2-19/20-2012 Islamorada Reef Fishing Report!

Islamorada Fishing Trips have been great the last 2 days! Yesterday the Reel McCoy had a limit of king mackerel, with a handful of smokers over 25lbs including a couple over 35 lbs! The BNM also had a limit of kingfish with 2 smokers up to 33 lbs as well as a 300 lb bull shark! The big shark took 90 minutes to bring boatside before releasing it to fight another day. The Kalex had king mackerels, yellowtail snapper, and a limit of cobia up to 50 lbs! The Fearless went back into the gulf of mexico 2 days ago and got on some monster goliath groupers up to 300 lbs too! The Gon fishin V had a beautiful 33 lb african pompano as well. Today bait was tough with the weather change, but most the boats still put together good catches. The BNM released a sailfish, kept a 15 lb blackfin tuna, a limit of king mackerel including 4 over 30 lbs up to 37 lbs, and a 45 lb amberjack. The Kalex caught yellowtail snapper for dinner and some snake king mackerel, and own his way home caught a few cobias including a 51 and a 55 lber! The Finnster also released a sailfish. Get on down here for your fishing trip soon and do some Florida Keys Fishing!

2-18-12 Daytime Swordfish Report and Reef Fishing Report

On the BNM today we took Jim Jr and his Father Jim Sr out for a daytime swordfish charter. They were from Boston and came down for an Islamorada Fishing Trip at Bud N Mary's Marina. The day started out slow with no bites the first 3 drops. At about Noon we finally had our first bite and an hour later Jim Jr. caught his first ever broadbill swordfish. It wasn't a monster but a good one to start with and weighed in at 60 lbs. We made one more drop and after 30 minutes we had a cheap bite, but the swordfish didn't want to play and left us alone. We called it an early day and were back to the dock by 3:15 p.m. , a rather short trip for swordfishing. We also hooked a big squid on our medium size squid we were using for sword bait, but only came back with a tentacle. When we cleaned the swordfish it also had a cool creature from the deep inside his stomach, the remains of a lancet fish est. to be at least 4 feet long. It had huge teeth! The reef fishing was fair today. The sails have been tough, but the Reel McCoy released 2 sails and the Relentless 1. There was a few mahi hanging up as well as some king mackerel. The Kalex had a pair or 40 lb kings and 30 yellowtail snapper! The Relentless had a great day on sailfish yesterday and released 6 sails, while the most of the other boats had their limit of king mackerel, but no sails.

2/11/12 & 2/13/12 Reef Fishing Before and After the Cold Front

It's another mixed bag of fish on your Florida Keys Fishing Report while fishing in Islamorada. February 11th we had a cold front hit us mid day, but it didn't stop any of the boats from catching a bunch of fish. Aboard the BNM we released a beautiful 25 lb black grouper (season re-opens May 1st), as well as a handful of king mackerel, we wound up keeping a limit of king mackerel in the 4 to 8 lb range, a keeper mutton snapper, a handful of small blackfin tuna, and then jigged up a 64 lb Amberjack on a vertical jig! What a fight on the spinning rod with braided line! The Catch 22 had a few nice size blackfin tuna in the 10 - 15 lb range, half a dozen yellow jacks in the 5 - 10 lb range, an 8 lb mutton snapper, a limit of king mackerel and a handful of big yellowtail Snapper. The Finnster also had a limit of king mackerel with one real nice one at 30 lbs as well as some yellowtail snapper and 3 mutton snapper up to 10 lbs. The GonFishin 5 had a limit of king mackerel with half of them being 20 lbs!  As well as a 15 lb mutton! No boats got out with the strong winds on the 12th, but today on the 13th Fishing continued to be really good. The Redfish had a limit of king mackerel including a 40 lber off the kite! They also had a 34 lb African Pompano and a handful of yellowtail snapper and 2 mahi. The Catch 22 released a sailfish and then also hit some big yellowtail snapper including some 4 lbers, as well as an 18 lb blackfin tuna! The boats are filling in with trips so make your reservations soon!

2/10/12 Reef Fishing is Red Hot!

The February Florida Keys Fishing Report is filled up with lots of action today! On The BNM today we had Tommy, his Dad and both his grandpa's out for some reef fishing. We started out the day by catching our limit of king mackerel to 25 lbs, as well as releasing a short cobia. After that we anchored down on the reef and the yellowtail snapper bite was on. We caught 20 big yellowtail snapper (a lot were 2 - 3 lbs) , as well as some porgys and hogfish. We had lost a few snapper to some predators so we sent down the big rod and put Tommy in the chair. We had a couple good bites on whole bonito, but kept missing them. The third time was the charm and after a 20 minute tug of war tommy had a 7 foot , 250 lb bull shark next to the boat! I snapped a quick picture before we cut the leader and we called it a day before the rain came in. The Sugaree and The Reel McCoy also both had half a dozen king mackerel, with some up to 30 lbs, and a wahoo each as well. The wahoos were in the 20- 30 lb range. The Predator ran out to one of the humps today and caught a monstrous amberjack that weighed in at 121 lbs! What a fish for the smoker! They also had another nice jack and some king mackerel. Get on down here for you Florida Keys Fishing Trip Now!

Strictly Business takes 3rd place in the Ladies Sailfish Tourney!

Last weekend the Ladies Sailfish Tournament took place here in Islamorada. The Florida Keys sailfishing was decent and over the two day period the girls on Strictly Business with Capt. Wes released 5 sailfish to take 3rd place. It was a windy and rough weekend but quite a few boats still made it out to the Reef and had fair fishing. Nothing was really red hot, but there was a mix of a yellowtail snapper, a few mutton snapper, barracuda, king mackerel, and a handful of sailfish caught amongst the fleet. Monday brought heavy winds with rain most of the morning but there was still some action for the boats that stuck it out. Mostly snapper, king mackerel, cero mackerel, and some groupers (which have to be released because of the closed season).