Capt. Rick Stanczyk's Fishing Islamorada

3/14/13 Islamorada tarpon fishing and backcountry report

Well last night took my first official evening tarpon fishing trip in Islamorada. Not ideal conditions with the breezy north wind and impending cold front, though luckily the water temperatures did not drop too drastically and had time to warm during the day. Anyways had all different kinds of baits – big shrimp, cigar minnows, crabs, and pinfish. We drifted the local channels for some tarpon in islamorada. I had seen several there days before, though early in the afternoon not much activity. We stopped near one of the bridges and I saw a fish roll, we set up our anchor and drifted baits back towards the bridge. We had a couple bites, one on cigar minnow and one on shrimp. Not sure what the shrimp bite was but likely a tarpon as it pulled drag for several seconds. The cigar minnow definitely was a tarpon but didn’t get a hook set. We did end up catching a legal gag grouper and nurse shark off the bottom to keep busy. March tarpon fishing Islamorada is just like any other time, around sunset can be your best bet for good bites. We ran further back to catch the end of the falling tide in one of the channels. Again saw fish roll right as we made our first drift, a welcome sign! After a couple more drifts we finally hooked up on a live crab around 7:30. After a 20 minute battle we had a nice 75 lb fish to the boat, just in time to make our way back home on our florida keys night tarpon fishing charter!

Today we fished in the backcountry for a half day, the winds were way up 20+mph out of the north. Pretty chilly too but not brutally cold. Not many options but we ran and hid behind some of the islands and caught some nice mangrove snappers. Got our limit of nice 12+ inchers, including this nice 17 inch fish which for the backcountry is gigantic! After that we tried to find some muds in the bay for trout/ladyfish/etc… but it was tough to fish in the bay as it was so rough, we anchored down in a muddy area and did catch half a dozen big ladyfish for something different before heading home. Islamorada mangrove snapper fishing is one of the best bets for edible tablefare in the backcountry, and they can be caught almost any day even when its blowing and nasty.

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

: night tarpon fishing

: islamorada mangrove snapper

March 14, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

3-12-13 Fishing in Islamorada

March is a busy time here while fishing in Islamorada. We’ve been fishing just about every single day so far on the Bn’M and have had some great days and some decent days. March is a transitional month for sure. We get a little bit of everything, but not always a ton of one thing. We’ve had more cold weather in March than most of the winter and we have some more cold weather coming! The Shark Fishing was great our last trip offshore. We caught and released a big bull shark between 250 – 300 lbs, and then released an estimated 600 lb tiger shark! We also had some small blackfin tuna and a couple of decent size amberjack. The reef is where we have spent most of our trips however, and today we had the best bite of kingfish we have seen all year. We had our limit of fish up to 31 lbs. We also had a few snapper for dinner including a nice mutton snapper. There’s also been a bunch of barracuda around the reef, which makes for great action. There was some cobia action the past few days when the conditions were right too. We released some small fish on multiple occasions and had a few keepers up to 35 lbs. There has been a few mahi around, but not in great numbers yet. We had 4 one day but a couple of them were gaffers. We should start to see some more though as we roll into Spring while Islamorada fishing. Send me an email and I’ll get you our fishing!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

: islamorada cobia

: islamorada kingfish

: islamorada mutton snapper

: islamorada bull shark

: tiger shark head

: tiger shark islamorada

: islamorada yellowtail

March 13, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

3/10/13 March islamorada tarpon fishing report

March is usually a great time of here for fishing islamorada tarpon. It’s been off to a slow start as we’ve had several cold fronts, almost every week, for the last 3 weeks. Oddly enough january had 2 weeks of 80 degree weather – go figure! However even with the mid 60 degree water temperatures we were able to find a nice tarpon today. A 60 lb fish caught on fairly light spin gear on a live pinfish! We also caught some nice islamorada trout fishing further out west near the edge of the gulf in the morning. Later in the day we caught several more along with a ton of ladyfish and a spanish mackerel. The report on redfish and snook have not been very good, some guys saw fish today but they would not eat. We tried a few spots but muddy and cold water, with no fish… But the nice everglades tarpon made our day! Tarpon fishing in March should continue to improve, we are getting a tad cooler weather again in a few days but I don’t think very cold so hopefully the water temps won’t drop and the tarpon will show up in force!

