1/21/13 Great weather, great fishing in the florida keys!

Well fishing has continued to be good throughout this january fishing florida keys.  Yesterday and today the Cromwells, Rich and Luke, fished with Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Nick Stanczyk for some offshore and backcountry fishing.  Yesterday we fished the gulf mostly, stopped at the cape on the way to try and catch a snook.  We were successful and caught 2 nothing real big but snook none the less!  We then ran out into the gulf and hit some structure, no luck at the first stop, so continued west and ran the trap lines.  Tripetails were out, we messed with those for a bit and caught 6 in total all sight casting plus a few for dinner.  Islamorada triple tail fishing is lots of fun!  We hit our wreck destination right on time at the change of the tide.  Cobias popped up fairly quick, we caught 4/5 including one keeper all on light tackle.  We also had one goliath eat a live bait on the bottom though he wasn't able to swallow it and a shark ate it, unfortunately he was being picky and we never got him to bite again.  On the way home we caught some nice trout too, great day on this january backcountry fishing islamorada.  Capt. Ken Cohan also reported a good mix of fish in the bays.  They included spanish mackerel, bluefish, trout, ladyfish, pompano, and jacks.  Mostly fishing muds near the edge of the gulf back towards the cape area.  On the offshore side with the BNM they fished an afternoon 3/4 day.  They caught some tunas early offshore, nice blackfins.  Tuna fishing islamorada has been good as of late and provides great dinner for those that love fish!  They also caught nice yellowtail florida keys reef fishing.  At the end they stuck it out and Luke released 2 sailfish as well!  The Fearless with Capt. Joe Hendrix reported 20 nice blackfin tunas this morning out at the humps.  Also on the Catch 22, Capt. Scott Stanczyk fished Kris and Eugen Fine with a group of 6 including 4 US Army Officers on 1/20/13.  They had 5 sailfish dancing on the surface and caught!  They also caught some large blackfin tuna, a cobia, and bonita.

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

1/19/13 Backcountry and Gulf fishing islamorada in january!

Well we've had another minor cold front hit the keys a few days ago for our islamorada fishing in january and chilled the water down a bit, luckily however not too cold and is back on a warming trend already.  Islamorada backcountry fishing has been decent the last few days.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Perry Scuderi had a group trip yesterday.  We picked at the redfish, black drum, and sheepshead.  Got one snook as well around an island moat.  In the afternoon we caught our limit of trout for dinner plus plenty of ladyfish, jacks, and a few pompano.  Today the islamorada flats fishing was similar in the back.  We got into a good snook bite this AM catching 8 or so, plus a nice redfish.  Picked a few more redfish as well as black drum out of the hole.  Then picked at fish in a few other places - sheepshead, mangrove snappers, and jacks.  Decided to try the trout january fishing islamorada again in the afternoon and we caught plenty of those, however not quite as large this time no keepers but lots of fun rod bending action.  Also got some pompano as well before heading home.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported good fishing in the gulf, they got into some spanish mackerel, a few cobia, a permit,  a 40 lb kingfish!!!... and some larger trout out there.  The weather is suppose to be calm tomorrow and continuing to warm, so look for some good fishing all over the place fishing in the florida keys!

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

1/13/2013 Backcountry Fishing Islamorada in High Winds!

On 1/13/2013 the east wind continued to roar and even picked up from yesterday blowing 15-20 today.  We still did some backcountry fishing islamorada and fished the edge of gulf of mexico for a half day.  We did the same thing yesterday in the wind.  Fishing was productive both days, yesterday was a little more action than today though we still kept the red bent today with about a dozen mackerels, including one 8 lb king mackerel.  Did I mention that islamorada fly fishing for mackerel is also a blast especially for beginners at fly casting!  Also plenty of runners, jacks, and nice size mangrove snappers if your looking for something to eat!  January islamorada fishing for spanish macks is usually a good bet on a half day.  The real exciting thing the past few days was the black tip shark action.  Plenty of big 50-80 lb bruisers that are in the mood to feed with the falling tide, a cut mackerel on the bottom doesn't last 5 minutes.  We went through several rigs but caught 2 yesterday and 2 today, including this nice specimen pictured that was ~70 lbs.  Today we also caught 2 (well, maybe the same one that was really hungry!) big nurse sharks over 200 lbs!  If you want to go shark fishing in the florida keys then this is a fun way to do it this time of year!  Yesterday we fished a full day and spent the afternoon hitting the low tide run-offs in the backcountry.  With the negative tide fish often get pushed into these tight areas, but can be some nice size trout and such!  That's it for this islamorada fishing report january. 

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

1/11/13 January backcountry fishing Islamorada

Well the wind continued to howl from the east again today here on 1/11/13 however that didn't prevent us from making a good day of it!  January Islamorada Fishing has had a little bit of everything going on in the backcountry, however with the high wind and mudded up water, there are only so many realistic options.  Today we ran way back in the 'glades fishing cape sable.  The water near flamingo all the way to east cape look like choclate milk.  However once we got around past middle cape, the water was very pretty and clean up to northwest cape.  We caught the very start of the in-tide, first stop the bugs ate us alive so we moved quickly. Luckily as the sun came up they subsided.  Next stop we got into a little flurry of snook and redfish.  A few medium size ones mixed with some little guys, plus plenty of jacks and ladyfish.    We later hit some more structure, downed trees, run-offs, etc...  However not much luck aside from snapper, jacks, and ladyfish.  We moved back to another set of creeks and hit some nicer snook and redfish right off the bat, again a little flurry then it quitted down.  Moved further in but alas only jacks, ladyfish, and snapper for this time flats fishing islamorada.  Caught maybe a dozen or so snook and a dozen reds, plus 10 sheepshead.  Hit a few more high-tide snook spots on the way home, however not much luck fishing the pinfish.  A good backcountry mixed back for this january islamorada fishing report.  On the way home made a stop in a channel and caught about 20 trout, several nice slot size ones too.  Not a bad way to spend the day given the conditions!

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

1/7/13 Great fishing offshore and backcountry fishing for the Dwyers!

Jason and Brendan Dwyer from Arizona recently visited and went florida keys fishing with us last week after new years .  They fished offshore on The Reel McCoy as well as in the backcountry with Capt. Rick Stanczyk, and early morning for tarpon near Islamorada with Capt. Vic Gaspeny.  Successful in all venues, they caught sailfish offshore with Capt. George McElveen on Reel McCoy, tarpon and a even a few permit with Capt. Vic, plus a mixed backcountry bag of mackerel, snapper, bluefish, trout, pompano, and a couple cobias with Capt. Rick Stanczyk.  With the warm winter weather we have had recently, just about anything is possible fishing in islamorada.  Give us a call and we can set a trip up for you!