Got out with Peter who flew in from Seattle with his son Sam, and their buddy Bill who lived in Ft. Lauderdale. We had some major cold weather come in a few nights ago in the key largo area. It dropped down into the high 40s the other morning, so it was about as chilly as it gets here! The boys wanted to try some fishing in the everglades so we headed back that way. We only had a 3/4 day which is enough time to get back there and fish, but when fishing is a little tougher sometimes it’s hard as you don’t have enough time to move too much or wait for a different tide etc… The water temps were down in the low 50s so it was pretty chilly. When we are fishing in key largo and that happens, shrimp are the go-to bait of choice. We found a few black drum, a nice redfish, a snook, and a sheesphead in the first area. We had to fish it for a little while not a red hot bite, but we picked away there. Later on we moved and tried a bigger area. Unfortunately there was a lot of boats there but I knew several of the key largo captains. We caught a black drum where we first stopped, but not much else. We were able to squeeze in around a couple of them in tight quarters later. We picked a few more snook here, including a nice 10 lb fish that really made the day! After that it was about time to head home, but we had a decent day catching a little over a dozen fish… not red hot but quality of quantity, and for as busy as it was i’ll take it! Back at it tomorrow on another 3/4 day, then sunday I have open if anyone wants to go. Next week is all booked up then I am going on vacation myself and will be back in early February!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
