Key Largo Fishing Report

November is moving right along and the backcountry fishing in Key Largo has been pretty great.  We’ve had our first real ‘cold front’ of the year, with the temperature dipping into the high 50s for a night in Key Largo.  This has helped some of the backcountry fishing tremendously.  Our winter time cast of characters include snook, redfish, black drum, sheepshead, trout, spanish mackerel, and more.  Many of these fish can be caught year round, but the winter time is better as they prefer the cooler water temperatures.  Many seem to be pushed down from further north as it gets colder up there.  Snook have been around the mangrove islands, shorelines, and creek mouths feed voraciously on pilchards and shrimp when water temperatures have dipped.  I’ve been catching more snook than anything back there and they are a whole lot of fun, my last several trips we landed double digits in numbers.  The redfish, black drum, and sheepshead have been found in the channel runoffs on low tides, and are starting to show up in the deeper creeks and canals where we find them in the winter.  We had one very good day landing over 20 reds, the rest it has been a handful.  Though we will get more redfish and black drum as it continues to cool off and less snook.  I have not done much with spanish mackerel yet in the gulf, though I have had a few reports of good fishing out there.  As it continues to cool we will see more and more of that.  We did see a big school of cobia on a wreck out there one day last week, however the jack crevelles were so thick you could hardly get a bait to them.  However a boat that was fishing the same trip with me ended up getting a couple.  The patch reefs have been on fire lately.  The last several trips out there yielded plenty of porgies, snappers, some small groupers, and of course the delectable hogfish.  If you want to book a key largo fishing trip, now is a great time!  Most of my November is booked up and I am going out of town for Thanksgiving for a week, but early December is fairly wide open.  Let’s get out for your key largo fishing charter in December!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

There’s been some nice fish around the past month here in Islamorada, just 20 minutes south of Key Largo Fishing! I’ve been doing quite a bit of swordfishing, and it’s been as good the past few weeks as I’ve seen in years. One trip alone produced 5 fish, we had a trip with 4, a couple with 3, a few with 2, and some with 1. I know the streak will end eventually, but we’ve got them 13 trips in a row! The mahi are starting to thin out, but there’s still a handful around. The blackfin tuna have been pretty consistent most trips, although a couple trips they were a little more difficult. On the reef the snapper bite has been good and the king mackerel are starting to show up. The sailfish are just starting to move in as well, with the next few months being prime time! Send me an email when your ready for your next  deep sea fishing charter while in Key Largo, and make the short drive to us at Bud n’ Mary’s Marina! bnmcharters@gmail.com

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

October is here and finally we are getting some cool weather, and business is picking up as well.  The rest of October is fairly busy but I do have a few days open, and November is filling in quick so get ahold of me if you want to go fish soon!  Today the key largo backcountry fishing was fantastic.  We loaded up with live pilchards, which have been readily available around many of the local shorelines and islands, and headed into the everglades.  We had high water and I fished many shoreline areas and some new stuff as well.  The water was gorgeous, and the fish were happy.  We caught over a dozen redfish, and a dozen snook as well, with some nice jacks mixed in and a juvenile goliath grouper.  Great day!  Lately on half days the snapper fishing locally has been a good bet, with some nice size snappers around many islands and in the gulf grass beds.  We had a good tarpon trip a few days ago too before we had the cool weather, landing 2 tarpon and jumping another 2 off.  Also good action with large blacktip sharks that day as well.  As october continues the fishing should get better and better as things cool down a bit.  Look for the everglades to come alive with snook, drum, trout, and more.  Tarpon fishing will slow down though we can still get some large pushes of bait (the fall bait run) which they can start going nuts during before it gets too cold.  Spanish mackerel fishing will be in full swing before you know it, with a mix of bluefish, pompano, snapper, and more with them as well.  And the gulf can have good cobia fishing this time of year too with tripletails on the stone crab pots.  Drop me a line if you want to get out fishing in october in key largo!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

It’s mid september and things are starting to slightly cool off a bit here in Key Largo Florida Keys.  The key largo backcountry fishing has been steady and should get better as the water temperatures lower and we get some big pushes of baitfish down the coast.  As we get into October following those baitfish are huge schools of everything – tarpon, snook, redfish, trout, and more!  For part of October you may even witness the fall bait run when there are tens of thousands of baitfish that get pounded by hungry tarpon and other fish.  As you can tell, I get very excited about fishing this time of year and really look forward to it.  If your in the area lets set something up it’s not a very busy time so you often have the area to yourselves and the fishing ca be fantastic!  Lately it’s been typical off season, I’ve only been fishing a couple charters a week and fun fishing myself a bit.  I was out of town a couple weeks from mid august till early september.  The last couple weeks fishing has been decent for this time of year.  Still some tarpon around in the backcountry with some big sharks october fishing in key largo.  We landed a 70 lb tarpon last saturday and had some big goliath groupers as well off some wrecks and shorelines structure.  There were some snook too that were pulling major drag.  Plenty of white bait (pilchards) are starting to show up around many of the usual spots (shorelines, canals, moats).  These guys will grow in size over the next couple months and we catch them for bait all thru the fall and winter.  Snook love ’em!  A few days we were catching dinner which turned out to be very nice size mangrove snapper!  We got some nice size trout as well mixed in.  They were eating large chunks of bait, and many were in the 2 to 3 lb range which is great for the inshore areas.  I was sight fishing for fun the other day too with fellow Capt. Bill and we saw probably 2 dozen snook and redfish, landing a couple nice reds but the snook were not interested in our live shrimp presentation.  As we get into October, look for the spanish mackerel bite to pick up and mixed in with them are plenty of large bluefish, ladyfish, snapper, trout, and of course big blacktip sharks!  That is great action and can catch dinner too, plus further out there are often triple tail and cobia in the gulf.  Drop me a line and lets go fishing if your down here this time of year, key largo inshore fishing is great!

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

It’s august here in key largo florida and we are in the midst of summer time.  I’ve been doing a lot of tarpon fishing still, mostly deep in the everglades.  It’s a bit of a jog usually an hour or so, but the fishing is usually well worth it.  While in later july the fishing had gotten a bit more hit and miss, it is still very possible to have great tarpon fishing.  Today we landed 5 nice tarpon in the 30 to 60 lb range.  Yesterday we landed 4.  Days before that were a bit more hit or miss but I finally got back dialed in on the fish.  We had a few slow mornings with not much action from either tarpon nor shark, but managed to put some catches of other things together in the afternoons.  The winds the last couple days got back in the east/northeast which helped the fishing tremendously, whereas previously we had several days of muggy, hot, southwest wind which is not good for much here.  Snook fishing has still been productive too, we were lucky and got 7 big snook up to fifteen pounds in one of my tarpon spots.  Smaller snook have been feasting on the pilchards and those baits have been readily chummed on the edge of the gulf of mexico.  While doing that we are often catching trout and snappers, so it makes the bait catching experience a little more fun for the customers.  As we get deeper in august, fishing can still be really good but can also get tough.  The heat of summer sets in and fish respond differently.  Though one thing with me you can always bet I’ll work as hard as I can, trying to catch whatever bait we need, running wherever we need to go, to put my anglers on the fish of a lifetime!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

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