1/26/13 January Islamorada Backcountry Fishing Report

Had a gorgeous day here today january fishing islamorada.  Andy and his sons Derek and Conrad fished with me again on 1/26/13.  The wind blew but not too bad mostly out of the north/northeast.  Temperatures were chilly in the morning but nice after the sun was higher in the sky and we stopped running.  Caught the end of the falling tide back fishing cape sable.  Lots of redfish in the ditches and run-offs, today mostly little guys with a handful of nicer fish here and there.  Mostly caught jigging shrimp.  We also got some really nice big 20 lb black drum right off the bat, one we lost around a tree stump but one we caught right after on our islamorada fishing charter!  All these guys were eating shrimp on jigs, slowly twitched on the bottom.  We moved further in some of the creeks on the incoming tide and picked away at redfish, sheepshead, ladyfish, trout, jacks, and snapper.  Mid day we caught a handful of other fish along with a nice snook.  Backcountry islamorada fishing in the winter is lots of fun.  Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Mike Bassett reported similar fishing back at the cape including redfish and snook.  Capt. Willcox and Capt. John Johansen also did some trout fishing later in the afternoon and reported lots of nice big trout showing up in the ditches between islamorada and flamingo, which have been slim pickings the last month at least as far as the large ones go.  Great day here on the water flats fishing in the florida keys.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
rick@seethefloridakeys.net