12/6/12 December islamorada fishing report backcountry

Well it's december and islamorada winter fishing is happening.  Today on 12/6/12 we had a gorgeous day, the rain looked like it may have been an issue with weather pushing in from both sides, however we lucked out.  The wind also laid down almost flat most of the day.  The water in the gulf and backcountry is about as pretty as it gets for this day of december islamorada fishing.  I myself fished for fun with family/friends today for fun and Capt. Jim Willcox fished a charter in the florida keys backcountry.  Capt. Jim reported lots of bugs and noseeums around the mangroves, but they were able to fish in some more open areas and had a good bite of redfish, black drum, and some big trout.  He said almost everywhere they stopped they caught some fish which is good to see, and managed not to get eaten alive by bugs!  We tried fishing some snook spots in the trees however the bugs drove us away so we headed to the gulf.  We ended up catching not a whole lot of fish but several quality ones, including multiple nice cobia.  We did find a pile of large gulf redfish too, catching one of almost 20 lbs that had some that were 30+ lbs with it.  Unfortunately they all took off after they saw the boat, never to return!  Oh well such is life fishing the florida keys.  We also managed to catch some juvenile goliath groupers and triple tail, plus an assortment of spanish mackerel, bluefish, and plenty of jacks/blue runners.  Looks like nice weather for the next few days through the weekend, great time to go out and fishing florida keys in december!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

11/28/12 November Islamorada Fishing Report Backcountry

Well just back in town after a much needed vacation and glad to have gotten back out on the water the last couple days even if it was just for fun!  Well this last few days of november fishing in the florida keys have been rather productive and looks like the wind will be blowing the next several days starting after today 11/28/12.  We ran deep into the everglades fishing today along with Capt. Jim Willcox.  Hit a couple gulf spots early this AM on the falling water, managed a nice cobia on light tackle along with a nice redfish, plus a large sting ray that got us a little excited!  Once the tide turned we headed back towards the mainland cape sable.  It was king of a slow and steady pick of fish we had to work and move around, managed 15 or so reds with a few nice size fish on pinfish, plus plenty of ladyfish, jacks, snapper, and a few trout.  Lots of variety thats what we love about fishing islamorada backcountry.  Later in the day fished some deeper creeks and shorelines where we got into a few snook.  Had a bite or two in several spots we hit, mostly nice larger size fish.  Ended the day at east cape the water and current was so good looking we stayed late, however did not have much luck there, but at least we had a satisfying overall day!  Capt. Jim Willcox reported a similar bite of redfish and some snook in the back, they also ran deep into the everglades.  After some more cold fronts look for many of the redfish, snook, and black drum to stack up in the deeper water and provide an excellent winter time fishing in islamorada place to go!  Yesterday we also fun fished, caught several spanish mackerel in the morning and got some cool video footage of big goliath on a wreck, plus some tripletail footage on buoys in the gulf.  We caught several large redfish and a cobia later in that day, broke off a big snook, and caught a couple dozen puppy drum to end that day as well.  Great backcountry fishing in the florida keys in november!  Capt. Skip Nielsen reported good action on the patches fishing the ocean side today, as well as a good spanish mackerel bite in the afternoon yesterday on the incoming tide.

11/13/12 November Islamorada Fishing in the Everglades

Islamorada fishing in November has been fairly good as of late.  A little bit of everything biting in the florida keys fishing.  Today the spanish mackerels showed up good with tide going into the gulf in the AM.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported good fishing out west near sprigger bank.  Capt. Bill Bassett also reported good bites of mangrove snappers out there and also some good redfishing and a few snook later on the higher water more towards flamingo.  Capt. Jim Willcox ran deep into the everglades fishing islamorada and said fishing took some work, they had a few snook early and after blazing some trails found some redfish hole up.  Our experience was similar we had one nice snook off the bat and not much else, a few trout, jacks, ladyfish, and a black drum, so we took a ride up to shark river to check that out, and caught another nice snook on the way back.  We did see a few tarpon rolling first thing too however they did not seem to want to eat our pinfish, but interesting they are still back there after the cold we had a week or so ago.  We did find some redfish and a few more snook on the high water closer to home which was nice.  Backcountry fishing in Islamorada has such a variety of options and can be different every day which is what we love (and sometimes hate!) about this fishery!  It's a good time of year for flats fishing islamorada so give Bud n' Mary's a call and we can set you up!  Lots of neat bird life/wild life to see as well, check out the great shots from Ron Modra including the spoonbill, and Capt. Jims croc picture!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

