Fishing Islamorada

The april islamorada tarpon fishing bite has continued to stay strong throughout the month.  We’ve been catching fish on every trip really.  I think I only had one trip where we fished a half day due to a cold front and caught fish on the patches, only giving the tarpon a try for the last hour, where we did not hook at least one tarpon.  And only one other trip where we did not land a tarpon (we had two tarpon break us off in the bridges).  That’s great fishing!  We average probably two fish landed a trip, when you average the good ‘banner’ days where we release 3, 4, or more.  We’ve had a share of 1 fish landed trips in early april as we had a bit of a lull in the numbers of tarpon around, though the last week we’ve seen plenty more show up.  I think we had such a good early start that fish showed up strong in february and march, leading to a lull in early April which is traditionally considered ‘peak’ season.  Every year is different but like I said the last week seems to have seen big numbers around town again.  The backcountry has been a little slow with the tarpon since the last front, but they can show back up there any time again too I think when the wind stops blowing and some of the nasty ‘red weed’ that has been plaguing us back there dissipates.  Look for May to be stay strong that is often the best month of the year for tarpon and the weather stays consistently warm.  Summer can be very good too, last year July was just about as consistent as April with the early mornings being very good in the backcountry as well as good fishing around town on the evening trips with much less pressure on the fish since it is a bit slower with business and boats then.  I have some evenings available over the next couple months, just about every day is booked until June, but tarpon is what I’m doing and if your looking to catch one now is the time!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

