didn’t take long and we found a sailfish up shallow in 30′ of water chasing a school of ballyhoo, but he didn’t want anything to do with our bait. We saw a couple more sailfish the next few hours and most of them would look at the bait, but wouldn’t eat it. Finally at about 2 p.m. we found a triple header of sailfish up in 25′ of water, and we made a good cast and one inhaled a ballyhoo. After about a 10 minute fight John released a 40 lb sailfish. We called it a day and headed in after that. Yesterday we missed a sailfish right off the bat and then John hooked one and fought it for about 10 minutes. The fish sounded and then came up jumping and unfortunately he threw the hook while jumping around. We did catch a couple porgy for dinner, and had some action with a big Barracuda and bonita. On the way home we came across a school of cobia as well and released a few short fish and then caught one keeper, a healthy 25 lber! All in all the fishing hasn’t been easy, but we’ve been working hard each day and putting together some decent catches on our offshore fishing charters in Islamorada!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

: islamorada cobia

: islamorada mutton snapper

February 4, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

1-29-13 Reef Fishing in Islamorada

I’ve had the last couple days off here from fishing in Islamorada, so it’s time to tell everybody what’s been biting. Our last trip our we focused on sails, unfortunately the bite was slow and we didn’t come across any, but we did still have plenty of action for the kids. We caught some little tunny’s while kite fishing, then we caught barracuda while slow trolling, and finally we did some bottom fishing with fresh shrimp. The shrimp produced some great eating fish, including a couple hogfish and a few porgy’s, making for a delicious fresh fish dinner while Islamorada Fishing! The previous day the target species was sailfish, and after a few hours of hunting around we were hooked up! We found the fish up shallow chasing a school of ballyhoo, and after a few casts he ate our bait. After a 20 minute fight on 15 lb test we had the est. 50 lb sailfish boatside and took a couple quick pictures and then sent him on his way back into the ocean. We also caught a handful of dinner fish including hogfish, yellowtail snapper, and trigger fish. The day before that we caught a big variety of fish on our deep sea Islamorada Fishing Charter. We had big crevalle jack, decent size amberjack, a huge red snapper (unfortunately it had to be released due to the closure in federal waters), atlantic sharpnose shark, almaco jack, lots of lane snapper, and a couple porgy.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

: islamorada sailfish

: islamorada red snapper

: islamorada hogfish

: islamorada crevalle jack

: islamorada amberjark

January 29, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

1/26/2013 Great islamorada backcountry fishing in the winter!

We’re still having some great islamorada winter backcountry fishing in january here! The young boys today and dad had lots of fun catching puppy drum. We caught 30 or so in total jigging shrimp back at the cape. The colder water this time of year has fish in many of the creeks and such back there and on low tide they can only be in so many places! We also got some nice big black drum, one cut us off unfortunately after we chased him down, but did boat a large double digit one! Conrad also got a snook which we had been wanting to catch january fishing islamorada. We also caught plenty of sheepshead, ladyfish, jacks, and a few trout. All fish today caught on plain old jigs and shrimp, worked slowly on the bottom. The water at the cape is nice in certain places, though you must work around and find the corners and such that look good. A nice slow moving current and lightly cloudy green water is what you need to look for florida keys backcountry fishing at the cape.

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