December 2012

December Backcountry Fishing Islamorada

Hello and Merry Christmas everyone from Fishing Islamorada! Today I fished a half day in the islamorada backcountry charter boat, the seacraft! The water is still very cold, low 60s, from the recent front we had a few days ago, though things will be warming up throughou the week for some good christmas week fishing. Winds were northeast this morning, and east by this afternoon. Fished around flamingo this morning but did not have much luck, picked a few redfish. Decided to make a move fairly early further out west towards east cape, unfortunately many of the spots I wanted to hit had boats sitting at them – so I just bit the bullet and went all the way to the big canal. Not something I normally do on a half day islamorada fishing charter, but when the water is this chilly it can be a very good area to fish. We had the end of falling current at flamingo, and start of incoming at the cape which is ideal. We fished in the deeper water and just picked at fish, but got a mix of redfish, black drum, and sheepshead. Likely another 15 fish or so in total, including a couple nice black drum and sheepshead which made the day! All fish were taken on live shrimp, about the best and only bait to use when the water is that chilly during a december islamorada fishing trip. Well looks like a very busy christmas week here as usual in Islamorada, Florida Keys. I don’t have any time available except for a few afternoon half days, so if you want to get out on the water give me a call ASAP – those slots will likely fill up quick! Happy holidays, and hopefully your enjoying december florida keys fishing!

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

: Islamorada Black Drum

: Islamorada sheepshead

December 24, 2012 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

December Offshore Fishing Report

We just had our second cold front of the winter season hit us today while fishing in December in Islamorada. It should just help our reef fishing continue to get better and better. Islamorada Sailfishing Charters are extremely popular from November through March. Sailfish are without question one of the most exciting game-fish we catch in the Florida Keys. We use light tackle (12- 20 lb test), and fish the edge of the Reef with live bait. Sailfish are thought to be the fastest fish in the ocean, reaching speeds of 67 mph. They fight great, are extremely acrobatic, and we catch and release all of them. The last few trips most of the fish have been up shallow, just inside the Reef in 30′-40′ of water. They’ve been chasing big schools of ballyhoo (also known as “showering” because of all the water splashing around. I was unable to run the last Islamorada Reef Fishing Trip on the Bn’M, but the good thing is we always have other great Captains ready to go. On the 19th Capt. Hunter ran the boat and put Jim and his group on 4 sailfish releases! They lost a 5th one close to the boat. They also anchored down and caught about 10 yellowtail snapper, the perfect amount to take to a local restaurant and have your own fresh catch cooked up.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

December 21, 2012 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

December Sailfish Action

We did a 1/2 day Islamorada fishing charter today aboard the Bn’M. We had Paul and his brother out to celebrate Paul’s birthday. A full day fishing trip always gives you more time and options, but in the winter time we have lots of successful 1/2 day trips since we are only fishing the Reef (4 – 5 miles out). We caught live bait right off the bait and then I asked them what they want to focus on. They both said sailfish, so that made that decision easy! It was really quite the first two hours but then the bait started to “shower” and the Islamorada sailfish moved up on top of the reef chasing big schools of ballyhoo. We saw about half a dozen fish and managed to get 2 bites, and fortunately caught and released both sailfish! It was Paul’s first sailfish so Congrats! Quite often the sailfish will become finicky and not bite the hook baits, but we out smarted two of them and called it a day soon after catching the fish.

December 18, 2012 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

Islamorada snook fishing video

Our friend Ron Modra catches his largest snook to date, islamorada snook fishing with Capt. Rick Stanczyk! This was shot a couple months ago everglades fishing back around cape sable. We were fishing live pinfish on knocker rigs at the mouths of several of the creeks that wind their way up into the everglades marshy areas. October fishing in Islamorada offers some unique angling opportunities, and fishing an area such as this you often have it all to yourself as we did on this day – miles of untouched waters to capture trophy fish in! Great day of fishing in the florida keys!

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

December 15, 2012 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Videos

12/6/12 December Islamorada Fishing Report

December islamorada fishing is off to a great start! Went out for fun today with my dad and friends, Capt. Dave Peck and Capt Vic. Gaspeny. We were looking for ‘big mo’, of the big florida keys redfish that occasionally are out in the gulf this time of year. We ended up finding a small pack of ’em, only snapped a picture of this one which doesn’t give it justice but was close to 20 lbs. There were several others with him, a big gold/red ball, and some over 30 lbs likely! They all disappeared though once they saw the boat, never to return unfortunately. The water and weather was gorgeous today, had a nice falling tide all day which is ideal for backcountry fishing islamorada. Especially in the gulf of mexico! We ended up catching several cobias as well, some of them nice fish and keeper size. They are lots of fun on light tackle rods. We also got a few small goliath groupers and a red grouper, plus plenty of jacks, blue runners, triple tail, and some spanish mackerel. The groupers, cobia, and big red were all caught on pinfish! All in all not a ton of fish, but some real quality ones – which I always appreciate! Great day fishing in the florida keys! The bugs were horrendous out at cape sable so we did not stay long there, though we did try this morning for a little while looking for some snook. Well stay tuned for more news concerning fishing the florida keys in december! Most of the fishing will be moving to deeper creeks/canals in the back, as the waters cool in the shallows. Islamorada flats fishing will slow down a bit, but there is always something else to do here when fishing!

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