12/10/12 December Islamorada Fishing Report

Well today was fairly windy and warm for december fishing in islamorada.  Had a southeast breeze of 10-15 mph, unusual for this time of year.  Most of the time we are getting northerly breeze bringing down the cooler air in the winter.  Saturday and today I had Mike Traut fishing the florida keys backcountry.  On saturday we fished near flamingo, had the incoming tide all morning.  The water levels have not been fluctuating much this week due to unusual tidal influences, similar to the neap tide.  We picked around some islands at redfish that day, moving from spot to spot, finally did get into a decent mess of them catching 25 or so in all.  Finished that day with a snook in around a deeper island moat.  Flamingo fishing has been decent overall as the weather had not mixed the water up too bad back there.  Today on 12/10/12 we ran back to the cape, however the water out near east cape was fairly mixed up.  We caught the last of the falling tide in some of the creek runoffs there, and picked at redfish, jacks, and ladyfish.  I ran back to middle cape in search of cleaner water for our islamorada fishing trip and we did find some, however not much in the way of fish.  Did find a couple snook on one corner which looked very fishy but not much else, and caught some jacks and ladyfish on the shorelines.  So we ran back towards home and hit some spots on the way to the spanish mackerel fishing grounds, and did catch another dozen reds and a couple more snook.  We ended the day mackerel fishing, the chum didn't last long as the pinfish tore it up though luckily we didn't need much, within 15 minutes we were getting a mackerel bite every cast.  Caught maybe a dozen, plus a mix of bluefish, blue runners, and jacks.  Was good to see as the water temperature was warm about 77 degrees and incoming tide - not usually a good bet for spanish mackerel but I had a report from yesterday they were swarming which held true!  Had a very large shark that I don't think was a blacktip eat a mackerel right next to the boat which was pretty exciting too!  Shark fishing islamorada can be good this time of year when out mackerel fishing for the large blacktips!  Capt. Jim Willcox reported similar snook/redfish action today.  Capt.  Bill Bassett and Capt. Clyde Upchurch reported good spanish mackerel fishing yesterday on a half day as well.  Great time to be december fishing in the florida keys!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com 

11/13/12 November Islamorada Fishing in the Everglades

Islamorada fishing in November has been fairly good as of late.  A little bit of everything biting in the florida keys fishing.  Today the spanish mackerels showed up good with tide going into the gulf in the AM.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported good fishing out west near sprigger bank.  Capt. Bill Bassett also reported good bites of mangrove snappers out there and also some good redfishing and a few snook later on the higher water more towards flamingo.  Capt. Jim Willcox ran deep into the everglades fishing islamorada and said fishing took some work, they had a few snook early and after blazing some trails found some redfish hole up.  Our experience was similar we had one nice snook off the bat and not much else, a few trout, jacks, ladyfish, and a black drum, so we took a ride up to shark river to check that out, and caught another nice snook on the way back.  We did see a few tarpon rolling first thing too however they did not seem to want to eat our pinfish, but interesting they are still back there after the cold we had a week or so ago.  We did find some redfish and a few more snook on the high water closer to home which was nice.  Backcountry fishing in Islamorada has such a variety of options and can be different every day which is what we love (and sometimes hate!) about this fishery!  It's a good time of year for flats fishing islamorada so give Bud n' Mary's a call and we can set you up!  Lots of neat bird life/wild life to see as well, check out the great shots from Ron Modra including the spoonbill, and Capt. Jims croc picture!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

10/23/12 Excellent Islamorada Backcountry Fishing despite windy weather!

Well it was blowing as forecast today here in Islamorada fishing on 10/23/12.  However that didn't stop boats from getting out into the florida keys backcountry fishing.  Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Rick Stanczyk both fished near the mainland of florida.  The ride was not too bad a few short bumpy areas but for the most part you can run the banks/islands and stay in the calm water, and once near shore and in many of the areas we fish back there, you forgot it was even windy out!!  Capt. Jim reported some nice size redfish and some snook which starts getting good here in october fishing islamorada.  Lots of neat wild life too including a bald eagle/croc Capt. Jim got photos of, plus plenty of white pelicans and spoonbills starting to show up for the winter here in islamorada florida.  Capt. Rick had a good bite of snook this morning with regulars Jim and Gwen, we only managed one snook to the boat but missed/broke off/jumped off at least another 10 - just wasn't are day but that's why they call it fishing not catching!  Also got one nice redfish and jack crevalle, plus a 50 lb sawfish on light tackle which was exciting!  Jim was thrilled to get his first snook and sawfish.  Later we hit some runoffs and caught plenty of trout and mangrove snapper on the way home.  Capt. Bill Bassett fished closer to flamingo fishing and reported a mix bag of snapper, trout, ladyfish, jacks, and picked at half a dozen reds around some islands.  So remember when your here florida keys fishing in october and the wind is honking, the nice thing about islamorada is there are so many options to fish and much protected water - you can still get out there and have a great day!

9/4/12 September Islamorada Fishing in the backcountry

Islamorada fishing in September has started off great in the backcountry.  The water is still fairly cool from all the rain/wind of hurricane Isaac.  The water for the most parts in areas around flamingo is not too grassy and very fishable.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti a few days ago had a great day, fishing with Ron Taylor and family.  They caught 40 redfish up to 8 lbs, 6 snook, and a couple small tarpon.  He also fished yesterday with young Justin Block and father for some Islamorada flats fishing.  Justin caught his first bonefish in the morning.  They saw a fair number of others, as well as a few small tarpon and permit.  Capt. Bill Bassett this morning also reported good redfishing, catching 20 of them, as well as 2 snook and one small tarpon.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported good fishing around some islands fishing in the florida keys backcountry the last 2 days.  They caught plenty of mangrove snapper, abou t 15 snook each day, a small goliath grouper, and a few small redfish.  Most this fishing has been done with shrimp and on artificial GULP shrimps.  Fishing in Flamingo should stay decent especially if the water temps stay a little cooler, early morning will likely be your best bet to ensure that!

7/28/12 Fishing the gulf of mexico

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Bob Davidson and crew out for a day of fishing the gulf of mexico on 7/28/12.  We started off some of the banks that line the edge of everglades national park and the gulf.  The bite was hot with a mix of big ladyfish, sea trout, mangrove snappers, and jack crevelle.  We loaded up on fish for dinner, as well as more for bait for larger specimen.  We then headed to try to find some goliaths we had some action with the prior day, however another boat was fishing it, so we headed back west into the open gulf.  We had one of wrecks to our selves and the fish were there!  We had the last of the incoming tide.  Big schools of permit in every direction, great permit fishing in islamorada.  We caught about 8 total on shrimp and even bare jigs!  We tried pitching the one crab we had to some of the larger ones, though they did not appear interested.  After the tide started to fall we anchored up, and chunked up some ladyfish and caught 6 big goliath groupers up to 200 lbs!  Bob also got a nice 75 lb bull shark.  We also managed one cobia to the boat, and had one other small 4 pack follow a goliath up and disappear.  Great action and love to see it this time of year!

Capt. Bill Bassett also fished in the backcountry today and reported good action.  They caught plenty of trout and ladyfish in the bays.  They found lots of tarpon around some islands and had a couple in the air!  They also poled around a bit later and caught several redfish, after that they headed in a little earlier to beat the heat!