12/25/12 Christmas Day Florida Keys Fishing Report

Hello and happy holidays to all!  Today on 12/25/12 we had a gorgeous day here in islamorada florida keys.  The water is still fairly cool though warmed up considerably, got to about 67 degrees in the everglades today.  I went fun fishing with my dad and friend Ron Modra, we ran back to east cape and middle cape.  Fishing was fair, not a whole lot of action in any one spot, though we picked a few fish from just about everywhere.  Mostly fishing shrimp still with the cooler water december fishing islamorada.  We caught a cobia and nice red off some structure in the near gulf on the change of the tide.  When the tide started in worked some areas in east cape.  Caught a few more reds, some black drum, pulled the hook on one nice snook.  Then headed back to lake inghram for more december florida keys fishing and caught a few trout and reds in there jigging shrimp.  Saw 3 crocdiles sunning out on the banks, pretty cool small, medium, and large all next to each other within a few hundred feet!  Then back to middle cape.  Worked a few treelines and caught one snook, and pulled another nice fatty off.  This time we were casting bucktails and working them a bit faster to avoid snags.  Got a mix of jacks and ladyfish out there as well.  By now tide was high and still trickling in, we hit a few more creeks but not too much action inside any of them.  Finished the day back at east cape and got into a little rally of snooks, caught 3 more and a couple nice ones at that, plus a few trout and snappers.  A great way to end the day backcountry islamorada fishing especially after the hurt of losing a couple nice snooks!

On the other side islamorada offshore fishing december my brother Capt. Nick Stanczyk took our friend Woody Woods who is down for the xmas holidays fishing as well.  They caught 3 sails in just a couple hours early in the morning plus a nice blackfin tuna!  The Strictly Business also caught a sail, and Kalex had a nice wahoo yesterday.  The islamorada sailfish should be biting good with the winds kicking up a bit the next several days!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net 

12/24/12 Backcountry December Islamorada Fishing Report

Well the winds have switched around a bit and things are starting to warm up a bit here on 12/24/12.  The water temperatures in the backcountry are still pretty cold, low 60s, however should have a chance to start warming now as the wind turns to southeast.  Today we did a half day islamorada backcountry fishing trip and started around flamingo.  Caught a few reds but not real red hot for us so I ran further west, however lots of boats on the water.  I ended up running all the way to east cape which I normally don't do on a half day, but hoped with the cooler water some fish would be piled in there.  We ended up catching a handful of black drum, sheepshead, and redfish, maybe 15 in total while florida keys inshore fishing. Though one nice size black drum which made the trip!  We had low tide early at flamingo and incoming current at the cape by then.  Capt. Bob reineman reported getting into a couple dozen redfish early while working some runoffs islamorada flats fishing though once the tide quit so did the fish.  Capt. Jeff Beeler reported a slow pick of fish throughout the full day back at east and middle cape... redfish, black drum, sheeps head, snook... but did catch a few quality fish including this nice snook - and some trout on the way hom!  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti and Capt. Jim Willcox reported mixed bags on the islamorada patch reefs including snapper, mackerel, small grouper, and porgy.  Overall not too bad of a day, the fish will hopefully get acclimated to this cooler water hopefully since it looks like more cold weather will be arriving in another week or so.  That's it for the islamorada fishing report for december!  Christmas week is here and this next week is looking slammed, if your interested in fishing make your reservations ASAP or you might miss out!  Looks to be a gorgeous week with light southeast winds.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk  
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net 

12/6/12 December islamorada fishing report backcountry

Well it's december and islamorada winter fishing is happening.  Today on 12/6/12 we had a gorgeous day, the rain looked like it may have been an issue with weather pushing in from both sides, however we lucked out.  The wind also laid down almost flat most of the day.  The water in the gulf and backcountry is about as pretty as it gets for this day of december islamorada fishing.  I myself fished for fun with family/friends today for fun and Capt. Jim Willcox fished a charter in the florida keys backcountry.  Capt. Jim reported lots of bugs and noseeums around the mangroves, but they were able to fish in some more open areas and had a good bite of redfish, black drum, and some big trout.  He said almost everywhere they stopped they caught some fish which is good to see, and managed not to get eaten alive by bugs!  We tried fishing some snook spots in the trees however the bugs drove us away so we headed to the gulf.  We ended up catching not a whole lot of fish but several quality ones, including multiple nice cobia.  We did find a pile of large gulf redfish too, catching one of almost 20 lbs that had some that were 30+ lbs with it.  Unfortunately they all took off after they saw the boat, never to return!  Oh well such is life fishing the florida keys.  We also managed to catch some juvenile goliath groupers and triple tail, plus an assortment of spanish mackerel, bluefish, and plenty of jacks/blue runners.  Looks like nice weather for the next few days through the weekend, great time to go out and fishing florida keys in december!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

