Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Fishing Islamorada

We are near the end of October and things are really starting to feel like Fall here in Islamorada, Florida Keys.  We have had a couple of ‘cool fronts’ where the weather has gotten down to 70 degrees or so, which has helped cool the water down a bit.  This has made some of the inshore fish happy especially snook and redfish.  The fishing around the mainland cape and some of the island moats and channel runoffs had been good during and right after these fronts.  We had some good days of snook and redfish fishing, it was very nice to see some redfish move into these areas as they had been very shallow for most of the summer.  Bait has been thick we are in the midst of the fall bait run, and many hungry predators are right nearby.  Tarpon can often be seen busting big balls of bait which is an awesome thing to see.  Though we have not had the craziness of thousands of tarpon which we saw the last few years during this spectacle, but seems to be fish much more spread out and not as many numbers.  We’ve had luck though catching tarpon the last couple weeks, one day we caught 5 out of 12 which was phenomenal!  And most days that we have tried we have had luck catching at least one, plus plenty of big blacktips sharks to keep busy.  A few of the big winter time tarpon have been in the mix too we had several fish the last week over 100 lbs.  In the gulf there have been a handful of spanish mackerel, that fishing should really start to heat up in November and further out in the gulf cobia and tripletail can be found.  The patch reefs have been very good too I was out there a few days.  We had good action fishing just shrimp with nice size porgies, lots of mutton snappers, yellowtail, bar jacks, and a few hogfish.  Had a keeper mutton on the last two trips out there as well which is nice to see on the shallow patches.  November is filling up fast give me a call if you want to get out on the water and fish, it is a great time as things are cooling off!  305-747-6903

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Well we are smack in the middle of October and things are starting to pick up again with business.  September I was out of town for a good part of, and the rest of the time was fairly slow as usual.  But everyone needs some times off.  So the beginning of October fishing has been fair – not great but not terrible – and I’ve been able to put together good catches for the day but really having to work at it.  We had not gotten a whole lot of cool weather, with exception to while I was still away very early in the month.  But it warmed up again very quickly and I think the fish are ready for a break from summer.  There had been a pick of snook around the islands and shorelines in the everglades, with the occasional redfish mixed in.  Lots of snappers, jacks, and some trout and ladyfish to keep the rods bent.  Half day trips snapper fishing has been a good bet, if you take your time with the live baits you can pick out some real nice size ones around the islands and potholes in the gulf area.  Many snook and redfish ‘spots’ had been loaded with juvenile snappers, and the tough thing is getting a bait to the desired fish without one of them grabbing it.  Sharks are in the mix if you want something big, and a few tarpon as well.  We did have a good tarpon trip a few days ago landing 2 out of 4 nice tarpon.  There has also been some smaller baby tarpon as well.  Now the tarpon fishing in October in the everglades can go buck wild if you catch it right… if we get some more northerly breezes that can push the baitfish down the coast and lead to some unbelievable tarpon action.  Yesterday we finally got another mild front and today the fishing was very good back there.  The temperatures dropped and the water was in the high 70s in the morning.  Snook and redfish made their presence known and the water in the cape sable area was very pretty with a good north breeze.  We caught double digit snook, and double digit redfish, so the action was hot!  Also some big jacks and a juvenile goliath grouper. One thing that has been prevalent has been bait.  Pilchards are readily available around many islands and shorelines of islamorada, and they have gotten bigger than they were last month so they are perfect snook and redfish bait size now.  Fishing should only get better and we should be getting more and more cool air from the north as we get into later fall/winter.  This is when the snook, redfish, and black drum fishing gets very good.  We also get hot action with spanish mackerel in the gulf, a mix of cobia, tripletail, bluefish, and more.  Plus don’t forget the patch reefs with mutton snapper, hogfish, porgy, and more – great for table fare!  The rest of October is fairly busy for me though I do have a few open days, and November is starting to fill up fast.  So if your interested in booking a trip, drop me a line sooner rather than later.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

We are half way through September and the last couple weeks you can really tell we are in ‘off season’ mode here in Islamorada, Florida Keys.  I was out of town for a couple weeks the last part of August getting married and have been back here since early September.  I’ve only fished a few days mostly for fun and a couple charters, but its that time of year to relax and take a breath.  Business was extremely good this year and I was fishing every day up until I left, so I’ve been doing some work on the boat and enjoying myself a bit too.  Anyways the fishing has been fairly good the few times I’ve been out, and I’ve been talking to others who have been getting out here and there.  Still some tarpon in the backcountry we caught a nice 70 lb fish last Saturday. Tarpon fishing is definitely still a viable option through October, and we also usually get an insane ‘fall bait run’ during the month so if your here during that, tarpon fishing can be epic before things really cool down.  Also we caught several goliath groupers with the big rods that day.  We finished the day with some lunker mangrove snappers (2 to 3 lbs!) we caught drifting chunks, and had some snook action too.  The snook and redfish fishing should continue to get better as we get into October, as things cool down and these fish move into the deeper creeks, canals, moats, and other areas where larger boats like mine fish them in the fall and winter.  Many of the local shorelines and islands are loading up with small pilchards (baitfish) which is the norm this time of year.  Once we really get into the fall these guys should grow in size and will be great bait for both offshore and inshore fishing.  They are what we like to call ‘snook candy’!  I was out sight fishing for fun yesterday with a fellow captain and we had a blast.  We poled some shallow shorelines areas and around some islands in the backcountry around flamingo.  We saw about a dozen redfish and a dozen snook, though only had a few bites out of the reds and landed a couple nice ones.  The snook were leary and not interested in the shrimp we offered them.  But it was very cool to be on the bow doing that as I don’t get to do much of it myself when running my boat!  The best part about fishing the next couple of months though is just being out there.  The boat traffic we see in the spring and early summer is gone, so you often feel like you have the entire backcountry/everglades all to yourself.  As things cool off too look for the spanish mackerel fishing in the gulf to pick up, that is always a great option for rod bending action and those fish can pull some drag!  Plenty of big blacktip sharks usually in the mix with them as well as other varieties of fish.  The patch reef fishing heats up too with hogfish, porgy, grouper, snapper, and the like – perfect if you want a half day trip of eatin’ fish!  Drop me a line and lets go fishing this is a great time of year to get out!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com