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!

3/24/12 Islamorada tarpon fishing heats up

Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported a great bite of islamorada tarpon fishing early this morning at 5 am.  We had the last hour and a half of falling tide, before daylight, and we had bites on all of our first 5 drifts.  Anna got one nice fish to the boat, one steal a crab, jumped off 2 others, and had one we fought and chased down that got us around a lobster pot.  Good action it was all before daylight, drifting live crabs was the ticket.  The next few days and evenings will have excellent tidal conditions and winds are (and will hopefully stay) down.  The fish are absolutely here but the heavy winds and in-tide has not been great - that is changing the for the next several days!  Book a night tarpon fishing charter now while conditions are ideal!  Boats reported a good bite late yesterday afternoon as well, Capt. Skip Nielsen boated 3 yesterday.  March fishing in Islamorada is a great time for big tarpon!

March flats fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys

March fishing in Islamorada was pretty good today in the backcountry.  We had a good easterly breeze of about 15 mph which is fairly light compared to how it has been!  Drifting some of the bays towards the gulf side there were plenty of trout, ladyfish, and snapper to be had for Capt. Rick Stanczyk.  They also caught a couple spanish mackerel.  Further off some of the banks Capt. Jim Willcox reported larger ladyfish and trout.  Capt. Rick reported fishing a few shorelines on higher water and catching a couple redfish just for something a little different.  Both Capt. Jim and Capt. Rick reported catching some big mud marlin, Capt. Jim actually caught 2, plus both reported some sharks as well.  Capt. Rick also caught a nice cobia on light tackle off the back of the large bottom dweller.  Capt. Bill Bassett reported lots of shark action, several large spinner sharks, and a few others mixed in including some bull sharks.  Fishing the backcountry in March has had a variety of opportunities considering the windy conditions in the florida keys.

3/7/12 Rough winds, limited options, but fish to be caught backcountry!

The wind was howling today close to 30 knots out of the east, not leaving many options for those who dared to make it out today in the backcountry fishing islamorada.  Fishing was also extra tough as the shrimp boats did not make it out last night so most captains were stuck with frozen shrimp.  Capt. Jim Willcox did some stake up bonefishing close to home as we had some overcast/rainy weather this AM. Colleen Starman caught this 30 knot 9 pounder bonefish near home with Capt. Jim!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Bill Bassett did some snapper fishing around the islands in the florida keys everglades.  Hugging the banks was imperative and the ride/spray was not too bad, ended up dodging most of the rain too.  Both reported a good bite of snapper, lots of little ones with some big ones mixed in for dinner!  Capt. Mike Bassett ran back in the backcountry further east of flamingo where the water was a little cleaner and found some good mud eventually and caught lots of trout and ladyfish.  You've almost always got options here fishing in the florida keys, and they are usually better than sitting in your hotel room!

3/4/12 Islamorada bonefish report

Well we had pre-frontal conditions here today on 3/4/12, strong winds out of the SW blowing 20 mph.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk decided to stay close to home and try some bonefishing in islamorada.  The overcast skies, strong winds, and incoming front gave us pretty good stake-up conditions.  We staked up over some potholes and fished the morning in-tide.  Ended up catching 3 nice bones, between 7 and 10 lbs.  Also caught 3 bonnethead sharks and a sting ray.  The first 2 hours were great with overcast skies, when things cleared up and the tide changed though, things slowed down, but still ended up with a great half day.  Remember the nice thing about fishing the backcountry in islamorada is you can pretty much always squeek your day in somehow!  Until our next islamorada bonefish report!  It's suppose to get cold tonight and winds swinging around to northwest/north, hopefully the bay won't be too bad tomorrow!