4/18/11 How fishing can change overnight!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had part of the big english group for their last day of backcountry fishing in the florida keys.  They ran far out in the middle of nowhere again where their were tarpon and permit everywhere yesterday.  Today was a different story, the fish all disappeared!  They tried two spots, did catch some nice jacks and on the fly as well.  Also caught a big bull shark they fowl hooked.  The winds started to pick up and they headed back towards Islamorada to tarpon fish for their last hour.  After making a few ocean side drifts, they headed back into a bayside channel.  After some lobster pot complications, they reset for their final drift, and one cork went under.  Rick yelled, "Reel!"  Came tight on a big 120 lb tarpon, which did make a few nice jumps.  We caught him and then headed home - a good end to a tough day of fishing!!!  Capt. Bill Bassett caught another one on fly today as well with some other members of this group!

4/17/11 BIG day gulf side!

Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished another day with our english gents from the U.K. for their 4th day here fishing in Islamorada.  The winds laid down to flat come so we had an opportunity to run far from home and fish the middle of nowhere.  Tarpon and permit were laid up everywhere as it was slick calm.  Capt. Jim caught 2 tarpon and Capt. Rick caught 1.  Capt. Rick also had a couple cobias swim up and we caught those as well.  We ran a little further out later on, unfortunately Capt. Rick had gotten eaten off by tarpon and permits and ran out of crabs.  They fished with the big rods and caught 4 big bull sharks up to 400 lbs!!!  Also caught two goliath groupers, one which was close to 350 lbs!  Capt. Jim caught 3 permit and was able to safely release them away from the bull sharks, and also caught a couple big bulls.  Both also caught some big jacks and a few spanish mackerels as well.  Great day for these brits on their florida fishing vacation!!! 

 

4/14/11 Florida Keys Tarpon Charters today!

Our regular brits from the U.K. came for their 3rd trip in 6 months with a large group of 8 guys.  They have 4 guides booked for 5 days and today was the first day of fishing!  They stay right at Bud n' Mary's and love the atmosphere, the captains, and of course the fishing!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk, Capt. Bill Bassett, Capt. Jeff Beeler, and Capt. Dave Sisung fished them for some Islamorada tarpon today and all had success!  Everybody caught a tarpon, Capt. Dave caught 2, and Capt. Bill caught one on fly!  Capt. Rick also caught several blacktip sharks, and some huge nurse sharks one which was almost 300 lbs!  Great action today and more to come I'm sure over the next 4 days!!!  We are hoping to mix up some of the fishing so look for some different things happening! The tarpon were everywhere we stopped today, so get your bookings in now while the fishing is still hot!!!

4/11/11 Big day backcountry fishing tarpon!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had a wonderful day in the islamorada backcountry fishing along with several other guides as well!  He fished Roger Barry and his son James from the U.K.  Roger fished with his father Richard Stanczyk almost 20 years ago for tarpon down here and loved fishing with him because Richard was always sharing his knowledge of fishing with him!  Well today was a treat for them, we caught and released two tarpon up to 60 lbs on the spinning rods which was a lot of fun!  Roger also caught this giant 400 lb goliath grouper off a bottom bait which was an unusual catch and quite amazing!  James also caught a large bottom dweller that was almost 250 lbs all by himself.  We also caught a small blacktip.  Capt. Jim Willcox was fishing next to us and went 2 for 4 on the tarpon.  Capt. Skip Nielsen reported good fishing as well, and Capt. Bill Basset jumped 5 fish.  Capt. Mike Basset had a nice snook in the back and caught three the day before which was good to see, plus several puppy drum reds.  The trout and ladyfish were biting decent as well.  On the ocean side, the Kalex had a rackful of nice 25-30 lb blackfin tunas!  The BnM caught another big tiger shark as well, and the Catch 22 reported a 600 lb mako eating several jacks and such they were trying to catch before they could get them to the boat!  Exciting fishing in Islamorada this April!!!

4/9/11 Florida Tarpon Fishing great in the everglades!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had a great day today with a large corporate group that booked several boats out of Bud n' Mary's for a few days of fishing!  He caught plenty of ladyfish, trout, and snappers to start the day.  They then put the big rods out in the backcountry and the tarpon were thick!  The first one they caught 5 minutes after putting the baits out - a large 140+ lb beast!!!  Then they caught another 75 lber.  A 3rd fish they got up to the boat and jumped off for a palm beach release!  They had a couple other bites they missed and then caught a 75 lb bull shark.  Great action for these guys!  Capt. Perry Scuderi caught 3 tarpon as well right next to me!

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