Mid January Backcountry Fishing Report

It was good to get back into town last week after spending a week out in Wyoming skiing where it was getting down to -25 at night... Brrrr!  I've been lucky enough to have fished every day since I got back and we had our first real deal cold front hit us a couple nights before I got back and got down into the 50s here and the water got down around 60.  This led to some good conditions for the backcountry specimens such as black drum, redfish, snook, and sheepshead.  Usually right after these hard fronts, once the water has a chance to warm slightly to mid 60s, fish can stack up in certain areas and lead to some pretty good days on the water.  Most every day I've gotten back into the cape sable area and had good action with some nice size snook, a mix of redfish and black drum, and a few sheepshead.  We got a couple large black drum in the 30 lb range in the last week too... on of my favorite things to catch when its colder.  Brandon and his dad Fred fished with me and had a great day with all those specimens, and Brandon got one of those big lunker drums.  Tony and Rob were with me the other day and we did a mixed bag, catching some mackerels as well.  Jerry and his boys down from NJ were here early in the week as well, with lots of drum and snook.  The gulf fishing has been good though it's been a bit windy so some of the smaller skiffs can't always get out there.  Capt. Mike Bassett and Capt. Mike Venezia both had reported good days at the cape with drum and snook, and M. Bassett had a nice tarpon the other day.  Capt. Jim Willcox today had redfish, snook, sheepshead, and even a juvenile tarpon.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti reported a mix of jacks, ladfyish, mackerel, bluefish, and a nice grouper fishing locally around town.  Capt. Bill Bassett has been taking his canoe with one of his regular customers and getting into some nice reds and snook in the very deep shallow creeks in the everglades.  Capt. John Johansen had a mix of snook, redfish, and black drum a few days ago.  Looks like the winds are suppose to lay off throughout the week and maybe by mid week it'll be calm throught the weekend.  This should be great for patch reef fishing and also going into the gulf.  Give us a call if you want to get out on the water, it's a great time of year with the cooler weather to go fishing!  305-664-2461

Capt. Rick Stanczyk