October 2019

Got out for a fun trip today with my wife Elizabeth, and our friends Travis and Virginia.  They hadn’t really seen any of the mainland everglades before even though they live here, and Virginia really loves birds too so she was super excited.  We caught some bait to start the day and then headed back.  Stopped at an island and caught a few snook so a nice start.  Also saw some roseatte spoonbills and other birds.  After that we ran out and wanted to give a shot at a spot where some bigger fish were last week.  I knew the tide was different though but just wanted to see if they were there.  It looked pretty good, and sure enough we got into a mess of redfish!  Nice fish too no super monsters, but many in the 6 to 8 lb range, and a few in the 10 to 12 lb range!  We tried another spot and Virginia got a monster black drum about 25 lbs, and we got a few nice snook that were 8 lbs or so.  Spot #3 produced a couple big snook in the 15-18 lb range!  And a few more smaller redfish.  We then ran through the canals and saw some crocodiles, more birds, a manatee, and a few other creatures like turtles and dolphins.  It was really cool for them.  Just a perfect day and looks like the winds will crank from the south tomorrow, so that may make things a little tough tomorrow.  But it calms down quickly again and looks like it’ll be nice early next week.  There’s lots of cool stuff to catch right now and I have plenty of availability now and in November.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Had a great day filming our first episode of the new Bud n Mary’s YouTube show! Got out with my dad, Brandon, and Clay having some fun in the Backcountry and gulf. Winds weren’t too heavy but not a great direction being Southwest so things were a little muddy in several areas early on the falling tide. We ran far and got to clean water and made a good morning, picking away at some snook and a few reds, trout, and Jack’s. Got into one spot when the tide turned where we caught ’em good but nothing super big. On the way home though we tried an area and lucked out, got into a crazy redfish bite with all fish a good 5 lbs or more. A handful in the 10 to 18 lb range too just awesome, plus a couple good snook as well. What a way to end it and awesome to get it on film can’t wait to see the first episode. Will keep y’all posted when we get it up stay tuned!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out with Jim, Jim, James, and Bob for a full day trip.  Nice thing about the new boat you can do 4 when necessary.  I don’t really advertise it as it’s just a little more work than I like and can make the fishing a little more difficult with more bodies in the way and stuff to be done constantly.  But off season I take ’em!  Luckily fishing has been good enough to support it as well.  We headed out into the backcountry, caught some bait on the way.  It was pretty windy and a little rainy in Islamorada, but once we got tucked away in the everglades it was nice until we left for home.  We were on fish all day, fished four spots and just hung tight as we steadily caught fish all day long.  It kind of got better and better.  Lost count on snook but I imagine 60 or so, and a good dozen redfish of nice quality size.  The boys had a great time!  I’ll be back at it tomorrow, then I dont’ have much going on during the week.  But Monday looks fairly nice, and by wednesday it’s suppose to get very calm for a few days through Friday… The big fish will hopefully come out to play those days.  We may go fun fishing/filming Wednesday, but if you are looking for ideal days to fish, Thursday and Friday could be it at least from what it looks like right now.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Got out for a 3/4 day with Andrew, Jen, and Nathan.  We headed out into the backcountry, winds were northeast going more east throughout the day, blowing a good 15 to 20 mph.  We caught bait easily, one throw of the net and got a ton of pilchards.  We got into the backcountry and tried a few spots.  Last bit of falling tide and not much doing, each of the first 3 stops we made produced 1 snook each.  Finally the tide quit and we sat and as it changed, the bite picked up.  We had a good little rally, catching a good 7 or 8 snook and a redfish.  Then it slowed down again and we made a move.  Went to try some areas for some bigger fish.  Didn’t look great out there though, very muddy and the tide was already ripping.  We did manage one good snook bite that zipped off a good bit of drag but unfortunately pulled the hook.  But we did get a redfish and a tripletail while we were there so not a total loss!  After that the tide was high enough to try another area I’ve liked as of late.  We got into a crazy snook bite there, lost count but probably caught 40 or so there plus another 8 or 10 redfish.  A handful of better size snook too which was nice.  After that it was time to head on home, a tad bumpy but nothing the Contender 25 couldn’t handle we made good time cruising at 43 mph!  Back at it tomorrow.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

Absolutely sick day with long time customer and friend Jeff G. The winds laid down after kicking up hard Southwest yesterday. I wasn’t sure what it’s be like out back sometimes that bad wind direction can turn it into an absolute mudhole. We caught bait and headed that way. Once there it didn’t look terrible, not the greatest but looked somewhat fishy. We stopped on a few spots, a medium snook and red to start, then nothing but catfish. Poked around another spot and then we got into some big girls! We got several nice size snook and lost a couple others with Jeff getting his biggest ever 37 inches and probably near 20 lbs! I dont like to hand em to weigh them though as it can kill the fish. After that we caught a nice redfish and a few other snook but nothing quite as big. After an hour things slowed down and we went and tried some shoreline stuff. Tons of smaller snook here we lost count on small 2 to 5 lbers. After the tide quite we decided to look for some big ones again as the wind really layed out flat and it looked good with the water getting a little green. Sure enough the big ones were chewing! We got a couple nice black drum in one spot, then found the nice size snooks again. They really started biting on the ride change and we got probably a half dozen in the 30 to 34 inch range, and some others a hair smaller. We also got a nice tripletail and jumped a couple small tarpon that didn’t stay buttoned. And also a juvenile Goliath grouper. Wow what a day love ’em like this and always fun with such a great customer.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing