2/9/11 Got chillier, but still good fishin'

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Wayne, Paul, and Jim down from Canada for a full day trip today.  It was their first time fishing the florida keys.  We left out at 7:15 am, which was easy as they stayed the night at Bud n' Mary's and loved it, want to make it a yearly adventure!  We caught a bunch of ladyfish and a handful of mackerel as well as some snappers early.  When the chum ran out, we stopped in a couple different runoffs and caught some trout and jacks.  We also caught a flounder which is a very unusual fish!  We then ran to a nearby tarpon spot and gave that a go for a while, we had a big tarpon bite almost instantly!  Unfortunately the fish swam up under our anchor rope and jumped wildly throwing the hook, though it was very exciting to see!  We ended up catching about a 100 lb bullshark on mono though which was cool.  We had the last of the outgoing tide, and when it died we decided to try some more trout and redfishing.  Caught one redfish, and ended up catching some nice trout when the tide started rolling back in.  We then gave it one last shot for a tarpon for the last hour, didn't have any bites but we did catch a lemon shark.  Great day of islamorada fishing! 

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

2/8/11 Tarpon, trout, snappers, and more!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Jim Willcox both dide full days fishing in Islamorada today.  They both caught a tarpon each, Jim had a couple more bites he missed as well as some sharks.  Both caught plenty of jacks, trout, ladyfish, and snappers for dinner.  Capt. Rick also reported catching 15 or so redfish.  Wind started blowing out of the west in the afternoon slowing things down but we got it while the gettin' was good, looks like it may get chillier tonight but hopefully not for long!

2/3/11 - Reds in the back, and some tarpon starting to show up!

Capt Jim Willcox fished with Bud & Mary's regular Tom Looby from Rochester NY today. We caught redfish in everyspot we fished,  & the warm weather has the tarpon showing up early in the back.  Very low tides in the back, and the water warming up, should be some good early tarpon fishing here soon with lots of bait being seen when fishing islamorada.

1/30/11 - Backcountry variety day! Big Black drum, reds, trout, snappers, and more!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Richard Arluck and his family out, Mike and Dave, today on Saturday 1/30/11.  They were visiting down from Miami and wanted some action and good stuff to eat!  They headed back towards the cape area around 8:00 and arrived around 9:30.  The tide had just stopped falling and they fished a deep area around the shoreline.  Soon as the tide started trickling in, they were catching plenty of black drum, sheepshead, redfish, ladyfish, even a couple trout and pompano!  Shrimp on jigs did the trick, and it was bites on every cast for a while!  Good action there for a couple of hours!  Once the tide started really ripping and some poirposes showed up, they decided to take a break and eat lunch.  After that they headed out towards the edge of the gulf off sprigger bank and snapper fished in some holes.  It took some looking around, but eventually they got into them real thick and caught plenty of keepers, as well as some small groupers which they released.  The weather as absolutely gorgeous this afternoon, light winds and the sun with cool air - just right!!!  Tons of action and probably caught 15 different species of fish!

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

1/25/11 WINDY day, but good fishing!

Well the wind was howling out of the east all day today 25mph or better for our florida keys fishing trips!  But the backcountry was fishable and when you got in the runoffs and canals it was pretty nice!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk, Capt. Jim Willcox, Capt. Jeff Beeler, and Capt. Skip Nielsen all reported double-digit redfish!  They all also caught some trout and ladyfish as well.  Capt. Skip also fished for mackerel and caught quite a few of those, and had a couple big spinner sharks as well, and did report getting once nice red that was 12 pounds!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported catching half a dozen large black drum also, and some snappers for dinner for his clients as well.  Fishing in Islamorada is still happening even with the crazy wind!!!

Capt. Skip Nielsen's full report from the past two days was... Bernard and Paul Pielow of Liverpool, UK fished with capt. skip nielsen 2 days this week. First day was offshore. We caught some nice sized Barracuda on light tackle and kept a couple for shark bait. During the afternoon after some very hard work Bernard released 2 Bull Sharks in the 300lb class. Paul Pielow caught a King Mackerel that weighed 35lbs. nice going on the big Bull Shark and King Macks.
On day two we fished the backcountry. For starters we caught 20 Spanish Mackerel then moved further northwest near Sandy Key and got into a hot bite of Redfish. Bernard released a red estimated at 12lbs. Over 30 were released before moving to the Flamingo area where a couple big Spinner Sharks were jumped and lost. Pompano,Trout and Ladyfish finished the day for the boys. Great fishing for a windy day.