1/13/2013 Backcountry Fishing Islamorada in High Winds!

On 1/13/2013 the east wind continued to roar and even picked up from yesterday blowing 15-20 today.  We still did some backcountry fishing islamorada and fished the edge of gulf of mexico for a half day.  We did the same thing yesterday in the wind.  Fishing was productive both days, yesterday was a little more action than today though we still kept the red bent today with about a dozen mackerels, including one 8 lb king mackerel.  Did I mention that islamorada fly fishing for mackerel is also a blast especially for beginners at fly casting!  Also plenty of runners, jacks, and nice size mangrove snappers if your looking for something to eat!  January islamorada fishing for spanish macks is usually a good bet on a half day.  The real exciting thing the past few days was the black tip shark action.  Plenty of big 50-80 lb bruisers that are in the mood to feed with the falling tide, a cut mackerel on the bottom doesn't last 5 minutes.  We went through several rigs but caught 2 yesterday and 2 today, including this nice specimen pictured that was ~70 lbs.  Today we also caught 2 (well, maybe the same one that was really hungry!) big nurse sharks over 200 lbs!  If you want to go shark fishing in the florida keys then this is a fun way to do it this time of year!  Yesterday we fished a full day and spent the afternoon hitting the low tide run-offs in the backcountry.  With the negative tide fish often get pushed into these tight areas, but can be some nice size trout and such!  That's it for this islamorada fishing report january. 

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

1/7/13 Great fishing offshore and backcountry fishing for the Dwyers!

Jason and Brendan Dwyer from Arizona recently visited and went florida keys fishing with us last week after new years .  They fished offshore on The Reel McCoy as well as in the backcountry with Capt. Rick Stanczyk, and early morning for tarpon near Islamorada with Capt. Vic Gaspeny.  Successful in all venues, they caught sailfish offshore with Capt. George McElveen on Reel McCoy, tarpon and a even a few permit with Capt. Vic, plus a mixed backcountry bag of mackerel, snapper, bluefish, trout, pompano, and a couple cobias with Capt. Rick Stanczyk.  With the warm winter weather we have had recently, just about anything is possible fishing in islamorada.  Give us a call and we can set a trip up for you!

1/4/13 Backcountry and Gulf Florida Keys Fishing Report

Had Sue Cocking down from the Miami Herald today on 1/4/13 for a little fishing story for the outdoors section of the Herald.  There was a last minute cancellation to her original plans and we set something up the day before.  We decided to go for a backcountry islamorada fishing trip and to showcase a variety of fish, as that is one of the special things about fishing in the florida keys.  We started out near flamingo, fishing some high-water spots near some mangroves for redfish.  We caught about a half dozen or so, as well as a few black drum and sheepshead.  We later moved to some deeper moats on the change of the tide to look for some snook.  We did hook one nice one that broke us off near the boat, and ended up catching a few more black drum and sheepshead.  Later we moved to some other channels where there had been some nice muds with a good mix of fish.  Trout, ladyfish, pompano, and a baby permit were to be had.  All fish to this point were caught on simple shrimp and jigs whilst islamorada fishing.  We started to use some tiny ladyfish pieces to catch pinfish,  and we mohawked them catching a couple dozen while bending the rod with other stuff!  We then headed out into the gulf of mexico fishing as the weather was slick calm and looked too pretty not to try.  We found several tripletail on the way out, and caught several keeping 3 for dinner.  Casting shrimp on a bare hook with tiny float was effective, and we even caught a few on light jigs as some were staying down a little deeper.  We then went gulf wreck fishing and caught several cobias up to 15 lbs, as well as another permit, and a large 100 lb goliath grouper!  Cobias were all caught on our fresh pinfish.  We then wanted to try to catch some mackerel, so we headed back towards sprigger bank and fished a few miles out from there.  On the way we came across something very unusual - several large packs of bonitas in the 8 - 12 lb range feeding on something very small.  We didn't get any bites out of them, but were able to drive right on top to confirm what they were!  As soon as we anchored and casted in our mackerel area we had fish on, we put a little chum out and caught about a dozen spanish mackerel as well as a few bluefishfish and snappers.  We then headed home, another beautiful day here and fun to be had in all areas, not just islamorada flats fishing in the backcountry!  Capt. Vic Gaspeny has reported excellent water and temperature conditions for tarpon fishing in islamorada.  They caught 9 in early morning trips as well as a 30 lb permit.

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.