10/24/12 Wind continues to blow, doesn't bother the fish!

It continued to howl today here as we draw closer to fishing in islamorada november on 10/24/12.  We went fishing in the everglades back at the cape area, not a bad ride over though it started cranking mid-day.  We picked around hitting several banks, run-offs, and creek mouths.  Got into a decent snook bite first thing in the AM, catching a few and losing a few nicer ones unfortunately.  These were biting large shrimp on the jigs.  Later we worked are way further back and got into more snook and a few redfish, snapper, and sheepshead.  Lots of glass minnows and small pilchards and feeding frenzies going on.  Later when the tide quit we worked are way back to the big canal, and had a couple other bites snook fishing and medium sized sawfish.  We ended up with around 8-10 snook total which is a good day on an islamorada fishing trip.  The sawfish were fun to battle though we weren't able to get them up this time!  The wind was honking now and ran up the shoreline towards flamingo, making one final stop on the way which paid off.  Got a nice juvenile goliath, a decent redfish for dinner, and a few other baby redfish and some mangrove snappers.  Capt. Jim Willcox also ran deep in the glades even furhter back today.  He reported a decent bite of redfish and some snook as well back there.  If your think about florida keys fishing in november then these species are what you'll have to look forward to, as well as the spanish mackerel, pompano, bluefish, and cobia in the gulf..  Carefully ran home and it wasn't too bad, however tomorrow is suppose to be even more windy so we will see what happens!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Also some pictures from a few days ago, including a redfish and a spotted eagle ray we snagged on accident!

10/12/12 Islamorada Backcountry everglades fishing report october

We've had a lot of wind the last couple days and it's expected to continue through the weekend from 10/12/12.  Yesterday it was a hard northwest wind of 20 mph and we made our way back to islamorada backcountry fishing cape sable hoping the northerlyeasterly wind would hold there and keep the waters semi-clean.  Unfortunately it swung around from the northwest which it has a way of doing back there this time of year october fishing in the florida keys, and the water in the gulf was a mess plus big swells making the ride a little bouncy but nothing my seacraft couldn't handle.  Luckily the water where we fished was semi-protected, we fished some points on the low water as it was just starting in and picked a few nice reds and a snook on pinfish, also our friend Bob Mclure who fished with us hooked and lose a very nice snook on light tackle casting shrimp.  Bob was a major league pitcher for 20 years in the MLB, pitching for many teams including the Brewers in the 1982 world series.  Great to have him join us on this october islamorada fishing report.  He has still coached for many teams in the last couple decades, including our own Miami Marlins!  We tried a few other mouths and points however the high water seemed to have the fish scattered further in for our october fishing in islamorada.  So went deep into some of the creeks to some very shallow stuff, luckily the in tide and high water I had no problem getting my larger boat around. We found some neat spots, picking half a dozen reds or so in 4 spots, plus a few more snook and a black drum, all in 2 foot of water or less.  Redfish in Islamorada is going to be great this winter!  Later we headed back towards home and fished east cape.  Got into several nice snook here catching another 5 or so, plus losing several on trees and downed debris, plus some more nice reds and a small goliath. Islamorada snook fishing is great in the fall! We also found a few more nice spots with reds in deeper water, and had one tarpon eat and spit a pinfish.  Also lost a snook who jumped into a tree that was likely close to 20 lbs!  Very fun day didn't get in till almost 5:00!

Capt. Perry Scuderi fished around flamingo most of the day and reported catching several snook and some redfish too along with some sharks.  Bob Reineman also had several snook and redfish fishing with Bob the day before.  Been very busy for October Islamorada Fishing and we are happy about that!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk