I recently had two of my favorite customers out, Jim and Gwen, who have been fishing with me since I started guiding almost ten years ago. Our first day on the water was one I’ll remember for a long time. It was right after a harsh cold front where it had dropped down into the 40’s in the Everglades. The wind had laid out to almost nothing and we were at the beginning of a warming trend. We stumbled on to a pristine area with nice, clean water that you just knew the fish would have to be hanging around in. When you get to fish as much as I do, you can often pull into an area and ‘just know’ when things look right.

We proceeded to catch a half dozen of the biggest snook I think I’ve ever caught on my boat. One of the snook was close to 25 lbs, and the rest were in the 15-20 lb range! While they can get bigger than that in other areas, we just don’t get them all that often here. We also caught over a dozen black drum, that were in the 8-12 lb range, with one that was 15+. It was just insane. We had to take off after many of the fish as they were screaming drag trying to race us into branches and structure. We can usually just turn snook the other way by applying pressure with the rod at a certain angle, but not when they were that big!

I experienced similar fishing the following day with my client Joe and his dad Harold. It was hard to believe we could get on a bite like that, especially two days in a row.

Then the following day, I had Jim and Gwen fishing with me again. This time it was to catch Jim’s favorite, tarpon. I told him the water was still a bit chilly (64 degrees when we started) so that it might be unlikely, but we’d give it a try. By late morning, things started to warm up. We caught some tarpon bait and checked some of the channels for tarpon. Sure enough, after we sat for a little bit, I saw a few tarpon showing and started to get excited. The water was still chilly, but I was amazed as it went from 66 degrees when we got there to 73 by the time we left, and that was in a matter of 3 hours or so. We ended up catching a big tarpon of about 85 lbs, and almost had a second one but it threw the hook. We also caught several big blacktip sharks that put on quite a show. That just goes to show that when you get the right conditions, anything can happen... even tarpon in January!

The following day I fished with Bo, who was down to go in any condition (as long as it’s safe I said). We put in a long day and struggled in the early part of the day but did catch a handful of black drum and trout. We were rewarded with a stellar snook bite the last hour of that day, catching them every cast. We even hooked a couple tarpon.

The nice thing about fishing the backcountry in the Florida Keys, is that we really can get out in just about any wind condition. I wouldn’t always expect it to be as good as I’ve just described, but like I always tell my customers, you don’t know unless you go. Anyhow, this was just one example of a week in my life of fishing. Hopefully that lucky streak continues for me. I hope you’ll come on down to experience some of the great fishing the Florida Keys has to offer, we are all ready for you!

The Upper Keys were very fortunate as we were spared much of the catastrophic winds, though we did get some tidal surge and wind damage, especially on the Oceanside. Many properties along the Atlantic did take a beating, including my family’s Bud N’ Mary’s Marina. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to get her back open in a limited fashion the first week of October, and she is almost back to 100% now.

While the hurricane impacted all parts of the Keys a little differently, it definitely hampered business all around and made our normal off season extra slow. We’d been very fortunate for many years now not having to deal with hurricanes, having great fishing during the ‘off season’, and still having a fair number of tourists down here in October and November. Hopefully, once Christmas gets here, we will have very busy weeks and can march into 2018 and never look back.

So, enough of that! What’s been going on with the fishing?

Well, it’s been a little strange since Irma, although, overall, it’s been good. In the backcountry Everglades, I’ve noticed many areas have been cleaned out that had been filled with silt and mud for years from past storms and algae blooms. However, now that things have settled, much of the vegetation that was killed and displaced by the storm has been decomposing, creating new nasty zones. Some of this dirty water seems to come and go with the winds. Areas will be nice and loaded with fish for a period of time, and then the wind will crank up or change directions, and you get nasty colored water in there and everything moves out. I think if we (hopefully) get some good, cold weather this winter, that may finally help to push a lot of that stuff out and away like it did last year, with the algae blooms we had suffered the previous summers.

On a recent trip, I was out with my dad and a couple friends, and we fished several areas we hadn’t fished in a long time, as well as did some exploring. We were pleased to find a good amount of redfish and snook in several of these areas, and the water looked absolutely beautiful. It was so nice to see the redfish--especially because if you ask anybody that fishes back there, they had been fairly tough to find the last few years. Late October, we had a little bit of cold weather and we had a good push of black drum and redfish as well.

At the end of November, I had Terry and his dad, Paulie, out for a day of fishing. Paulie was 90 years old and it was a pleasure getting him out on the water for a day. Luckily, the weather was just about perfect – nice, light northerly breeze of 5 mph or so. We fished the Cape Sable area for snook and, while it wasn’t a red-hot bite, we did manage a good handful of fish. He landed a few, and Terry caught a few as well. Paulie got the nicest sized one though and, boy, did they battle! We also got to see some cool crocodiles and various birdlife in those areas.

After that, we tried the Gulf of Mexico for Spanish mackerel. I hadn’t really had good mackerel fishing yet, the handful of times I’d tried, which normally we do have by November. Though, with the lack of cold weather and possibly the storm, they may have just not pushed down quite yet. On this day, we had a good bite going and probably hooked 18 or 20 fish. They weren’t staying on the hook very well, but the boys each managed their share to the boat, along with some bluefish, ladyfish, and blue runners. They were thrilled with the variety of fish and the gorgeous day we enjoyed in the Everglades and the Gulf.

I’ve had some good days out on the patch reefs on the Atlantic side the last month, too. Please keep in mind hogfish is closed now, so you’ll have to stick to snappers, porgies, and groupers for your table fare.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Hopefully we ring in 2018 with a bang and forget all about hurricanes for a long while!

June, July, and August are some of my absolute favorite times to fish here. I like to get an early start in the dark to beat the heat of the day, and it also is usually a much more productive time for fishing, catching bait, etc. I, myself, am still heavily focused on tarpon fishing here through August. A lot of people don’t realize that the later summer is sometimes the best time for fishing tarpon here in the Keys. While most of the bigger migrating fish have moved on, we still have tons of resident fish that stay here all year long. With the winds calming down and the temperatures staying warm, those fish get in much more predictable patterns and you can really have some fun with them. While last year was a little more up and down since it was a weird year and the wind seemed to never quit, even late in the summer, normally those patterns make fishing very consistent and easy. It’s nice when you can find a group of fish that only a handful of people are fishing, and you can go there for days, sometimes weeks, and get bites just about every time you go. 

Snook fishing is also a big summertime favorite of mine. Last year, we had some of the best summertime snooking since the cold snap of 2010. The whitebait (pilchards) were plentiful, and, with a few dozen of those in your live well, just about every snook spot where conditions looked good, had some fish. You could also find big packs of fish out on the shorelines, where sometimes you could catch well into the double digits on a good day. Just recently, I had made my first attempt on finding the whitebait in some of the usual backcountry spots and we had good luck. The snook were biting also, even though it wasn’t a great day with a hard south wind that they usually aren’t fond of in the areas I can fish. We landed seven, with four of them being nicer fish in the seven to 10 lb. range! 

Summertime can also be a great time to look out in the Gulf for permit. With the calmer winds, the water usually gets nice and pretty, and that is usually a good recipe for fishing Gulf wrecks. It’s a nice ride out there and you aren’t getting beat up in the open water. Fishing with small crabs or large shrimp can work wonders on wreck permit. Beware of the bull sharks though, as many of those wrecks are infested with larger predator fish, so you usually have to land your permit pretty quickly. 

As you can tell, I really love the summertime fishing that Islamorada has to offer. If you are planning to be in the area definitely talk to some guides and see what they have to say. It’s not as busy, so you can often plan a trip with just a few weeks’ notice, rather than having to book months in advance.

As most fishing guides know, this time of year can be very taxing, with working day and night plus dealing with all the traffic, boats on the water, etc., so it’s nice to be taking it a little easier. Fishing has been a little up and down, though, as we’re still having some temperature and wind swings. Though, on the days when it’s been right, I’ve had some pretty stellar fishing.

Jake and John Hess were with me on one such day. The wind had slicked out and we had nice falling tide all day long. We got on to the tarpon and they were biting almost as fast as you could get a bait in the water for several hours. Unfortunately, those guys will be a little spoiled next time they go tarpon fishing, but they did realize how special of a day it was, which was nice. Lots of fish had shown up deep in the backcountry and had been responding well to all kinds of baits. Pinfish, mullet, pilchards, and even artificial jerk baits had all yielded some action from the silver king.

On the days when it’s been blowing hard though, it hasn’t been as good back there and we’ve been sticking closer around the local bridges and channels. Recently, I had Aaron and his dad, Keith, down for a visit and we had very good fishing. It was a slow start, but around 9:30, when the tide started falling, the tarpon got very active. We kept moving around and got the fish turned on to our live mullets. It was tough to keep the tarpon on the hook, but we eventually caught one and it was a thrill for Keith. Half of the fun of live bait tarpon fishing is just watching the bites and, as most people know, when you catch one on a live mullet you’ve done good! I don’t normally talk numbers, but we probably put another 8 or so in the air—it was very exciting fishing!

