1/28/16 Late January Backcountry Fishing Report Islamorada

January is winding down to a close finally and we are still in the midst of the cold weather cycle.  Over the weekend temperatures will be dropping again not so severly as last time but will be getting down to 60 or so.  Today and yesterday things really warmed back up from the previous front with winds going hard out of the south, however it brought a lot of moisture and we've been getting some rain today though yesterday it stayed far to the north of us over the mainland.  The conditions this weekend should be very good with a weaker front hitting us, however I'm sure the crowds will be out to enjoy the weather as well, it's been very busy in the backcountry the last couple weeks that is for sure!  Fishing has been decent overall if you get lucky following the fronts the everglades backcountry fishing has been red hot, and on the colder not so nice days it's been a slower pick of fish.  The ideal conditions have usually been a few days after a cold front has dropped the temperatures, when things get nice again and the water temperature creeps up a few degrees.  I had Pride and his wife Cile Scanlan out who have fished Bud n Marys several times the past few years.  We got them out on a very cold morning into the backcountry immediatly following the last front.  Fishing wasn't easy though we picked away, Cile caught her first snook and Pride caught his first goliath grouper (which was funny because he had just finished asking me several questions about them literally a few minutes before he caught it!).  They also caught a few drum and a sheepshead, and quite a few catfish though we don't like to brag about those.  A couple days later we fished a morning half day and fishing was much more productive on the catching end, we went into the gulf and caught about 20 mackerels for a great morning trip.  Capt. Mike Venezia got out into the backcountry a couple days after that last cold front, and it was a totally different ball game.  The winds laid out, the sun came out, and he reported the drum bit very well and he got a few snook as well as sheepshead and a tripletail.  Capt. Jim Willcox on Tuesday reported a good day fishing way deep in the everglades.  He said the deeper canals we usually fish were loaded with boats, so he went further and deeper.  They got into some redfish, snook, and even got a baby tarpon, plus some nice trout in the afternoon.  Capt. Jeff Beeler reported yesterday a decent bite he said a they caught some drum and snook though had to work hard at it and keep moving, a few spots were decent and some didn't have much.  Anyways we look to be staying in winter time mode at least through into early next week.  If things stay warm you can usually expect a few tarpon to start showing up at some point in February, though may not get real consistent until later in March.  The gulf/mackerel fishing should stay good especially if things are on the cooler end.  The patch fishing has been OK though the water has been muddy due to the hard winds which have been changing directions often, which porgies and hogfish are not fans of though the snappers, jacks, and other species dont seem to mind as much.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk