2/20/13 Half Day Backcountry Fishing Islamorada

Well season has kicked off with a bang here in islamorada, florida keys.  Just about everything that floats has been on the water this week, I myself have had double half days most every day, so you know the people are in town!  Fishing in the backcountry of Islamorada had started a little slow this week as we had a late cold front which was the coldest it got all winter.  Some of the backcountry waters got into the high 50s... brrrr!  Today it got back up to 70 or so which is good news for fishermen!  Yesterday we managed to catch some snappers for dinner on our half day trips, plus plenty of blue runners for some rod bending action, and got into a mess of ladyfish and a few trout in the afternoon as well.  Today we found lots of pompano this morning and caught about 15 or so on a half day islamorada fishing charter.  Also plenty of trout and big ladyfish.  This afternoon we did a similar game plan, no pompano but probalby caught close to 50 trout, plus a few ladyfish and jacks.  On full day trips, there has been some fish around east cape - redfish, black drum, snook, and trout... not red hot fishing but a good pick of fish, and some decent size ones as well.  Today Capt. Bill Bassett and Capt. Mike Bassett reported good fishing in the gulf of mexico in Islamorada.  Mike got some mackerel in the morning, some tripletails, and 3 snook in the afternoon.  Bill reported several nice big tripletail they kept for dinner.  Well we are getting towards the tail end of february fishing in islamorada and hopefully the last cold front of this winter season... wouldn't suprise me if the tarpon start to go off here in the next few days!

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

 

11/7/12 Winter time fishing in Islamorada

Had a 3 boat trip today out of Bud n' Mary's Fishing Marina in Islamorada Florida Keys on 11/7/12.  This is a transitional time of year so the fishing varies a bit and can be a little inconsistent as temperature and winds fluctuate often.  Today myself, Capt. Perry Scuderi, and Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti fished the Kanipus party.  We fished the flamingo area, which winter fishing in islamorada is often good back there.  The wind kicked up good as yesterday it was flat calm and suppose to get cold tonight, but wasn't too bad 15 mph out of northwest.  Capt. Perry and myself started out with some nice catches of redfish, we got probably close to 30 with several nice slot size fish.  They were eating pilchards and shrimp as the pilchards have been easy to get and close by.  Capt. Vinnie reported a decent pick of various fish including redfish, snapper, trout, and a few juvenile snook where he went november fishing in the florida keys.  Later our boat was after meat so we hit some runoffs for trout which usually gets good as the water temperatures drop, we caught plenty of trout and got 5 or so keepers plus some snapper, jacks and ladyfish, mostly on pilchards again but a few on shrimp too.  Capt. Perry reported some mangrove snappers, jacks, and a few small snook as well around one of the islands back near flamingo.  We then decided to try to catch something bigger and ran out west to try for either big shark or goliath.  We put the big rod out and a few pinfish for possibly a cobia or big snook, and of course we caught a 10 lb cobia on the big rod on a dead ladyfish on the bottom.  Oh well at least we got one!  Great day on an islamorada backcountry fishing trip, the boys are bringing all their fish to lazy days for a fish fry tonight and had a great time!  The cold weather thats coming should start pushing more fish to their winter time spots, including the spanish mackerel into the edge of the gulf of mexico fishing.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

8/30/12 August fishing in Islamorada

Well Hurricane Isaac came and went - no major damage here in the Florida Keys.  Winds came up to a steady 40-45 MPH with gusts a bit stronger.  Blew some leaves and lawn furniture around but that was about it.  Well if your wondering how fishing after a hurricane is we've got some good islamorada fishing reports today. Fishing the Florida Keys in August can be very hit or miss with the very hot weather we usually get, but the good thing with this storm is it cooled the water down nicely.  It usually take a few days for the mud and sediment to settle in the bay, but now that it's happened things turned on today.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported great action on a half day, catching a whopping 92 redfish, a small tarpon, jacks, and mangrove snappers.  He had Richard and Vivian Noritake down from Miami with their son Umi.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti had good luck as well in the backcountry.  They caught a couple big lemon sharks backcountry fishing flamingo, and lots of keeper trout and mangrove snappers further out west on the edge of the gulf of mexico.  Great islamorada fishing in august on 8/30/12.  The next couple months officially starts our 'off season' so there are plenty of guides available.  Try to get out on the water early to avoid the heat of the day, and remember to bring plenty of h20 as it gets down right warm out there!

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! 

11/23/11 Islamorada spanish mackerel fishing

Well the wind came around from the south this morning and laid down nicely as the day went on during 11/23/11.  Wasn't too bad to start out with.  We got out for a morning half day and had good conditions, tide headed towards the gulf off sprigger bank area.  Put the chum bag out and fish were around us instantly.  Started off with lots of big ladyfish and blue runners, and several nice mangrove snappers as well as a handful of trout.  Spanish mackerel were soon to follow, several large fish that were 4-5 lbs.  Much fun on light tackle.  Bare jigs with shrimp worked fine, though shiny mylar jigs were the hot ticket, didn't even need shrimp at the end.  Here is Ambrose pictured with one nice Mack.  They bit almost every cast eventually until the tide stopped.  At the end of the tide we put some dead mackerel chunks on the bottom for sharks, hooked a couple big black tips though they broke us off pretty quick, as well as a big nurse shark we pulled the hooks on.  Oh well still plenty of fun, get on out there this thanksgiving weekend, will have great tide for that, as well as in the backcountry for most of the day!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903