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

10/3/12 October Islamorada Fishing Report

Went fun fishing today with fellow captain Mike Bassett for some October fishing in Islamorada.  We headed way back off the mainland deep in the everglades to check things out.  The winds had been fairly wild the last few days, and on the way there I had my doubts as to whether the fishing would be good.  Lots of muddy water, weeds, etc...  We kept chugging back there and luckily found a few areas where the tide falling out of the creeks was very clean looking water.  We fished all over, trying some new spots and fishing some other mouths, runoffs, and sandbars that I've fished the last couple weeks.  Most spots were holding nice snook in islamorada.  We caught probably a dozen in total and missing another 6 or so, as well as 20 redfish, mostly on pinfish and some on shrimp.  Most the reds were slot size though not many bigger than 22 inches or so.  The tide ran out for a very long time, longer than it was suppose too.  The wind also kept it moving out even when the level started to rise, as we could see the muddy water making its way in - very strange!  Also bagged a nice tripletail on the way home for dinner, as well as a bullshark on light tackle.  I also lost a 15+ lb snook on my engine at the end of the day fishing a new spot - but got a good look at him at least!  Great florida keys fishing in october especially for a day when things didn't look so hot to begin with!  On the offshore side Sugaree stayed on the reef catching some close in mahi, yellowtails, and an unexpected cobia.  The relentless and redfish had some more yellowtails, mutton snapper, black grouper, and cero mackerel mixed in.  The Catch 22 had some nice tunas a couple days ago 10-18 lbs, as well as a 90 lb sword.  That's the great thing about fall fishing in Islamorada is that you never know what you might get since we're in a transitional period!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

12/17/11 Action packed reef and gulf fishing islamorada!

Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti fished Jerry Fontain his daughter Melanie and Mike Plonian. They went out to the patches this morning.  They caught lots of nice porgy, Hogfish and bar jacks along with some throw back grouper.  Lots of action fishing the islamorada patch reefs!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished this afternoon and reported a good spanish mackerel bite close to home in the bay behind Channel #2 and #5.  Mix of jacks, trout, ladyfish, and snapper in there as well.  The sharks were swarming too, caught a nice 60 lb blacktip and jumped a few others.  Further out offshore the offshore boats had a good bite of king mackerel and handful of sailfish bites though not real red hot.  The florida keys reef fishing was good however, the party fishing boat Miss Islamorada had tons of yellowtail - great dinner! 

3/12/11 Cold weather? No problem for these florida keys fish!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished today with his girlfriends brother John Baxter and company down from Tennessee.  They had a late start so instead of running all the way to the cape they fished half way back in the everglades.  Caught plenty of trout, ladyfish, jacks, and snappers, then went and put the big rods out.  Caught a nice lemon shark about 100 lbs or so, and not much else while there.  So they ran out a little further to another gulf spot and put 'em out again, and within a few minutes had this nice hammerhead shark on!  The water was pretty stirred up out there and no mackerels bit, so they ran back on the edge of some banks and caught some nice mangrove snappers and this nice red grouper as well!  Great action for a fairly chilly day in the middle of March!  Soon there will be great florida tarpon fishing again so be ready!