tripletail

3/22/13 March Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing

Had Sam out today luckily after a last-minute cancellation.  He wanted to try to catch a tarpon in islamorada and I told him I thought we had a decent shot at getting one today.  The fish have been around though not biting great yet, however we had the wind switch around today to southeast from north yesterday which is a good thing – nice and warm weather!  We started the morning early out at 7 AM, found some birds bombing and looked for mullet for a bit but they were very finicky so just continued our run in the back. We stopped in the bays near the edge of the gulf and got into the trout and ladyfish pretty good which we saved the ladyfish for bait.  Islamorada trout fishing should be pretty good through the spring with lots of fish in the bays moving out from their winter holes, and these were nice size keeper fish too.  Around 9:30 we had our fill of bait and such, so we went in search of tarpon.  Set up in a channel with the start of the incoming tide, and within 10 minutes we hooked a nice 100 lber!  Plenty of jumps and leaps, chased him down and leadered him up after a 25 minute battle.  Good job Sam!  The march tarpon fishing in islamorada i think will continue to get better and hopefully we will have a strong show of fish through season with the later start this year.  We caught several black tip sharks after this, and had one myestery fish likely a big ‘mud marlin’ that we pulled the hook on.  Anyways after the tide quit we went into the gulf for the last hour and caught about a dozen triple tail which was fun.  The triple tail have been pretty thick in the gulf and even with it being a bit choppy it was a good bet for something different.  If you want to catch islamorada triple tail then make sure to ask they are an option!

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

2/15/13 Backcountry Fishing Islamorada Report

Well today February fishing islamorada in the backcountry we had shots at several different types of fish.  Tarpon, redfish, snook, trout, cobia, tripletail, and more!  That’s all possible when you go fishing in the florida keys, especially out of Islamorada.  We caught most of them too, unfortunately the snook we broke off and cobia we had some hook pullage.  But several, nice 22-24 inch reds in some creeks plus a juvenile tarpon which ate a big lively shrimp on a jig.  We found some nice slowly falling water with some tanic water coming out of a side creek which usually spells F-I-S-H.  We hit the gulf after that escapade and had our cobia bite, unfortunately no others and the conditions did look good plus we caught the tide change which usually is a sure bet for decent cobia fishing in islamorada – perhaps the incoming front had thrown them off.  We hit the trap lines on the way back, lots of triple tail which I’m happy to report, we caught plenty plus one for dinner.  Also got into a mess of trout on the way home and some keepers as well.  After this weekends front, fishing should continue to improve as we enter the spring time.  You know what is on the agenda then – big tarpon!  We’ve been seeing plenty showing up and after the cold weekend they will likely be in feed mode, so be ready!  Until our next february fishing report islamorada.

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

1/4/13 Gulf and Backcountry Fishing Islamorada Report

Well it doesn’t get any prettier than it did today on 1/4/13 while fishing islamorada!  We worked some island shorelines on the high in tide in the everglades national park first things this morning.  We picked several redfish, black drum, and a few sheepshead in this fashion casting shrimp.  On the tide change we went looking for a snook around some other island moats.  We did find one eager participant, alas we broke him off boatside.  However we did end up catching some more black drum jigging the bottom, as well as some more sheepshead from around the mangrove trees!  We then hit some scattered muddy waters in some ditches further towards the gulf area and got into a mess of trout, jack crevalle, ladyfish, pompano, and one juvenile permit.  What a mixed bag for this islamorada fishing report!  Continued cruising on out into the gulf of mexico along the crab bouys, and saw several tripletail fish.  We caught some for dinner, mostly again casting shrimp on a small cork, dragging it to ’em, and WHAM!  These high flying acrobats are fun on light tackle, and not bad blackened on the grill either.  A gulf wreck was next on the agenda, and we caught some cobias off of it, as well as a goliath grouper that took some convincing to get to bite.  Another permit was had in this area too – you never know what to except fishing the florida keys!  To end the day we caught some spanish mackerel closer to home in Islamorada.  And so ends another tale of wonder fishing islamorada backcountry.

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