February 2020

Got out with Steve, Chris, Kelly, and Cathy today for a full days trip.  They were visiting from Oregon and wanted to see the backcountry.  We ran into the creeks, it was a southeasterly wind not too bad in the morning but picked up by the afternoon.  Bugs got us a little bit early on, we caught about a half dozen fish in 20 minutes, and then moved as they were getting horrendous!  Luckily next stop was more open area and the bugs weren’t too bad at all there.  We continued to pick away at redfish and snook.  When the tide started to bottom out an hour or so later, we made another move and then got into a a good rally of fish.  Chris had a tarpon on that we got near boatside then threw the hook.  We then got into a bunch of snook and redfish, really lost count.  Cathy got a tarpon and that one we landed, got it on video but it jumped out of my hands before we could get a good still pic!  Cathy got a small goliath grouper as well.  When the tide changed, the fishing slowed a little and we eventually called it quits.  The wind was ripping on the way home, but we had a little extra time to try a spot for a shot at something big.  Conditions didn’t look great, but looked like we had a shot at least.  We got another small goliath to start, then Chris hooked up 3 nice redfish in a row – an 18 lber, a 15 lber, and then a 10 lber!  Great way to end the day with some real quality fish!

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

Got out with the Kentucky crew today, Don, John, Jeff, and Boyd.  Winds were howling a bit but nothing the Contender Bay couldn’t handle.  We tucked up in the creeks, it was dead low tide early on and a little scary getting into some areas.  Slow start but once the tide started to trickle in, the fish did too.  Picked away at some snook and redfish, then after 3 or 4 stops got into a little flurry of them catching maybe a dozen or so.  Next stop we got into a pretty hot snook bite probably caught three dozen fish in an hour and a half or so.  Nothing super huge but the numbers added up by the days end probably close to 50 fish.  Wind really started kicking on the ride home a good 25 mph or so.  But nice to put up numbers like that with the wind machine cranking hard.  Back at it tomorrow looks like similar conditions.

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

Got out with my dad and The Bean Brandon Storin along with our long time friend Darryl Choronzey.  Darryl did a fishing show in Canada for a long time, Going Fishing TV, and had done some shows with my dad almost 30 years ago!  We hit the backcountry and tried for some bigger fish but mixed it up with some smaller guys as well.  The big fish weren’t too cooperative, we did sense many of them nearby but they just weren’t wanting to feed.  We did get a good black drum, and missed a whopper snook I believe that we just didn’t get the hook in.  Bean caught a big red at the end of the day some 25-30 lbs which was the fish of the day for sure, and on the last cast no less.  We did catch plenty of smaller snook and some decent reds as well for good measure, plus some good trout.  Fun day out there, we’ll be putting a show together of the adventure so keep an eye out!

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

Got out for a full day today after a little mini cold front came in last night.  Temperatures dropped a little bit got into the high 50s, not super cold but definitely down again from what it was.  Winds were cranking early but got a little nicer later in the day.  We caught some black drums early nothing huge, but steady action probably a dozen or so in a couple hours, plus some trout, ladyfish, jacks, and a snook mixed in.  As the tide fell and the water warmed up, the fishing got better.  We got into a couple good snook blitzes later, catching probably 25 or 30 I would say and 1 decent redfish.  One area we checked out had nothing at all very muddy and just didn’t look good so we left that.  On the way home we the wind had laid out somewhat and we found a patch of clean water and came across some big reds!  Caught a triple header of 12 to 15 lb fish, and then got a monster 30+ lber on a pinfish!  What a way to end the day!  Also a couple small goliath groupers.

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