January is going by fast and fishing has been absolutely stellar here in Key Largo. We’ve been getting into the everglades and catching tons of the usual cast of characters. Since IRMA, the redfish population has just exploded. It’s not uncommon to get catches in the triple digits on days when you really target these bad boys. So great to see as right after the storm they were kind of hard to find. However some biologists informed me they believe the reds spawned heavily due to the storm and we are now seeing the fruits of that labor! There has also been some big snook and black drum around with some of the cold weather we’ve had in January. This is the best month of the year to target the behemoth snook and drums, often on the coldest days of the year! The ideal condition is for it to get very cold and then have a nice afternoon when it calms down. These monsters show up in the gulf and make their way into the ‘glades, and if you know where to look you can catch the fish of a life time. As a matter of fact my dad did just catch his biggest snook ever in 60 years of fishing… close to a 30 lber! Today I had Mary on the boat, who caught who personal best fish ever, a black drum in the 25-30 lb range too. These things happen when the conditions get right. Anyways February is right around the corner and that usually means the start of tarpon fishing season in key largo. I have some days available then and plenty in March still believe it or not. If you are wanting to come down and fish give me a shout. I will be getting a brand new Contender 25 bay boat in March, will be a very sweet rig for fishing in the florida keys!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
