2/22/12 Islamorada backcountry shark and tarpon fishing!

Gerald Cohen holds up a Blacktip Shark for his 9 year old daughter Liat. She released 13 sharks and caught and released her first ever Tarpon an estimated 85 pounder.  She was using Foxsportfishing tackle.   Also on the trip was Hannah,Ben and mom Liz. Everybody got in on the shark action. Earlier in the day Spanish Mackerel and Mangrove Snapper were caught. The Cohen's have been Bud and Marys fishing customers since 1971 and fished with Captain Skip Nielsen.  Great to see the islamorada tarpon fishing starting to pick up!

2/19/12 Backcountry fishing florida keys february.

Well the wind kicked up out of the southwest this morning and by the end of the day was howling for islamorada fishing in february.  This really churned up the water in a lot of the backcountry.  We weren't able to do anything on the edge of the gulf or back at the cape, so stuck around flamingo.  Caught plenty of ladyfish and trout in several spots.  Shark fished for a while and caught a nice 80 lb blacktip.  Saw a few tarpon rolling but they were not biting.  As the tide died we moved, lots more trout and ladyfish and a few pompano and jacks.  Water was incoming now and we decided to try some redfish spots.  Hit the right spot first and spent our last hour catching about a dozen reds, several slot size fish 20+ inches.  Also caught a big black drum and a smaller one, and a sting ray.  Good finish to the day.  Capt. Bob Reineman reported catching several redfish poling and casting.  Capt. Jim Willcox reported some good action with snappers, trout, and ladyfish, and lots of small blacktips and a big 100 lber further out west for his day of february florida keys fishing.  -- Capt. Rick Stanczyk

2/3/12 Great fishing in the everglades despite the wind!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with Carlo and his brother down from Canada today on 2/3/12 for a full day islamorada fishing charter.  The winds were howling, a steady 20+mph all day with gusts over 25!  Luckily it is coming from the eastern quadrant which is not too bad in the everglades.  We skated the edges of the banks and channels towards flamingo, arriving early at 8:00 am.  Caught the end of the falling tide.. first boat there luckily.  Fishing was red hot, we used primarily shrimp.  Lots of redfish, a handful of slot fish mixed in with lots of puppy drum.  We caught a couple nice snook early too, one with a horn hooked shrimp on a jig, the other off a pinfish on the bottom.  Several black drum were in there too with one nice size one, as well as half a dozen slot trout which we kept!  We fished for a few hours catching close to 50 fish, through the slack tide and the in tide.  After things slowed a bit, we moved to some channels a little further west for some florida keys shark fishing.  Lots of trout in there mixed in with jacks, no pompanos today.  We saved some stuff for bait, and after we ran out of shrimp, moved deeper in the channel for some shark fishing.  We caught probably 8 black tips, mostly little ones, and this nice 90 lb bull shark.  No tarpon today though the hard winds and bit of chill in the air likely has shut them off again.  Last bait of the day we hooked something big... ran us down to the mono backing on our BG 90 while I threw the anchor ball.  We chased the big sea monster around for 25 minutes or so, but unfortunately while pulling on him he got the wind-on leader wrapped around his sharp toothy bill and cut us off!  We then headed home, the boys are fishing offshore tomorrow and staying on one of Bud n' Mary's houseboats tonight!

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

1/28/12 Good Backcountry Fishing in Flamingo

Bob and Bobby Joyce from Boston went out on a full day in the backcountry with Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti a few days ago. They fished in the Flamingo area catching trout, redfish, and Blackdrum. They also caught black drum and a snook!  Capt. Skip Nielsen reported a good bite of tarpon the other day in the backcountry with Cliff Fox, they caught 4 out of 6!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported a good spanish mackerel bite on the edge of the gulf yesterday, they caught a boat load, plus mangrove snappers, trout, and pompano.  They jumped a couple tarpon they couldn't get to stay on, but did catch a couple 100lb bull sharks!  The tarpon may thin out again for a few days since we had a drop in temperature, but after it warms up again for a few days it should be game on! 

1/11/12 Florida keys backcountry fishing january!

Well the threat of weather loomed all day long in the backcountry fishing islamorada today.  Luckily it never got bad on the water till everybody got home safe!  Capt. Jim Willcox reported lots of mackerels on bait and fly in the bay, also caught limit of snappers and a nice cobia on a live grunt.  They finished the day catching trout in the ditches in the everglades.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported similar fishing though we started fishing the ditches in the glades for trout which was good.  Fished around the cape area after that caught a few red and black drum and a big ray on a light spin rod, though not red hot in there.  Finished the day in the bay and found a nice hole caught 4 nice red groupers, a couple mutton snappers, mangrove snappers, porgies, mackerels, trout, and sharks in.  Had a good breeze out of the south most of the day and the rain came around 3:00, though suppose to be nicer tomorrow!  Great january fishing in the florida keys!