10/3/12 October Islamorada Fishing Report

Went fun fishing today with fellow captain Mike Bassett for some October fishing in Islamorada.  We headed way back off the mainland deep in the everglades to check things out.  The winds had been fairly wild the last few days, and on the way there I had my doubts as to whether the fishing would be good.  Lots of muddy water, weeds, etc...  We kept chugging back there and luckily found a few areas where the tide falling out of the creeks was very clean looking water.  We fished all over, trying some new spots and fishing some other mouths, runoffs, and sandbars that I've fished the last couple weeks.  Most spots were holding nice snook in islamorada.  We caught probably a dozen in total and missing another 6 or so, as well as 20 redfish, mostly on pinfish and some on shrimp.  Most the reds were slot size though not many bigger than 22 inches or so.  The tide ran out for a very long time, longer than it was suppose too.  The wind also kept it moving out even when the level started to rise, as we could see the muddy water making its way in - very strange!  Also bagged a nice tripletail on the way home for dinner, as well as a bullshark on light tackle.  I also lost a 15+ lb snook on my engine at the end of the day fishing a new spot - but got a good look at him at least!  Great florida keys fishing in october especially for a day when things didn't look so hot to begin with!  On the offshore side Sugaree stayed on the reef catching some close in mahi, yellowtails, and an unexpected cobia.  The relentless and redfish had some more yellowtails, mutton snapper, black grouper, and cero mackerel mixed in.  The Catch 22 had some nice tunas a couple days ago 10-18 lbs, as well as a 90 lb sword.  That's the great thing about fall fishing in Islamorada is that you never know what you might get since we're in a transitional period!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

9/28/12 Islamorada snook fishing in the everglades backcountry!

October fishing in Islamorada is almost upon us being 9/28/12! We've had some very low tides as of late, almost spring-like tides very unusual!  Took my dad, Richard Stanczyk Sr., girlfriend Elizabeth Baxter, and one of the new main men at Bud n' Mary's Steven Byrd out for a day of fun fishing.  Left early again out at 6:00 AM and made the run partially in the dark to the cape for some everglades snook fishing, deep into the everglades up around the bend of the mainland!  Had a load of pinfish and shrimp and caught it just in time for the start of incoming tide.  We worked some of the creeks and channels, when the current got going we got into some good smaller redfish and a few smaller snook as well as a mix of trout, jacks, ladyfish, etc...  Finally just started picking around and would nail a snook or nicer red off the pinfish, one here one there.  Did hit one low-tide spot that was holding some smaller reds which was also good last week.  October fishing florida keys can be great but often you must 'pick and move' as they say!  We jumped around a good 7- 8 times and then ran back down the cape towards home.  The current was ripping, tried a few other spots on the way home but too much water flow.  Finally found a nice hole where the current wasn't moving quite so fast.  Ended up catching 3 nice snook, a nice red, and a juvenile goliath right at the end of our day between 12:30-1:00 which was icing on the cake!  Look for much of this Islamorada backcountry fishing for snook/redfish to pick up as the water temperatures cool more and more - they have already started too slightly and we've had such good off season fishing it's amazing.  With the light/stable winds it's almost been better than much of the spring!!!  That's the great thing about fishing in Islamorada it can be good year round and you never know what your going to find!  Well that's it for this pre October Islamorada Fishing Report, catch 'em up!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

9/20/12 Great backcountry september florida keys fishing report!

