Category: Fishing Reports

Busy season has arrived finally and we are very thankful for that after dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma!  The last few weeks I’ve been fishing a lot and haven’t been keeping up with my reports on here as much as I’d like to.  But it’s been unseasonably warm for February after we had a cold January.  No cold fronts at all and it’s been around 80 degrees just about every day.  The wind has been howling on and off though which has sometimes made the fishing a little tougher but that is typical of the early spring.  Good news is that the big tarpon in key largo have shown up in full force with the warmth!  We’ve been seeing a lot of tarpon in the backcountry everglades areas and a few even showing up locally around the key largo bridge fishing areas.  So far this February we’ve landed 12 tarpon and most of those have been big fish in the 100+ lb range!  There has been some variety of sharks in the mix as well, plus the occasional random cobia.  The windier days the tarpon haven’t been quite as cooperative especially when the winds get very hard southeasterly.  But we’ve been able to still get out on those days and the mangrove snapper bite has been pretty good, plus plenty of spanish mackerel still around if you don’t mind being on the open water where it is a little bumpier.  But in a larger boat like mine it’s usually not too bad once you get to fishing.  That’s been my regular routine as of late we had still been picking off a few snook here and there, though haven’t been focused on them too much with the arrival of the big tarpon that is usually my focus in the spring and summer.  Anyways I’m really busy the next few months, still have a few days open in March but April and May are already just about filled.  But get in touch with me if you’d like to go key largo tarpon fishing, if I’m not available I can recommend several good guides and many who will do the later evening trips too.

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

Well I’ve been back for a week or so now just hadn’t updated the site yet.  Though I fished the last 3 days and things were still pretty good here in Key Largo fishing!  Two days ago we got on a killer spanish mackerel bite in the gulf bays of key largo.  After about 20 minutes of chumming the water, it was fast and furious with mackerel on just about every cast.  We worked the upper water column with shrimp on jigs real fast, and it did the trick.  We loaded up with mackerels and in an hour ventured on to the next thing.  We found a good load of tarpon which I was happy to see.  They usually start to show up in key largo this time of year, as long as it stays warm.  The tarpon fishing was good for us, not red hot but we had two bites and made them both count.  My angler Larry landed a 110 and 140 lb tarpon, very big fish!  It was a great day.  The last two days I had my regular customers Steve and Jim out and they like to catch smaller stuff, mostly for the dinner table.  We got our limit of nice size mangrove snappers both days.  The first day we didn’t find much else in the bay, tried to get some trout but not much luck with that, but plenty of jack crevelles and a lot of catfish!  Today we mixed it up more on the patch reefs and local bay, we had more jacks, spanish mackerel, a variety of other snappers, groupers, hogfish, porgy, and even snook!  It was action all day long and plenty of good eating fish for the boys.  Well just wanted to give you all an update, give me a shout if you are visiting key largo in the spring.  I still have some days in March open but tarpon season (april – june) is booking up fast!

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

Well we had a big tarpon the other day in the key largo backcountry!  It was a fairly calm day after it’d been flat calm the couple before that.  The waters warmed up nicely and a few tarpon showed up in the local channels.  We had plenty of mackerel action in the morning, and then did the big stuff later.  My angler Jim landed a big 85 lb tarpon, plenty of blacktip sharks, and jumped off one other tarpon!  Wow that is great for January.  Today we had 35 mph easterly winds it was ripping!  I got out with Bo and into the backcountry.  The ride really wasn’t all that bad, that is the nice thing about a fishing charter in Key Largo, there is so much protected water we can get out in anything really.  Fishing was slow to start but we picked away with a few black drum and trout.  But the last hour of the day we got into a killer snook bite!  I think Bo landed at least two dozen snook.  Mostly little guys but a handful in the 4 to 6 lb range that were very fun.  He also had a couple tarpon bites but unfortunatley both of them came unbuttoned.  Wow just a great week of fishing for me this last one… to start with the two days of monster snook and drums, then a big tarpon, and then today with big numbers of snook even with it blowing 35 mph.  Sometimes you just can’t do anything wrong!  Well I’m going out of town for a week now, better quit while I’m ahead haha!  Off to Jackson hole to go skiing for a week.  I hope the fish are biting as well when I get back.

