Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Fishing Islamorada

cobia

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

February 4, 2013 by Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

1/20/13 January Islamorada Fishing Report in the Gulf.

Had Rich and Luke Cromwell, regular customers of my brother and myself, today in the backcountry and gulf of islamorada fishing january.  We started out near the cape and hit a spot on the way out to the gulf looking for some snooks. The action wasn’t hot and heavy and after no bites at the first spot, moved a little further in a creek and ended up pulling a couple snook out, one medium size and one little guy.  Luke caught his first snook and was happy on this islamorada snook fishing charter.  We then decided to move out into the gulf as the wind was dying out and tide was about to start falling in a bit, a great time to be out there for cobia fishing florida keys.  We stopped on a bit of structure on the way out looking for some cobia or big redfish. Casted a couple of pinfish out and let them sit, but nothing happened.  We pulled anchor and continued our trek west.  As we drove we scoured the crab buoys in search of tripletail.  We ended up finding plenty and catching 6 in total including 3 keepers – great for dinner!  Triple tail fishing islamorada is great when it is calm.  Luke was happy with his first triple tail and did all the work, casting shrimp on a small hook with a bobber up current of the buoys and letting them drift back to the fish – WHAM! He is on!  Had a nice permit surprise us and swim under the boat while boating one fish, however we weren’t ready in time and he swam off into the gulf.  Never no what will happen on a january islamorada fishing report!  We made our way to the wreck just as the tide changed.  Put a few pinfish out and in no time had a big cobia on of 15+ lbs.  Luke fought him for a while and he didn’t want to give up but we finally got him, lip gaffed for a picture, and released.  Again Luke is happy with his first cobia – what a great day!  We caught 3 more cobia, as well as plenty of jacks.  Some cobia we sight casted too which was fun.  Had one goliath bite on a live bait on the bottom but unfortunately missed him, and then a shark stole the bait.  We then ran back to the islamorada everglades fishing in search of some trout.  We ended the day in some runoffs and caught a handful of nice size trout, islamorada trout fishing is good in the channel run offs in the winter time.  Great end to a spectacular day, Luke and Rich cannot wait to come back to the florida keys fishing!

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

January 20, 2013 by Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

1/4/13 Gulf and Backcountry Fishing Islamorada Report

Well it doesn’t get any prettier than it did today on 1/4/13 while fishing islamorada!  We worked some island shorelines on the high in tide in the everglades national park first things this morning.  We picked several redfish, black drum, and a few sheepshead in this fashion casting shrimp.  On the tide change we went looking for a snook around some other island moats.  We did find one eager participant, alas we broke him off boatside.  However we did end up catching some more black drum jigging the bottom, as well as some more sheepshead from around the mangrove trees!  We then hit some scattered muddy waters in some ditches further towards the gulf area and got into a mess of trout, jack crevalle, ladyfish, pompano, and one juvenile permit.  What a mixed bag for this islamorada fishing report!  Continued cruising on out into the gulf of mexico along the crab bouys, and saw several tripletail fish.  We caught some for dinner, mostly again casting shrimp on a small cork, dragging it to ’em, and WHAM!  These high flying acrobats are fun on light tackle, and not bad blackened on the grill either.  A gulf wreck was next on the agenda, and we caught some cobias off of it, as well as a goliath grouper that took some convincing to get to bite.  Another permit was had in this area too – you never know what to except fishing the florida keys!  To end the day we caught some spanish mackerel closer to home in Islamorada.  And so ends another tale of wonder fishing islamorada backcountry.