It’s April and the tarpon have made their presence known here in Islamorada and throughout the Florida Keys.  Islamorada tarpon fishing is the big thing here for the next several months.  We’ve had a great early season and the weather is now really getting right for a big month in April.  Plenty of big schools of baitfish (mullet) have been showing up, several big ‘balls’ of thousands at a time that we use for bait.  The last few days I’ve been having great action fishing live mullet for tarpon.  We’ve had 6 fish to the boat in the last 3 trips, and over another fifteen or so that didn’t quite make it there!  Lots of other fish boiling, flashing, and busting the baits that weren’t hooked too.  It’s game on here for april tarpon fishing in Islamorada.  The fishing should only get better.  I’m booked most every day but I do have evening trips available that go from 4 to 8 PM so check with me.  It is a great time to go after big tarpon and the bite around sunset usually goes off!  You can see from the pictures below we’ve been having wild action the last month, and as stated before April only gets better.  The weather usually stabilizes and the big schools of migrating fish show up along with the schools of mullet.  It’s a mixture for tarpon craziness that you don’t want to miss!  Drop me a line lets get you hooked up to the fish of a life time!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well it’s spring time here in Islamorada and that means we are kicking off with march fishing in islamorada.  For myself that usually means starting to target larger things – tarpon, sharks, mud marlin, goliath grouper, and more.  Most of February the tarpon fishing in the florida keys area we fish was fairly good.  We caught fish just about every day we tried for them aside from a couple.  However this time of year can be hit or miss especially when we have late season cold fronts, that really turns tarpon off.  We did have a few banner days, one day we had 6 nice tarpon to the boat between 60 and 90 lbs.  Most days however we are getting a variety of sharks, the occasional large ‘mud marlin’, and a handful of tarpon bites.  Tarpon have been biting a bit around town locally too if you can get fresh mullet like we have been, that can be a good option.  Evening tarpon trips are a possibility, again though warm weather is key.  Looks like we have a minor front coming in this weekend so that may slow the tarpon bite down but it will likely pick up again quick as it’s not getting too cold.  Other than tarpon we’ve been doing a lot of trout and snapper fishing in the bays.  Lots of juvenile trout showing up from the gulf with some larger ones mixed in.  The gulf is also a good option this time of year, I haven’t been out there much but this time of year tripletail are often out there plus some cobia, goliaths, and more on the wrecks.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well it’s February fishing in Islamorada and that means we are getting into our ‘busy season’.  Spring offers the most variety of fish as you have a shot at catching just about anything at this time.  Today I wanted to let you all know we tarpon fished as it’s been warm for several days and looks to continue to be throughout the week.  This is a perfect recipe for early tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys as big groups of migrating tarpon come in from the gulf.  We had some luck and caught 2 big tarpon in the 80-100 lb range plus several black tip sharks on a half day of fishing.  Mullet muds are found pretty easily throughout the bay so bait can be caught first thing in the morning many days.  Before the last few days of nice weather we had a mild cold front with some rain and cloudy weather, though fishing was good.  We had a fun day with close to 20 snook, a dozen reds, and a few other fish.  Fishing the mainland ‘cape’ areas as well as some of the backcountry flats.  Give me a call or email if your looking to get hooked up to big fish, the spring time is a great time to go fishing in Islamorada and February is often the start of that!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Fishing in Islamorada in January has been good so far this year.  We’ve only had 1 cold front however this evening it is already starting to cool off again for our second.  While the fishing back there can get tough when the temperatures drop dramatically, as soon as it starts to warm back up it can get really good.  We had some excellent post cold front fishing last week.  One day we had over 50 fish of the redfish, snook, and black drum variety.  We also had good catches the few days after that.  Yesterday we got into the snook really good, catching close to 20 of them fishing some of the creeks and canals of the mainland everglades.  Some were very nice size, we also caught half a dozen red & black drum.  Pilchards were the hot ticket and the fish couldn’t resist.  However when the temperatures are below 70, shrimp works best for everything back there.  The fishing a couple days after this next front could really light up back there again, as the fish really congregate in some of their deeper holes to stay warm and when they start feeding again it is game on!  When the temps are too cold back there though there are always other options such as fishing the gulf or even out on the patch reefs on the ocean side, which can be really good since the fish in the bays often flush out there in search of warmer water.  Drop me an email I’ve got a handful of days open still the rest of the month, and of course February – May is filling up FAST!  Tarpon fishing season is just around the corner!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Fishing was very good yesterday on 12/14/13.  The day before we had a minor front chill down the backcountry.  Fishing that day was a little slow though we managed a few reds, handful of snook, and some other trout, ladyfish, jacks, and such.  It was blowing 20+ mph so we didn’t venture into the gulf to mackerel fish or anything as it was a multi boat trip and they wanted to stay in calm waters.  On the 14th we started the morning spanish mackerel fishing.  The wind had swung around from the south/south east – a much warmer weather condition.  Caught the end of the falling tide and they were chewing!  We caught probably close to 30 macks, and our limit (15) of nice 12″ mangrove snappers.  All on jigs and shrimp with some chum.  After that we went into the everglades and fished around some flats for snook and redfish.  It took a little while to get things going, but we caught 6 nice redfish on shrimp, and over a dozen snook in the 4-6 lb range.  The snook fed better on live pilchards which we caught that morning.  As you see a day can make an incredible difference with the fishing.  Christmas week is coming up and we are slammed busy, I do still have a couple openings if people are looking to go, and before christmas can be great too!  Drop me an email!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well we’re into December now and we’ve just had our first real cold front of the season in the last week.  Air temperatures dropped to around 60, water temps in the backcountry got into the high 60s – not too cold.  We like for this to happen in the winter as the cooler water brings in more oxygen and life and can really spark up the fishing.  Before the front the fishing was really good for snook in the backcountry and redfish were making their presence known as well.  Live pilchards have still been key for snook fishing, and are still readily available most days.  Since the cold I’ve been back there a few times and fishing still been fairly good though it seems fish have really moved around.  Places where I was able to fish for an hour or more and catch lots of fish I am now only catching a couple and having to keep picking and moving.  Not a bad thing, just a lot more moving around.  We still got multiple nice snook last week, and a handful of redfish.  Today we went out front to the patch reefs.  The action was heavy with a lot of mangrove and yellowtail snappers.  We got a few groupers and mutton snappers off the bottom on live pilchards, including a keeper red grouper of 22 inches.  We also got a handful of porgies and bar jacks.  Not too shabby for a half day trip.  The spanish mackerel have started to get more and more consistent, we will start targetting them a lot over the next couple months.  Some larger seatrout also start to get into the runoffs along with redfish and snook.  It’s a great time of year to fish here in Islamorada in December!  After christmas things really start to get busy, though I have some open days between now and then if your looking to get out.  Full days are best for the deeper everglades stuff, and on the nicer days the gulf can be a unique trip with the mackerels, cobias, tripletails, goliath grouper, etc…  Half days as stated patch fishing is a good bet, trout fishing in the backcountry, or mackerel fishing in the bay.  Let’s go fishing!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903

Went out for fun today to explore some off of the cape area of the mainland everglades. November fishing in Islamorada is often a better time for species such as snook and redfish as water temperatures cool down a bit and there is a lot of whitebait a.k.a pilchards around. We had a good trip catching double digit snook and a few other rascals including a nice triple tail.  Pilchards have been fairly plentiful so most days we are catching a load of them in the morning and bringing them along with nice live shrimp.  Today we worked some new areas exploring.  We had some luck this morning with a few nice snook on the last of the falling tide.  After that it was a little slow while we tried some different areas.  Then late in the afternoon we found a few good spots on the higher incoming tide for snook. Both places the water was very nice and pushing easily along tree-lined shores and snook were waiting there to ambush prey.  The live pilchards are great because you can chum with them a little bit and get the fish really fired up and congregated in one area.

rick@fishingislamorada.com