The Reel McCoy wins the Cheeca Lodge Presidential Sailfish Tournament!

Last weekend over January 21st and 22nd 2012 the Cheeca Lodge Sailfish tournament took place in Islamorada. The sailfishing had been a little on the slow side over the past couple weeks, but Capt. George went to work on the first day of the tournament and released 6 sails to get into first place. The second day they got off to a great start and released 7 more fish within the first two hours to give them 13 releases for the tournament. The took 1st place with 13 releases and the 2nd and 3rd place boats each had 8 releases. During the past week the king mackerel bite has been the most consistent. Most of the fish have been in the 5 - 10 lb range with a few over 20 lbs. The yellowtail snapper have been biting fair at best with the cooler water temps, but there's also been a few big mutton snapper up to 15 lbs! There was only a few sails caught on Monday and Tuesday between all the boats, but today there was a little better bite. The Relentless had 5 releases and the BNM had 2 releases. The Fearless had a nice catch of king mackerel and snapper as well.

1/20/12 Monster Black Drum in the Everglades!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished John again for his last day here on 1/20/12.  Did another full day back in the 'glades for some more january islamorada fishing.  The water temperatures had warmed up considerably, however there was another mass of cold air all the way up from north florida that made it a chilly ride back there.  The fish didn't seem to mind though, we fished some deep canals and run-offs.  Lots of black drum with a few ladyfish and jacks mixed in at first.  Shrimps on jigs were working as they usually do on our florida keys fishing charters, but the best bet was a shrimp on the bottom with a 1 oz lead and circle hook.  As the tied slowed the fishing got a little better, and before we left we had slow heavy bite on the bottom rod.  John picked it up and wound tight as the rod bent over and drag started slowly peeling off.  Didn't know if we were gonna stop the fish, finally turned him and he started thumping very hard.  Came up to the surface half a dozen times, creating some major turbulance as he went back down.  Finally boated him after 10 minutes, big old black drum, close to 30 lbs!  After that we headed further back up the cape to check out some new scenery, fished a few other creeks and caught some more reds, sheepshead, and a few big trout with the high incoming tide.  Also one nice red drum out of a drain!  Once tied died we ran back home, wind had kicked around out of the east and was pretty snotty, but not too bad of a wind direction for back there.  Beautiful day here for this islamorada fishing guide!  Capt. Mike Bassett reported a similar bite of black drums and reds, they also lost a big snook in the mangroves and caught a couple smaller ones.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti reported lots of black drum, and Capt. Jim Willcox reported a good bite of reds and some nice trout to end his day.

1/17/12 More january snook fishing in Islamorada!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with John down from DC area today on 1/17/12 for a little birthday getaway january islamorada fishing trip.  We left out at daybreak loaded with shrimp and a few pinfish, though will come to find the pins were not really needed.  Water temps still chilly in the backcountry from another front we had a few days ago, winds have kicked around from the east at 15 mph, but very nice on the back side.  First stop John grabs a rod with a jig and casts it out baitless while I turn around to get shrimp out of the well.  He starts jigging and before you know it a big old snook SLAMS it!  Ultra light tackle, we fought him for over 10 minutes, luckily John is a skilled angler and knows when/how to apply the right pressure.  We finally get him to the boat, nice 15 lb florida keys snook!  He insists I make a few casts too, and I hook a nice snook after that as well, not quite as big but just as fun!  We caught about 10 in all, along with lots of sheepshead and jacks.  After the tide quits and starts falling, we jump around a bit and hit a few trees and drains along the shorelines.  Pick away catching a few reds and black drum, several trout in one area, and of course more sheepshead.  By noon we make our way to some channels a little closer to home.  Loaded up with big trout and bluefish.  Several trout get eaten by some of the big blues, pretty cool to see!  We catch several nice slot trout and keep three for dinner, then head home!  Fantastic day fishing in islamorada!  John has two more full days booked, so will try some different stuff at least for one of them. 

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

1/14/12 1/15/12 Fishing the Everglades in January after cold front!

Capt. Jim Willcox ran back to the cape yesterday on 1/14/12 after another front came through Islamorada and chilled things down.  Many guys struggled on half day islamorada fishing charters as the wind mixed the bay up pretty bad and the cold weather the night before shut some fish down.  In the deeper canals and creeks they caught several redfish, black drum, and sheepshead.  Saw some crocodiles as well as had some bull sharks eating the drums!  Today Capt. Rick Stanczyk had similar fishing with Andy and his sons Conrad and Derek. We caught several black drum and a few sheepshead.  The bite wasn't red hot we kept hopping from spot to spot, picking a few fish from each and moving on.  We ran back to some run-offs around noon time and caught plenty more reds to finish the day out strong.  The crocs were thick in one of the run-off creeks in the cape canal, we saw 4 of them, one we idled right up to and he didn't moved, but posed nicely for a picture!  Hopefully after the weekend now there won't be near as much boat traffic back there, and better fishing in the everglades!  I also saw that the party boat, Miss Islamorada Capt. Ben Loy, had loads of kingfish from the afternoon today!  Remember no matter what the conditions florida keys fishing in january, there's always something you can do to bend the rod!

Mid January 2012 Islamorada Reef Fishing Report!

The Sailfish have thinned out the past week. There's been a couple caught each of the last few days, but the boats have been having to put in a lot of time for a couple of shots. The king mackerel bite picked back with many boats limiting out with fish from 5 - 20 lbs. Each day there has also been a few blackfin tuna hanging up, including a few nice ones close to 20 lbs. The yellowtail snapper have been biting decent as well too, with some just legal fish up shallow and some nicer ones out a little deeper on the reef. On the shallow patches there has been lots of nice cero mackerel too. Our grouper season closed on Jan. 1st for the next 4 months and we've been releasing some nice size grouper the last few days.