2/10/17 February Reef Fishing Report

There was some exciting catches here at Bud n' Mary's Marina the past week. Last Wednesday, the 28th annual Poor Girls Sailfish tournament took place, which is a fun inexpensive tournament for the ladies, and the Indigenous took second place with 7 releases, and the Cloud Nine took third place with 4 releases, The Reel McCoy also had 4 releases and finished in fourth place. Great Job Ladies!!! The sailfish bite has remained fair overall, most boats getting 1 - 3 shots per trip, with a couple better days mixed in. 

 

 

We had a cold front move through last night with pretty stiff winds, but the winds are suppose to start letting tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday were "pre frontal", with light winds, calm seas, and with the approaching full moon we saw some beautiful wahoo caught. On Wednesday in the sailfish tournament Taylor caught herself a big 57 lb wahoo! The Cloud Nine also had a wahoo that day and there was plenty others lost. We caught a couple on the Broad Minded yesterday as well. They seem to bite better when its calm, so I bet we'll see some more the next week once everything begins to settle out. 

 

The kingfish bite has remained pretty strong, with fish in the 5 - 20 lb range, and a couple in the 30 - 40 lb range! There's been a few african pompano, mutton snapper, amberjacks, and grouper around the wrecks as well. Grouper season is closed until May, but they are still fun to catch and release. We haven't seen as many cobias as I thought we would, but last week there was one day with a few caught. I expect to see more on the dock any day now. There's been a couple blackfin tunas around while live baiting as well. 

 

The Cloud Nine made it way offshore on a swordfish trip yesterday and released a 50 lb swordfish. On the Broad Minded we did a couple "deep drop" trips last week, bottom fishing in 500 - 1000'. The bite was a little slow, but we wound up catching a couple really nice fish in two days, including a golden tilefish and a queen snapper. We had plenty of small blackbelly rosefish too. 

 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to book you're next fishing adventure in Islamorada and we'll set you up with a great boat and crew! Also don't forget we have lodging options at the marina and our Outfitter store is set up with a ton of great fishing apparel. 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk