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!
1/8/14 January Fishing in Islamorada
We’ve had some great fishing trips here the past few weeks in Islamorada. Some days with windy weather, so I was definitely glad to be on my 36′ Jersey Devil, Bn’M II. The last couple days I fished however I helped shoot a tv show for SFTV, and we managed to release 6 sailfish over the two days and keep 4 blackfin tuna all around 10 lbs. We are “reef fishing” this time of year, a lot of kite fishing with live bait as well as some bottom fishing. We consider it the same thing as “Deep Sea” and “offshore”. In addition to the sailfish being the trophy fish, we’ve caught a handful of real nice mutton snapper, with some pushing 12 lbs. There’s also been some king mackerel in the mix. We caught a big bull shark last week as well as a juvenile hammerhead shark, both which were released. The next month we should have should action with sailfish, mackerel, wahoo, shark, and snapper. The cobias should start moving through in big numbers any day. Send me an email at bnmcharters@gmail.com when you’re ready to get out there!
Capt. Nick Stanczyk
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12/14/13 Everglades and gulf december fishing report in islamorada
Fishing was very good yesterday on 12/14/13. The day before we had a minor front chill down the backcountry. Fishing that day was a little slow though we managed a few reds, handful of snook, and some other trout, ladyfish, jacks, and such. It was blowing 20+ mph so we didn’t venture into the gulf to mackerel fish or anything as it was a multi boat trip and they wanted to stay in calm waters. On the 14th we started the morning spanish mackerel fishing. The wind had swung around from the south/south east – a much warmer weather condition. Caught the end of the falling tide and they were chewing! We caught probably close to 30 macks, and our limit (15) of nice 12″ mangrove snappers. All on jigs and shrimp with some chum. After that we went into the everglades and fished around some flats for snook and redfish. It took a little while to get things going, but we caught 6 nice redfish on shrimp, and over a dozen snook in the 4-6 lb range. The snook fed better on live pilchards which we caught that morning. As you see a day can make an incredible difference with the fishing. Christmas week is coming up and we are slammed busy, I do still have a couple openings if people are looking to go, and before christmas can be great too! Drop me an email!
12/3/13 December Islamorada Fishing Report
Well we’re into December now and we’ve just had our first real cold front of the season in the last week. Air temperatures dropped to around 60, water temps in the backcountry got into the high 60s – not too cold. We like for this to happen in the winter as the cooler water brings in more oxygen and life and can really spark up the fishing. Before the front the fishing was really good for snook in the backcountry and redfish were making their presence known as well. Live pilchards have still been key for snook fishing, and are still readily available most days. Since the cold I’ve been back there a few times and fishing still been fairly good though it seems fish have really moved around. Places where I was able to fish for an hour or more and catch lots of fish I am now only catching a couple and having to keep picking and moving. Not a bad thing, just a lot more moving around. We still got multiple nice snook last week, and a handful of redfish. Today we went out front to the patch reefs. The action was heavy with a lot of mangrove and yellowtail snappers. We got a few groupers and mutton snappers off the bottom on live pilchards, including a keeper red grouper of 22 inches. We also got a handful of porgies and bar jacks. Not too shabby for a half day trip. The spanish mackerel have started to get more and more consistent, we will start targetting them a lot over the next couple months. Some larger seatrout also start to get into the runoffs along with redfish and snook. It’s a great time of year to fish here in Islamorada in December! After christmas things really start to get busy, though I have some open days between now and then if your looking to get out. Full days are best for the deeper everglades stuff, and on the nicer days the gulf can be a unique trip with the mackerels, cobias, tripletails, goliath grouper, etc… Half days as stated patch fishing is a good bet, trout fishing in the backcountry, or mackerel fishing in the bay. Let’s go fishing!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
11/18/13 November snook fishing in Islamorada
Went out for fun today to explore some off of the cape area of the mainland everglades. November fishing in Islamorada is often a better time for species such as snook and redfish as water temperatures cool down a bit and there is a lot of whitebait a.k.a pilchards around. We had a good trip catching double digit snook and a few other rascals including a nice triple tail. Pilchards have been fairly plentiful so most days we are catching a load of them in the morning and bringing them along with nice live shrimp. Today we worked some new areas exploring. We had some luck this morning with a few nice snook on the last of the falling tide. After that it was a little slow while we tried some different areas. Then late in the afternoon we found a few good spots on the higher incoming tide for snook. Both places the water was very nice and pushing easily along tree-lined shores and snook were waiting there to ambush prey. The live pilchards are great because you can chum with them a little bit and get the fish really fired up and congregated in one area.
