3/24/13 Florida Keys Spring Fishing for Monsters!

Spring, especially march florida keys fishing, is known for big monster fish here in Islamorada.  While the cooler weather earlier this month had shut many of these brutes down, they've still been around and lately have been caught frequently.  Tarpon, sharks, goliath grouper, and 'mud marlin.'  Today Capt. Rick Stanczyk had guests out for a full day islamorada fishing charter.  The winds were howling from the southwest 25 knots, not an easy fishing condition.  However we made our way into the backcountry fairly comfortably without taking too much spray.  We fished for trout, ladyfish, and mangrove snappers in the bay early.  The fishing was surprisngly good with several nice keeper size trout to 20 inches, and lots of ladyfish for bait and a handful of snappers.  Later we went to the deeper channels, the water was not too pretty lots of grass and mud, though we ran up inside and found some areas that looked fishable with hints of blue in the water.  We put the big rods out with dead ladyfish on the bottom, and soon were hooking up sharks in the florida keys.  Mostly blacktips and black noses.  To our surprise after our 3rd or 4th shark, all of a sudden the rod bent over and a big tarpon came flying out of the water!  We kept a light drag to start as I had extra weight on to hold bottom with the weed, wind, and current, and often tarpon can throw hooks especially with a weighted line when they jump.   Luckily the hook was in the right place, he jumped several times and we eventually landed him - a nice 100 lb fish!  Soon the red weed flowed in which made the area unfishable, so we ran to some other channels to fish the last hour.  Had a few more shark bites including one big one we pulled off though caught a couple blacktips and called it a day.  Not bad given the conditions!  Capt. Ted Wilson had some good action with ladyfish and trout, and also reported catching 3 'mud marlin' close to Islamorada.  Capt. Bill Bassett had a half day and caught some nice mangrove snappers hiding around the mangrove islands.  Islamorada tarpon fishing in march is likely going to be stalling again a little bit - we are getting more cold weather the next few nights.  Though not freezing it is suppose to get in the 50s several nights which will likely bring the water temperatures down, I don't think the tarpon will leave though may be tough to get to feed until water temperatures get back to the low/mid 70s.  Also included here is a picture of a 400+ lb goliath grouper caught by young angler Sam last week fishing with Capt. Rick Stanczyk!

2/23/13 Florida Keys Shark fishing in the backcountry february

Another beautiful day here on 2/23/13 fishing in the florida keys in february.  Today I had Martin Williamson who fished with me a couple years ago and had a great time.  He was back from across the pond for another special birthday fishing trip.  I got to dust my big rods off as I haven't used them much as of late.  We started out early catching some small stuff for bait, but got into a plethora of fish.  Lots of ladyfish, jacks, and trout.  Even a few spanish mackerel, bluefish, and pompano mixed in with them.  Trout fishing in Islamorada should pick up in the bays and muds as the water warms and we enter our spring time islamorada fishing period.  We put one shark rod out whilst catching bait and got lots of action on that, caught 4 small to medium size blacktips.  After we were loaded up on ladyfish we made our way back towards another spot.  Martin wanted to catch a goliath and it was a little too rough for the gulf wrecks so I tried closer in around some protected areas.  We had a pack of cobias swim up on us about 20 minutes after we got there, caught 1 and had another one eat a bait and spit it.  Another 20 minutes later and both big rods doubled over - double header!  Martin fought one while I through our anchor ball and gave chase, all the while our other rod/fish is going the opposite way behind us.  Eventually the fish behind us tired a bit and I had Martin switch to that... low and behold that was the goliath he was looking for a nice 150 lb fish!  A great islamorada golaith grouper!  We got pictures of him than moved back to the other fish which was absolutely massive.  Finally got him to stop and started leadering him up, I could tell what it was from the big dead weight and big slashing movements - mud marlin!  We got him near the surface with bill sticking out of the water, but unfortunately on the monofilament he cut us off before we could get a real good look/picture.  We gave it another 45 minutes there but no other action, and decided to try a spot for some redfish which worked out nice.  Caught about 10 mostly slot reds to end the day, perfect end to another great day of february fishing in Islamorada.

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

1/21/13 Great weather, great fishing in the florida keys!

Well fishing has continued to be good throughout this january fishing florida keys.  Yesterday and today the Cromwells, Rich and Luke, fished with Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Nick Stanczyk for some offshore and backcountry fishing.  Yesterday we fished the gulf mostly, stopped at the cape on the way to try and catch a snook.  We were successful and caught 2 nothing real big but snook none the less!  We then ran out into the gulf and hit some structure, no luck at the first stop, so continued west and ran the trap lines.  Tripetails were out, we messed with those for a bit and caught 6 in total all sight casting plus a few for dinner.  Islamorada triple tail fishing is lots of fun!  We hit our wreck destination right on time at the change of the tide.  Cobias popped up fairly quick, we caught 4/5 including one keeper all on light tackle.  We also had one goliath eat a live bait on the bottom though he wasn't able to swallow it and a shark ate it, unfortunately he was being picky and we never got him to bite again.  On the way home we caught some nice trout too, great day on this january backcountry fishing islamorada.  Capt. Ken Cohan also reported a good mix of fish in the bays.  They included spanish mackerel, bluefish, trout, ladyfish, pompano, and jacks.  Mostly fishing muds near the edge of the gulf back towards the cape area.  On the offshore side with the BNM they fished an afternoon 3/4 day.  They caught some tunas early offshore, nice blackfins.  Tuna fishing islamorada has been good as of late and provides great dinner for those that love fish!  They also caught nice yellowtail florida keys reef fishing.  At the end they stuck it out and Luke released 2 sailfish as well!  The Fearless with Capt. Joe Hendrix reported 20 nice blackfin tunas this morning out at the humps.  Also on the Catch 22, Capt. Scott Stanczyk fished Kris and Eugen Fine with a group of 6 including 4 US Army Officers on 1/20/13.  They had 5 sailfish dancing on the surface and caught!  They also caught some large blackfin tuna, a cobia, and bonita.

