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 

2/23/13 Florida Keys Shark fishing in the backcountry february

Another beautiful day here on 2/23/13 fishing in the florida keys in february.  Today I had Martin Williamson who fished with me a couple years ago and had a great time.  He was back from across the pond for another special birthday fishing trip.  I got to dust my big rods off as I haven't used them much as of late.  We started out early catching some small stuff for bait, but got into a plethora of fish.  Lots of ladyfish, jacks, and trout.  Even a few spanish mackerel, bluefish, and pompano mixed in with them.  Trout fishing in Islamorada should pick up in the bays and muds as the water warms and we enter our spring time islamorada fishing period.  We put one shark rod out whilst catching bait and got lots of action on that, caught 4 small to medium size blacktips.  After we were loaded up on ladyfish we made our way back towards another spot.  Martin wanted to catch a goliath and it was a little too rough for the gulf wrecks so I tried closer in around some protected areas.  We had a pack of cobias swim up on us about 20 minutes after we got there, caught 1 and had another one eat a bait and spit it.  Another 20 minutes later and both big rods doubled over - double header!  Martin fought one while I through our anchor ball and gave chase, all the while our other rod/fish is going the opposite way behind us.  Eventually the fish behind us tired a bit and I had Martin switch to that... low and behold that was the goliath he was looking for a nice 150 lb fish!  A great islamorada golaith grouper!  We got pictures of him than moved back to the other fish which was absolutely massive.  Finally got him to stop and started leadering him up, I could tell what it was from the big dead weight and big slashing movements - mud marlin!  We got him near the surface with bill sticking out of the water, but unfortunately on the monofilament he cut us off before we could get a real good look/picture.  We gave it another 45 minutes there but no other action, and decided to try a spot for some redfish which worked out nice.  Caught about 10 mostly slot reds to end the day, perfect end to another great day of february fishing in Islamorada.

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

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

 

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 

1/24/13 Winter fishing islamorada backcountry in January!

Well it cooled down a bit again as we had another small cold front pass through the last couple days.  Today on 1/24/13 it was a chilly ride into the islamorada backcountry fishing.  Many guides repoted having to wear jackets and long pants all day so remember to bring them!  Capt. Mike Bassett reported good fishing back around the cape area of the mainland.  He had some fellows from Minnesotta down staying at Bud n Marys and happy to be out of the cold weather back home!  They got into redfish, black drum, trout, and snook.  Fishing mostly the deeper runoffs and plugs slow jigging shrimp.  January islamorada fishing is often good in those areas!  Capt. Jeff Beeler reported some trout, ladyfish, jacks, etc... out west on the edge of the gulf, kind of a slower pick, but they also caught some sharks as well at the end of the falling tide as things warmed up a bit and the sun radiated.  Islamorada shark fishing can be done all year long as you can see, though is often tougher when the water is colder.  Capt. Bob Reineman had some good islamorada flats fishing for redfish, they poled and blind casted and caught 30 or so on bucktails.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished a later afternoon half and we got into a pretty solid bit of trout, ladyfish, jacks, pompano, and even a few spanish mackerel mixed in.  One real nice size trout as well as big ladyfish, the rest were mostly throwbacks but fun to bend the rod on.  We also picked a handful of redfish around one of the islands before heading home this afternoon.  The weather should be decent the next few days but still a little chilly, so go out for some great january florida keys fishing!