11/7/12 Winter time fishing in Islamorada

Had a 3 boat trip today out of Bud n' Mary's Fishing Marina in Islamorada Florida Keys on 11/7/12.  This is a transitional time of year so the fishing varies a bit and can be a little inconsistent as temperature and winds fluctuate often.  Today myself, Capt. Perry Scuderi, and Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti fished the Kanipus party.  We fished the flamingo area, which winter fishing in islamorada is often good back there.  The wind kicked up good as yesterday it was flat calm and suppose to get cold tonight, but wasn't too bad 15 mph out of northwest.  Capt. Perry and myself started out with some nice catches of redfish, we got probably close to 30 with several nice slot size fish.  They were eating pilchards and shrimp as the pilchards have been easy to get and close by.  Capt. Vinnie reported a decent pick of various fish including redfish, snapper, trout, and a few juvenile snook where he went november fishing in the florida keys.  Later our boat was after meat so we hit some runoffs for trout which usually gets good as the water temperatures drop, we caught plenty of trout and got 5 or so keepers plus some snapper, jacks and ladyfish, mostly on pilchards again but a few on shrimp too.  Capt. Perry reported some mangrove snappers, jacks, and a few small snook as well around one of the islands back near flamingo.  We then decided to try to catch something bigger and ran out west to try for either big shark or goliath.  We put the big rod out and a few pinfish for possibly a cobia or big snook, and of course we caught a 10 lb cobia on the big rod on a dead ladyfish on the bottom.  Oh well at least we got one!  Great day on an islamorada backcountry fishing trip, the boys are bringing all their fish to lazy days for a fish fry tonight and had a great time!  The cold weather thats coming should start pushing more fish to their winter time spots, including the spanish mackerel into the edge of the gulf of mexico fishing.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

10/24/12 Wind continues to blow, doesn't bother the fish!

It continued to howl today here as we draw closer to fishing in islamorada november on 10/24/12.  We went fishing in the everglades back at the cape area, not a bad ride over though it started cranking mid-day.  We picked around hitting several banks, run-offs, and creek mouths.  Got into a decent snook bite first thing in the AM, catching a few and losing a few nicer ones unfortunately.  These were biting large shrimp on the jigs.  Later we worked are way further back and got into more snook and a few redfish, snapper, and sheepshead.  Lots of glass minnows and small pilchards and feeding frenzies going on.  Later when the tide quit we worked are way back to the big canal, and had a couple other bites snook fishing and medium sized sawfish.  We ended up with around 8-10 snook total which is a good day on an islamorada fishing trip.  The sawfish were fun to battle though we weren't able to get them up this time!  The wind was honking now and ran up the shoreline towards flamingo, making one final stop on the way which paid off.  Got a nice juvenile goliath, a decent redfish for dinner, and a few other baby redfish and some mangrove snappers.  Capt. Jim Willcox also ran deep in the glades even furhter back today.  He reported a decent bite of redfish and some snook as well back there.  If your think about florida keys fishing in november then these species are what you'll have to look forward to, as well as the spanish mackerel, pompano, bluefish, and cobia in the gulf..  Carefully ran home and it wasn't too bad, however tomorrow is suppose to be even more windy so we will see what happens!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Also some pictures from a few days ago, including a redfish and a spotted eagle ray we snagged on accident!