Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Fishing Islamorada

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

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.

rick@fishingislamorada.com

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!

rick@fishingislamorada.com

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