12/25/12 Christmas Day Florida Keys Fishing Report

Hello and happy holidays to all!  Today on 12/25/12 we had a gorgeous day here in islamorada florida keys.  The water is still fairly cool though warmed up considerably, got to about 67 degrees in the everglades today.  I went fun fishing with my dad and friend Ron Modra, we ran back to east cape and middle cape.  Fishing was fair, not a whole lot of action in any one spot, though we picked a few fish from just about everywhere.  Mostly fishing shrimp still with the cooler water december fishing islamorada.  We caught a cobia and nice red off some structure in the near gulf on the change of the tide.  When the tide started in worked some areas in east cape.  Caught a few more reds, some black drum, pulled the hook on one nice snook.  Then headed back to lake inghram for more december florida keys fishing and caught a few trout and reds in there jigging shrimp.  Saw 3 crocdiles sunning out on the banks, pretty cool small, medium, and large all next to each other within a few hundred feet!  Then back to middle cape.  Worked a few treelines and caught one snook, and pulled another nice fatty off.  This time we were casting bucktails and working them a bit faster to avoid snags.  Got a mix of jacks and ladyfish out there as well.  By now tide was high and still trickling in, we hit a few more creeks but not too much action inside any of them.  Finished the day back at east cape and got into a little rally of snooks, caught 3 more and a couple nice ones at that, plus a few trout and snappers.  A great way to end the day backcountry islamorada fishing especially after the hurt of losing a couple nice snooks!

On the other side islamorada offshore fishing december my brother Capt. Nick Stanczyk took our friend Woody Woods who is down for the xmas holidays fishing as well.  They caught 3 sails in just a couple hours early in the morning plus a nice blackfin tuna!  The Strictly Business also caught a sail, and Kalex had a nice wahoo yesterday.  The islamorada sailfish should be biting good with the winds kicking up a bit the next several days!

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

11/9/11 Islamorada Offshore & Backcountry Report

Fishing was good all around today here in Islamorada Florida Keys.  In the backcountry Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported hooking double digit snook and catching 8 or so.  Redfishing around flamingo was not so hot just a few small rats.  Capt. Mike Bassett caught a real nice size fish on a half day back there as well.  Capt. Jim Willcox ran deep into the backcountry and caught some snook, redfish, and a baby tarpon.  Capt. Skip Nielsen did say he got a few nice size reds out to the west.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti fished the patches and caught several nice size hogfish - great eating!  Also plenty of porgies and other fish.  Offshore Capt. Nick Stanczyk on the BnM got into several nice mahi, great to see them this time of year.  They also caught 2 sailfish.  The gulf edge got a little nasty this afternoon, Capt. Rick reported it started blowing out of the west shutting a lot of fishing down out there this afternoon, we did catch some nice jacks and found a big goliath grouper on some structure.  Unfortunately we hooked him about 6 times and could not pull him out of it with the rod we had, must of been a very big fish!!!  Great fun still though to feel them pull!

455# Daytime Swordfish aboard the BNM 9-24-11

We had John and Pam aboard the BNM for a Florida Keys Fishing Trip on 9-24-11. Pam insisted they were lucky and we were going to catch a swordfish guaranteed. I told both of them we had a good shot, but there had been quite a few small fish around which can be very frustrating when trying to hook them in the daytime. John is a Navy vet returned to the U.S. and was very much looking forward to a fishing trip!  Well it wasn't long until their luck kicked in, on the way out at 15 knots our high speed lure starts screaming and 10 minutes later John catches his first wahoo, a nice 28 lber. I was thinking at least we didn't get skunked today. We continued out to the swordfish grounds and a few miles inside we found a nice weed line with some mahi on it. We hit one school and caught 15 nice schoolies and a couple small gaffers. Both John and Pam were all smiles and I though maybe they wouldn't even notice if we didn't catch a swordfish. An hour later we were on the bottom in 1500' drifting for a broadbill. After 30 minutes we hooked up, the fish seemed small, and after 10 minutes he threw the hook. We make another drift in the same area, but after an hour with no bite, we wind up. I run a few miles south and drop again. After 45 minutes without a bite, we get ready to wind up, and there she is. We're hooked up to a daytime sword. John gets in the chair and goes to work. After an hour I see the fish, I know she's big, but not quite how big. The fish dives all the way back to the bottom and John goes back to work. At 2 hours he has her near the boat again, I see the swivel behind her tail and realize the fish is foul hooked in the belly somewhere. After a couple quick loops the fish goes back to the bottom. Now we're 3 hours into the fight, and John gets the fish within 50' of the boat again, we get a quick glimpse, but down shes goes. At 4 hours into the fight, and everybody exhausted, John gets the fish 10 feet away! We get a harpoon shot, but it pulls out after a few seconds. The fish looks like it's getting tired though, but still dives back to the bottom. We've drifted 11 miles now and John has been on the fish 4 and 1/2 hours! It looks like the fish is dying, since we've been trying to pull her backwards, but she still keeps swimming. The fish makes one last dive, down to 700', luckily not the bottom again, and then races back up. I look at the clock and realize we've been on the fish 5 hours. Before I know it the fish is at the back of the boat, I run back, throw the harpoon in her, hit her with a straight gaff, Pam hands both Matt and John the other gaffs, and we get all of them in the fish. But she isn't done yet. For 5 minutes she kicks and throws water everywhere next to the boat. Finally the fish is subdued and we bring her through the door. It was the hardest fight I've ever seen on a swordfish. The fish was hooked in the anal fin, but John and Pam had good luck and somehow it stayed in the whole time. We steam for home, everybody exhausted and make the call to fire up the forklift. We hit the dock and the fish weighs in at 455 lbs! This is on the biggest swordfish ever caught on rod and reel in the Florida Keys! We also fished the day before and went 2 for 3 on swordfish, keeping a 65 lber and releasing another. This is the place for Daytime Swordfishing!

A strange find...

Capt. Nick Stanczyk while out on a daytime swordfishing charter out of Bud n' Mary's Marina in Islamorada, Florida found this strange creature floating...  It is an oar fish, and is a very rare deep water fish!  This thing was floating recently killed in about 1800 feet of water and was almost 10 feet long!  Check him out.  And come on down for a trip to do some florida keys fishing!

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!