2/19/12 Backcountry fishing florida keys february.

Well the wind kicked up out of the southwest this morning and by the end of the day was howling for islamorada fishing in february.  This really churned up the water in a lot of the backcountry.  We weren't able to do anything on the edge of the gulf or back at the cape, so stuck around flamingo.  Caught plenty of ladyfish and trout in several spots.  Shark fished for a while and caught a nice 80 lb blacktip.  Saw a few tarpon rolling but they were not biting.  As the tide died we moved, lots more trout and ladyfish and a few pompano and jacks.  Water was incoming now and we decided to try some redfish spots.  Hit the right spot first and spent our last hour catching about a dozen reds, several slot size fish 20+ inches.  Also caught a big black drum and a smaller one, and a sting ray.  Good finish to the day.  Capt. Bob Reineman reported catching several redfish poling and casting.  Capt. Jim Willcox reported some good action with snappers, trout, and ladyfish, and lots of small blacktips and a big 100 lber further out west for his day of february florida keys fishing.  -- Capt. Rick Stanczyk

2/14/12 + 2/15/12 Post cold front Islamorada backcountry fishing report!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished the last few days after our recent cold front in the Florida Keys backcountry, from west of flamingo out around the cape area and further northwest.  It's quite a run for an islamorada fishing charter taking over an hour to get to.  The recent front we had chilled the water down considerably, but pushed many fish out from the gulf and further up north into some of the creeks and canals in search of deeper warmer water.  On 2/14/12 I fished Nilson and his wife from Sweden.  We caught 10 snook and lost a couple nicer ones.  Lots of redfish too about 2 dozen, and even caught a baby goliath grouper which I have not seen any of those since the cold snap of 2010 that killed them off along with many of the snook.  We ended the day catching trout on artificial GULPs.  Today I fished the Levor's who have fished out of Bud n' Mary's for many years, mostly with Capt. Paul Ross on the Relentless.  We did the same thing, but today the snook were much bigger!  We caught 5, some nice fish 10 lbs and a little over, lots of fun on light spin.  Had almost 2 hours of incoming tide today, whereas yesterday we didn't have any, arriving at roughly the same time.  We last about 5 others that we pulled hooks on, cut lines on, and lost in the trees.  But that's snook fishing!  The bait of choice was a large horn hooked shrimp, though the big ones are scarce.  We also caught a couple off of pinfish on the bottom.  We caught several redfish as well, and a small lemon shark.  Had a big 200 lb lemon inside one creek eat one of our reds, and pulled another one away from him before he got it.  Got some decent slot size fish today and saved a couple for dinner.  Caught a flounder as well, plus several mangrove snappers and jacks in another creek, and again ended the day with some trout.  Great news for our Islamorada flats fishing. 

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

Capt. Paul Ross had several nice mutton snappers up to 15 lbs today as well on the offshore side!

2/3/12 Great fishing in the everglades despite the wind!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished with Carlo and his brother down from Canada today on 2/3/12 for a full day islamorada fishing charter.  The winds were howling, a steady 20+mph all day with gusts over 25!  Luckily it is coming from the eastern quadrant which is not too bad in the everglades.  We skated the edges of the banks and channels towards flamingo, arriving early at 8:00 am.  Caught the end of the falling tide.. first boat there luckily.  Fishing was red hot, we used primarily shrimp.  Lots of redfish, a handful of slot fish mixed in with lots of puppy drum.  We caught a couple nice snook early too, one with a horn hooked shrimp on a jig, the other off a pinfish on the bottom.  Several black drum were in there too with one nice size one, as well as half a dozen slot trout which we kept!  We fished for a few hours catching close to 50 fish, through the slack tide and the in tide.  After things slowed a bit, we moved to some channels a little further west for some florida keys shark fishing.  Lots of trout in there mixed in with jacks, no pompanos today.  We saved some stuff for bait, and after we ran out of shrimp, moved deeper in the channel for some shark fishing.  We caught probably 8 black tips, mostly little ones, and this nice 90 lb bull shark.  No tarpon today though the hard winds and bit of chill in the air likely has shut them off again.  Last bait of the day we hooked something big... ran us down to the mono backing on our BG 90 while I threw the anchor ball.  We chased the big sea monster around for 25 minutes or so, but unfortunately while pulling on him he got the wind-on leader wrapped around his sharp toothy bill and cut us off!  We then headed home, the boys are fishing offshore tomorrow and staying on one of Bud n' Mary's houseboats tonight!

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

1/28/12 Good Backcountry Fishing in Flamingo

Bob and Bobby Joyce from Boston went out on a full day in the backcountry with Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti a few days ago. They fished in the Flamingo area catching trout, redfish, and Blackdrum. They also caught black drum and a snook!  Capt. Skip Nielsen reported a good bite of tarpon the other day in the backcountry with Cliff Fox, they caught 4 out of 6!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported a good spanish mackerel bite on the edge of the gulf yesterday, they caught a boat load, plus mangrove snappers, trout, and pompano.  They jumped a couple tarpon they couldn't get to stay on, but did catch a couple 100lb bull sharks!  The tarpon may thin out again for a few days since we had a drop in temperature, but after it warms up again for a few days it should be game on! 

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.