4/30/17 End of April Islamorada Deep Sea Fishing Report

We had some beautiful weather last week in Islamorada, but sure enough the wind picked back up to 20 knots the weekend. The mahi were thick mid week with many boats having their limit of 10 fish per person. Most fish have been 3 - 8 lbs but there was a few from 20 - 30 lbs as well. Unfortunately the bite got really slow by Friday and there wasn't many caught that day or Saturday. A few boats didn't catch any, a few caught a handful, and a couple boats still had 8 - 10 fish. There isn't much current out there right now, so hopefully things pick up after the windy weather today and we start seeing them again in big numbers this coming week. The weather looks to be improving a lot for next week as well, which will make it easier to target them. The blackfin tuna haven't been happy with the light amount of current on the humps, but I expect to see them get back to normal any day. There's been plenty of back breaking amberjacks out there, with a few big sharks in the mix too. 

Tomorrow is May 1st, which is a day a lot of people have been waiting for! Shallow water grouper season opens, which means all those groupers we've been releasing the past 4 months could be coming home to the dinner table! Our main target species will be black grouper but there will be some red and gag grouper in the mix as well. The yellowtail snapper bite has been on fire, with a lot of boats limiting out. There's been a couple permit around the wrecks and a couple sailfish released on the reef. If you want a barracuda there's been plenty around too! 

We took advantage of the calm weather and made it out on two daytime swordfish trips last week. The first trip was quiet until the afternoon when we got the bite we were looking for. It was an hour battle and in the end we boated a 350 lb swordfish! Congrats to Justin and his family! The next day we fished we had one bite all day as well and tagged and released a juvenile swordfish. Not all of our swordfish are big ones here, but any day you catch one is a good day! All of these fish have been caught on my NEW personal swordfish rods, so if interested in buying one check them out here! Swordfishing isn't for everyone, but if you have patience and want to try an interesting type of fishing the upcoming months are as good as any to give it a shot. You can also target mahi on the way in and out from the grounds. Also pictured is a deep water oilfish which was caught while deep dropping for swordfish. 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 to book your next Islamorada deep sea fishing trip! May is one of my absolute favorite months to fish here because of the variety of fish we catch. Remember we have lodging options available if you want to stay on property and be close to the fishing action! 

Tight Lines, 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk