1/20/17 January Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico out of the Florida Keys

Got out with good friends Frank and Helen Cone today on a backcountry fishing charter in Islamorada.  It was flat calm again so we ventured out into the gulf to do some fishing out there.  The first wreck we hit was loaded with fish and we caught tons of jacks, snappers, and some spanish mackerel.  Eventually the cobias showed up too and joined the party.  We landed 4 of them, with one of them being a nice keeper size of 25 lbs!  After the tide quit things slowed down and we ran up towards the mainland.  We saw a handful of tripletails but not many, landed 1 nice keeper and another one we released.  Saw a few more but no luck they were very skittish.  We tried a few areas of structure for more cobias or possibly big redfish that show up on nice calm days in the gulf on days like this, but no luck.  We finished the day inside cape sable, and caught a couple nice snook to finish the day.  So all in all it was about quality over quantity today but we still had a good bit of both!  Tomorrow looks fairly nice a little more wind out of the south, but likely try the gulf again.  Then Sunday night we are getting another cold front so may have a nasty day or two early next week, but I think the cool down will make the everglades/backcountry fishing better again for a little bit.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Share