12/17/11 Action packed reef and gulf fishing islamorada!

Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti fished Jerry Fontain his daughter Melanie and Mike Plonian. They went out to the patches this morning.  They caught lots of nice porgy, Hogfish and bar jacks along with some throw back grouper.  Lots of action fishing the islamorada patch reefs!  Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished this afternoon and reported a good spanish mackerel bite close to home in the bay behind Channel #2 and #5.  Mix of jacks, trout, ladyfish, and snapper in there as well.  The sharks were swarming too, caught a nice 60 lb blacktip and jumped a few others.  Further out offshore the offshore boats had a good bite of king mackerel and handful of sailfish bites though not real red hot.  The florida keys reef fishing was good however, the party fishing boat Miss Islamorada had tons of yellowtail - great dinner! 

12/12/11 Great mix bag day of fishing, backcountry and gulf!

Capt. Skip Nielsen had Doctors Liz and Mark Harris visiting from the Isle of Man in the UK.
They caught and released 18 redfish,20 seatrout then moved to the gulf where the Spanish Mackerel bite was off the chart. Broke out the flyrod and Dr. Mark released over 20 fish of 5 species on the flyrod. I quote from Mark.."I am knackered" what a great day of fishing in the Islamorada backcountry fishing out of Bud n Marys Marina!  The weather has been on the windy side as of late though great to be able to get some different kinds of fishing in on a full day trip!  Wonderful to see as we enter our busy christmas week fishing islamorada!

12/10/11 Sprigger Bank Fishing Charter

Capt. Rick Stanczyk fished Tom and Rick again today for a half day sprigger bank fishing charter.  We left out a little after dawn, good tide heading into the gulf with gentle east breeze behind it.  After arriving at our spot about 45 minutes later we drug the chum bag around a bit to get them going good.  Tons and tons of pinfish out there as usual, dip netted by hand about 50 of them!  After anchoring down on some potholes we started fishing.  Spanish mackerel bite was just about as good as you wanted it, not too crazy where they were biting the knots off every other cast, but a fish every 3rd cast or so.  We caught plenty on just one block of chum, also a nice mix of blue runners, and some big ladyfish at the end, plus random mangrove snapper and sea trout.  Lots of fun action on ultra light tackle rods, a few real line zingers!!! Put some shark rods out but the big blacktips were not biting, water was still a little chilly though back there.  We tried to hit a goliath spot a little further out, but no avail, did catch some more macks out there as well as random mix bags of other things.  Little bumpy ride in for a few miles in the open gulf, as wind did pick up a bit, but thankfully not too much.  Anyways good action packed half day for our florida keys flats fishing trip.

Capt. Jim Willcox ran far back into the everglades and fished the cape area and some other channels and run-offs in the backcountry.  They caught redfish, some big trout, and a nice snook!

12/9/11 Flamingo fishing charter on a half day!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk had Tom and Rick fising today on an islamorada half day fishing charter.  They were visiting from the northeast, back home was very cold as of late!  We headed back to flamingo where fishing has been pretty good with the cooler air and lots of fish in the channels and run-offs with low tides from the north wind previous days and full moon.  Lots of florida keys redfish!  Tide fell all morning, ideal condition for us, with flats showing everywhere!  Was a gorgeous ride, light breeze from the northeastish quadrant.  Patches of cool air over the bay where the water was still a little chilly, but overall not bad was low 70s by late morning!  Lots of white pelicans and plenty of pretty pink roseate spoon bills down south in the glades for the winter.  Things started off a little slow, did boat our biggest redfish of the day early, about 25 incher.  Picked away at a few smaller ones mixed in with jacks and such for an hour.  Started bouncing around different run-offs, caught a few here and a few there.  Had a good rally about an hour or so before the tide died so stuck it out there.  All in all caught probably 2 dozen reds, several slot fish, kept 3 for a good blackened fish dinner!  Come on down winter time in the florida keys fishing is a great time for a flamingo fishing trip!  The boys are fishing again tomorrow morning, will try the mackerels out west for something different!  On the offshore side the sailfish bit well today, several boats with multiple fish on just half day trips.  A few dolphin still around too for some good eating fish that aren't usually around this time of year!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net

12/7/11 December Islamorada Fishing Report

Capt. Jim Willcox fished with Bud n' Mary's regulars Kevin and Susan Dunne today on 12/7/11.  They did a bit of everything as it was a gorgeous day to be on a florida keys fishing charter.  Several nice redfish and trout in the backcountry near the mainland, and this good size snook!  The mackerels bit well too they caught as many of those as they wanted!  Islamorada backcountry fishing has been great as of late with no major cold front shutting down the bays so get on out there while it's good!  Capt. John Johansen reported similar bite, they caught about 15 redfish, a snook, and lots of mackerel this afternoon!