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

January 5, 2013 by Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

12/6/12 December Islamorada Fishing Report

December islamorada fishing is off to a great start!  Went out for fun today with my dad and friends, Capt. Dave Peck and Capt Vic. Gaspeny.  We were looking for ‘big mo’, of the big florida keys redfish that occasionally are out in the gulf this time of year.  We ended up finding a small pack of ’em, only snapped a picture of this one which doesn’t give it justice but was close to 20 lbs.  There were several others with him, a big gold/red ball, and some over 30 lbs likely!  They all disappeared though once they saw the boat, never to return unfortunately.  The water and weather was gorgeous today, had a nice falling tide all day which is ideal for backcountry fishing islamorada.  Especially in the gulf of mexico!  We ended up catching several cobias as well, some of them nice fish and keeper size.  They are lots of fun on light tackle rods.  We also got a few small goliath groupers and a red grouper, plus plenty of jacks, blue runners, triple tail, and some spanish mackerel.  The groupers, cobia, and big red were all caught on pinfish!  All in all not a ton of fish, but some real quality ones – which I always appreciate!  Great day fishing in the florida keys!  The bugs were horrendous out at cape sable so we did not stay long there, though we did try this morning for a little while looking for some snook.  Well stay tuned for more news concerning fishing the florida keys in december!  Most of the fishing will be moving to deeper creeks/canals in the back, as the waters cool in the shallows.  Islamorada flats fishing will slow down a bit, but there is always something else to do here when fishing!

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

December 7, 2012 by Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

11/28/12 Fishing Islamorada Backcountry For Snook and Redfish in November!

I was out in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a week or so and just got back in town a few days ago back to the lovely islamorada florida keys.  I fished for fun the last couple of days to get some picture/video footage, see what was out there, and just have a good time!  We went fishing islamorada backcountry and ran deep into the everglades near cape sable on 11/28/12.  Hit a couple of spots for cobia/redfish in the gulf on the way, as the day before we did catch a cobia and several nice size redfish (still waiting on pictures).  November islamorada fishing is often great for cobia and larger redfish in the deeper water and gulf of mexico as the water has cooled down.  We did get a cobia this day and one decent sized redfish though not huge by any means, as well as a big sting ray that got us excited as it did scream out some drag right away.  Once the tide had turned and was coming in, ran to some of the canals in the back.  We idled into one of them and started hitting some runoffs.  Redfish fishing is often good through the winter in these areas and the fish will stack up in the deeper canals, however today the bite was not redhot.  We slowly picked at them, catching 15-20 or so, along with a mix of jacks, ladyfish, snapper, and sea trout.  A good mix for any backcountry fishing guide in the florida keys!  We decided to run back to east cape canal instead of venturing further into the shallow areas of the deeper creeks to look for some snook.  We did catch one nice one on the shoreline along with a nice redfish on pinfish, however those were the only two fish we found on the area of shoreline we fished but were well worth it!  Hit a couple spots in lake inghram and caught another 3 snook out of there, 2 being very nice sized fish again as well.  Snook fishing Islamorada can be good in the winter time after a cold front, however the fish seemed to have thinned out again from the last front we had.  We hit east cape canal after that and stayed late as the water color, current level, and everything seemed ideal, however did not have much luck in there surprisingly.  All in all a great day, any day you catch snook like these is excellent!  The day before on 11/27/12 I also fun fished.  We started the morning fishing spanish mackerel on the edge of the gulf of mexico.  The bite was fair we caught enough to keep us entertained, as well as got some cool underwater footage of a big goliath grouper on a wreck.  We then hit a spot further out in the gulf and got a cobia as well as 3 nice size big redfish.  Tried for a snook near the cape, did hook a nice one but he cut us off unfortunately, and ended the day catching about 2 dozen puppy redfish fishing flamingo.  A great two days fishing, and very glad to be back here in the 80 degree weather!

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

November 29, 2012 by Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Hello my name is Capt. Rick Stanczyk and welcome to my website! I’m a fishing guide in the fabulous Florida Keys, Islamorada to be specific. Tarpon are the species I spend a lot of time fishing for and they are my passion. I fish a more limited schedule these days though I have a team of young talented guides who I've been training that are available for fishing charters, so please get in touch if you want to go fishing!

305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

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