12/31/17 End of the year Offshore/Reef Fishing report for Islamorada

It's hard to believe this is my last fishing report for 2017! It's been a crazy year but we're still here and ready to do some serious fishing in 2018! Christmas week was jamming with people in town fishing and staying at our motel/houseboats. The sailfish bite was very steady last week with almost all of the boats having shots each trip. The bite slowed down for a lot of the boats the last few days, but if you hit them right you can still have a great day. Yesterday the Bn'M had 6 sailfish releases and the Fearless had 4, while other boats fished all day without ever seeing one. Today the Indigenous had 3 releases, a couple boats had 2, a couple had 1 and a couple didn't have any luck. This is prime time for sailfish and we will see both good and bad days throughout the winter. You just have to be patient and give it a solid effort every trip! 

 

We've seen some a mixutre of other fish the last couple weeks including a few wahoo, a decent number of kingfish, a few blackfin tuna, grouper, and snapper. Unfortunately shallow water grouper season closes January 1st throughout April, but it was nice to see some reds and black this month. There was a couple schools of cobia found but it should only get better as we get more into winter. The Miss Islamorada party boat is back in action and had a great first week. They caught the usual bottom fish and even had 6 suprise bonefish one day! Give the marina office a call to get on the list for the party boat which leaves at 9:30 am almost every day of the week. 

 

Way offshore The swordfish bite was very good all of mid to late December. On the Broad Minded we had 30 swordfish over our last 10 trips! We let go a lot of fish in the 40 - 100 lb range, and kept some in the 100 - 230 lb range. Cindy got her her first and second ever swordfish including a nice 231 lber! A couple days ago the Bn'M and Indigenous each had 2 fish, but the bite slowed down the last couple days as we approach the full moon. The catch 22 missed a few fish their last trip and the Bn'M missed one fish today. The swordfish bite is hard to predict but if they are on your bucket list Islamorada is as good as place as any! 

 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 to set up your next Islamorada fishing trip! Remember we have a motel and houseboats for accommodations if you want to stay close to the action. "Galley Girls" cafe opens up January 1st so you'll be able to get breakfasts and lunch at the marina 7 days a week now! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

 

12/18/17 Deep Sea fishing report for Mid December

We had a strong cold front here in the Florida Keys last week with Temperatures in the Mid 50's! Sure that doesn't sound cold to a lot of people but when you run on the boat and the water is chilled it makes a cold ride for us South Florida Folk! The good thing about the Front is that it brought some sailfish with it! The ballyhoo were thick on the reef and there was a few good days of sailfishing! A lot of boats had 2-5 bites per trip, and if you caught them you had a great day. Sure you won't always catch them all, but if you get a few shots you know you're in the game! The Catch 22 had an epic day releasing 14 sailfish all sight fishing on top of the reef! That means they never put a bait in the water until they saw a fish! 

 

Other reef fish have included a few wahoo, king mackerel, yellowtail mangrove and mutton snapper, black grouper, red grouper, cero mackerel, barracuda and more. There was one day where the cobia showed up on the rays and multiple boats had their limit including a few big ones in the 45 - 60 lb range! We saw a few amberjack and african pompano on the wrecks as well. Grouper are closed for harvest starting January 1st, but that means we still have a couple weeks to get them! Out a little deeper there have been vermillion snapper,  yelloweye snapper, and queen snapper. 

Way offshore We just had the best swordfish bite of the year! Yesterday we caught a 200 lb swordfish, lost a 150 lber by the boat, and tagged a 50 lber. The day before we caught a giant swordfish that weighed in at 389 lbs! It was an epic battle on stand up gear for Dale, but in the end he hung in there and put the fish in the boat. The day before that we caught 5 of 6 swordfish from 40 - 100 lbs! It was nice to see all the action so late in the year as well as having the weather cooperate. 

 

We are hooking up our houseboats this week so if you're looking for a place to stay on your Christmas Break check out our lodging options right at the marina! Give us a call to set up your florida keys fishing trip! 305 664 2461! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

12/9/17 December offshore and reef fishing report

Winter time fishing is kicking in here at Bud n' Mary's Marina. The Islamorada Sailfish tournament took place last weekend and team Relentless finished in 2nd place and team Kalex took 3rd place over the 3 day event! Congrats!!! Over the past week a lot of boats have had 1 - 3 sailfish per trip and a few of the days boats had between 6 - 8 releases. If sailfish is on your bucket list now is a great time to try to scratch it off!!! 

