Category: Fishing Reports

It’s full swing  summer time here in key largo in july.  The fishing has been great I really must say.  We are still catching tarpon consistently in the everglades.  The bite ‘around town’ had slowed during the days, but can still be good early morning or later in the afternoon/evenings.  I like my full days this time of year and to start early leaving the dock by 6 AM.  It makes catching bait and fishing a whole lot easier and often better.  Most days I am tarpon fishing in the mornings and a quick stop around some of the backcountry ‘mullet spots’ loads us up with bait.  Whereas if you are there an hour later often times you may be throwing the net a lot more and spending an hour getting bait compared to 5 minutes.  The tarpon action has been good a lot of fish in the 30 to 60 lb range with few big girls still around here and there.  Most mornings the action starts to slow down after 9:30 or so, so again the earlier start helps there too.  Often though in the afternoon the tarpon can start biting again, in the noon to 2:00 range I’ve been having luck with them too.  I’ve been finding plenty of pilchards near the gulf and while we chum and net those, we are often catching nice snappers and trout.  If the pilchards are good then we are usually going snook fishing which has been very good.  Lots of small and medium snook, with a few large ones mixed in make for a great fight on light tackle.  Redfish are sometimes mixed in though for the most part they are up in the super skinny water this time of year.  There has been some permit out on the gulf wrecks as well as goliath groupers and cobias.  On the slick calm days that is often a good option too.  If you wanting to go fishing this summer just drop me an email, this is still a great time of year to come down and if you work hard at it the fishing is anything but slow!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well it’s almost the end of June and fishing is as hot as the weather here in Key Largo Florida.  The tarpon are starting to slow down a bit throughout the local keys areas from Key Largo to Islamorada, however the summer time fish I often fish for in the everglades are showing up more and more consistently.  Today we caught 3 out of 5 nice tarpon back there, including a 100 lb tarpon.  Many of the fish this time of year though are in the 30 – 50 lb range, perfect fight on light tackle.  Mullet are my bait of choice and we often leave early to net them back there, where they can be found throughout the summer and fall even though they are not ‘running’ anymore.  We’ve also been getting into some good snook fishing lately.  I had a 20+ snook day this week, plus another day with double digit snook and almost as many redfish.  Pilchards give you the upper hand when snook fishing, and given the right tidal conditions we’ve been able to chum up some nice baits for that.  Elsewhere in the bays, trout and mangrove snapper fishing has been great.  A good option if your looking for dinner.  Shrimp or artificial GULP will work here, though I prefer to use chunk baits such as small ballyhoos or mullet to catch the larger snappers.  The gulf has had a handful of permit, cobia, and tripletail on occasion.  There has also been some big sharks, goliath grouper, and occasionally other ‘big fish’ as well.  July is a great time of year to fish down here in the Florida Keys, evening tarpon fishing can still be very productive if you have the right conditions with tides etc…  Drop me an email and I’ll point you in the right direction!  Come on down for some july key largo fishing!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

It’s april and the key largo tarpon fishing is off the chain!  We’ve been landing big tarpon on really just about every trip.  Mullet is the bait of choice and we’ve been catching and stocking those for our tarpon trips.  The explosion of a big 100 lb tarpon chasing a live mullet behind the boat is truly something to be witnessed in your lifetime!  Chasing fish through the channels and bridges is really sportfishing at its best!  The rest of my april and may is pretty booked though I have a handful of evenings available which is a great time to fish for tarpon.  June and July were very good to me last year especially fishing the everglades.  That is a fun trip and we often leave a little bit earlier to get in on the good bite which lasts until 10 AM often times.  Look for the tarpon fishing to stay strong in the local channels and bridges, I’m mostly fishing down towards the islamorada areas especially on half days.  The evening time is a good time to go as fishing gets good often near sunset.  Drop me a line and if your in key largo, I may be able to put you on the fish of a lifetime if big tarpon is what your looking for!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

March is here and it’s key largo tarpon fishing time!  Most of february has been fairly warm and the early season tarpon action was really good.  Aside from a few colder days with screwy weather, we caught tarpon on just about every trip.  Our best day we had 6 fish up to 90 lbs to the boat!  Most days have been a handful of bites, though plenty of sharks, big sawfish, and the occasional other oddity to keep you busy.  Today fishing was excellent nearby we went 3 for 10 mostly on live mullet.  The live bait bites are ridiculous it is a thrill just to watch that let alone catch them!  This action will get better and more consistent as we get later into the spring and early summer.  We are experiencing another cold front as I speak so that may slow the tarpon down a little bit but not for too long.  If your thinking of doing some tarpon fishing let me know that is what I focus on for mostly for the next 6 months or so.  Other possibilities include fishing the gulf for tripletail, cobia, permit, goliath grouper, and big sharks.  Also of course is the everglades for redfish, snook, trout, and other fishes.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well the weather has been warm the last several days and looks to continue on that pattern here in Key Largo.  This is great for our spring tarpon migration and many fish seem to have shown up early which we like to see.  Big schools of tarpon were in the backcountry the last few days.  We had luck today and released two nice fish both 5 foot long!  We also had lots of action with sharks while we were at it.  Previously the tail end of a weak frontal pattern had us with chilly weather, rain, and overcast skies.  The fishing was still decent we have had good action with snook, sheepshead, and black drum with a handful of redfish mixed in.  If the warm weather persists however though many of these fish will move out from the ‘winter time’ holes and be found up in the skinny water where they can be sight fished.  The tarpon will be my focus most of the time through spring and summer.  If you wanna go fish drop me an email and we will get you out on the water!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

