12/18/16 + 12/17/16 December backcountry fishing report Everglades Florida Keys

12/17/16 – Did some mackerel fishing on a half day today.  We hit the edge of the gulf with a bit of a breeze out of the southeast.  Chummed it up and jigged with our shrimps.  We had great action landed probably 20 macks, some blue runners, and a few yellowtail snappers.  On the way in we stopped for some mangrove snappers.  It was tough to find any big ones in the time we had, but managed a couple keepers.  Good rod bending action and a few fish for dinner!

12/18/16 – Today we started out the same way as yesterday.  Crushed the mackerels for 2 hours, I had 3 guys so this was something easy to do where they could all fish at the same time.  We probably caught close to 50 mackerels I’d say.  Some blue runners mixed in as well.  After that we hit the channels to try for sharks, and got lucky and found some tarpon and other big stuff in the mix as well!  It’s so warm right now that the fish think it’s spring time, so you never know what you may get unless you try.  We caught several blacktip sharks that put on a good show jumping and spinning.  We jumped one tarpon and a bit later caught one – about a 70 lber nice fish.  We also finished the day with a large ‘mud marlin’ sawfish which was probably 300 lbs.  What a way to finish the trip!  Anyways things should stay warm for a bit longer so this type of fishing is a possibility for sure.  Give me a shout if you are wanting to get out!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

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