5/11/11 SWORDFISH!!!

We had Telby Turner from Texas out today on the BNM with his wife. We were in search of Broadbill Swordfish, to help knock off a species on the Royal Slam List (all the billfish). We caught a couple of dolphin on the way out to the swordgrounds and by 9 30 a.m. we were swordfishing. We missed the first bite, but were excited to know there was atleast a fish down there. The next drop, we hook up, and fight a swordfish for about 5 minutes, but then he pulls off... So I said "Third time's a charm". We start drifting with our bait down deep and we get a bite within a few minutes. It takes a few minutes to get the fish on the line, but after a few tries, we are TIGHT! After 25 minutes we have the fish 10 feet away, the Sword looks decent size, and then he takes off! He heads towards the bottom. So Telby goes to work, and after another hour, we have the fish boat side and subdue the fish. I look over the side and realize the fish is probably 200 lbs! We pull the fish in and head towards home. We hit the dock at Bud N Mary's Marina and go to the scale with the fish. Telby's sword weighed in at 209 lbs! Congrats! It was a successful swordfish charter , some real exciting Islamorada Fishing!

Florida Keys Daytime Swordfishing!

We did a daytime swordfishing charter each of the last two days aboard the BNM. We were fortunate yesterday, 5-7-11 to catch each angler their first swordfish. We kept the first one, around 75 lbs, for dinner. Then later in the afternoon we released one about 30 lbs. With the action yesterday we decided to go back out for swordfish today. It was a slow morning, but finally at 1 p.m. we hooked up. After a 25 minute fight we had a 130 lb swordfish in the boat. Our angler was one happy mother, especially since it was Mother's Day. We made a couple more drops and caught and released one more small swordfish. Throughout the day we also caught a handful of mahi to 15 lbs. It was an exciting florida fishing charter!

5/5/11 Offshore 5/6/11 Reef Fishing Report!

We fished offshore yesterday and put together a decent catch of 20 dolphin (mahi mahi), in the 3 to 10 lb range. We also had a couple small blackfin tuna before heading back towards the reef. The plan was to try to catch a permit, but before we got there, a sailfish got in the way. After a 10 minute fight we released an acrobatic sailfish. Ten minutes later we were hooked into a big permit. After a 15 minute fight we released a 30 lb permit! Today we reef fished on two seperate half day fishing trips. In the morning we caught about 15 yellowtail snapper for dinner, as well as a couple big nurse sharks, and some other small reef dwellers. In the afternoon we went for quality fish, and thats just what we did. On the first cast we caught and released a big permit! The 35 lb fish fought extremely hard and we managed to tag and release the fish for a new study being conducted on permit. We also caught a nice amberjack about 30 lbs, a small tuna, and then came back and caught one more permit, about 25 lbs! It was an exciting day Fishing in Islamorada.

 

  

5-4-11 The Mahi's are getting more plentiful...

The dolphin (mahi-mahi) bite has been continuing the right direction. Most boats that went offshore today had between 20 and 40 fish. A lot of nice "schoolie" size fish ( 2 to 5 lbs) as well as a few larger ones. The Catch 22 had an outstanding catch on their Florida Keys Fishing Charter! They had 35 dolphin, including a big bull at 35 lbs, 5 blackfin tuna from 10 to 28 lbs, a 20 lb cobia, and released a sailfish! Now that's an incredible Fishing Trip! The Reef has also been productive the past few days, especially for grouper since the season just opened on May 1st. The Kalex had his limit of black grouper yesterday, some over 20 lbs! It's supposed to be real nice weather the next few days, so get on down here for some fishing!

Offshore Fishing Report from the last few days!

The dolphin (mahi-mahi) bite has been getting a little better each day. It's been fair the past few weeks overall. The Catch 22 had a beautiful catch today, 30 fish, up to about 15lbs. There's also been a handful of blackfin tuna being caught. The big numbers we were seeing two weeks ago are gone, but there's still plenty around to put together a nice catch. The Gonfishin V, Kalex, and Relentless all had some big tunas as well as a few medium sized ones today. On the BNM today we had a couple tuna, dolphin, a few amberjacks, and then caught and released a pair of permit on the way home. Time to get out on your Florida Fishing Charter!