3/24/11 West wind can be trouble, though turned out alright today!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished Larry and Sherri Kasperek today for a 3/4 day of florida keys fishing!  We headed out back into the everglades around 7:30 am and it was an absolutely gorgeous day - almost flat calm with a slight breeze out of the west.  This is usually not ideal for fishing in our area, though today it didn't seem to bother things much.  We caught plenty of trout, several nice ones in the 17-20 inch range.  Plus lots of big ladyfish which were jumping all over, a few snappers, mackerel, and a pompano - good mix of fish for drifting around randomly in the bay!  They wanted to catch something big like a shark too, so I headed over to one of my favorite spots nearby and put the big rods out with some dead baits on the bottom.  A couple other boats were anchored nearby, Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Jeff Beeler.  Last week I had gotten a bad batch of circle hooks, straightened the circle hooks on two tarpon in a row with my anglers doing everything right! Also straightened one out on a big 'sea monster' that was locked on the bottom after only pulling on him for about 10 minutes, so I know it had to be the hooks.  So we went old school with a traditional J-hook as I've second guessed myself out of using them!  Not much action at first, Capt. Jim had hooked a few small blacktips that he caught, then we had something big grab the bait and start swimming across the stern.  I locked it up and reeled the line tight and handed the rod to Sherri.  Then a big 100 lb tarpon came blasting out of the water, jumping 4 or 5 times behind the boat.  I had Sherri point the rod at the fish to keep from pulling the hook and she did a great job, we tossed our anchor ball and raced after him.  He jumped himself out and we caught up with him, snapping a few pictures and releasing him for another day unharmed!  Sherri said it was the biggest fish she ever caught and one of the most exciting things she'd ever done!  We fished the last hour there without much of anything happening, Capt. Jeff hooked and caught a larger blacktip near us.  Then the other guys headed to another spot and we made our way home as the tide was starting to die and it was time to head in anyways.  Well another successful day with some florida tarpon fishing!

2/6/11 Backcountry Tarpon

Captain Jim Willcox did an AM 1/2 day this Super Sunday with JW Howard & his son Wade. They both caught non-stop jacks, trout & pompano. In the final hour 12 year old Wade caught his first permit & a 120lb tarpon.  Yesterday Capt. Jim fished and jumped 2 tarpon off, though did catch a few bull sharks and some other shark varieties, as well as some smaller stuff.  Capt. Jeff Beeler did catch a tarpon in the back yesterday as well.  Offshore today Capt. John Johnansen and Capt. Rick Stanczyk took some people fun fishing, and caught them their first sailfish, a nice 25 lb cobia, and limit of kingfish.  Saw plenty of sails though they were tough to get to eat and there was a tournament going on so we didn't want to mess with them too much, and a big school of smaller cobias, and the kingfish bit well!

1/25/11 WINDY day, but good fishing!

Well the wind was howling out of the east all day today 25mph or better for our florida keys fishing trips!  But the backcountry was fishable and when you got in the runoffs and canals it was pretty nice!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk, Capt. Jim Willcox, Capt. Jeff Beeler, and Capt. Skip Nielsen all reported double-digit redfish!  They all also caught some trout and ladyfish as well.  Capt. Skip also fished for mackerel and caught quite a few of those, and had a couple big spinner sharks as well, and did report getting once nice red that was 12 pounds!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported catching half a dozen large black drum also, and some snappers for dinner for his clients as well.  Fishing in Islamorada is still happening even with the crazy wind!!!

Capt. Skip Nielsen's full report from the past two days was... Bernard and Paul Pielow of Liverpool, UK fished with capt. skip nielsen 2 days this week. First day was offshore. We caught some nice sized Barracuda on light tackle and kept a couple for shark bait. During the afternoon after some very hard work Bernard released 2 Bull Sharks in the 300lb class. Paul Pielow caught a King Mackerel that weighed 35lbs. nice going on the big Bull Shark and King Macks.
On day two we fished the backcountry. For starters we caught 20 Spanish Mackerel then moved further northwest near Sandy Key and got into a hot bite of Redfish. Bernard released a red estimated at 12lbs. Over 30 were released before moving to the Flamingo area where a couple big Spinner Sharks were jumped and lost. Pompano,Trout and Ladyfish finished the day for the boys. Great fishing for a windy day.