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.

1/14/12 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!

1/6/12 Islamorada snook fishing in January!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished a full day today and headed back into the everglades early.  Yesterday some big schools of snook showed up way in the back, likely from this cold weather driving them down from the gulf coast of florida.  These fish were there today for our islamorada snook fishing trip.  We set up early, leaving the dock by 7 AM.  Shrimp was the bait of choice hooked through the horns on troll-rites, as the water was still cold.  Fish bit all through the end of the falling tide, slack tide, and the in tide.  We never moved all day, probably caught close to 40 snook, several nice size specimens such as these.  Also about a dozen redfish, handful of larger ones.  A couple black drum, trout, and sheepshead!  Aside from a few other boats running in on top of us and pratically casting into our boat, it was a great day on the water!  Come on down for some january fishing in islamorada!

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

12/29/11 Islamorada fishing guide report

Islamorada fishing guide Capt. Jim Willcox fished a full day today on 12/29/11.  They ran deep into the everglades all the way up to the cape area of the mainland.  The cool weather from the cold front we've had the last day often turns these fish on - and it did today!  They caught lots of redfish, sheepshead, trout, black drum in some of the different creeks.  They also caught this monster snook!  The wind layed down today to a nice 10 knots or so in the AM, and was even lighter by this afternoon almost turning out of the west.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk reported a decent spanish mackerel bite this morning along with plenty of blue runners, ladyfish, and mangrove snappers.  They also caught a 250 lb hammerhead shark but unfortunately it got wrapped in the leader before we could snap a picture.  This afternoon he fished another party and they caught several snappers, sheepshead, jacks, a nice pompano, and a few big trout!  Capt. Perry Scuderi looked like he had some nice hogfish this afternoon, he was able to sneak out to the patches!

12/18/11 Fishing the everglades and east cape.

Had John and his girlfriend over from across the pond (Australia!) today for a full day florida keys backcountry fishing trip!  We left out early at 7 am, stiff north-northeast breeze about 15mph, not too bad but a little chilly.  We headed back to the east cape area where fish have been stacking up in many of the canals and ditches.  First stop we fished a canal mouth, jigging shrimp and pinfish on the bottom.  Tide was still trickling in.  First fish of the day was a nice snook on one of the pins!  Also caught a few small reds and mix of crevalle jacks.  Moved a little further in to a run-off, tide switched and got the reds going pretty good there.  Caught probably 15, also a couple of nice sheeps head!  Headed a little further west to east cape canal and hit a few run-off creeks inside there.  One held some more decent redfish, and caught a couple nice black drum, along with a few more big sheepshead!  Bounced around since the bugs were bad (no-seeums!).  Did not do much else, ran to lake ingrham and caught a couple little reds there, stopped and ate lunch.  Headed back towards home, stopped for some islamorada flats fishing near one of the islands.  Drifted and poled one of the edges and found a school of little redfish, caught one.  Also blew out a snook.  For the end of the day tried mackerel fishing in the bay again, though the tide was hard into the wind, not ideal!  Caught a handful of blue runners and mangrove snappers, and then headed back home.  Christmas week is almost here so book your fishing trips today, soon we will be islamorada fishing in january!

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