12/25/12 Christmas Day Florida Keys Fishing Report

Hello and happy holidays to all!  Today on 12/25/12 we had a gorgeous day here in islamorada florida keys.  The water is still fairly cool though warmed up considerably, got to about 67 degrees in the everglades today.  I went fun fishing with my dad and friend Ron Modra, we ran back to east cape and middle cape.  Fishing was fair, not a whole lot of action in any one spot, though we picked a few fish from just about everywhere.  Mostly fishing shrimp still with the cooler water december fishing islamorada.  We caught a cobia and nice red off some structure in the near gulf on the change of the tide.  When the tide started in worked some areas in east cape.  Caught a few more reds, some black drum, pulled the hook on one nice snook.  Then headed back to lake inghram for more december florida keys fishing and caught a few trout and reds in there jigging shrimp.  Saw 3 crocdiles sunning out on the banks, pretty cool small, medium, and large all next to each other within a few hundred feet!  Then back to middle cape.  Worked a few treelines and caught one snook, and pulled another nice fatty off.  This time we were casting bucktails and working them a bit faster to avoid snags.  Got a mix of jacks and ladyfish out there as well.  By now tide was high and still trickling in, we hit a few more creeks but not too much action inside any of them.  Finished the day back at east cape and got into a little rally of snooks, caught 3 more and a couple nice ones at that, plus a few trout and snappers.  A great way to end the day backcountry islamorada fishing especially after the hurt of losing a couple nice snooks!

On the other side islamorada offshore fishing december my brother Capt. Nick Stanczyk took our friend Woody Woods who is down for the xmas holidays fishing as well.  They caught 3 sails in just a couple hours early in the morning plus a nice blackfin tuna!  The Strictly Business also caught a sail, and Kalex had a nice wahoo yesterday.  The islamorada sailfish should be biting good with the winds kicking up a bit the next several days!

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

12/24/12 Backcountry December Islamorada Fishing Report

Well the winds have switched around a bit and things are starting to warm up a bit here on 12/24/12.  The water temperatures in the backcountry are still pretty cold, low 60s, however should have a chance to start warming now as the wind turns to southeast.  Today we did a half day islamorada backcountry fishing trip and started around flamingo.  Caught a few reds but not real red hot for us so I ran further west, however lots of boats on the water.  I ended up running all the way to east cape which I normally don't do on a half day, but hoped with the cooler water some fish would be piled in there.  We ended up catching a handful of black drum, sheepshead, and redfish, maybe 15 in total while florida keys inshore fishing. Though one nice size black drum which made the trip!  We had low tide early at flamingo and incoming current at the cape by then.  Capt. Bob reineman reported getting into a couple dozen redfish early while working some runoffs islamorada flats fishing though once the tide quit so did the fish.  Capt. Jeff Beeler reported a slow pick of fish throughout the full day back at east and middle cape... redfish, black drum, sheeps head, snook... but did catch a few quality fish including this nice snook - and some trout on the way hom!  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti and Capt. Jim Willcox reported mixed bags on the islamorada patch reefs including snapper, mackerel, small grouper, and porgy.  Overall not too bad of a day, the fish will hopefully get acclimated to this cooler water hopefully since it looks like more cold weather will be arriving in another week or so.  That's it for the islamorada fishing report for december!  Christmas week is here and this next week is looking slammed, if your interested in fishing make your reservations ASAP or you might miss out!  Looks to be a gorgeous week with light southeast winds.

