Month: October 2017

Got out with Kyle, Anna, and Bud for a full day in the key largo backcountry.  Water temperatures had dipped down the previous day due to a cold front.  They had warmed slightly today, but still in the low 70s, compared to 80 a week ago.  It was very busy on the water and we saw probably a total of 20 boats in the area that we fished.  Unfortunatley lately there have been a handful of ‘good’ spots where you can catch a number of fish, though many other spots just aren’t as productive now and you can make quite a few stops blanking.  Luckily we got on a good spot early in the morning that another boat actually gave up.  Not sure if they just didn’t know how to fish it properly or what.  But we caught fish right away and ended up with a good catch of redfish, black drum, and some snook.  We got a few more snook and another black drum later throughout the day, but that one stop made our day for sure!  Most the drum came on shrimp, and most the snook were on pilchards.  The water temperature is at that level where it pays to have both, but if it gets colder shrimp will definitely be the ticket.  If you are looking to get out on the water and are vacationing in Key Largo, give me a shout!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Steve and Mario today for a short 4 hour trip.  A nice little key largo half day fishing charter for the boys.  We hit a few of the nearby islands for some dinner.  They planned on doing a ‘hook and cook’ where we catch things like mangrove snapper and I clean them and then the guys brings them to a local restaurant to have them cooked up.  The great thing down here is just about every restaurant offers this service as it’s such a common thing.  And that way you know the fish is fresh!   Anyways we were able to put together a decent catch of snapper for the table.  But we also were rewarded with some juvenile tarpon, a snook, and a few sharks!  The island moat was just crawling with fish it was cool to see!  Since hurricane irma in key largo the fishing has been pretty good.  Parts of the bay have changed for sure, but some of it is definitely for the better.  I think we will have some good winter time fishing which is coming up soon.  Today as a matter of fact we had our first cold front down here and it’s getting in the 60s tonight… Brrrr!  Well not really too cold but for us it is.  Anyways if you are wanting to visit key largo to go fishing, drop me a line and let’s do it!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903

Well Hurricane Irma has come and gone and we are still standing here in the upper keys.  We were fortunate and the Key Largo area really had very minimal damage aside from some areas on the oceanside.  Islamorada fared a little worse but by now they are mostly back together.  A few larger resorts on the ocean side will be closed for a while to rebuild, but for the most part at this point things are back to normal.  I’ve been fishing a handful of times and just wanted to post a report.  The fall is here and the fishing is good!  The hurricane has created a lot of new areas with the fallen debris in the backcountry that should provide us some good snook, redfish, snapper, and other fish holes for years to come!  It’s also moved around a lot of the silty bottom that had ruined some areas so hopefully they will come back alive soon.  The last few days we’ve had very good snook fishing.  There has been plenty of live bait around locally so it’s easy to load the well with pilchards most days and get back to fishing quickly.  We released dozens of snook in the last 4 days I was out it was really good.  There has also been a handful of redfish around in the mix.  We’ve still been getting a few tarpon too with a lot of little guys around, though they are hit and miss as to whether or not they want to bite.  We did find some medium size tarpon the other day and landed them, a 15 lber and a 50 lber.  Let me know if you are looking to come down this fall I have plenty of days available.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing