3/29/13 Florida Keys Backcountry Fishing Report

Well the backcountry fishing in Islamorada has been on the slow side the past several days.  We had another extreme late cold front and the nightly lows were in the low 50s, bringing some of the water temperatures in the everglades down to the high 50s making things very sluggish back there.  Even the local islamorada bay waters were down in the low 60s though are now climbing back up.  The islamorada patch reef fishing has been the hot ticket the last several days.  We had action with a variety of fish out there including lots of mangrove snappers, yellowtails, porgies, grunts, and blue runners.  We caught occasional nice hogfish, some various smaller groupers, and even a few small sharks and such.  Some guides that did fish in the backcountry that in the afternoon a few fish did bite.  Capt. Bill Bassett was able to find a handful of mackerels and snappers mixed in with lots of jacks and such.  Capt. Jack Backus did get a nice trout bite in the backcountry yesterday afternoon as well.  Capt. Mark Hlis was able to find some redfish poling in the afternoon too.  Today lots of guides were fishing the patch reefs and most had good action and a good mix of fish for dinner.  I had Andrew and son Alex Lee, they caught a mess of fish including some nice mangrove snappers, a couple hogfish, a few porgies, yellowtails, and a few small bonnet head and reef sharks.  The tarpon fishing the last few nights was very slow as the water temperatures were still below 70, that should be improving the next few nights and we do have some ideal tidal situations the next several nights, if the water warms up enough the next few days the tarpon fishing will likely improve tremendously.  Last night we saw plenty of fish rolling in 3 different spots we fished though none wanted to take a bait, live or dead.  April islamorada tarpon fishing is usually much more consistent and fish are here, so make your plans now as guides are booking up fast and this is one of the busiest spring seasons we have ever had!

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

1/21/13 Great weather, great fishing in the florida keys!

Well fishing has continued to be good throughout this january fishing florida keys.  Yesterday and today the Cromwells, Rich and Luke, fished with Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Nick Stanczyk for some offshore and backcountry fishing.  Yesterday we fished the gulf mostly, stopped at the cape on the way to try and catch a snook.  We were successful and caught 2 nothing real big but snook none the less!  We then ran out into the gulf and hit some structure, no luck at the first stop, so continued west and ran the trap lines.  Tripetails were out, we messed with those for a bit and caught 6 in total all sight casting plus a few for dinner.  Islamorada triple tail fishing is lots of fun!  We hit our wreck destination right on time at the change of the tide.  Cobias popped up fairly quick, we caught 4/5 including one keeper all on light tackle.  We also had one goliath eat a live bait on the bottom though he wasn't able to swallow it and a shark ate it, unfortunately he was being picky and we never got him to bite again.  On the way home we caught some nice trout too, great day on this january backcountry fishing islamorada.  Capt. Ken Cohan also reported a good mix of fish in the bays.  They included spanish mackerel, bluefish, trout, ladyfish, pompano, and jacks.  Mostly fishing muds near the edge of the gulf back towards the cape area.  On the offshore side with the BNM they fished an afternoon 3/4 day.  They caught some tunas early offshore, nice blackfins.  Tuna fishing islamorada has been good as of late and provides great dinner for those that love fish!  They also caught nice yellowtail florida keys reef fishing.  At the end they stuck it out and Luke released 2 sailfish as well!  The Fearless with Capt. Joe Hendrix reported 20 nice blackfin tunas this morning out at the humps.  Also on the Catch 22, Capt. Scott Stanczyk fished Kris and Eugen Fine with a group of 6 including 4 US Army Officers on 1/20/13.  They had 5 sailfish dancing on the surface and caught!  They also caught some large blackfin tuna, a cobia, and bonita.

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

10/8/12 October Fishing in the Florida Keys

Well over the past weekend here, islamorada fishing in october has continued to prove it's a great time of year to come down and fish.  Shots at all kinds of fish are possible, there's much less boat traffic on the water, and for the most part conditions have been good with light winds and a tad less heat than a few months ago.  In the backcountry fishing florida keys Capt. Jim Willcox had some fabulous fishing.  They had a tarpon on fly first thing in the morning, then some monster redfish on fly!  Pretty impressive size red drum for down here fishing islamorada.  They also had multiple big jacks and some cobias, which have still been around both in the gulf as well as offshore which is unusual for this time of year.  On the offshore side there has been some sailfishing in Islamorada starting to happen.  Both Sugaree and Strictly Business has sailfish releases as well as some good catches of king mackerel (kingfish).  The Strictly business also had a decent catch of yellowtail snapper.  On Friday the Relentless had a good catch of mahi and blackfin tuna further offshore.  Great to still have some islamorada dolphin fishing going on!  Weather looks fairly calm and stable this week with winds out of the northeast which is the norm entering the fall, which should be good for fishing this time of year!

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

6/30/11 Great florida keys reef fishing, big groupers!

The Kalex had a great day out on the reef today on 6/30/11!  They caught their limit of nice yellowtail snappers, and a few nice muttons to go along with that as well!  They also caught a couple of big black groupers!  One of these was almost 50 lbs and the other was a whopping 60 lbs!  Don't see too many lunkers like this anymore!  Great job guys, come on down for some great florida keys fishing charters on the reef now!  Mangrove snappers should be moving their way out there in the summer and that will be red hot!