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

12/10/12 December Islamorada Fishing Report

Well today was fairly windy and warm for december fishing in islamorada.  Had a southeast breeze of 10-15 mph, unusual for this time of year.  Most of the time we are getting northerly breeze bringing down the cooler air in the winter.  Saturday and today I had Mike Traut fishing the florida keys backcountry.  On saturday we fished near flamingo, had the incoming tide all morning.  The water levels have not been fluctuating much this week due to unusual tidal influences, similar to the neap tide.  We picked around some islands at redfish that day, moving from spot to spot, finally did get into a decent mess of them catching 25 or so in all.  Finished that day with a snook in around a deeper island moat.  Flamingo fishing has been decent overall as the weather had not mixed the water up too bad back there.  Today on 12/10/12 we ran back to the cape, however the water out near east cape was fairly mixed up.  We caught the last of the falling tide in some of the creek runoffs there, and picked at redfish, jacks, and ladyfish.  I ran back to middle cape in search of cleaner water for our islamorada fishing trip and we did find some, however not much in the way of fish.  Did find a couple snook on one corner which looked very fishy but not much else, and caught some jacks and ladyfish on the shorelines.  So we ran back towards home and hit some spots on the way to the spanish mackerel fishing grounds, and did catch another dozen reds and a couple more snook.  We ended the day mackerel fishing, the chum didn't last long as the pinfish tore it up though luckily we didn't need much, within 15 minutes we were getting a mackerel bite every cast.  Caught maybe a dozen, plus a mix of bluefish, blue runners, and jacks.  Was good to see as the water temperature was warm about 77 degrees and incoming tide - not usually a good bet for spanish mackerel but I had a report from yesterday they were swarming which held true!  Had a very large shark that I don't think was a blacktip eat a mackerel right next to the boat which was pretty exciting too!  Shark fishing islamorada can be good this time of year when out mackerel fishing for the large blacktips!  Capt. Jim Willcox reported similar snook/redfish action today.  Capt.  Bill Bassett and Capt. Clyde Upchurch reported good spanish mackerel fishing yesterday on a half day as well.  Great time to be december fishing in the florida keys!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com 

11/28/12 November Islamorada Fishing Report Backcountry

Well just back in town after a much needed vacation and glad to have gotten back out on the water the last couple days even if it was just for fun!  Well this last few days of november fishing in the florida keys have been rather productive and looks like the wind will be blowing the next several days starting after today 11/28/12.  We ran deep into the everglades fishing today along with Capt. Jim Willcox.  Hit a couple gulf spots early this AM on the falling water, managed a nice cobia on light tackle along with a nice redfish, plus a large sting ray that got us a little excited!  Once the tide turned we headed back towards the mainland cape sable.  It was king of a slow and steady pick of fish we had to work and move around, managed 15 or so reds with a few nice size fish on pinfish, plus plenty of ladyfish, jacks, snapper, and a few trout.  Lots of variety thats what we love about fishing islamorada backcountry.  Later in the day fished some deeper creeks and shorelines where we got into a few snook.  Had a bite or two in several spots we hit, mostly nice larger size fish.  Ended the day at east cape the water and current was so good looking we stayed late, however did not have much luck there, but at least we had a satisfying overall day!  Capt. Jim Willcox reported a similar bite of redfish and some snook in the back, they also ran deep into the everglades.  After some more cold fronts look for many of the redfish, snook, and black drum to stack up in the deeper water and provide an excellent winter time fishing in islamorada place to go!  Yesterday we also fun fished, caught several spanish mackerel in the morning and got some cool video footage of big goliath on a wreck, plus some tripletail footage on buoys in the gulf.  We caught several large redfish and a cobia later in that day, broke off a big snook, and caught a couple dozen puppy drum to end that day as well.  Great backcountry fishing in the florida keys in november!  Capt. Skip Nielsen reported good action on the patches fishing the ocean side today, as well as a good spanish mackerel bite in the afternoon yesterday on the incoming tide.

11/13/12 November Islamorada Fishing in the Everglades

Islamorada fishing in November has been fairly good as of late.  A little bit of everything biting in the florida keys fishing.  Today the spanish mackerels showed up good with tide going into the gulf in the AM.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported good fishing out west near sprigger bank.  Capt. Bill Bassett also reported good bites of mangrove snappers out there and also some good redfishing and a few snook later on the higher water more towards flamingo.  Capt. Jim Willcox ran deep into the everglades fishing islamorada and said fishing took some work, they had a few snook early and after blazing some trails found some redfish hole up.  Our experience was similar we had one nice snook off the bat and not much else, a few trout, jacks, ladyfish, and a black drum, so we took a ride up to shark river to check that out, and caught another nice snook on the way back.  We did see a few tarpon rolling first thing too however they did not seem to want to eat our pinfish, but interesting they are still back there after the cold we had a week or so ago.  We did find some redfish and a few more snook on the high water closer to home which was nice.  Backcountry fishing in Islamorada has such a variety of options and can be different every day which is what we love (and sometimes hate!) about this fishery!  It's a good time of year for flats fishing islamorada so give Bud n' Mary's a call and we can set you up!  Lots of neat bird life/wild life to see as well, check out the great shots from Ron Modra including the spoonbill, and Capt. Jims croc picture!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk