10/26/11 Snooks and redfish backcountry fishing Islamorada

Well it was another blustery day here in islamorada backcountry fishing on 10/26/11!  I had Hack and Jill Albertson. Hack is with the Paralyzed Verterans Association who do a big trip to the marina every year.  They come to Bud n' Mary's and book several guides/charters and also have a big cookout, lots of fun!  We left out at 7:30 this morning, daybreak is getting later and later though will be changing time soon.  We headed back to the mainland/flamingo area, took a longer ride to stay out of the chop which was nice.  Unfortunately 4 boats already sitting in one area that's been hot, so we moved down the channel a little bit.  Fishing was good, lots of trout, jacks, ladyfish, and few snappers early.  As the tide died and got very low, caught several redfish probably 20 in all, handful of decent slot fish.  Hack also caught his first snook on shrimp, unfortunately Jill lost hers, also had another one get cut off.  Had to chase hacks down since it was on very light tackle, good catch!  When tied died at noon we ran down the beach a bit and fished a creek.  Hack caught another snook on pinfish, and we missed another bite.  Also caught a handful more reds, plus various others.  Ran home after that, not bad day with the conditions!

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

10/20/11 + 10/21/11 Cooler weather has arrived!

Ross Hiatt caught his first bonefish fishing with Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti on 10/20/11. Fishing was great after the weather we had. First nice day in quite a few, lots and lots of rain previous!  Lots of tailing bones. Ended the day on the patches catching some porgy and mutton snapper.  10/21/11 the wind picked up again out of the north and it was a little cooler out, that time of year again!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with Jason and Craig on a half day and ran back all the way to flamingo.  Fishing was fair, we did get a decent snook, black drum, redfish, and sheepshead.  Lots of jacks, little snappers, and ladyfish as well.  Decent islamorada fishing for the incoming tide on half a day!  Capt. Vinnie and Capt. Bill Bassett reported once the tide start slowing down in the afternoon, they caught several large snook and redfish in the same area Capt. Rick was fishing.  Just goes to show you how fishing a full day can give you a lot more opportunities since you have different stages of tide, daylight, and conditions!

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

10/11/11 Everglades tarpon action and more!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished today with his girlfriend Elizabeth and friend Ron Modra for some islamorada fishing october.  We got a bit of a late start and took time to run around and find some bait.  Could not find pilchards to the north, but did find a few big balls of mullet.  Threw the net on them a few times and got tons of good size small mullet.  Ran in the everglades with those and some shrimp.  Caught a nice snook on first finger mullet out, tried a few other areas around the island but no more luck.  Caught plenty of snappers and jacks though on shrimps.  Went to a tarpon spot and put out some more mullets on the bottom.  Ron caught a nice 80 lb tarpon about 15 minutes later!  Tide quit on us then and it was high noon.  We ran further out to check things out, stopped at a spot.  Very slick calm and beautiful - tarpon everywhere!  Had a couple chase mullets on top, but missed them.  Ron hooked a mystery fish that we could not get off the bottom on a light rod, maybe a juvenile goliath??  Anyways ran into some creek areas after, lots of tarpon in there too and some big schools of mullet they were busting, had another zip us and suck the bait off, and after that decided to call it a day!  I imagine if the mullet stay around, the tarpon will too before it gets cold, so come on down!

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

10/9/11 Islamorada Bonefish Action!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with Lee and Rob again today on 10/9/11.  Due to weather and conditions we decided to give stake up bonefishing a shot.  The overcast rainy conditions usually turn the fish on especially on the ocean side.  We had mostly in tide and high water, not the greatest conditions, but we gave it a try.  We ended up catching 2 bonnet heads early on, and the rain started to pour with thunder.  So we ducked in back to the marina and waited it out for 20 minutes, went back out with just a drizzle of rain.  Lee ended up catching this nice 8-9 lb bonefish himself!  After that we moved around since the small picker fish were eating the shrimps off as fast as you could put them out.  The weather improved, though the tide died, and didn't start falling till we were about to go in.  Though catching one islamorada bonefish is worth it these days!  Capt. Lonny Shaw and Capt. Jim Willcox reported catching a couple each the day before as well.