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

Got out today with Joe and Harold down from the chilly northeast to enjoy some florida sunshine!  It was a nice flat calm day in key largo perfect for fishing.  I knew we had similar conditions to yesterday and thought we might have a shot at a repeat if we played our cards right.  The boys were down to try so we headed out into the key largo backcountry early.  We got on a good bite of black drums early on, nice size fish in the 8 to 12 lb range.  Jigs with shrimp did the trick with the colder water temperatures.  Joe even got a 15 lber later in the day, not one of those ‘big nasty’ monsters but respectable and a fighter!  We were also lucky enough to get some good shots at some monster snook!  We caught a nice one for Joe in the first area.  Harold had one on for a few minutes that zipped out 30 yards of line and got us around some structure!  We chased him down and got around the structure, I thought we’d land the fish but he went through the leader!  Oh no!  We looked for triple tails for a bit without much luck and then we found some more snook and drum in another area.  We landed another half dozen beautiful big snook and about 8 more drum.  It was just a magical day of winter time fishing in key largo.  Harold and Joe will remember this day for a long time to come I’m sure, as will I.  We really dream about days like these as guides and wish they were all like this, but then I guess you wouldn’t appreciate them as much.

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

Got out for a full day january fishing charter in key largo with Gwen and Jim, two of my regulars down from Nebraska.  It was fairly calm with a light northeast breeze, the air warming up again but the water still chilly in the low 60s in the bay to start in the morning.  It looked like prime conditions for some ‘big snook’ spots out in the western end of the everglades.  We made the run back there and were rewarded with just an epic morning of snook fishing.  It wasn’t about numbers today, no, it was all about big fish in key largo.  The first one zipped out 30 yards of line when we hooked her, and cut us off on some structure.  First bait in the water, but I had a feeling their would be more.  We ended up catching 6 fish, one 12 lbs, the rest 15-20 lbs, and one that was probably close to 25 lbs!  Likely the biggest snook I’ve had landed in my boat, very impressive!  We also caught over a dozen black drums, nothing super huge but a few 15 lbers and under.  We had a big redfish on too that was probably 35 lbs, but we pulled the hook on him after a 10 minute battle – the hook actually opened up on us, sometimes this happens if the hook doesn’t penetrate entirely through their mouth.  All the pressure is on the point of the hook and it can give way after some time.  But we got a good look at the fish at least.  After that we tried some other spots and caught some more snook and drum, but smaller fish (more the norm!).  Still nice ones though in the 4 to 8 lb range.  We headed back towards key largo after that.  It was a great day on the water, and one of those days as a guide that you dream about and get to live every so often!

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

Got out for a 3/4 day with Ray and his son Jeff down from Maryland for a January key largo fishing charter.  The weather had warmed up some from the cold front but the water was still pretty cold out back in the high 50 degree range.  Chilly ride but not near as bad as the past couple days before.  It was very busy out there with 20 or so boats fishing the area where we were… Luckily we were able to get on the spot I wanted too!  Not a red hot bite, but when it gets that cold in key largo bait fishing is your best bet but can take some patience.  Eventually we hooked a nice 12 lb snook that Jeff landed, woohoo!  After that it was quiet again for a little bit, then Ray got a nice snook of near the same size.  It never got red hot, but every 5 or 10 minutes we’d get a good bite, and all the fish were quality size!  Eventually a few black drums came into the mix and we caught a couple, Ray got a small tarpon later which was very cool.  Tarpon in january in Key Largo are rare, they just don’t like the typical cold weather we have and a cold front makes that even more likely.  But it happened!  I had my fingers crossed Ray would get a redfish at some point to complete his backcountry SLAM and sure enough one of the last fish he caught was a red drum.  Awesome!  We caught a few more snook and a sheesphead after that.  The last hour things slowed down considerably we didn’t catch much and there were too many boats to try and jump around anywhere, but we had a stellar day catching what we did.  I think we had around a dozne snook, mostly all 10-15 lbs, a couple drum, a redfish, a tarpon, and a sheepshead.  I told the guys catching one or two snook like that in a day, you’ve already had a great day, and they agreed.  The ride home was nice and the wind had laid down even more.  This coming week I’m very busy and then out of town next sunday for a week to go skiing.  I’ll be back for some key largo February fishing charters after that, I have days open during that month if you are looking to go fishing!

