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!

2/6/11 Backcountry Tarpon

Captain Jim Willcox did an AM 1/2 day this Super Sunday with JW Howard & his son Wade. They both caught non-stop jacks, trout & pompano. In the final hour 12 year old Wade caught his first permit & a 120lb tarpon.  Yesterday Capt. Jim fished and jumped 2 tarpon off, though did catch a few bull sharks and some other shark varieties, as well as some smaller stuff.  Capt. Jeff Beeler did catch a tarpon in the back yesterday as well.  Offshore today Capt. John Johnansen and Capt. Rick Stanczyk took some people fun fishing, and caught them their first sailfish, a nice 25 lb cobia, and limit of kingfish.  Saw plenty of sails though they were tough to get to eat and there was a tournament going on so we didn't want to mess with them too much, and a big school of smaller cobias, and the kingfish bit well!

2/4/11 Tarpon are back! Along with other good fishing!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with his father, Capt. Richard Stanczyk Sr., and friend Capt. Dave Peck from North Carolina down here for the winter today.  We fished some channels between Islamorada and Flamingo in the morning, got a late start around 8:30, but still had some good falling tide.  Caught plenty of seatrout, some ladyfish, and a couple good pompano for dinner.  After hitting a few spots we moved out to hit some good tarpon holes as we had heard there were some free-jumpers spotted the day before, and we saw a couple in some deeper channels while we were running around back there.  We set up about 11:00 when the tide started coming in, and boy was it fantastic!  Our florida tarpon fishing trip saw 4 tarpon hooked in the air, however we were only able to get one to the boat.  We even hooked one on a light rod with jig/shrimp.  We also caught a couple of blacktip sharks.  The strangest thing of the day though was a 500 lb sawfish we caught on accident, Capt. Dave Peck had never seen one so it was very exciting for him!  We caught him on a tarpon rod with 80 lb mono leader and a small 4/0 hook, amazingly, he took off like a frieght train then stopped dead in his tracks and hugged the bottom while we finger-tipped him up with the leader and got a good look at him.  We released him unharmed as these are very rare and protected fish - true dinosaurs!!! Hopefully this is a good sign that it will be a fantastic year for our florida keys fishing!!!

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

2/2/11 Relentess and BnM place 1st and 3rd in the Poor Girls Tourney!

Team Relentless and BnM, with Capt. Paul Ross and Capt. Nick Stanczyk, placed 1st and 3rd in the Poor Girls Sailfish Tournament on Wednesday.  It was a close tournament, with 46 boats and 46 fish released (pretty sure about the stats not entirely).  Relentless had 5, and BnM and Killer White had 4, though Killer White caught theres before so they got 2nd.  Instant action early in the morning, fairly slow mid-day, and another rally in the afternoon.  Congratultaions guys!