We saw a handful of wahoo in the 25 - 45 lb range the past week as well. Around the full moon in the winter months is a good bet for a shot at a 'hoo. There's been a few kingfish, tuna, and mahi on the live baits as well. Anchored down on the reef we've seen plenty of yellowtail snapper, some mutton snapper, and a few grouper. Remember our shallow water grouper season closes at the the end of December, so this is the last month to try to catch a couple for dinner until May! The Gimme Jimmy had an epic trip where the crushed the mutton snapper with the biggest one going 16 lbs! 

Way offshore I swordfished 5 trips since the start of December. The first trip we had one bite and got a monster! Young Blayze battled a 315 lber for his birthday trip! The next two trips were very slow without any swordfish, but yesterday and the day before they really turned on! We caught 3 fish on both trips, keeping 1 each trip and releasing the rest of them. One fish was 100 lbs and the other was 140 lbs. The deep drop bottom bite was slower way out there as well, but we did manage a few rosefish one trip. 

Give the Marina office a call at 305 664 2461 to book your next Islamorada Fishing Charter!!! We have rooms available and the fish are biting!! 

Tight Lines

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

End of November 2017 Deep Sea Fishing Report

Another month of fishing has came to end here in Islamorada but we sure saw some great catches the last few days of the month! The Catch 22 released 8 sailfish one trip and the Cloud Nine released 9 sailfish one trip! It's not like that every day, but if you're in the right spot at the right time you can see some great action! A lot of other boats have had 1 - 3 sailfish releases per trip. 

Other reef fish have included king mackerel, black grouper, mutton snapper, yellowtail and mangrove snapper, barracuda, sharks, and a couple mahi and blackfin tuna. Out a little deeper there has been vermillion snapper and a few ambjeracks too.

On the Broad Minded I've made it out on a few daytime swordfish charters the past week. Last trip we tagged and released one small swordfish, a couple days before that we caught a double header swordfish, keeping one and tagging a smaller one, we also had a bonus blackfin tuna. Last weekend we had a trip with one keeper swordfish, and the other day we caught a big blue marlin! I've caught 3 blue marlin while swordfishing the last 11 years, but this one took the bait at almost 1500'! We thought we had a giant swordfish on, but after a 2.5 hour fight up came a worn out blue marlin. We usually release the occasional marlin we catch here, but since he didn't look good we decided to bring it home to eat instead of feed it to the sharks. We also stopped on the way home for some deep dropping bottom fishing and put some barrelfish and rosefish in the boat. 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to book your Islamorada fishing charter and we'll set it up. Don't forget we have rooms available to stay in! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

Happy Thanksgiving and Mid November Reef fishing report!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! 

Time is flying by as We are already past the 3rd week of November 2017 here in Islamorada at Bud n' Mary's Marina. The property continues to get cleaned up and the outside dock is getting fixed up more and more every week since hurricane IRMA. We have all of our motel rooms and ocean front house available for accommodations and we will have our houseboats ready to rent next month! Most of the offshore boats at the marina have been fishing the reef and wrecks the past week, and will continue to do so the next few months. There's been a little bit of everything caught while livebaiting and the bottom bite has been steady. The boats have been picking away at the sailfish, not a ton around the last week, but a lot of boats have had 1 - 2 releases per trip. We should get another good push of them any day like we saw a couple weeks back. There was also a couple schools of cobia found, which is early for them, so it was a nice surprise!!! 

 

Other fish that have been eating the livebait have included kingfish, a few blackfin tuna, a couple mahi, barracuda, sharks, and more! On the bottom the yellowtail snapper bite has been very good most days, although yesterday the current was hardly moving and made for tough conditions. We've seen some really nice mutton snapper, mangrove snapper, and a few grouper as well. We can keep grouper until the end of December, so now is a perfect time to go bottom fishing! 

 

Way offshore I swordfished one trip last week and we got one bite at the end of the day and put a keeper in the boat. One bite separates the good days from the slow days while swordfishing. This is usually prime time so I'm not sure why the bite is slower than it should be, but hopefully we start getting multiple shots per day soon! 

 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to book your Islamorada Fishing Trip and we'll set you up with a great boat and crew! We also have motel rooms available!!! 

Tight Lines, 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk