1/11/12 Florida keys backcountry fishing january!

Well the threat of weather loomed all day long in the backcountry fishing islamorada today.  Luckily it never got bad on the water till everybody got home safe!  Capt. Jim Willcox reported lots of mackerels on bait and fly in the bay, also caught limit of snappers and a nice cobia on a live grunt.  They finished the day catching trout in the ditches in the everglades.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported similar fishing though we started fishing the ditches in the glades for trout which was good.  Fished around the cape area after that caught a few red and black drum and a big ray on a light spin rod, though not red hot in there.  Finished the day in the bay and found a nice hole caught 4 nice red groupers, a couple mutton snappers, mangrove snappers, porgies, mackerels, trout, and sharks in.  Had a good breeze out of the south most of the day and the rain came around 3:00, though suppose to be nicer tomorrow!  Great january fishing in the florida keys!

1/10/12 Winter time backcountry fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had the McGradys out today for a father-son retirement fishing trip!  Fishing has been pretty good overall in the backcountry especiallying fishing in flamingo.  We ran to that area and headed even further towards the cape and fished a few areas which have been pretty good as of late.  Seems the fish have been pretty beat up I've seen lots of boats sitting in there.  We poked around a few spots and had to work hard at it.  Between getting eaten alive by bugs on the boat and catfish on our baits, we finally got into a few good fish.  Several nice black drum along with a few other jacks, ladyfish, trout, etc...  We put a shark rod out and also caught a nice bull shark.  Saw a handful of tarpon rolling but they did not seem interested in eating.  When the tide quit we ran back towards flamingo to catch the end of the tide and fished some runoffs.  Not much to talk about there, did catch one little red and a nice snook on pinfish at the end that made it worth while.  Brian also caught a double header seagull and redfish at the same time - not what he was expecting!  Finished the day where we had a good bite of trout the other day, they were still there caught several nice size specs, along with jacks, pompano, and you guessed it - more catfish!  The guys had a blast though and our fishing with Capt. Nick Stanczyk offshore on Thursday.  They also are already planning a spring/summer trip for tarpon!

Capt. John Johansen reported a similar bite near the east cape area.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported a good mackerel bite on the edge of the gulf, good to know those fish are back as they had shut down due to the cold we experienced about a week ago.

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

1/1/12 Islamorada Fishing in January 2012

Happy New Year everyone, gorgeous weather today here fishing in islamorada!  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti was out the other day and John Gray fishing along with his dad John Gray caught some nice Hogfish for dinner. They fished a full day in the backcountry. We released lots of nice trout and ladyfish. In the afternoon the winds dropped  off and we headed out to the shallow reef. Lots of action out there on barjacks and other hard fighting bottom dwellers.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk also fished Richard Cromwell and his son Luke, who are fishing with his brother Nick today offshore.  We caught a couple dozen reds, very beautiful fish way back in the everglades.  Also caught snappers, sheepshead, ladyfish, and jacks.  In the afternoon we ran out to some structure in the gulf and had a 35 lb cobia swim up but couldn't get him to eat.  Then we ended the day catching big trout in some channels and headed home!  Capt. John Johnsen fished the bay and ocean side as well yesterday... similar report mackerels, ladyfish, snapper in the back and lost a big goliath grouper at the boat.  Then caught hogfish and grouper oceanside and a nice cobia on fly rod!  Hope your out on the water today for your florida keys fishing in january!

Update on Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 06:41PM by Capt. Nick Stanczyk

Out on the Reef the New Year started out great as well. It was a beautiful day and Luke fished on the BNM and caught and released 2 sailfish, as well as keeping a couple of mahi, kingfish and yellow jacks. The Sugaree also had a limit of kingfish and a sailfish release.

12/29/11 Islamorada fishing guide report

Islamorada fishing guide Capt. Jim Willcox fished a full day today on 12/29/11.  They ran deep into the everglades all the way up to the cape area of the mainland.  The cool weather from the cold front we've had the last day often turns these fish on - and it did today!  They caught lots of redfish, sheepshead, trout, black drum in some of the different creeks.  They also caught this monster snook!  The wind layed down today to a nice 10 knots or so in the AM, and was even lighter by this afternoon almost turning out of the west.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported a decent spanish mackerel bite this morning along with plenty of blue runners, ladyfish, and mangrove snappers.  They also caught a 250 lb hammerhead shark but unfortunately it got wrapped in the leader before we could snap a picture.  This afternoon he fished another party and they caught several snappers, sheepshead, jacks, a nice pompano, and a few big trout!  Capt. Perry Scuderi looked like he had some nice hogfish this afternoon, he was able to sneak out to the patches!

12/25/11 Christmas Day Fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys!

Capt. John Johansen went out today with his friend Jimmy Conrad who has been islamorada fishing for fun with him the last few days in the florida keys backcountry.  The past few afternoons they've done very well spanish mackerel fishing in the bays!  Lots of spanish macks and bag limit of nice mangrove snappers for dinner.  Look for these fish to stick around well through the period of fishing islamorada in january!  They also caught some nice big blacktip sharks, pictured below is Capt. Johnsen with one fine specimen!  This afternoon on 12/25/11 christmas day they bonefished close to home as the wind did howl a bit during the day.  Jim caught this nice bonefish in the early evening to end his day of florida keys fishing!  Stake up fishing was a good bet with the overcast and windy conditions.  Stay tuned for more news about fishing in the keys and we'll have some great islamorada fishing reports this week as it is one our busiest weeks of the year!  If your down here stop down by Bud n' Mary's and get out on the water it's about as nice of weather as you could ask for christmas week here in the keys!