4/9/18 Early April Offshore fishing report

The last few weeks have flown by here in Islamorada! The marina was slammed busy in March and has been busy the first week of April too. Most boats fished every day and our lodging accommodations were full for the most part too, which was nice to since tourism has been down since Hurricane Irma. It's definitely "spring" fishing right now with a little bit of everything and changing conditions every few days. Most of the boats have still stayed on the reef but a handful have been venturing offshore. There's been a few sailfish caught most days amongst the fleet, with a couple boats having better days. The Kalex had 6 releases one day a couple weeks back and the Predator had 5 releases a few days ago. The permit showed up on a couple of the wrecks the past week and a lot of boats have been catching and releasing them. We've seen a few kingfish, plenty of yellowtail snapper with a few muttons and mangroves in the mix, and a couple wahoo. 

 

Offshore on the humps the tuna bite picked up the past week and we saw some really nice blackfins in the 20 - 25 lb range and then some footballs in the 3 - 7 lb range. The mahi aren't thick yet, but a few boats have put together a catch on them. The Reel McCoy and Catch 22 both had about 10 mahi each their last trip offshore, but other boats caught 1 or 2 all day. The mahi should only get better each week, so just remember it's a gamble now to go offshore and target them. There' been some big ambjerack on the wrecks and humps, as well as some big sharks. Aboard the Broad Minded we released two tiger sharks in the 400 - 500 lb range last week! 

Way offshore the swordfish bite has been decent although there was a couple slow days mixed in. We missed our only bite yesterday but the day before we went 2 for 3. When you swordfish you are hoping to get a bite or two, and if you catch them you will have a good day. Hooking and landing a fish with over 2000' of line out is challenging, so even if you get a bite there's no guarantee you'll catch that fish. If you don't mind taking a gamble and swordfish is on the bucket list, this is one of the best places in the world to try to catch one! 

 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to book your next fishing vacation and we'll set you up with fishing and lodging right here at the marina! 

Tight Lines 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk