Capt. Rick Stanczyk

November Shark Fishing in the Florida Keys!

I had Mark and his 3 boys out on the Bn’M II yesterday, and they wanted to catch a monster shark! I told them Florida Keys Shark fishing is as good as anywhere, if not the best! Mark had fished with the Legendary Frank Mundus off Montauk many times before, and wanted his kids to experience the battle of a big shark. We headed offshore of Islamorada about 13 miles in rough conditions, but 20+ knots of wind was going to keep the 36′ Jersey Devil back on land. We decided to try to catch some blackfin tuna first, but every time we hooked up, the sharks ate them before we could get them to the boat! Well I know we were in the right spot, and finally we got a few tuna in the boat. We rigged up the 80 wide rod and reel and sent down a fresh shark bait on a 16/0 circle hook. I like to use circle hooks to help insure a healthier release on the fish. We didn’t get a bite the first drift, but we made a second drift, and the rod doubled over!

Brian got in the fighting chair and harnessed up. I figured it was dusky shark, because that’s what had been out there lately. The shark wouldn’t give up though. I started to doubt it was a dusky, because we had been working on the fish for close to an hour! We went up and up on the drag, till we hit 35 lbs of pressure. Finally we got the leader on the fish. It took a few looks, but then I realized we had on the biggest dusky shark I had ever seen! The fish had a huge belly on him!

We were all in shock when Josh took some wraps on the leader and pulled the beast up to the side of the boat. The dusky shark was every bit of 500 lbs! Brian was out of breath but happy the battle was over. We took a few pics in the rough weather and then headed back to the reef to finish up the day. Mark said he had never heard of a dusky shark that big, but we did look in the record books and there has been fish over 700 lbs reported years back. It wasn’t a record, but it was a new best in my Book!!!

If you want to try your hand at a monster shark let me know and I’d be happy to get your out there! Send me an email at bnmcharters@gmail.com

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

10-3-13 October Deep Sea Shark Fishing Report

Well the Fall sharks are here! The humps and reef have both been producing some hard fighting sharks. All of our shark fishing in the Florida Keys is catch and release, and we typically use circle hooks to ensure the safest hook placement in the corner of the mouth. On the 2nd we went offshore to start the day and caught a bunch of tuna. The tuna would make good table fare as well as shark bait. After getting what we wanted we put out a live skipjack tuna on the 80 wide reel. It didn’t take too long till we had a bite. After a quick drip back we set the drag. Vinnie worked the rod and after a 2o minute fight had an 8′ long, 250 – 300 lb dusky shark along side the boat.

We took a few pictures and then sent the shark back on his way. It was the biggest fish Vinnie had ever caught! We then came back to the reef and were having plenty of action with small fish and then decided to try for some bull sharks. We had 3 bites in one hour of fishing, but unfortunately they all got away. The next day I headed back out to the hump and saw a couple of hammerheads swimming down the waves. We rigged up a butterflied skipjack tuna and sent the bait out. After a few minutes a shark had found it, and after a 25 minute battle we had a 7′ hammerhead shark next to the boat.

We took a few pics and then released him to fight another day. The hammerheads are definitely one of the strongest fighting sharks around, and also one of my favorite since their head shape. We should have some more sharks around all this month, so if you want to catch something big in Islamorada, Send me an email and fishing for sharks might be the right choice!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

9/18/13 September shark fishing in Islamorada backcountry

We did a bit of september florida keys shark fishing today in the backcountry of Islamorada. Ran to the ‘flamingo’ area which is an hour or so from where we depart in islamorada. We had a cooler full of mullet from yesterday afternoon that were iced down good which provide perfect bait for sharks and other large predators. The wind was north in the AM and we fished a channel where we had tarpon action the morning before. With that wind direction though the tarpon were not happy. We started to chum a bit with our mullet and had a couple baits on the bottom. Soon enough we had hooked a nice size lemon shark, unfortunately he broke us off. We did end up catching 2 more nice size lemons of 100 lbs or so, plus a nice 40 lb blacktip. We did some other stuff the rest of the day, and did try again in the afternoon in another channel which we again saw tarpon in though no activity from them and had another blacktip shark.

Islamorada blacktip shark fishing can be good year round. They are very common in the gulf, with many large ones showing up in the fall and throughout the winter along with the spanish mackerel in the gulf. You can also catch them in the spring and summer. As long as the water temperatures aren’t too frigid though, they are a blast and with the right conditions while spanish mackerel fishing, they give a powerful fight and often jump and put on quite a show. Pound for pound they are one of the toughest fighting sharks.

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

9-9-13 September Sharks…

Well the sharks have still been active with the fall tuna run out on the “humps”. The ”humps” are giant sea mountains that rise up hundreds of feet from the bottom 10 – 30 miles from Islamorada, Florida Keys. These are some of the best places to do heavy tackle shark fishing. We stopped by a hump yesterday on the 12th on the way home from deep dropping for swords, and within minutes we had a 300 lb dusky shark circling the boat. We didn’t put a line out for him though, we were trying to get home to weigh the sword we had in the boat. A few days earlier on the 9th though we hooked a cuban night shark down 1400′. The shark was over 7′ long and had a green reflective eye like a big cat. It was Ken’s first night shark, so after a quick pic we let him go to fight another day. The next couple months should provide shots at big bull sharks, silky sharks, and dusky sharks so send me an email at bnmcharters@gmail.com to set up a trip!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

Late August SHARK fishing in Islamorada!

The “humps” offshore of Islamorada have been holding some big sharks lately. We stopped by one of them last Sunday and made our first drift with a butterflied skipjack tuna. We didn’t get a bite and I was disappointed and a little shocked. Luckily I had my charter there to say “hey, that was only one try”. So we reset and drifted over the hump again. It didn’t take long this time and the 80 wide reel started ticking off. We feed the shark a few seconds and then put the boat in gear. The shark made a blistering run, dumping off a hundred yards of line line like nothing. We had a lady angler out for her birthday so she got in the chair. She had just seen shark week so she was very excited to see what she had on the end of her line. It was a 30 minute battle, back and forth, but eventually she worked the giant 350 lb dusky shark up next to the boat and we got a few quick pictures before releasing the big creature to fight another day. We fished yesterday as well for a couple hours before a big thunderstorm chased us in. We caught a small almaco jack on the hump and then rigged him up for shark bait. It didn’t take too long to get a bite, but unfortunately the shark broke us off after a few minutes. We didn’t get to see him but I know he was BIG! With the wind blowing 25 knots and the rain coming we had to cut it short that day, but I’ll be back out there soon! Email me if you’re interested in trying to catch sharks in the Islamorada!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com