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

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

Got out for a fun trip today with my wife Elizabeth for a little fun day of key largo inshore fishing.  It was slick calm though overcast as it was forecast to rain.  We didn’t get wet though really just a sprinkle at the end of the day.  The water temperatures were still low from the recent cold front we had over the past weekend, still a chilly 61 degrees or so.  But they were down to as cold as 52 in some areas of the bay!  We fished some areas I hadn’t been in a while to try some stuff out and get out of my same routine.  Unfortunately most of that didn’t work out very well!  We did catch a couple black drum and a couple trout in some areas, but that was all.  Worked a good shoreline with the trolling motor for a while with only a drum there to show for it.  A few creek mouths that looked great were surprisingly not holding any fish.  But we did get on a spot at the end of the day that was holding heavy and is a fairly well known ‘winter time’ spot.  We ended up getting on a great bite of black drum, with a few redfish, a snook, some trout, and a sheepshead mixed in there.  Was just incredible fishing and made up for the rest of the day!  Some times you get on these spots in the key largo backwater fishing and it just makes your whole trip.  Anyways after that we headed home.  I don’t have much on the books this week but next week is already all booked up, so if you want to get out fishing this week give me a shout I have days open.  The weather looks great light winds, should be real nice out!

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

Brrr it was a freezing cold day here in Key Largo Florida.  Temperatures dipped down around 50 for 3 nights in a row, which meant it was around 40 in the backcountry everglades areas!  That is pretty cold for us, and especially when making a 30+mile run into 20 mph winds first thing in the morning.  But we get it done and you just have to bundle up.  Once we get back around the mainland areas, it’s much nicer as you get out of the wind and are in protected water, and the sun comes up and you start to thaw out!  I had Jody and Tom down from St Louis and luckily for us the fish were biting a little bit even though the water temperatures were down around 52 to 54 degrees!  That’s the coldest we’ve seen in years, likely since the cold snap of 2010.  When the water is cold like this, usually your best bet is just soaking live shrimp on the bottom.  We let it lay and just twitch it slightly every so often.  The drum bites can be very subtle, so when you feel a little nibbling, give them a few seconds and reel a little bit – if you feel the weight of the fish set the hook and if not, just continue letting it lay and try again when you feel the nibble.  We didn’t have red hot action, but a slow steady pick all day long really which I’ll take.  It was a Saturday too so we had about 20 other boats in the area to compete with throughout the day.  Sometimes you know where to go to catch fish, but it’s hard to squeeze in where you want to go when so many other boats are trying to get there too.  We caught probably 8 black drums, 7 redfish, a sheepshead, and a trout.  A good day of key largo fishing in January no doubt!  No snook for us though I know a few boats had good snook fishing, but they seemed to be stacked up in a couple areas.  We slid in there at the end of the day but at that point they were sore lipped and didn’t bite for us.  Oh well we had good action otherwise thankfully.  I have plenty of availability this coming week, then next week I am booked every day!  But this week should be incredible fishing we will be back on a warming trend, and once those water temps rise back up around 60 I think the fishing will really go off back there.  It will also be during the week so much less boat traffic.  If you are interested in going let me know, prime conditions starting Monday I believe.

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

Got out with Vince and Steven again who fished with me a few days ago, along with Vince’s son Lucas.  The key largo fishing forecast looked a lot worse then the day was, which happens fairly often here believe it or not.  A very fishable day even though it was a little chilly but the wind didn’t get crazy like they said.  It didn’t rain hard either just a light drizzle for about 20 minutes while we fished.  We hit the backcountry with them and fished in the everglades.  The water temperatures have cooled off since the last mild front, but not gotten super cold which can drive the fish into a feeding frenzy in the ‘winter time spots.’  The day started a little slow we got one snook in key largo in the first 30 minutes or so, that was it.  We moved spots and then caught a black drum, then a little later a redfish, then a black drum… so we were picking away slowly.  As the tide was nearing the end of it’s fall, the bite turned on!  We ended up getting on to a good bite of more black drum, and about 4 or 5 snook.  In about an hour we caught a dozen or so more drums.  That definitely made the day, though it’s nice when you can space that fishing out across the entire day, it doesn’t always work like that!  After the bite died we moved around and tried another half dozen spots.  But not much else happening, we caught one more snook in one of those spots and that was it!  I talked to a few other people who had very tough days as well, so I felt good we were able to catch a good amount of fish.  Nothing super huge, but I’ll take the numbers most days to keep my customers busy catching… unless of course they are hunting for that one ‘big one.’  After that we headed on home, I think it did get a little nastier later in the afternoon but luckily after we were at the dock.  Looks like later this week it’s suppose to get super cold, down into the high 40s which means low 40s possibly 30s back in the everglades areas.  It won’t last long though just a few nights.  This will definitely fire up the winter time cold water bite, but tough to say if it’ll happen during the front or after it passes.  This one sounds so severe the fish might go lock jaw until things warm slightly, which could be later in the day on the next few days, or perhaps even after the entire front passes and we get back on a warming trend.  You can never really know, unless you go!  I’ll be going out tomorrow and saturday for sure.  Sunday I am open and plenty of days next week, and that should be good fishing as we will be on that warming trend!

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