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

1/4/13 Backcountry and Gulf Florida Keys Fishing Report

Had Sue Cocking down from the Miami Herald today on 1/4/13 for a little fishing story for the outdoors section of the Herald.  There was a last minute cancellation to her original plans and we set something up the day before.  We decided to go for a backcountry islamorada fishing trip and to showcase a variety of fish, as that is one of the special things about fishing in the florida keys.  We started out near flamingo, fishing some high-water spots near some mangroves for redfish.  We caught about a half dozen or so, as well as a few black drum and sheepshead.  We later moved to some deeper moats on the change of the tide to look for some snook.  We did hook one nice one that broke us off near the boat, and ended up catching a few more black drum and sheepshead.  Later we moved to some other channels where there had been some nice muds with a good mix of fish.  Trout, ladyfish, pompano, and a baby permit were to be had.  All fish to this point were caught on simple shrimp and jigs whilst islamorada fishing.  We started to use some tiny ladyfish pieces to catch pinfish,  and we mohawked them catching a couple dozen while bending the rod with other stuff!  We then headed out into the gulf of mexico fishing as the weather was slick calm and looked too pretty not to try.  We found several tripletail on the way out, and caught several keeping 3 for dinner.  Casting shrimp on a bare hook with tiny float was effective, and we even caught a few on light jigs as some were staying down a little deeper.  We then went gulf wreck fishing and caught several cobias up to 15 lbs, as well as another permit, and a large 100 lb goliath grouper!  Cobias were all caught on our fresh pinfish.  We then wanted to try to catch some mackerel, so we headed back towards sprigger bank and fished a few miles out from there.  On the way we came across something very unusual - several large packs of bonitas in the 8 - 12 lb range feeding on something very small.  We didn't get any bites out of them, but were able to drive right on top to confirm what they were!  As soon as we anchored and casted in our mackerel area we had fish on, we put a little chum out and caught about a dozen spanish mackerel as well as a few bluefishfish and snappers.  We then headed home, another beautiful day here and fun to be had in all areas, not just islamorada flats fishing in the backcountry!  Capt. Vic Gaspeny has reported excellent water and temperature conditions for tarpon fishing in islamorada.  They caught 9 in early morning trips as well as a 30 lb permit.

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

11/4/12 November Islamorada Fishing Report - gulf turns on!

Well the mud and nastiness from hurricane sandy has finally started to clear in the gulf and bays in the backcountry this islamorada fishing in november trip on 11/4/12.  We headed out west looking for spanish mackerel this morning as they start to show up this time of year.  Shrimp, pinfish, and some fresh pilchards were easy to obtain this morning and would prove great baits to have!  We hit a wreck that was loaded with various fish.  Some big mangrove snappers, lots of bluefish, jacks, ladyfish...  After 45 minutes or so a few mackerel started making there way in, we caught about half a dozen mostly decent sized fish and broke off a few others backcountry fishing florida keys.  In a few more weeks and after some more cold weather this fishery should improve.  Fishing the gulf of mexico can be a great option before the water gets down below 70 degrees. After we had our share of that, we headed further out into the gulf.  The water on the way was looking much better than previous days, we did hit a few muddy strips but once we got out further it was decent looking.  The tide was still falling and we hit another wreck 40 or so miles out from home.  Saw a school of islamorada permit as we pulled up, we set the anchor and put out some pinfish and a big rod on the bottom.  Had a couple more shots at permit, one swam into the boat and spooked and another would not eat he was laying on the surface though with a big chunk out of his back - must have almost been shark food!  We then had shots at cobias, catching 4 and one nice on of about 20 lbs on light tackle.  We also caught a small goliath grouper and about a 100 lb goliath, as well as a 250 lb bull shark that gave us a real fight!  After the tide quit things slowed down, so we looked for a few triple tail on the way in, saw a couple caught 1 and had another one eat, spit, and get spooked.  Anyways great day fishing the florida keys in november, we should have great tides and weather hopefully through the end of the week, so it's a great time for cobia fishing in islamorada as well as the rest of the gulf!  Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Perry Scuderi also had a group trip, both reported a couple cobias, mackerels, bluefish, snappers, and some big sharks - lots of action for their customers.  Capt. Ken Cohan had similar a simlar catch as well including two goliath groupers.

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