Key Largo Fishing Report and Key Largo Fishing Forecast
Fun day with my uncle board his vessel ‘catch 22’ fishing the Atlantic ocean side. Lots of mahi and tuna! The keys are reopening June 1 to visitors so book your summer trip today, the phone is ringing off the hook and I’m already mostly booked up for June.
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
YouTube: Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
Got out for a full day of key largo snook fishing in the everglades today! Being january we’ve still had a good bit of colder weather, and we had another front come in over the weekend. Temperatures dropped down into the mid 50s here, not terribly cold, but still a decent front. The water out back got into the high 50s so we were definitely still in ‘cold weather mode.’ Fishing didn’t start out red hot, we worked a few areas hard without much luck. Did find a couple snook in one spot and a trout, but had to give it a lot of time for a few bites. We moved around and found one spot that was holding a few black drums. Again same thing we had to give it ample time and managed a handful of fish in an hour or so. Sometimes it is just like that though. As the tide came in and the day went on, the water warmed up a bit. I figured we might be able to get on a good spot to end the day, or at least hoped so. We did find an area that just looked gorgeous… the best looking water I’ve seen in a while. Most the water today was very ‘mudded out’ with a silty, dirty look from all the wind. You never know how the fronts will affect things these days, there is so much soft bottom that sometimes it gets all churned up in a lot of prime area and the fish just dont like that. Anyways it was good looking here, and the fish were happy there. We caught a good half dozen snook, a half dozen redfish, and a few more black drum. Also got a few sheepshead and trout too! Really made the day which was a nice way to end it. I wish we could’ve spread that all out throughout the day but I’ll take it how i can get it. Over the weekend I fished and I couldn’t get to this spot as it was very busy and a couple boats were on it. So being a week day today it was much less busy which is always a good thing for fishing in the key largo everglades. Anyways I’ll be back at it tomorrow, and then I have a few days open at the end of the week until Saturday. If you are looking to get out there charter fishing in Key Largo, give me a shout!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing
Key Largo fishing this summer has been hot! Been very busy so have been slacking on the updates. Anyways the tarpon fishing in key largo has been very good. Lots of the resident male fish, 30 to 60 lbers, have been around. We’ve been getting them on mullet and pilchards occasionally. Lots of fun! The snook fishing has been phenomenal too. I think it’s the best we’ve seen it since the cold snap of 2016. Several days of 20, 30, or more snook hitting the shorelines, islands, and creeks. That’s been the story of the last few months with fishing for the most part. We’ve been getting some trout and snapper in the bays if you are looking for something a little easier or for tablefare. This fishing should stay pretty good through August and it’s a slower time of year down here so come on down!
July is rolling on and the weather is hot, but the good thing is so is the fishing! We’ve been running into the key largo backcountry and fishing the everglades most days. Tarpon have been the main target, our summer time fishery can often be just as much action as ‘prime time’ during the spring (March – May). Many of these fish are small in size but often still up to 60 or 80 lbs. On the slightly lighter tackle we use you get just as good of a fight as you would with a big girl, though you can catch most of them in 20 minutes or less which is nice especially in the heat! This fishing can be good all the way into the Fall until things really start to cool off. Other fish we’ve been targeting have been snook and a handful of redfish. Pilchards have been catchable most days, and when they are not pinfish can be caught instead. With the pilchards you can usually just about count on being able to find a few snook, and on a good day you can get into a lot of them. The redfish have been much fewer and farther in between, at least in the areas I can fish as I can’t get up in the super skinny water that the tiny microskiffs do. In the bays trout and snapper action has been steady, and there have been a few tripletail and permit out in the gulf too which is a good option if your looking for something different. The calm weather of summer leaves the water very nice and the fish patterns are much more predictable. If you are going to be down in the Key Largo area drop me a line, fishing the next several months can be very good and it is also our off season for business so you often have the fishing grounds all to yourself.
