6/17/11 Florida Keys backcountry fishing in June!

Well today was a warm one down here for our florida keys fishing charters!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk had a full day back in the everglades.  We started off hitting a few spots to try and catch some ladyfish for bait, plus of course trout, snapper, etc...  They were a little tough to find, after our 3rd or 4th spot though we bagged enough of them, plus picked away at some trout and keeper snappers.  We put the big rods out in hopes of tarpon, though no luck with them but did catch some nice lemon sharks!  We fished around flamingo area and then moved out off the cape to a good area for some florida tarpon fishing!  Capt. Skip Nielsen was flyfishing and said he had caught a couple on fly, so we anchored up and put baits out.  Saw some fish rolling but as soon as the tide started pouring in good, the water got real nasty and weedy and the fish quit showing.  We did catch another nice shark, and hooked a couple others we pulled off.  But we did catch this nice snook to make the end of our day!

6/13/11 Some big summer goliaths while florida keys fishing

Capt. Rick Stanczyk has fished the past few days in the islamorada backcountry.  Some nice snappers have been way out west in some of the close gulf areas, white holes, wrecks, etc...  Some goliaths have been out there as well we caught a nice one yesterday and had a couple others cut us off in structure.  A few other captains reported some in some other areas as well.  Today Capt. Rick also caught this nice 50 lber, along with several blacktip sharks, lemon sharks, and some BIG 150-200 lb nurse sharks.  We also jumped a couple of 50-75 lb tarpon, couldn't get the hooks to stay in, but good to see some in the backcountry with the wind laying down.  There was also some good action with ladyfish, trout, and jacks today as well.

5/13/11 + 5/14/11 Some redfish action and some big monsters in the back!

Capt Jim Willcox on 5/13/11, over 100 redfish with Eric & Jack from west coast Florida plus a limit of large snappers! 27 double headers!!!The tarpon did elude us at the end of the day!  Also Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished today on 5/14/11 in the back... caught plenty of snappers for dinner, ladyfish, and some trout.  They put the big rods out in hopes of tarpon, saw plenty rolling but they weren't biting.  Did catch a nice blacktip, big 300 lb goliath grouper, and a 2 out of 3 'sea monsters' that were several hundred pounds!!!  The tarpon did bite last night though, but they are getting a little funny as we approach the full moon!

5/11/11 Backcountry tarpon fishing Islamorada

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Guillaume and his mother Christiane from Quebec out for some florida keys fishing today on 5/11/11!  We left the dock early, they were short on the shrimp delivery so we used some berkley gulps!  We caught several nice big trout, some ladyfish, and some snappers for dinner.  When the tide quit we ran inside around one of the islands and caught one nice redfish, had a couple other bites we missed.  Before the water got too low to get out, we jumped out and set up for some sharks and tarpon.  Caught a few blacktips, and had a few jump and bend out our wire!  Very exciting!  We also had one tarpon bite we missed, and about 20 minutes later, hooked about a 60 lber we caught!  Got him leadered to the boat, but when we tried to get our picture he came unhooked unfortunately.  Anyways a good day backcountry fishing in Islamorada.  Capt. John Johansen also had a nice catch of tripletails from out on the edge of the gulf, and Capt. Dave Sisung reported a good tarpon bite close to home, catching two and having a couple others chase the mullets on top.  Capt. Skip Nielsen also reported catching a huge 300 lb goliath grouper in one of the channels in the backcountry!  On the ocean side, Capt. Nick Stanczyk had a 200+ lb swordfish today offshore as well, I'm sure there will be pictures to come!

5/7/11 Big day backcountry fishing Islamorada!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished two half days today on 5/7/11.  In the morning we went in the back and caught plenty of ladyfish, snapper, trout, and jacks.  We decided to put the big rods out for a shark or something... and the tarpon had moved back into some of my favorite areas back there!  We went 1/2 plus caught a 100 lb hammerhead and 30 lb blackstip all in about 40 minutes - great fishing!!!  This evening we also did a night tarpon trip, went 0/2 on the tarpon they eluded us, but did have a couple permit crush the crabs one of which we caught this nice 25 lber on a medium spin rod!  Going early tomorrow for tarpon at 5 am to catch the daybreak bite!