Yesterday, the boys were with me and we tried fishing out back, but it was one of those days when the wind was cranking out of the south and it got very muddy. We jumped off a couple tarpon early in the morning, then didn’t have much action fishing for them in the backcountry, but we did catch a nice lemon shark. We ended up bailing and caught a bunch of trout, and about 8 or so nice big mangrove snappers on our cut bait. If you work around the islands and channel cuts right now, you can find some real nice mangrove snappers. Getting the big ones to bite is lots of fun and, honestly, almost as exciting as catching a nice snook or redfish.

Overall, Aaron and Keith appreciated the hard work and had a wonderful time down here. Not quite sure what I’ll be doing over the weekend, but hopefully, we’ll be able to find something fun! Once it warms back up though, the tarpon are definitely in town, so I’m sure it’ll get back to normal pretty soon.

Tarpon are showing up bigtime in March, which are the number one sought after game fish for most seasoned anglers and tourists alike. This year, we had a very warm February, so a lot of these fish have been around for a little while. Well, even throughout the winter there are a fair number around. But, when the water temperatures are in the low 70s or below, they just aren’t very active, or move out to deeper water to stay warm when it gets very cold. Fishing has been off and on for them, which is usually the case in the early season. You can still get some cold fronts or heavy wind days that drop the water temperatures and make the tarpon get lockjaw, or leave altogether. Though, you can also get those slicked off calm days where they show up in droves and, on occasion, are pulling you out of the boat! I definitely prefer the latter...

Most of the tarpon I’ve caught early season have been of the larger variety, many of them over 100 lbs. In fact, one of my anglers, Caroline, who was visiting with her husband Doug, landed a fish that was near 200 pounds! It was a slick, calm day after we had been hit by a mild front and the water temperatures were just getting into the lower realm of where tarpon are thought to be a possibility (around 75 degrees). We hadn’t seen any fish, and I honestly was hoping to just catch them a few sharks, but, as we laid out our third bait, we hooked this massive fish! It screamed out 150 yards of line as we gave chase, jumped several times thrashing violently, and finally settled down. Luckily, the fish kind of wore itself out with the insane run and jumps, and we were able to get her boatside in about 20 minutes. We caught several sharks, a big sawfish, and a bunch of Spanish mackerel on this day as well.

The day before we had a good day too, despite some nasty conditions with a 20-mph west wind, landing about 10 snook up in the creeks of the Everglades, and our limit of mangrove snappers. The last three days, I had the same anglers as well--John and Jan down from Pennsylvania. Jan was the big fisher person, and wanted to experience some of the different fishing options the Florida Keys backcountry had to offer. On the first day, we had pretty flat, calm conditions, so we went into the Gulf and caught a bunch of Spanish mackerel. We looked for some tripletail afterwards, but had no luck with that, never even seeing a fish! We ran way back off the mainland of the Everglades, and ended up finding a bunch of tarpon up there, likely fresh in from the Gulf. We spent the rest of the day out there, catching a couple nice tarpon around 80 lbs. each, a hammerhead shark, and several blacktip sharks.

The next day, the winds were blowing 20 mph out of the north, but we caught a bunch of sea trout in the morning. Then we ran into the creeks in the backcountry and caught a handful of snook, a nice redfish, and got a few jumps out of a smaller 40 lb. tarpon, on light tackle, which was fun.

Their last day, it was howling 30 mph out of the east and I was expecting to cancel, however they wanted to try and go, so we decided to do a half-day. We had some good fishing locally around some of the mangrove islands, getting our limit of mangrove snapper, including several nice backcountry ‘jumbos’ on some cut mullet strips. They enjoyed a nice fresh catch lunch later in the afternoon.

This goes to show that springtime offers many options for anglers down here. And even if conditions aren’t great with the wind (as they often are), you can still get out and have some fun on the water. The Florida Keys are a special place in that regard!

Tarpon are very well known for finding any weak links in your fishing gear game, so it's best not to take any chances.  I like to keep all of my spinning reels well-greased, helping to prevent corrosion inside the reel, which is bound to happen in a saltwater environment.