The january key largo fishing has been red hot!  We’ve been having great catches of redfish, black drum, snook, and sheepshead in the everglades.  Yesterday we had close to 20 snook including several nice size ones.  Also a handful of redfish.  After the cold front last week the fishing was incredible for a couple days, we had a day with over 50 snook, reds, and black drum.  We are experiencing another front as I am blogging, but once it warms up you can expect a similar condition again!  During the harsh temperature drops patch reef fishing is always a good option.  Yesterday afternoon we had a good day out there with plenty of snapper, porgy, groupers, and mackerel.  We even got a nice keeper mutton among other snappers and porgies for dinner too.  Drop me a line if your interested in a key largo fishing charter!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

We’ve been tearing up the spanish mackerel lately in the gulf.  Fishing has been very good and they’ve been eating bare shiny jigs most days, or others just tipping them with shrimp work.  The falling tide has been incredible fishing… a block of chum and your good to go!  There has been a few cobias out further, with lots of big bull sharks.  The blacktips are inside with the mackerels too if you want to pull on something big.  In the everglades, the snook fishing has been red hot.  The other day we released over a dozen nice snook.  Live pilchards have worked best for them.  Not a lot of big snook, but many in the 3-6 lb range – a blast on light tackle!  Redfish fishing has been fair with some black drum and sheepshead starting to mix in.  It hasn’t been very cold so we haven’t had the big schools of fish move into the deeper creeks and canals we normally fish a lot this time of year.  But it’s still been a good bet around many other areas.  If your wanting to fish in key largo this december let me know, I have open days and christmas week is almost all filled up so book today!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

We made the run to cape sable yesterday which is 1.5 – 2 hours though often times well worth it.  The scenery is gorgeous and the fishing can be very good.  We tested some new spots out and had some success, ending our day with double digit snook and missing several more.  The november key largo fishing for snook has been a good bet this year.  The live bait has been nearby early in the morning so a well of pilchards is always good to have this time of year especially for hungry snook.  We didn’t really get into any redfish however on the low water there are some spots that are holding numbers of fish, again however this was more of a fun day trying to learn something new.  We caught a handful of snook in the morning on the low falling tide.  Didn’t do much for a while as we checked out some new creeks and such.  Then in the afternoon we found some good shoreline spots that were holding snook, and another area where we really got into a mess of them.  We also caught a tripletail while snook fishing which was an unexpected surprise!  Great day on the water!

rick@keylargofishingreport.com

November fishing in Key Largo is heating up with the cooler weather.  We’ve started getting our fall/winter winds – north/north easterly.  This has pushed lots of bait our way, pilchards which we use for snook and other species in the backcountry.  We’ve been getting some nice snook as of late off the mainland.  The last couple days also we got into some big schools of redfish.  Both days we caught 50+ reds, many slot size and some over too!  It’s been amazing watching them on the bottom of the tides in the creeks we fish.  They are tailing in areas, stuck waiting for the incoming water.  Once it starts in, it’s a fish every cast!  If your looking to go fishing in key largo this november, looks us up.  It’s a short drive to where we depart from, and we offer a wide array of fishing opportunities.

rick@keylargofishingreport.com

Well the september key largo fishing has still been productive.  It’s off season so I’m only getting out a handful of times a week.  It’s different duty each trip – fishing can still be really good this time of year but things are inconsistent.

Nothing in particular is ‘in season’ per say, but you have a shot at just about anything especially considering the water temperatures haven’t dropped dramatically as they do in the winter time. Today we got into some tarpon early in the morning with some fresh live mullets we caught.
We caught 1 out of 2 fish before the weather shut them down.  When the tide bottomed out we ran around some mangrove islands to try a few snook holes where the current was still eeking out.  They often like the last bit of the falling tide in this condition and today they did too.

We caught half a dozen or so medium size snook, plus plenty of nice mangrove snappers for dinner.  We caught 1 redfish on the way home on the higher water out towards the gulf, and tried another shark/tarpon channel but only had one shark bite that we missed.

Overall a good day of charter fishing in key largo in september.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@keylargofishingreport.com