December 2019

Got out with JP, Ethan, Chase, and Christine today for a full day of fishing.  Was rainy over Islamorada and we had to run through it on the ride out, but once we got to the fishing grounds it was nice and clear skies.  Mackerels bit well, we caught probably 40 or 50, lots of larger size fish there.  Great action for the kids.  After that we hit some channel run-offs for some redfish.  I hadn’t tried these areas in a good while but figured it was worth a shot.  Didn’t look great as the water was kind of muddy and the tide wasn’t super low, but we did catch some fish.  Not a super hot bite but I think we probably caught a dozen reds in about an hour and a half, and a few trout as well and I think we missed another 6 or 8 redfish bites.  Good to know those fish are there!  After that we decided to use the last couple hours to try for something big.  First couple spots didn’t produce much but we did get a couple big lookdowns, a few lane snappers, a shark, and a few croakers.  But we hung in there and at the 3rd spot we got a nice ‘big nasty’ black drum about 18 lbs, great way to end the day!  Tomorrow is my last day for a week or so as we are going out of town, conditions look good we have a mild cold front and nice north wind then fading out in the afternoon… might be big fishing!  But surprisingly not a lot of cold weather in the near future though we may get a decent cold front next weekend.

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

Got out with Alex, AJ, Cooper, and Joanne today visiting from Tampa.  We decided to mix it up and fish the conditions.  Mackerels bit very well early on with the falling tide.  Again the wind faded a lot and the gulf was really nice in the morning. After a couple hours of that we worked our way towards the mainland everglades and caught some tripletail on the way.  Caught several small guys, then AJ got a nice 18 inch legal one we kept for dinner.  After that we tried a few spots for the shot at something big.  Tide was nearing it’s change and conditions looked OK.  The wind had kicked up a lot but with the tide starting in the water looked half decent.  We gave it some time, and then we got a few big look downs, a juvenile goliath grouper, and finally a nice 18 lb black drum!  Next stop produced a couple big 13-15 lb redfish, and missed something big on a pinfish.  After that we hit the creeks and were just barely able to make it in there.  But the snook bite was good we caught 20 or so snook, and a few smaller drums and reds.  Action packed day that made me look like a rock start.  Winds suppose to fade a little tomorrow, then get nice easy north breeze on Tuesday and a mild front that may be a great day for fishing.  Then I’ll be out of town for a week.  But let’s see what happens tomorrow!

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

Great fishing with the Slacks visiting from Knoxville. Tons of mackerel early in the AM with nice calm weather in the gulf. Finished it up with a strong bite of redfish, drum, and snook in the Everglades when the tide changed. Little blustery on the ride home but no sweat for the Contender Bay.

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

Got out will Bill, Taylor, and Tucker for a days fishing in the Florida Keys.  Christmas week is here and boy the traffic has sure showed up and people are here.  Should be a busy one luckily the weather looks warm and we have a couple windy days over the weekend but next week looks very nice.  Not cold though and no hard fronts in sight, usually January is when we get our coldest weather of the year and I look forward to it as it leads to some great fishing opportunities, but I’ll be out of town the first week anyways so it can wait on me if it wants!  Fishing was pretty good for us today, started off OK we got into a slow but steady pick of black drums, several small guys and a few mediums, but then we got a big mama 25ish lber that took about 10 minutes to land!  What a battle on light tackle lots of fun.  After that things shut off, we tried a couple other spots without too much but did pick off a nice sheepshead, a redfish, a mackerel, and a few catfish.  But falling tides have been tough in the backcountry with the warmer weather and windy conditions making it muddy.  When the tide turned we moved areas and got into a good bite.  Lots of redfish, then the snook turned on, and a few more black drums and sheepshead too.  We tried one last spot in hopes of something big, and found some more smaller snook and a black drum.  Hooked a big ray, and then a big shark that dragged us around but not what we were hoping for in terms of big.  But all in all still a great day, double digits on black drum, snook, and redfish can’t complain about that.  Saturday will be super busy on the water I’m sure everything that floats will be out there.  Not sure what we are doing but we’ll see.

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

Got out for a day today again finally.  Had to cancel 4 trips in the last week due to weather, a couple days I would’ve opted to not go (wind, rain, and chilly), but a couple of them I definitely would’ve gone.  Only problem was semi-local customers coming from miami and such, makes it hard because they don’t want to show up at the dock at 7 AM in the morning to make the game time decision, and a lot of the times the weather man is wrong on his forecasts ahead of time.  But we made it out today again and it was one of those days where you likely would’ve cancelled looking at the forecast, but it ended up being a pretty nice day.  Just a light misty drizzle for the ride out and then the rain cleared, and the winds swung around northwest and actually weren’t as bad as predicted.  I had Andrew, Mono, and Rob.  We had a steady pick of fish all day, catching a few in many spots and a three spots catching a half dozen or so in.  Really stayed in fish almost all day I don’t think we went more than 20 minutes without catching something.  Not a whole lot of big ones but we did catch slot reds.  We did find a monster snook though for Andrew he got a nice 38 incher, fish of a lifetime would’ve made a great christmas present to put up on the wall with a mount from Gray Taxidermy!  Anyways I’m off for christmas then booked up through the holidays and then going skiing in early January.  But stay tuned for some more reports and if you want to go fishing in January it’s a great time to come with the colder weather we get, expect more big snook to show up!

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