1/20/12 Monster Black Drum in the Everglades!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished John again for his last day here on 1/20/12.  Did another full day back in the 'glades for some more january islamorada fishing.  The water temperatures had warmed up considerably, however there was another mass of cold air all the way up from north florida that made it a chilly ride back there.  The fish didn't seem to mind though, we fished some deep canals and run-offs.  Lots of black drum with a few ladyfish and jacks mixed in at first.  Shrimps on jigs were working as they usually do on our florida keys fishing charters, but the best bet was a shrimp on the bottom with a 1 oz lead and circle hook.  As the tied slowed the fishing got a little better, and before we left we had slow heavy bite on the bottom rod.  John picked it up and wound tight as the rod bent over and drag started slowly peeling off.  Didn't know if we were gonna stop the fish, finally turned him and he started thumping very hard.  Came up to the surface half a dozen times, creating some major turbulance as he went back down.  Finally boated him after 10 minutes, big old black drum, close to 30 lbs!  After that we headed further back up the cape to check out some new scenery, fished a few other creeks and caught some more reds, sheepshead, and a few big trout with the high incoming tide.  Also one nice red drum out of a drain!  Once tied died we ran back home, wind had kicked around out of the east and was pretty snotty, but not too bad of a wind direction for back there.  Beautiful day here for this islamorada fishing guide!  Capt. Mike Bassett reported a similar bite of black drums and reds, they also lost a big snook in the mangroves and caught a couple smaller ones.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti reported lots of black drum, and Capt. Jim Willcox reported a good bite of reds and some nice trout to end his day.

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

1/5/12 Great fishing the everglades in islamorada

Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Mike Bassett both fished deep in the everglades today on their florida keys fishing trips.  The water/wind was still pretty cold, the air not quite as cold as yesterday but the water hasn't had a chance to warm.  We fished some deeper channels and the redfish and blackdrum were loaded up again today.  A few nice size ones plus lots of smaller ones, great fun light tackle fishing islamorada.  Capt. Mike also found a big school of snook and caught several dozen nice size ones like this!  Hopefully they will stick around a few more days the cold weather likely drove those fish down from the northern gulf coast of florida!

10/13/11 Flat calm seas.. gorgeous! Nice permit and red!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Mike Bassett went out for a day of fun fishing themselves today on 10/13/11.  The islamorada fishing guides went and caught some bait very early in the morning - pilchards and pinfish.  They headed back to the flamingo/everglades area.  Hit a few islands and channels back there, not too much except snappers today, a few jacks.  Did catch one nice black drum.  We ran further down the cape area and hit a couple other spots.  Saw some tarpon rolling and busting, though they didn't want our bait they were after the mullets.  We hit a gulf spot and as the tide died some big schools of permit showed themselves!  Unfortunately we had no crabs, though we had a bunch of shrimp (mostly dead at this point!)  Rick got one to eat a few shrimp chunks luckily and caught this nice one!  We took off after that and hit some shorelines and a couple creeks.  Not much luck still, did catch one red out of one of the creeks, along with some jacks and catfish.  Oh well the permit made the day, and it was gorgeous scenery!!!  Come on down there can still be some quality fish caught while islamorada fishing charters are happening!

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

10/8/11 Some nasty weather, but great everglades fishing action!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Mike Bassett fished some of Rick's regulars down from NJ, Lee & Rob & Company for a florida keys charter.  The radar looked like lots of rain around so we waited to leave and made it over to the flamingo everglades area with no problem, decided to stick to just half a day due to weather concerns.  Stopped at our first spot, had the last of the falling tide for a good 1.5 hours and fishing was excellent!  Lots of snappers for dinner, a few nice big black drum, a nice slot red, one small snook and jumped another one off, and some big jacks!  Had a large bullshark eat a couple other fish, possibly nice reds or jacks.  Shrimp with jigs did the trick, throwing them up current and letting them sink along the edges of the banks and trees.  As the tide died at our spot everglades fishing islamorada we ran back towards home and hit a mud real quick.  A few trout and ladyfish in there, and one pompano too!  We stopped in one more area to try and get a few more snappers and the rain started to get us, and continued all the way home.  Totally worth it for these guys though, they always have a great time fishing at Bud n' Mary's!  Also nice to see a few of our winter time species starting to show up such as the pompano and black drum.

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