8/24/16 Mid August Deep Sea fishing report for Islamorada

The winds were calm here the past week in Islamorada. The week before we had lots of wind though. We had some great catches of mahi the past couple weeks, especially when the wind was blowing. It definitely got a little tougher for a few days once the wind let up. On the best days a few of the boats had 30 - 40 fish, but most boats were averaging 10 - 20 fish per trip. Of course there was a couple days when they were scarce and some boats didn't find them. There has been fish of all sizes, we've seen a couple Bulls brought in pushing 40 lbs but a lot of fish in the 6 - 15 lb range. I think we will continue to see some good catches the next month here, and you won't have to deal with the summer time crowds. 

 

On the humps there's been a mix of blackfin tuna and skipjack tuna, as well as a few sharks. Multiple boats have been doing some deep water bottom fishing which has produced a little bit of everything lately including queen snapper, snowy grouper, tilefish, and barrelfish. The gimme Jimmy also caught a 125 lb blue marlin while trolling one day! 

 

On the reef there's been a steady bite of yellowtail and mangrove snapper when conditions are right. The Buzz on also had some big king mackerel, with one smoker going 40 lbs! The Miss Islamorada Party boat even caught and released a sailfish one day while they were moving to another bottom spot! 

 

Way offshore the swordfish bite has been on and off from day to day, but if you don't mind swinging for the fence it may pay off. The relentless and catch 22 each had a swordfish on their last trips, and on the Broad Minded we had three fish on two different trips but also had a few trips with zero fish. The biggest fish went 219 lbs and the smallest was 40 lbs. The next few months are the some of the best times to try for swordfish so keep that in mind. Give the office a call at 305 664 2461 to book you're next fishing adventure! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk