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 

5/21/12 Flats fishing in Islamorada

Been very busy here as of 5/21/12 and lots of rain around so have not been taking pictures and keeping up with reports - sorry guys!  Last week I had Kenny Johnston here flats fishing in Islamorada from across the pond.  We fished two full days in the islamorada backcountry fishing.  Day 1 we started around flamingo.  We got into a decent snook bite catching 10 or so snook up to 8 lbs, lost the first 1 which was a nice fish likely over 10 lbs into the trees.  Lucky for the fish as a large bull shark was after him!  We also caught a couple redfish there and off one other tree nearby, as well as lots of mangrove snappers.  The wind kicked up so we made our way back towards Islamorada and found a nice trout mud on the way home.  Plenty of trout with several slot size fish mixed in.  A big mullet mud was on a flat nearby so we caught a few live mullets and decided to give the tarpon a shot near home for the last hour.  We caught a couple small sharks early, and put our last mullet out on the bottom.  I reeled up the bait to check it after 15 minutes, put it back out, and within a minute the line zipped off and a nice 60 lb tarpon was airborne and hooked!  Kenny caught him in about 30 minutes to complete his backcountry slam for the day!  Great to catch an afternoon tarpon in islamorada!  Day 2 we ran back towards the cape area and found a nice school of redfish up on the flats.  We caught probably 15 of those, then loaded up with ladyfish in one of the nearby channels.  We caught a small shark nearby, and then kept heading back towards the cape.  Kenny wanted something big so we put the ladyfish on the bottom in one of the channels.  Caught 2 mud marlin, one small one of 40 lbs, and another that was likely 200-250 lbs!  Great options here fishing in the florida keys!  Capt. Jim Willcox also reported getting a backcountry slam - snook, reds, and a tarpon, running deep into the glades off the northwest cape.  Capt. Jeff Beeler did well on the redfish with myself in a group trip several days ago as well as some shots at tarpon early in the morning, some nice trout and snappers, and a shark.  Capt. Mike Bassett got a couple tarpon in the afternoon the other day as well on live mullets drifting the oceanside bridges.  Capt. Dave Butler also snuck out after the rain the other day and caught a big tarpon as well as a couple redfish!

As of late the tarpon fishing here has been picking up a bit, a lot of fish around locally however still not many in the backcountry.  The evening trips have been giving more shots at fish, some have been eating crabs as well.  We had bites on crabs early in the evening the last 2 nights, as well as mullet.  We do have falling tides here till near dark this next week, so the fishing will hopefully be good the next several evenings!  Get ou there on a night tarpon fishing islamorada trip!

4/28/12 Islamorada Tarpon Fishing Report

This is the time of year for islamorada tarpon fishing.  The fishing as of late had been a little tough, with a cold front coming in April and before that a few days of hard 20-30 knot west winds that really stirred up the backcountry and bay.  Most day and night trips have still yielded some fish, however often it has been only a bite or two a trip and you need to make the most of them.  The overcast and rainy conditions today made for great fishing for Capt. Jeff Beeler.  They caught 3 out of 6 bites on a half day trip fishing live mullters, fishing nearby and dodging in and out of the foul weather!  Capt. Vic Gaspeny had 2 nice fish a couple mornings ago going early, very large fish too!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported catching 1 out of 2 fish yesterday, getting a fish early the morning before, and a 1 out of 3 fish during the day before that.  Capt. Ben Loy had 1 fish last night as well.  There have been reports of large schools of fish making their way towards Islamorada especially on the ocean side, so look for the fishing to improve as we get into May, which traditionally is the peak of tarpon fishing in the florida keys!  Crabs have been working good in the dark hours, and mullets are the bait of choice this time of year during the daylight.  As I tell all my anglers even when the fishing is red hot, often you must put your time in.  On most trips the bites do come, however lately you've needed to make the most of them as the shots are limited!

Capt. Skip Nielsen also reported catching one fish on fly yesterday sight casting the edges of the banks in the backcountry of Islamorada.  Fly tarpon fishing in Islamorada can be done too!  They also caught a fish later on live mullet down near the channel 2 and 5 bridges.

Islamorada tarpon fishing in April!

Capt. Skip Nielsen reported for the past week islamorada tarpon fishing...

I had Bryce Henderson from Leeds, England out for five Tarpon fishing sessions this past week. On the first 4 trips he caught 2 Tarpon each time. On the last trip he had fantastic action catching and releasing 5 Tarpon. All the fish were caught using Foxsportfishing Tackle on live Mullet for bait.

Last night, Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Nick and John Hodge, they each caught a big tarpon and had a couple others eat knock off our mullets.  The fish did bite early on the in tide which was good, water was very clear you could see them laying on the bottom all around the bridges. Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti also had some successful nights tarpon fishing this past week, again mostly on live mullet, as did Capt. John Johansen, Capt. Mike Bassett, and Capt. Jeff Beeler.  Tarpon fishing in April is prime time.  The fish our feeding on mullet during the days, crabs will still work but usually better around sunset/sunrise or when it's dark.  Live mullet is available through Richie now, check at Bud n' Mary's and they can put you in touch!  Get on out for some florida keys night tarpon fishing!

4/14/11 Florida Keys Tarpon Charters today!

Our regular brits from the U.K. came for their 3rd trip in 6 months with a large group of 8 guys.  They have 4 guides booked for 5 days and today was the first day of fishing!  They stay right at Bud n' Mary's and love the atmosphere, the captains, and of course the fishing!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk, Capt. Bill Bassett, Capt. Jeff Beeler, and Capt. Dave Sisung fished them for some Islamorada tarpon today and all had success!  Everybody caught a tarpon, Capt. Dave caught 2, and Capt. Bill caught one on fly!  Capt. Rick also caught several blacktip sharks, and some huge nurse sharks one which was almost 300 lbs!  Great action today and more to come I'm sure over the next 4 days!!!  We are hoping to mix up some of the fishing so look for some different things happening! The tarpon were everywhere we stopped today, so get your bookings in now while the fishing is still hot!!!