5/29/12 Night tarpon fishing in Islamorada

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with his father, Andy Newman, and Bill Reed of the National Hurricane Center last night on 5/29/12 for some night tarpon fishing in Islamorada.  Bill is retiring from the hurricane center this year.  We did some evening fishing as the bite the last several nights seems to have been better at sunset and after dark.  We jumped one fish early down near Channel 2 bridge tarpon fishing right around sunset.  We then drifted further back in the bay, hearing many fish roll and bust around us but no action.  The wind had died out flat making things a little tougher.  We motored up for another drift, and as soon as we put our baits out, we hooked a very nice fish.  I handed Bill the Rod and he started the battle!  It zipped around back and forther quite a bit, and then ran straight at the boat going underneath but we managed to swing the rod around and keep him on.  As we got the fish to the boat and in the light, my suspicions were correct - a nice big permit!  A very nice surprise while fishing for tarpon as we don't catch a whole lot of them while doing this with the larger tackle and crabs that we use!  We then ran back towards home and fished some of the channels close to Bud n' Mary's, and first drift Andy hooked a nice 80 lb tarpon which we landed and then came home!  Capt. Bill Bassett reported getting a couple bites in the normal morning hours 7-11 on crabs and pinfish.  Capt. Jim Willcox also has some tarpon action out in the fishing the gulf of mexico on the flat calm days the last couple of days.

5/7/12 Islamorada tarpon fishing in May.

Islamorada tarpon fishing in May is starting to pick up.  The weather has been stabilizing, winds calming, and few more fish starting to move in today on 5/7/12.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported a couple bites last night, catching one tarpon of 80 lbs.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported one of 150 lbs the night before they fought for almost 2 hours!  Today Capt. Rick fished the backcountry with Jim and Mary long.  It was Jim's 50th birthday and he had a great day fishing in the florida keys!  We caught some ladyfish for bait, a few snappers for dinner and some throwback trout, and then tarpon fished for an hour.  Had 2 bites at the start of the incoming tide, and caught one nice islamorada tarpon of 65 lbs or so, good fighter too!  Nice to see some fish showing up out in the backcountry.  We then fished for some reds around some islands, and the bite was on!  Probably caught 30 redfish in an hour, up to about 10 lbs, some real nice fish!  Mostly on live shrimp, though they were eating pinfish especially the larger ones!  Capt. Ken Cohan reported getting a few tarpon bites and catching one today too.  Capt.  Bill Bassett did some poling, sightfishing for bonefish, and caught a nice bonefish in islamorada.  They also caught a few reds as well.  May is usually prime time for tarpon, look for them to start biting good in the evenings the next few days, as we have falling tide for most of the night through sunset.  Night tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys is lots of fun!

5/3/12 Florida Keys Backcountry Fishing Report

Well the rain has finally cleared and we had some pretty weather today although it was still pretty breezy!  Much of the water in the backcountry is still very churned up from the hard winds we had the past few days, that should settle and by the weekend it is suppose to be nice and calm.  The past few days Capt. Rick Stanczyk has been running far near the mainland of south florida in the everglades backcountry fishing.  The mud marlin have been biting consistently, we caught 2 the day before yesterday and 1 today.  Today we also caught several big lemon sharks and one blacktip shark.  Ladyfish was the bait of choice on the bottom.  Yesterday we got into the redfish pretty good, found an area where the water was fairly clean compared to the rest of the bay/gulf water which was very muddy.  We caught 2 dozen nice islamorada redfish up to 8 lbs, mostly on shrimp though several on cut bait on the bottom.  Today we tried the same thing and caught a handful of reds though not like the other day.  Though we did get a nice size florida keys snook out of one of the creeks, and found a good mud on the way home loaded with nice trout and ladyfish.  The islamorada tarpon fishing report has not been real good... the fish will hopefully start showing up more in the backcountry channels and around the local spots as well, perhaps on the next moon and once the weather stabalizes.  Several boats the other night reported no bites at all unfortunately, when we get back into having falling tides in the evenings things will improve.  Capt. Bill Bassett reported a good bite of redfish way back at Cape Sable yesterday, they caught fish up to 15 lbs, poling and casting into ditches.  Capt. Jim Willcox had some nice redfish today as well.

March flats fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys

March fishing in Islamorada was pretty good today in the backcountry.  We had a good easterly breeze of about 15 mph which is fairly light compared to how it has been!  Drifting some of the bays towards the gulf side there were plenty of trout, ladyfish, and snapper to be had for Capt. Rick Stanczyk.  They also caught a couple spanish mackerel.  Further off some of the banks Capt. Jim Willcox reported larger ladyfish and trout.  Capt. Rick reported fishing a few shorelines on higher water and catching a couple redfish just for something a little different.  Both Capt. Jim and Capt. Rick reported catching some big mud marlin, Capt. Jim actually caught 2, plus both reported some sharks as well.  Capt. Rick also caught a nice cobia on light tackle off the back of the large bottom dweller.  Capt. Bill Bassett reported lots of shark action, several large spinner sharks, and a few others mixed in including some bull sharks.  Fishing the backcountry in March has had a variety of opportunities considering the windy conditions in the florida keys.

3/7/12 Rough winds, limited options, but fish to be caught backcountry!

The wind was howling today close to 30 knots out of the east, not leaving many options for those who dared to make it out today in the backcountry fishing islamorada.  Fishing was also extra tough as the shrimp boats did not make it out last night so most captains were stuck with frozen shrimp.  Capt. Jim Willcox did some stake up bonefishing close to home as we had some overcast/rainy weather this AM. Colleen Starman caught this 30 knot 9 pounder bonefish near home with Capt. Jim!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Bill Bassett did some snapper fishing around the islands in the florida keys everglades.  Hugging the banks was imperative and the ride/spray was not too bad, ended up dodging most of the rain too.  Both reported a good bite of snapper, lots of little ones with some big ones mixed in for dinner!  Capt. Mike Bassett ran back in the backcountry further east of flamingo where the water was a little cleaner and found some good mud eventually and caught lots of trout and ladyfish.  You've almost always got options here fishing in the florida keys, and they are usually better than sitting in your hotel room!