2/2/14 February Key Largo Tarpon Fishing Report

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

1/15/14 Key Largo Fishing in January

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

12/15/13 December key largo backcountry fishing report

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

11/19/13 Key Largo November Snook Fishing Report

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

11/8/13 November fishing in Key Largo

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

9/17/13 September Key Largo Tarpon Fishing and more!

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

1294433_10200895116599911_909695721_o

8-24-13 August deep sea fishing in Key Largo

There’s been some great fishing the past few weeks while offshore fishing in Key Largo. We’ve been leaving from 20 miles south of there, and been fishing from anywhere from the edge of the reef to 30 miles out. The reef has provided lots of action with yellowtail snapper and a few mutton snapper, a little further out on the wrecks we have also caught some vermillion snapper and amberjack, and then out in the gulf stream we have been catching mahi and blackfin tuna… We’ve have also been doing some swordfishing and been picking away at some fish. It hasn’t been easy but we have caught some nice fish the last month, but with the good days there has been some real slow days with no broadbill as well. We should still have plenty of snapper and blackfin tuna coming up this fall, as well as some mahi but there might not be quite as many as there has been lately.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

8/2/13 August Key Largo Fishing Report in the Backcountry

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.

7/24/13 Backcountry Fishing Key Largo in July

The july key largo backcountry fishing is as hot as the temperature!  That is really saying something!  We’ve had good action with the snook this week, around many of the islands and mangrove-laden shorelines.  Not a lot of huge fish but good rod benders with a few double-digit sized fish mixed in.  They’ve been eating decent sized shrimp fairly well which have been around, as well as pinfish and pilchards.  Tarpon are still going strong too.  I’ve caught them almost every day and the key has been getting out EARLY to catch fresh live mullet.  You have to scout and look around for them, and you may even take a couple hours just catching bait.
But the payoff has been worth it, we’ve been hooking 4-8 fish a day the last week.  Early in the morning with the falling tide until about 10:00 has been stellar, and then again in the afternoon in the start of the incoming.  For dinner fare mangrove snapper fishing has been good as well as a few seatrout in the bays.  Sharks have been plentiful too.  We caught blacktips every day too as well as a few lemons, bulls, and even a roaming hammerhead one day!  As we get nearer to fall look for the redfish to get into some of the deeper areas where I usually fish them, including the runoffs and creek mouths.