2/20/15 Deep Sea Fishing Islamorada

It's Mid February here in Islamorada and "season" is starting with lots of boats fishing every day. The deep sea fishing charters are mostly taking place on the reef and wrecks, but a few boats have ventured further offshore and had action too. The sailfish bite has been fair the past week. Some days the bite was on and boats had 3 - 5 releases, and couple days the bite was off and there was only a couple fish amongst the fleet. Last monday was the 35th annual Islamorada Barternders Sailfish Open and since my new boat wasn't quite ready I brought the team from Dillons Pub and Grill on the Hey Papa with Justin. We released 3 sailfish the first couple hours of the day and it turned out to be just enough and we wound up taking 1st place! 

King and cero mackerel have provided some action on recent trips as well as a couple blackfin tuna and mahi. We should start seeing more tuna and mahi next month. On the bottom there's been some nice mutton snapper, a few african pompano, and some big amberjacks. Boats have also been releasing grouper since season is closer for the shallow water species. We saw some cobia a week ago when the weather was calmer, but the last few days conditions just haven't been right for them. I think we will see some more caught when the wind lets up. The yellowtail snapper bite has been decent most days, and the Miss Islamorada party boat had 200 fish one trip last week! Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to try your luck fishing in Islamorada! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk