4/4/13 Great tarpon fishing!

Today the islamorada tarpon fishing was really good.  Lots of mullet around in the morning and afternoons.  We caught 4/4 this morning in the backcountry by 10:00 AM.  Anglers had enough so we finished the day catching trout, ladyfish, and snappers.  This evening we caught 4/9 around the local bridges mostly on live mullet on top.  Very exciting bites and strikes, mostly smaller fish though did get one 65 lber.  Incoming tide on both trips and live fresh mullet for bait.  That's a total of 8/13 fish!  Capt. John Johansen and Capt. Ben Ekblom also had some tarpon action this evening.  Today Capt. Jim Willcox had lots of sharks, a big 'mud marlin', and a monster hammerhead as well.  The islamorada backcountry fishing will likely be tough the next few days as another front is coming and suppose to blow 25-30 tomorrow, but luckily not getting very cold so hopefully as soon as the wind lays down it will get back to normal.

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

3'10/13 Islamorada tarpon fishing in March

There have been a few march islamorada tarpon around though the cool waters have been keeping the backcountry fishing a little on the tough side.  Today we managed to find a handful of nice size trout and a few pompano in the morning.  After that we ran back towards the mainland to try for some bigger stuff... never had a bite on the bottom baits, but Alex did catch a nice 60 lb tarpon on fairly light spin gear on a live pinfish.  A great hour long battle with several spectacular jumps.  Later in the day we looked for some redfish but could not find much that was willing to bite, so we finished the day off catching a boatload of ladyfish, a few more trout, and a spanish mackerel.  Fishing the everglades for tarpon should be picking up, we are getting a little more cool weather unfortunately though it is not going to get very cold and the warming winds we have the next couple days should bring the water temperatures back to a favorable degree.  Capt. John Johansen also reported a couple tarpon bites and caught a nice fish closer to the flamingo area.  The shark fishing in flamingo should also pick up when the water gets back to the low 70s.

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

3/6/13 March Islamorada Backcountry Fishing Report

Things have warmed a little bit here again the last few days of fishing islamorada in march.  Water temperatures are still on the chilly side but totally fishable, however it is suppose to get a little colder again the next couple of nights though which will likely keep us in 'winter mode' backcountry fishing islamorada through the weekend.  Today Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. John Johansen had good mixed bag action.  They both fished the patches in the morning and had a mix bag of snapper, grouper, hogfish, porgies, and some other various things.  Capt. Rick had this nice legal size red grouper on light spin tackle which we had to release, as well as a large sheepshead which is very unusual to see on the ocean side!  Later on snappers were caught on the bayside, and Capt. Rick also caught a cobia while snapper fishing blown in likely from the westerly winds in the gulf.  Further back Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Mike Bassett had some action at the east cape florida keys snook fishing, pictured is a nice snook caught with Capt. Jim.  Capt. Mike reported a handful of nice size redfish and black drum with a mix of trout.  Capt. Bill Bassett had steady action with nice mangrove snappers and lots of big trout around the flamingo area.  Also Capt. Dave Sisung reported action with some sharks and a couple of big 'mud marlin' fishing the backcountry channels.  Florida keys fishing in march will start to focus on tarpon quite a bit once water temperatures reach 75 or so, and fishing in the gulf can also be very good.  There were reportes of some laid up tarpon in the backcountry today so hopefully this next cool spell will be brief!  Until our next march islamorada fishing report!

2/2/13 February islamorada fishing report

February fishing Islamorada is well under way here now on 2/2/13.  The water temperatures in the backcountry are still pretty chilly in the mid 60s this morning, but we are starting back on a warming trend.  A good possibility once the temps get back in the mid-70s the tarpon will show up and bite good.  This is the time of year they do begin to show, often back in the backcountry channels and around the cape area.  Also Capt. Ken Cohan reported some 'sea monster' action a.k.a. mud marlin last week here fishing florida keys in february when the water temp was in the low 70s right after the full moon, time to bring the big guns!  As for today, Capt. John Johansen fished a full day and started out front on the patches.  They braved the rough water as the winds were more northeast and not due north, but it paid off... Not much going on with the regular suspects, but they did get a nice 20 lb permit!  They later went into the backcountry and the trout bite was good when the water warmed up with the lower water levels.  Capt. Clyde Upchurch reported the same, keys backcountry fishing  did not get going till later in the day... but eventually they did get some nice big trout.  Again as things continue to warm up we should be getting into much more of our spring time fisheries, which is just about everything you can catch here in fishing in the florida keys.  Call and book your 2013 tarpon trips now as many desirable dates are filling up fast.  305-664-2461

1/29/13 Great florida keys backcountry fishing despite high winds!

Well the wind was howling today on 1/29/13 inshore fishing islamorada.  The southeasterly winds were warm though and not too bad riding into the backcountry anyways.  We decided to run around the corner of cape sable as that area is fairly protected on this wind.  My assumption proved right and the water was much more 'fishy looking' than around other areas we ran by.  had falling tide most of the morning, tried to jump in a creek where we had done well several days ago, but the bugs almost carried us away so we had to leave right away.  This proved to be a good thing though, as we moved out to more open water on the outside shoreline to try some islamorada backcountry snook fishing.  The islamorada backcountry fishing for snook has been off and on as of late, but we found some nice ones this morning.  Simply casting shrimp on heavy jigs and slowly bumping them along the shoreline sandbars and such worked for us, we caught 3 nice fish of 9-13 lbs in 45 minutes.  After this we tried to get back in the creeks again as the sun was up and wind had swung around a bit to give us a breeze in there, and luckily the bugs were gone.  We caught plenty of juvenile redfish and black drum florida keys flats fishing.  We continued working our way in the creek further, next stop some more redfish, sheepshead, and a whopper ~20 lb black drum!  This one dragged us down the creek and almost around a corner, but we gave chase and got him!  We hit one last spot and same thing, redfish and black drum, though we caught several nice big trout there as well.  The tide was about dead now, so we made our way back towards home.  Stopped in a channel for the last 45 minutes, and caught several trout, ladyfish, and jacks.  Capt. John Johnansen and Capt. Perry Scuderi stuck in the channel areas and reported good action fishing for trout, ladyfish, jacks, and such.  They also caught several black tip sharks.  Capt. John also caught a goliath grouper.  Lots of fun today florida keys flats fishing!

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