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Last month I had the opportunity to fish with Brad Buczko in Goodland, Florida. Brad is a full time firefighter who guides on almost every day off. He has fished the waters of south Florida since he was a kid and seems to know just about everyone around. Goodland is known as the gateway to the 10,000 islands, and is located just north of the Florida Everglades. After meeting Brad at the dock we took a quick run out to Marco Island Beach to get some bait. One cast of the net and we were flying back into the mangroves to start fishing. Brad said snook, redfish and sea trout were on the targeted species list for the day. The first spot we stopped was known as a “big fish spot,” we casted to the shoreline and let our minnows do the work from there. We caught a few catfish, and were all bit off several times by some Spanish mackerels. While at the first stop we had a manatee come right up to the side of the boat, boy are those things huge! After about 20 minutes with no monster snook, Brad said it was time to go to another spot. Brad’s fishing style is simple, run and gun. Pull up the trolling motor, reel in the lines and off we went. He doesn’t like to spend a whole lot of time on any one spot because the fish are moving so much with the changing tides. We repeated this process about a dozen times throughout the morning, catching a handful of fish at each spot before moving to the next. We caught a pile of fish, mostly snook and redfish, but unfortunately no monsters like Brad is known to catch. Overall it was a great trip and we will certainly be fishing with him again in the future!
If you are interested in checking out other species of fish definitely keep Brad in mind. He guides for tarpon when they move through southern Florida, his best fish he guided this year weighed 100 pounds. Give him a call and get yourself out on the water for a chance at a monster!
Capt. Brad Buczko
WATER TIME Inshore Fishing
(239) 963-5282