12/9/17 December offshore and reef fishing report

Winter time fishing is kicking in here at Bud n' Mary's Marina. The Islamorada Sailfish tournament took place last weekend and team Relentless finished in 2nd place and team Kalex took 3rd place over the 3 day event! Congrats!!! Over the past week a lot of boats have had 1 - 3 sailfish per trip and a few of the days boats had between 6 - 8 releases. If sailfish is on your bucket list now is a great time to try to scratch it off!!! 

We saw a handful of wahoo in the 25 - 45 lb range the past week as well. Around the full moon in the winter months is a good bet for a shot at a 'hoo. There's been a few kingfish, tuna, and mahi on the live baits as well. Anchored down on the reef we've seen plenty of yellowtail snapper, some mutton snapper, and a few grouper. Remember our shallow water grouper season closes at the the end of December, so this is the last month to try to catch a couple for dinner until May! The Gimme Jimmy had an epic trip where the crushed the mutton snapper with the biggest one going 16 lbs! 

Way offshore I swordfished 5 trips since the start of December. The first trip we had one bite and got a monster! Young Blayze battled a 315 lber for his birthday trip! The next two trips were very slow without any swordfish, but yesterday and the day before they really turned on! We caught 3 fish on both trips, keeping 1 each trip and releasing the rest of them. One fish was 100 lbs and the other was 140 lbs. The deep drop bottom bite was slower way out there as well, but we did manage a few rosefish one trip. 

Give the Marina office a call at 305 664 2461 to book your next Islamorada Fishing Charter!!! We have rooms available and the fish are biting!! 

Tight Lines

Capt. Nick Stanczyk