Key Largo summer time fishing is in full swing. We’ve been still catching lots of tarpon here in Key Largo. I’ve been on a little streak here for a while which I just finally broke unfortunately a few days ago, but had caught tarpon every trip for 3 weeks prior to that! We had one on this day but unfortunately he got away before we could get the leader for an ‘official’ release. The backcountry summer time tarpon have been giving us lots of action most days with plenty of sharks mixed in including blacktips, lemons, bulls, and occasional hammerheads. I’ve had several good days snook fishing as well. My favorite thing to do this time of year is hang a chum bag to catch pilchards and pinfish while bending the light rods for trout or snapper. Getting the bait makes the fishing that much easier! Out in the gulf on calm days you can still find some tripletail and permit fishing can be very good on the wrecks out there. There are also some big goliath groupers to tango with plus some big sharks and a few cobias too. Lets get out on the water this summer I have days open in July it’s one of my favorite times of year to fish. Getting an early start is key to success in the summer and I like to leave before daybreak. There are still plenty of resident tarpon close to home as well don’t be afraid to ask about fishing in the evening for a few hours to get your shot at a big silver king in key largo.
The larger variety love a fresh dead mullet which we still have been able to get though is getting a little tougher especially on the flat calm days. Getting out early for bait is very important. Snook have been biting pretty good too we got a few nice ones out west, the mainland cape area, plus several around the flamingo area islands and such my last few trips. Mangrove snapper fishing has been very good too with a few larger fish starting to show back up in the backcountry post-spawn. Small pilchards work well for them or shrimp will do the trick too. Today we had some good shark action, a big bull and lemon shark to be exact.
Winds were still howling today it’s been rough the past several days but that hasn’t kept us from getting out on the water and having a great time! Today on our key largo backcountry fishing trip we hit the edge of the gulf of mexico. Lots of spanish mackerel and mangrove snapper was the take! Shiny jigs tipped with shrimp did the trick, and of course a nice chum slick. I like to use 60# test mono for my leader, this holds up fairly well to the toothy mackerel, and is much easier to tie and handle then messing with wire. The snappers weren’t picky and ate it as well. We also did some key largo shark fishing and cut some fresh mackerel and put it on the bottom. Got a couple of nice blacktip sharks this way – even had a 300+ lb goliath grouper come up and try to eat the smaller of the sharks. We ended up hooking him however we didn’t have heavy enough equipment to pull him from the wreck on this january key largo fishing charter. After the tide quit, we ran into the backcountry and hit some channel run-offs on the end of the falling tide there. Had to look around a bit as the water has been really stirred up due to the 15-20mph east winds. We found a nice runoff and way up inside the water was looking much better. We caught several trout, one nice one of 22 inches and a few other keepers plus throwbacks. After they quite we looked around a bit more and eventually found another pack of them mixed in with lots of ladyfish. Great way to end the day fishing key largo in january!
Well christmas week fishing key largo is upon us… that busiest week of the year that is the kick start to our fishing season. Hooray! We had a little off time since thanksgiving, honestly about the slowest it’s been all year for this key largo fishing guide. But it was a welcome break, especially when in September and October your still fishing 20 days a month! I want to let you all know what to expect for the busy upcoming week here fishing key largo. It looks like we will be having warmer winds from the southeastern quadrant so it should be a comfortable mid-70s throughout. Wind speed doesn’t look too crazy… 10 mph average which should be fantastic! The water temperatures did cool this past weekend with the little cold front we had which is not a bad thing, it’s just what some of these fish need to spark to life! The spanish mackerel and company in the gulf love that, as well as the redfish in the backcountry, it may of well pushed some trout into some of the run-offs which we normally fish this time of year but have not done much of so yet due to the warm weather. On the offshore side, the sailfish should enjoy the little cool down, and breeziness is never a bad thing fishing for them. Key largo reef fishing as well will likely spark up. Remember guides such as myself operate bay boats which can get you on the patch reefs this time of year – a perfect option for a half day. Your often fishing within 15 minutes of leaving the dock, and this time of year a plethora of fish is yours for the taking! If your thinking about key largo backcountry fishing, give me a ring… I personally look to be all filled up from christmas to new years, but if I can’t take you I can definitely find an experience guide to put you on some fish! Well I hope you all have happy holidays and a happy new year, I’ll try to post an xmas week fishing report… but if I don’t get to it I’ll see you on the other side of 2013!