3/1/11 Florida Tarpon Fishing, sharks, mackerels, snappers, and more!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished two half days on this first day of March, and had a great day to ring in the new month and start of spring!  This morning he fished Bob and Sue, who stayed the night at Bud n' Mary's and fished the day before in the backcountry, catching plenty of redfish, trout, and ladyfish.  They wanted to try something different so we took them out on the edge of the gulf.  Caught some mackerels, bigger ladyfish, and blue runners.  Also caught them 3 nice size blacktip sharks.  Caught a tide change in the middle, though the end of the fall and beginning of the rise was good fishing!  This afternoon Rick took Brent and his son-in-law kyle out for some florida keys fishing for dinner and caught them their limit of nice mangrove snappers!  They also caught a handful of mackerel, blue runners, and groupers too.  They wanted to catch a shark, so we went to one of the edges of the banks where the current was running pretty good and put out the few chunks of mackerel we had.  While rigging the 2nd rod up, the first conventional started going click-click-click-click!  Rick handed the rod to Brent, and said "lock it up in 10 seconds" figuring it was a shark.  All of a sudden - BOOM - big splash behind the boat and a nice 60 lb tarpon!  We caught him in about 15 minutes and got a nice picture of him and released him unharmed. We also caught a nice blacktip again after that for Kyle.  Great way to end a day of fabulous fishing in islamorada with a nice florida keys tarpon!!!  Capt. Jim Willcox also reported good fishign in the backcountry, trout, ladyfish, snappers, sharks, and caught another big 'mud marlin' as well!  Capt. Perry Scuderi also reported good action around the bridges for mackerel, ladyfish, bluefish, and caught a big 250+ lb goliath grouper in the channels near the bridges!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net
http://www.budnmarys.com

2-27-11 Backcountry mixed bag!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Charles Ruoff out fishing today in the backcountry.  We mixed things up a bit, first caught some nice mangrove snappers for dinner and a nice red grouper.  We actually hooked the red the day before and he cut us off, and we got the jigs back from out of his mouth!  After this we moved out further and caught some mackerels and blue runners, they weren't biting great but good enough the water was pretty clear and current into the wind didn't help.  After this we tried some tarpon spots, though didn't see any fish and no bites, though did catch a few blacktip sharks.  Ran out to closer gulf spot, but no signs of any real life so we moved back into the backcountry.  After putting the tarpon rods out again for a bit with just a shark bite, we decided to finish the day just bending the rod on small stuff.  Lots of ladyfish and jacks with a handful of trout, pompano, snappers, and this nice little baby permit in some ditches nearby!!

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

My brother also fished Thomas from the local resturant Overseas Kitchen today on the "BnM" and caught over 20 tunas and this nice amberjack!

2/23 + 2/24 Lots macks, snappers, trout, and some big sea monsters!

Captain Rick Stanczyk & Captain Jim Willcox had the honor of fishing Ed Nightbert & Frank Sadler for one day each. These guys hunt & fish all over the world. After a great experience last year they returned to Bud & Mary's & stayed with us again.  Both days the boys caught their limit of snapper,many many mackerel, trout, ladyfish, jacks etc.....Then both days we put out the big rods. We had tarpon on, but they alluded us , however multiple large bull sharks & blacktips were brought to the boat by these guys. Both days the men experienced the huge mystery fish we encounter so big we couldn't get them past the leader. Bottom line serious heavy action both days. Here's Rick leadering up another monster fish, they fought this one for almost 2 hours and it drug them 4 miles into the Gulf of Mexico! Likely close to 1000 lbs, had some wraps on the wind-on leader, but the hook eventually broke.  Today Capt Jim fished Dennis & Laura fellow Philadephians, similar results as Ed & Frank with a finish of huge trout!!

2/19 + 2/20 Backcountry & Offshore action!

Capt. Rick & Nick Stanczyk fished another father/son team over the weekend.  The Hodges were down and did some islamorada offshore fishing and some florida keys backcountry fishing out of Bud n' Mary's!  They caught their limit of kings, some yellowtail, and this nice  33 1/2 lb african pompano on 15 lb test.  In the back, they caught blacktip sharks, a bull shark, a big nurse shark, plenty of mackerel, a couple nice 3-4 lb pompano, and some trout!  They said they had a fantastic time and can't wait to do it again!!!  The water temps in the back finally reached 70 today with a warm south breeze blowing, so look for some reports of tarpon here soon!  Rick Stanczyk fished a half day today, and the mackerel were CHOMPING, every cast!  The sharks were swarming too we caught 4 blacktips, including one 35-40 lber on a 10 lb spinning rod!

2/18 + 2/19 - Quality, not quantity, in the offshore and backcountry!

The Proctor family fished with Capt. Nick & Capt. Rick Stanczyk this weekend, 2/18/11 and 2/19/11, for some offshore and backcountry action.  They fished aboard the "BnM" on Friday for a full day.  Fishing was kind of tough, sailfish did not cooperate, nor the king macs, or even the yellowtails on the reef!  However, they did catch a nice 40 lb cobia out of the kite while sailfishing!  They also dropped on a hole and caught a huge 18 lb mutton, as well as a 20 lb black grouper, too bad they weren't in season!  They also caught a few tunas, a schoolie dolphin, some kingfish and a big ol' porgy!  Saturday they went for a half day with Capt. Rick Stanczyk in the backcountry.  They fished the edge of the gulf, again fishing was a little tough back there, though they did catch about 15 spanish macs, ladyfish, a couple bluefish, 2 nice blacktip/spinner sharks, and a lil' 10 lb. cobia on the light jig rod - very fun on light tackle!  Sometimes it's quality, not quantity, that counts!  As the weather continues to warm up, the backcountry fishing should really be taking off again, looking forward to great days in the gulf, as well as tarpon fishing in the back!!!

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