12-9-13 December Offshore/Reef Fishing Report for Islamorada

The past week here was as exciting as they get while fishing in Islamorada. The 50th annual Islamorada Sailfish Tournament just took place from Friday to Sunday, and our boats did very well! Over the three days of the fishing competetion the Catch 22 finished in 2nd place releasing a total of 23 sailfish, and the Cloud Nine fished team "Close Call" and they finished in 3rd place with 20 sailfish releases. Tournament fishing is a little different than standard charter fishing, as the boats spend weeks beforehand catching bait just for a couple days, and many of the fish are caught by professoinal anglers/captains/mates who fish for a living. It was a great event and we were proud to host the 50th annual party in the barn at "sparrows nest" on Friday night after the first day of fishing. The boats that weren't in the sailfish tournament had some good fishing too the last few days. The strong East to South East winds pushed a few mahi up towards the reef, and there was a handful caught each day. There was also a few blackfin tuna here and there. Bottom Fishing on the Reef provided good action with yellowtail snapper, a few mutton snapper, some mangrove snapper, a couple red grouper, and some really nice black grouper. The "shallow water" grouper season closes January 1st, so if you love eating grouper make sure to get down here the next few weeks while they're still open for harvest! The last trip I did we managed 1 swordfish bite and fortunately he stayed connected and we caught about an 80 lber. The tuna bite was slow on the humps way offshore. On the way out we stopped for some "deep dropping" and wound up catching a few really nice queen snapper. The rest of December should be prime time for sailfish, and we should start seeing some cobia, a few wahoo, and some more mackerel caught as well. Give the marina office a call and let them set you up on a Florida Keys Fishing Charter at 305 664 2461.

Tight Lines,

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

Catch 22 coming in after releasing 11 sails after Day 2 of the tourney

Beatiful queen snapper caugth aboard Bn'M II by Leon

Clound Nine flying 20 sailfish flags after winning 3rd place in the Tourney

Leon's first broadbill swordfish caught aboard Bn'M II

Catch 22 on stage after finishing 2nd place in the tourney

 

Gold Digger with a limit of black grouper, some yellowtails, and this boys first sailfish!

1/2 day charter on the Redfish with nice mangrove and mutton snapper and a red grouper for dinner

Comments

[Matthew L.]

I really enjoyed this read, fishing is a love of mine as well! Beautiful pictures you took of a very pretty fish! Definitely motivated me to want to get on a boat.. Is your charter in the keys? Keep up the good work, I wanna see more!

Matthew L. http://ineedahobbienow.blogspot.com/