October 2013

10/25/13 Fall Florida Keys Fishing Report

Well business is picking up a little bit. The fishing in the back has been getting better and better as things cool off. Lots of pilchards around which are a favorite of snook in the everglades. The snook bite has been really good we’ve been getting double digit catches regularly. Quite a few redfish too, as things get colder in the winter especially more and more reds, black drum, and sheepshead will move in. Today we caught almost 2 dozen snook and we only had live shrimp as the pilchards we had been catching had left the area. The day before there were millions of them, and tarpon from 20 lbs to 200 lbs were blasting them left and right. It was a sight to see! We had a mild cold front, the first of the season, which can make for some really good fishing. If your thinking of making a trip, November can be a great time as many spanish mackerel move in the gulf as well as big blacktip sharks, cobia, and more. The redfish and snook bite is really good in the deep everglades as well as around flamingo then too, and larger bay boats such as mine can reach them most the time.

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

10-5-13 early October fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys

It’s that time of year here now where we catch a little bit of everything. We are starting to focus more on reef fishing compared to the summer and early fall months where we head further offshore. The last few days in Islamorada we have caught a lot of different species of fish. One day on the hump we caught a bunch of blackfin tuna and skipjack tuna, as well as a big dusky shark. Then we came back to the reef and caught a few snappers, king mackerels, cero mackerels, and yellowjacks. The next day we went to the hump but the tuna’s didn’t cooperate as well as expected, but we did catch a couple and turned one into a nice hammerhead shark which we released. We also caught some nice snapper while bottom fishing on the way in to the reef. Back near the reef we fished a couple wrecks and caught a bunch of yellowjack and then released a lot of bonitos and rainbow runners. Yesterday we went out swordfishing, and we missed one sword bite, but did find some dolphin (mahi mahi) on the way home and caught 8 or 10 and kept 6 of them. The next few weeks we should start seeing a lot of more king mackerel, black grouper, sailfish, and snapper while fishing the reef and wrecks.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk