11/29/17 Islamorada Fishing November Report for the backcountry

Well November is almost over and while it started out seeming like we may have had an early start to winter with a late october cold front that dropped temps down into the mid 60s, things quickly warmed back up again and it's been the warm fall like we've had the last several years.  Fishing has been fairly good in the backcountry however though some of the usual cooler weather options haven't been quite as consistent.  Yesterday I had my dad, Richard Stanczyk Sr, marina manager Stephen Byrd, and friend and captain Dave Peck out for some fun fishing.  We did some investigating of areas deep in the 'glades that I haven't fished much since Hurricane Irma.  We got lucky and found loads of fish, it was honestly the best day of fishing I'd had since the storm!  We boated a ton of redfish and snook, and found them in multiple spots.  Several nice size fish mixed in to.  It was just one of those dream days.  That was a couple days ago and I'm not sure if it'll stay that way but looked like snook fishing at least was decent today too.  Capt. Jim Willcox, Capt. Mike Bassett, Capt. Skip Nielsen, and Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti all had reported snook in the backcountry.  Capt. Jim also had a bonefish today.  There was a bit of rain around that captains had to spend some time avoiding, or fishing through depending how tough you were!  Over the weekend I had Paulie and his son Terry out for a full days fishing.  Paulie was 90 years old and I was glad to see him getting out for the day!  We didn't catch a ton of fish, but overall we had a pretty good day.  Paulie landed several snook and got the two largest ones for sure.  Terry caught several as well.  We had to work for the half dozen or so that we caught.  We spent the last couple hours out in the gulf and this is the first day I've had good spanish mackerel fishing.  We chummed hard and fished both live baits and pilchards.  I think we landed 8 or so mackerel, and a mix of ladyfish, bluefish, and blue runners.  Though we probably had 20 mackerel bites they just weren't staying on the hook very well.  This was encouraging as the spanish mackerel fishing is a big part of our winter time fishery.  It should get better with some more cold weather.  Capt. Bill Bassett yesterday had a few redfish and 1 nice snook, though he said they got beat by several other large snook so it was quality of quantity... but the quality won the fishing battle.   I know patch reef fishing had been fairly good too before thanksgiving.  Capt. Skip Nielsen had an outstanding catch with a nice black grouper on light 15 lb spin tackle.  I myself had good action with various snappers for dinner, and caught a couple local snook and some jack crevelles before leaving town for thanksgiving.  December is close and we are prepared for a busy xmas week.  If you are planning on coming down try to make your reservations early... guides book up fast between xmas and new years, as do hotel rooms.  With limited availability of hotel rooms with cheeca, islander, and post card inn closed, you don't want to be left hanging.  The next couple weeks before xmas though, guides and accommodations are likely readily available.  305-664-2461

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing