1/10/12 Winter time backcountry fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had the McGradys out today for a father-son retirement fishing trip!  Fishing has been pretty good overall in the backcountry especiallying fishing in flamingo.  We ran to that area and headed even further towards the cape and fished a few areas which have been pretty good as of late.  Seems the fish have been pretty beat up I've seen lots of boats sitting in there.  We poked around a few spots and had to work hard at it.  Between getting eaten alive by bugs on the boat and catfish on our baits, we finally got into a few good fish.  Several nice black drum along with a few other jacks, ladyfish, trout, etc...  We put a shark rod out and also caught a nice bull shark.  Saw a handful of tarpon rolling but they did not seem interested in eating.  When the tide quit we ran back towards flamingo to catch the end of the tide and fished some runoffs.  Not much to talk about there, did catch one little red and a nice snook on pinfish at the end that made it worth while.  Brian also caught a double header seagull and redfish at the same time - not what he was expecting!  Finished the day where we had a good bite of trout the other day, they were still there caught several nice size specs, along with jacks, pompano, and you guessed it - more catfish!  The guys had a blast though and our fishing with Capt. Nick Stanczyk offshore on Thursday.  They also are already planning a spring/summer trip for tarpon!

Capt. John Johansen reported a similar bite near the east cape area.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported a good mackerel bite on the edge of the gulf, good to know those fish are back as they had shut down due to the cold we experienced about a week ago.

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

12/4/11 Islamorada Flats Fishing in December

Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti had the boys from University of Northwest Ohio out for a few hours and caught ladyfish, mackerel and a few small blacktip sharks. Plenty of action in the muds and such in the bays close to home.  The wind was howling 20-25 mph out of east/north east.  Islamorada flats fishing in december has been good, lots of options as the water hasn't chilled too much yet.  The Bodacious with Capt. Nick Stanczyk as angler and crew mate won the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament for 2011 with 22 sailfish in 3 days, great job!  The Catch 22 and Kalex out of Bud n' Mary's also placed in top 5. Florida Keys Deep Sea Fishing has been good if you can stand the chop, lots of muttons and a few groupers roaming the reefs and in the sand.  Come on down now it's a great time to go december fishing in the florida keys before the craziness of christmas week!

11/23/11 Islamorada spanish mackerel fishing

Well the wind came around from the south this morning and laid down nicely as the day went on during 11/23/11.  Wasn't too bad to start out with.  We got out for a morning half day and had good conditions, tide headed towards the gulf off sprigger bank area.  Put the chum bag out and fish were around us instantly.  Started off with lots of big ladyfish and blue runners, and several nice mangrove snappers as well as a handful of trout.  Spanish mackerel were soon to follow, several large fish that were 4-5 lbs.  Much fun on light tackle.  Bare jigs with shrimp worked fine, though shiny mylar jigs were the hot ticket, didn't even need shrimp at the end.  Here is Ambrose pictured with one nice Mack.  They bit almost every cast eventually until the tide stopped.  At the end of the tide we put some dead mackerel chunks on the bottom for sharks, hooked a couple big black tips though they broke us off pretty quick, as well as a big nurse shark we pulled the hooks on.  Oh well still plenty of fun, get on out there this thanksgiving weekend, will have great tide for that, as well as in the backcountry for most of the day!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903

11/3/11 November Islamorada Fishing.. mack attack, 400 lb goliath!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished two half days today on 11/3/11 for some november islamorada fishing report substance!  This morning had Keith Krunk down with a group also fishing Capt. Jack Backus and Capt. Ed Cale.  We fished out west trying for spanish mackerels since a few have been showing up since the temperatures have dropped.  Today the wind fell down to 5-10 mph, from blowing over 25 mph yesterday out of the north!  Lots of cool air, but at least not so rough today!  The macks did not bite great this morning with the in tide, though we caught a handful and pulled some off.  Lots of big ladyfish as well as some jacks and snappers.  Kept us busy!  This afternoon when the tide starting falling into the gulf with the wind behind it, it was game on with the spanish mackerel fishing!  Had Jeremy and his dad out who fished with my monday AM, we had caught some trout, snapper, ladyfish, and a few macks that day, plus an 80 lb goliath.  Though got drenched on the way in and caught in a nasty storm.  They braved it again and had a beautiful afternoon.  Caught probably 30 mackerels along with plenty of jacks too, some nice size mackerel too.   The big blacktips were also chewing and going crazy, we got one to the boat and broke off probably 4 or 5 as they jumped and twisted, straightening hooks and breaking #9 wire!  Lots of fun to watch!  At the end we hooked something big on the bottom, not a black tip this time...  We chased after it, too big to stop anchored.  Thought it was a big nurse shark, but no - big 400 lb goliath grouper!  Got him up to the surface and he soaked us with a splash of his tail.  Got him up again and he calmed down for some pictures, close to 7 feet long!  Great way to end the day for these guys on their florida keys fishing trip!

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

10/23/11 More big snook fishing florida keys!

Capt Jim Willcox today...major flurry of big snook,big reds, & big drum...with college buddies from Alabama on the 90's, Andrew, Matt & Brant.The boys finished with 2 lemon sharks over 200 lbs and a blacktip approaching 150, for some reasomn everything was big today!!! Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished a late afternoon half day, caught plenty of trout, ladyfish, and jacks.  Plus a big bull shark and 2 big blacktips, sharks were what they wanted!