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!

2-27-11 Backcountry mixed bag!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Charles Ruoff out fishing today in the backcountry.  We mixed things up a bit, first caught some nice mangrove snappers for dinner and a nice red grouper.  We actually hooked the red the day before and he cut us off, and we got the jigs back from out of his mouth!  After this we moved out further and caught some mackerels and blue runners, they weren't biting great but good enough the water was pretty clear and current into the wind didn't help.  After this we tried some tarpon spots, though didn't see any fish and no bites, though did catch a few blacktip sharks.  Ran out to closer gulf spot, but no signs of any real life so we moved back into the backcountry.  After putting the tarpon rods out again for a bit with just a shark bite, we decided to finish the day just bending the rod on small stuff.  Lots of ladyfish and jacks with a handful of trout, pompano, snappers, and this nice little baby permit in some ditches nearby!!

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

My brother also fished Thomas from the local resturant Overseas Kitchen today on the "BnM" and caught over 20 tunas and this nice amberjack!

2/23 + 2/24 Lots macks, snappers, trout, and some big sea monsters!

Captain Rick Stanczyk & Captain Jim Willcox had the honor of fishing Ed Nightbert & Frank Sadler for one day each. These guys hunt & fish all over the world. After a great experience last year they returned to Bud & Mary's & stayed with us again.  Both days the boys caught their limit of snapper,many many mackerel, trout, ladyfish, jacks etc.....Then both days we put out the big rods. We had tarpon on, but they alluded us , however multiple large bull sharks & blacktips were brought to the boat by these guys. Both days the men experienced the huge mystery fish we encounter so big we couldn't get them past the leader. Bottom line serious heavy action both days. Here's Rick leadering up another monster fish, they fought this one for almost 2 hours and it drug them 4 miles into the Gulf of Mexico! Likely close to 1000 lbs, had some wraps on the wind-on leader, but the hook eventually broke.  Today Capt Jim fished Dennis & Laura fellow Philadephians, similar results as Ed & Frank with a finish of huge trout!!

2/19 + 2/20 Backcountry & Offshore action!

Capt. Rick & Nick Stanczyk fished another father/son team over the weekend.  The Hodges were down and did some islamorada offshore fishing and some florida keys backcountry fishing out of Bud n' Mary's!  They caught their limit of kings, some yellowtail, and this nice  33 1/2 lb african pompano on 15 lb test.  In the back, they caught blacktip sharks, a bull shark, a big nurse shark, plenty of mackerel, a couple nice 3-4 lb pompano, and some trout!  They said they had a fantastic time and can't wait to do it again!!!  The water temps in the back finally reached 70 today with a warm south breeze blowing, so look for some reports of tarpon here soon!  Rick Stanczyk fished a half day today, and the mackerel were CHOMPING, every cast!  The sharks were swarming too we caught 4 blacktips, including one 35-40 lber on a 10 lb spinning rod!

2/18 + 2/19 - Quality, not quantity, in the offshore and backcountry!

The Proctor family fished with Capt. Nick & Capt. Rick Stanczyk this weekend, 2/18/11 and 2/19/11, for some offshore and backcountry action.  They fished aboard the "BnM" on Friday for a full day.  Fishing was kind of tough, sailfish did not cooperate, nor the king macs, or even the yellowtails on the reef!  However, they did catch a nice 40 lb cobia out of the kite while sailfishing!  They also dropped on a hole and caught a huge 18 lb mutton, as well as a 20 lb black grouper, too bad they weren't in season!  They also caught a few tunas, a schoolie dolphin, some kingfish and a big ol' porgy!  Saturday they went for a half day with Capt. Rick Stanczyk in the backcountry.  They fished the edge of the gulf, again fishing was a little tough back there, though they did catch about 15 spanish macs, ladyfish, a couple bluefish, 2 nice blacktip/spinner sharks, and a lil' 10 lb. cobia on the light jig rod - very fun on light tackle!  Sometimes it's quality, not quantity, that counts!  As the weather continues to warm up, the backcountry fishing should really be taking off again, looking forward to great days in the gulf, as well as tarpon fishing in the back!!!

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