Had my father Capt. Richard Stanczyk Sr. and friend/photographer Ron Modra out for some september fishing in islamorada for fun today!  We brought some shrimp and a load of pinfish to try deep in the florida everglades fishing.  We left early at 6:00 AM and headed back to cape sable.  We found some rolling tarpon early in the morning though it was tough to get bites out of them.  We drifted pinfish, anchored, alas no luck.  Finally I had one pinfish just hanging behind the transom of the boat, splashing on the surface, and wham a nice 40 lb tarpon ate him right there!  We caught him, very nice fight on light 15lb spin gear!  We then headed further back up the cape and fished some of the runoffs and shorelines.  Tide was still falling and water was very low for florida keys fishing in september, we finally found one area where there were several nice slot redfish and got one small/medium snook, fishing mostly shrimp and some cut bait.  We also got a nice baby goliath grouper and a couple small black drum.  We continued picking away and made are way up the creek as the tide died.  We then tried some other creeks, and as the tide started coming in so did some big snook!  We caught several nice 10-12 lber islamorada snook fishing, likely half a dozen and a couple smaller ones.  We got one nice 10 lb red as well.  Most these fish were eating pinfish.  We then had lunch and looked around a bit more and then made are way back towards middle cape.  We tried one more shoreline area and got into some more big redfish, 10-12 lbers, and got one more nice snook.  Again, pinfish was the ticket as well as some cut bait.  The tide was coming in pretty good now, and the overcast/rainy weather likely helped keeping the water a bit cooler for our islamorada fishing trip.

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

9/16/12 September florida keys fishing report

Backcountry fishing islamorada september has been good as of late.  We've had a fair amount of rain mixed in with some wind which has kept a lot of the bay cooled down which helps the fishing this time of year.  There's been a good mix of trout, snapper, ladyfish, and jacks on the edge of the gulf of mexico.  Great option for getting some dinner fish and having good rod bending action.  Redfish fishing has been productive on the higher water hitting the shorelines and islands.  If your flats fishing islamorada this is a good option as there are plenty of these fish around.  Today we worked much of the cape and it was a slow pick but we caught fish most places.  Early this morning on the falling tide we got into some big snook, we only managed one to the boat but it was a nice 12 lber!  Great fight on light tackle.  Big shrimp have been available due to the cooler water which is what this fish ate.  We also hooked an islamorada tarpon fishing plugs early with the overcast skies, they were happy, though the rain slammed us while we fought him and that killed the bite as it stirred up lots of mud!  Though it was nice to get this good fish for a september florida keys fishing report!  On the ocean side the Kalex had about 15 mahi yesterday, still good islamorada dolphin fishing this late in the year!  Also the reef has had a good bite of snappers, both yellowtail and mangrove!

9/11/12 Backcountry September Islamorada Fishing Report

Well the winds swung around from the west to out of the north this morning on 9/11/12, giving us some nice cooler air for most of the morning on today's september islamorada fishing charter.  Lots of rain last night as well over the mainland and cape area of the everglades, we dodge a bit throughout the day which pleasently cooled us off!  Had the Leon's down from Miami FL, father and son.  We started out on the edge of the gulf this morning, leaving early at 10 till 7 AM.  Trout, snapper, ladyfish, and jacks were biting non-stop.  Lots of decent size trout for dinner with some nice mangroves mixed in.  We did this for about half an hour, then decided to try some other stuff before it got too hot on this florida keys fishing september trip.  We then ran towards the cape and tried fishing in some of the finger creeks that go up inside.  Tide was still coming in, with plenty of high water to get around.  We ended up catching 2 snook, one decent one of about 6 lbs, all on big shrimp which were available due to the cooler weather the night before.  There were a handful of baby tarpon at the mouth of one of these canals too, though we did not get any bites out of them while trying to drift large shrimp back on corks.  We ran out and tried some spots in the near gulf for some different action.  We caught 2 large 'sea monsters,' one was likely 300 lbs - exciting stuff backcountry fishing in islamorada!  We also caught half a dozen cobias on pinfish, a couple were keeper size, though we only kept one as that's all we had room for!  We also jumped a 60 lb tarpon off, and saw plenty more rolling rolling around.  Then headed back towards flamingo fishing for some redfish while the water was still high enough to hit some shoreline spots.  We worked a few areas and finally got into some, catching about 10 in total with a few slot size fish, all of which we released.  Great stuff to write about for this september florida keys fishing report, hopefully things will continue to be good out there!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk