8/17/18 August Backcountry Fishin' Report

August is here and things are finally starting to slow down a bit with business as is par for the course this time of year.  We are not experiencing any negative effect from the Red Tide on the west coast of Florida - the water is clean and the fish are biting!  We had a very good summer and were thankful for that especially after dealing with IRMA last year.  The fishing in July was just epic and really for all different types of species.  August things seemed to have slowed down a little bit but there are definitely still fish to be caught, some days you just have to work a little harder at it.  We have definitely had a lot more wind in August as compared to July so that has made things a little tougher but at least kept the heat down.  There are still a good amount of tarpon around on that front.  I was away for a week but have fished a handful of days and we've still been seeing some decent size groups of fish.  They are not biting as well as they were in July, we've had to put time in to get a few shots, but it's definitely still been worthwhile.  A lot of the fish also have been larger size in the 80 to 100 lb range, so still a chance at some big ones too.  Capt. John Johansen had some good size tarpon earlier this month back there too.  Snook fishing has slowed down as well though it's still been OK.  Some of the fishing around the islands has still been good for them though the beaches/mainland areas have slowed down significantly.  There have been a few though and some baby tarpon and occasional redfish as well.  I know Capt. Mike Bassett has been catching a few back there as has Capt. Ted Wilson.  Capt Clyde Upchurch has had some good fishing around many of the islands for snapper and snook, and some trout in the bay as well.  Capt. Mike Walter has still been picking away at some tarpon around the bridges in the evenings.  That is still a possibility if you are wanting to get out in the late afternoon.  The mangrove snappers are showing back up in the bays and cuts too if a little half day for some action and dinner sounds good to you.  Capt. Bill Bassett reported some good snapper fishing a few days ago.  The next couple months are generally very slow with business here, especially in September.  Fishing can still be good though and it's nice to be down here without any of the crowds around.  The nice thing about fishing in the backcountry is you get it all to yourself, so your captain can really hit just about every spot he wants to and not have to worry about other boats being there.  Also it is generally calm which leads to nice water which leads to good fishing.  October fishing usually gets even better as we start to get the fall bait run... don't forget about that sometimes that is some of the best tarpon and snook fishing we get all year!  Give us a shout if you want to get out there, we are offering our off season rates on rooms.  305-664-2461

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