Another thing that I've had to do, more than a few times, is dunk my reels in the water when battling big tarpon to get around bridge pilings and send them on a float through the bridge.  This always makes for an exciting catch, but, obviously, can wreak havoc on your gear.  Usually, when I'm fishing the bridges, for this reason, I'll use my older trusty BG90s, which aren't super expensive reels, and are fairly easy to find replacement parts for.  This way if I lose it, I'm not losing a very fancy expensive reel I'm going to be super upset about.  I've found that even when they get totally submerged, you can try to clean them with freshwater on the boat as best you can, and just keep using them to prevent them from sitting and seizing.  Then, when you get back to the dock, dunk them in a bucket of freshwater for a minute or so, and spray them down really well with some reel lubricant.  I've got reels that are 10 years old and still going strong that have gone swimming like that probably a dozen times.

Another fairly important part about reels is making sure the drags are fairly smooth.  Over time, the washers in spinning reels get worn down, and, if it gets too far, they can lock up on you completely (and usually when you are least expecting it, battling that big fish)!  I've found, though, that, usually once a season, you can just break them apart and replace the washers and pack a good glob of grease in there and be good to go.  You can even send them back to the manufacturers, and sometimes for free, or a small fee, they will redo them all for you if you don't have the time and have some other reels to use in the meantime.

Another important thing to check on your reels is your line.  These days many fishermen are choosing spinning reels for tarpon fishing since you can load them up with plenty of braided line.  When monofilament was your only choice, you had to use much lighter line which wasn't as forgiving when it rubbed against a bridge, piling, lobster pot, etc.  I can fit about 300 yards of 50 lb. braid on my rods (and we all know how strong that stuff is) and then I like to put about 30 feet of 60 lb. mono on top for a wind-on 'shock leader'.  However, the braid can get weak over time, which can often go unnoticed.  One of the reasons I started noticing it more, was because of the union knot I tie when tying my braid to my monofilament wind-on leader.  The FG knot, which I've come to love and have used all the time the last few years, really tests the strength of your braid when you go to cinch it down. This is especially true with the heavier line we use for tarpon fishing, since you have to really pull hard on it to get the braid to bite into the mono and hold securely.  I noticed when I'd go to tie it, the braid would just pop, even though it often would look okay, and, for me, that was no good and let me know the braid was getting worn down and needed changing.

We'll be out hunting for the silver king every day before we know it.  As of now, in the backcountry, we've still been doing a mix of things.  The snook, redfish, drum, and sheepshead fishing has been better when we've had cooler weather (which we haven't had a whole lot of).  During the warmer times, I've been out in the Gulf fishing for mackerel, tripletail, cobias, sharks, and goliath grouper.  Overall, it's been good fishing, but I can't wait to be hooked up to those tarpon again every day!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net
http://www.budnmarys.com

I’ve been getting out a couple days a week, on average, and fishing has been fairly good as of late--though a little up and down with the winds and weather. We haven’t had a whole lot of colder weather yet, aside from one front that lasted a couple days right before Thanksgiving. Personally, I’m hoping we get a good bit more, as I always enjoy the cooler wintertime fishing here--it’s a good change from what we do the rest of the year.

The Spanish mackerel have started to show up in force these last months, and this fishery should stay strong into the springtime. I fished for them the last couple of days I was out, and both days it was constant action the entire time! A lot of larger fish, up to 5 lbs. too, which is usually the case when they begin making their way back to our waters. We’ve had to run far to get them though, as we are still dealing with lots of algae in the Florida Bay. If you are in that dirty green water, there usually hasn’t been much life.

With the slightly cooler weather, our live shrimp supply has been much better and you can get decent-sized shrimp most days. The macks have been eating them readily, especially when you tip a flashy-colored jighead.

Further out there in the Gulf, we’ve bagged a few cobia and tripletail. A few weeks ago, I had one of my anglers catching mackerel and cobia on a wreck, and we had a 400 lb. goliath grouper come up and try to eat both fish! He actually got the mackerel! Thankfully, we were able to pull the cobia out of his mouth, since he was on a much heavier leader. It was quite the show and one of the reasons I love fishing in the Gulf – you never know what you might see out there; it’s really like the jungle sometimes.

The tripletail haven’t been all over the place yet, but, if you get in the right area, you can usually find a good solid handful. Much of the technique in finding them seems to be finding the right colored water.

In the Everglades, the tarpon fishing has slowed down quite a bit. Snook, redfish, black drum, and sheepshead are starting to become the norm. We’ve had a handful of good days catching these species, but with as warm and windy as it has been, not every day is red hot back there. I expect it to get much better as things cool off more. In the winter, we usually like the days when the water is a little chillier, or right after it has gotten very cold and warms up slightly. Those said species can stack up by the hundreds in some of the deeper runoffs, oyster bays, and creek mouths in the Everglades. When the water is 70 or below, shrimp is really all you need back there though. When it is warmer, pilchards definitely help--especially with the snook. Recently, we were back there and had a successful day landing a combination of 15 red and black drum, along with plenty of trout, jacks, ladyfish, and even a few pompano. The wind laid out in the Gulf and we finished our day with a nice cobia, tripletail, and a dozen Spanish mackerel as well. This was one of the overall better days I’ve had in the last month for sure.