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

March 10, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

March Fishing in Islamorada

Well it’s been a busy couple of weeks here while fishing in Islamorada. We’ve had some red hot action as well as a few slower days, but still always manage to catch some fish and have a great time! Today we did a half day fishing charter in the morning and dinner was the first thing on mind. We anchored in two spots until we had a enough yellowtail snapper for dinner; we stopped at a dozen fish. After that I went to the tower and searched inside the reef for cobia, and sure enough after 30 minutes found a nice school. Most of the fish were undersize, so we released a handful, but right at the end we pulled a keeper in the boat. From there we went for some more action for the ladies and caught and released a few barracuda. Yesterday we sailfished all morning, but it was slow for us. About mid day we changed up our plan and wound up limiting out on lane snapper, caught a couple bonito and small amberjack, and then also caught a couple barracuda. That the great thing when Islamorada fishing, there’s always something to catch for fun! The day before that we managed 1 sailfish release, a limit of king mackerel, a 4′ silky shark release, and a few lane snapper and trigger fish for dinner. The couple days before that we caught some yellowtail snapper each trip as well as a few mutton snapper, including a couple nice fish in the 8 – 10 lb range. We also released a handful of black and gag grouper. We will start headed offshore to the humps here with more regularity soon, but for now we are still focusing on the edge of the reef. Let me know if you’d like to get out on a islamorada offshore fishing trip!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

: bnm sailfish

: islamorada reef fish

: islamorada barracuda

March 6, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

Big cobia in the backcountry/gulf

Last week while fishing islamorada we caught several nice fish. We started the morning fishing the backcountry channels for variety and bait – trout, ladyfish, pompano, jacks, mackerel, etc… It’s amazing the mix of fish you can get in some of these areas and at the start of the spring fishing is really good. Islamorada trout fishing gets very good later in the spring, and lots of big spawning fish move into the bays. You can get tablefare to eat as well as stuff to use for bait for bigger species. We mainly keep the spanish mackerel and ladyfish for such fishing. Later on february fishing the florida keys we set up at one of the channels mouths where lots of big fish venture in from the gulf. We caught the start of the incoming tide. We had one tarpon bust a ladyfish which we had fished live on the surface, unfortunately he missed the hook and bait altogether. We hooked a gigantic ‘sea monster’ of some sort which we battled for over an hour… we noticed a brown stain staying close to whatever it was we had on, and I knew right what it was! A few casts later we had hooked the 2nd fish while my angler still battle the first beast. I traded rods with him for a while, and after 25 minutes he boated a 45 lb cobia! Cobia fishing in Islamorada is best in the spring when fishing the gulf areas. A fantastic catch especially on 15 lb braid with 30 lb leader only. After that we went back to the other rod which was still bent over with something big on the other end. We finally got that up to and it was a gigantic mud marlin. After some high-fives we went back to put the big rods out some more, and within 5 minutes hooked a big shark. This time it was a florida keys hammerhead shark! I love catching these guys as we don’t catch them every day and people love to see them – they are truly an interesting shark and people always get a kick out of catching them! We also had caught several smaller black tip sharks on this day. Unfortunately right now we are experiencing a late cold front which will slow down the march islamorada fishing for some of the bigger species such as sharks, tarpon, etc… However I’m thinking by next weekend the water temperatures will have had a chance to warm back to low/mid 70s, and the big tarpon and others are ‘around’ and will start biting again. It’s a great time to go fishing so make some plans soon. I myself am booked just about every day in March, however I do have some evening trips available – drop me a line if your interested in getting out for some big tarpon around sunset. Islamorada tarpon fishing in march can be very good as the fish are not so ‘beat up’ from the tons of anglers fishing for them.

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