12-31-12 End of the year Islamorada December Fishing Report

This year came and went as quickly as the others, if not faster. It was a good year fishing for us and we hope 2013 is even better! It's been a busy week since Christmas while deep sea fishing is Islamorada. I'll start with today and work my way backwards through the last few. Sailfish are still one of the main target species and most respectable game-fish we catch here. Many of the boats have been fishing for them and it's been a fairly steady bite, not red hot but if you put your time in your odds are good. Today we did a 1/2 day fishing trip on the Bn'M and released 2 sails and stopped for some Florida Keys reef Fishing on the way in and caught a few snapper. The Redfish also fished this morning and caught a huge wahoo! A whopping 57 lber while kite fishing! The Kalex and Finnster both had lots of action while fishing the reef as well, both catching plenty of tasty yellowtail snapper and giving everybody on board some excitement and fun. Yesterday the Fearless released 2 out of 3 sailfish, the Bn'M, Strictly Business, Man o War, and Catch 22 all released 1 as well. The Finnster caught a couple of nice blackfin tuna in the morning and then a bucket full of yellowtail and mangrove snapper in the afternoon. The Reel McCoy and Cloud Nine both fished morning trips and had plenty of snapper and mackerel while anchored down on the reef. It's been quite windy the past 2 days since the cold front passed through, but it looks like it going to be really nice weather the next few days for some early January Fishing in Islamorada. The 29th was a pretty day out and lots of boats had action. The Fearless released a couple sailfish, The Strictly Business caught a few king mackerel, including the biggest "smoker" king of the season so far, weighing in at 46 lbs! The Bn'M had a couple keeper black grouper, a few king mackerel, a sailfish release, and released a 200 lb goliath grouper! The Relentess fished a morning trip that day and had a few blackfin tuna, a lone mahi, a king mackerel, and jumped off a sailfish. The Finnster focused on some eating fish and anchored on the reef for some snapper fishing. They had 30 nice yellowtails up to 2.5 lbs and a 15 lb king mackerel.

On the backcountry side the waters have started to warm up slightly after the cold front the other day.  Capt. John Johansen reported a mixed bag back at east cape including this snook.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished a half day in the backcountry and they caught enough trout for dinner plus plenty of ladyfish and jacks.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti and Capt. Ken Cohan reported a mixed bag of snapper, ladyfish, and trout near home around some of the local islands and muds.