On a final note, don’t forget that hogfish size limits are changing soon. The federal limit has already changed and it sounds like state limits (where we mostly fish) will be changing too, so make sure to check the regulations. Unfortunately, it may not be an option for table fare any longer this time of year, but, hopefully, the stock will make a successful rebound.

I hope you have all had a safe and enjoyable holiday season – and best wishes for catching lots of fish in this new year ahead!

\

While I would say nothing in particular is in 'season' with regards to fishing in September, you really can have a shot at catching just about anything that normally swims here in the spring or summer.  While many of the migratory tarpon have moved on by July, there are plenty of resident fish that stay here all year long.  The same is true with many other species.

I always tell my customers that the conditions of the day will dictate what you might catch far more than being here at a certain time of year.  You can be here on a warm, nice day in the middle of December and have stellar tarpon fishing, or you could be here in April, during a late cold front, and have very tough fishing.  For those that aren't familiar, April would be considered 'prime' season for tarpon, while it is not on many guides’ radars in December.

If you are thinking of fishing here in September, another bonus is that the Keys are, for the most part, empty.  This means you can usually snag a good deal on a room and don't have to fight the traffic we contend with during busy season.  When out on the water, it is also nice to get a reprieve from seeing boats in every area you want to fish – you really feel like you have the place to yourself!  The fish are usually much happier when hooks aren’t being thrown at them every day; though that can be a double-edged sword, as guides won’t generally be in that 'day to day' routine of knowing where to be and when to be there.  I would still say the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

During this time of year, we usually start to see more drum showing up as well--especially later in October if things start to cool off a bit.  The redfish will also start to move in around many of the deeper island moats, creeks, and shorelines.  Snook fishing is usually a good bet at this time too.  We had a stellar showing of snook early in the summer this year, so hopefully it will be a good indication of a strong fall fishery.

In October we get the 'fall bait run', which can be a fantastic time to fish.  Some years, it lasts for several weeks, others, it may only be happening for a few days.  You can have some of the best tarpon fishing all year while this goes on, and bait is easy to catch, which is often half the battle in a day of fishing.

Other options during this time of year include fishing in the Gulf.  With some of the lobster pots back in the water, and soon stone crab pots, there is plenty of structure to chase tripletails around.  Cobia also generally start to be more prevalent once the water cools a bit, and, of course, there are some shots at catching lunker redfish and snook on those pristine, perfect fishing days out there.

Typically, the fall is also a great time for bonefish fishing as we get the higher flood tides in many parts of the bay, and water temperatures cool off a little bit from the scorching summertime heat.

If you are thinking of coming down here to fish this time of year, have a chat with your guide and they will steer you in the right direction.

We had quite a few banner days fishing back in the Everglades for species such as snook, redfish, black drum and sheepshead.  There was one particularly remarkable day when I was out with some new clients that we landed over 60 snook in just three hours which was absolutely incredible! 

My father and I enjoyed a few days where conditions were just right. We caught some massive black drum up to 35 lbs which he was psyched about.  We also got some big snook up to 15 lbs, even a double header on the first casts of the day which was very cool.  In all his years of fishing he had never done this type of fishing since back in his guiding years it was all about fishing the local flats for bonefish, permit and tarpon. Most boats couldn’t even make the run out to some of the areas we fish these days because they couldn’t hold enough fuel with the old 2 stroke engines. 

Today however, things have changed considerably! I will say though, this winter didn’t give us red hot fishing every day and you have to take the good with the bad. Unfortunately if you catch the wrong day during some of those cold fronts things can be pretty tough. There were a few days where we just picked at fish and were happy to just catch a few. 

I had a very nice couple from Tennessee named Pride and Cile.  We were out on one of those very cold low 50 degree mornings and had made the trek into the Everglades. The fish were not very happy and we didn’t catch much the first couple hours of the day.  Cile eventually landed her first ever snook which she was stoked about, and Pride got a juvenile Goliath grouper.  It was pretty funny because he had been asking me several questions about Goliaths – where they live, how you catch them, best time of year, etc... and then a minute later he caught one!  It was especially funny that day because the fishing was so slow that it was totally unexpected.