7/24/16 July Offshore Fishing Report

I was out of town for a couple weeks so I'm just catching up with all of the Islamorada Offshore Charter boats at Bud n' Mary's Marina to give you an update on what they've been catching lately. We want to congratulate "The Indigenous" on winning the Key West Marlin tournament! It was a 3 day tournament and Capt. Travis put his crew on a blue marlin the second day, but the deciding fish was a 110.5 lb yellowfin tuna the last day! It gave them the most points which put them in first overall! Yellowfin tuna are very rare here and that was a great fish! Congrats guys!!! 

Most of the offshore boats here have still been focusing on mahi, and they've had both great days and some slow days the last couple weeks. It just seems to be the norm this summer. There was a couple days where the boats had 15 - 20 fish, with a handful from 20 - 35 lbs , but then the following days they would have trouble finding a few fish all day. There has been quite a few blackfin tuna around, and the boats also saw a surprising amount of wahoo the last week. Most of the boats that put the time in trolling had bites and caught fish. We are all hoping the mahi bite turns on and is consistent eventually this season. 

A few boats have been doing a little deep dropping and there's been blueline tilefish, snowy grouper, and we managed this golden tilefish on our way home from the bahamas yesterday. Back on the reef there's been some nice size mangrove snapper, as well as the usual yellowtail snapper and a couple mutton snapper. 

It is lobster mini season this coming Wednesday and Thursday, so if you want to get away from all the people that are diving and snorkeling near shore give the office a call at 305 664 2461 and we'll set you up on a fishing trip! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk