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 

 

3/19/17 Mid March Islamorada Deep sea fishing report

Well I thought winter was over but we had two fairly strong cold fronts move through last week. Temperatures dropped into the 50's and the wind swirled directions. For certain fish a front can help the bite, but a drastic change in conditions this time year can shut the bite off on others. We had a couple tough days with slow fishing the day of the fronts, but then things got back to normal and we saw the normal mixed bag of fish for March. The majority of the boats have stayed on the reef and there's been a few sailfish caught amongst the fleet each day, one day was in partictular was good where most the boats had 2 - 4 releases and saw some others. Sometime in the next 6 weeks we should see the "spring time tailing condition" where sailfish and cobia tail down sea on a color change, but we will need just the right conditions. The wind and current must cooperate for that to happen and it usually just lasts for a couple days. We saw a few boats cash in on the cobia the past week, finding nice schools of fish with some cobes pushing 50 lbs! That style of fishing may not feel like fishing at all since we ride around in the tower and look for stingrays without any lines in the water, but if you find the right ray and and school of cobia is on him be ready! We've seen a handful of wahoo around as well as a few kingfish. The snapper bite was good most of the week although there was a couple slower days with the current into the wind and clear water in certain areas. Out a little deeper there's been vermillion snapper and a few yelloweye snapper in the 300-400' range. The Cloud Nine also caught a monster yellowedge grouper weighing in at 37 lbs! It's one of the only grouper species we can keep right now. We've had a lot of kids out fishing with spring break which is great because we love seeing the next generation fishing! Some barracuda and sharks around too! 

Further offshore the hump was very productive a couple days with blackfin tuna and amberjack, but then one day the bite shut off and it was very slow the next few days. It's fishing and things change day to day! We are seeing a few mahi so far and we will start seeing more as we get later into spring. Way offshore the swordfish bite has been steady for most boats. On the Broad Minded we had a 137 lb swordfish yesterday, three fish from 30- -80 lbs the trip before that, and one fish around 40 lbs the trip before that. We also caught a monster DIAMONDBACK SQUID! It weighed in at 33.4 lbs!! Talk about calamari!! The indigenous charter boat caught a big 267.8 lb swordfish yesterday after a 3 hour battle! The had some shots the trip before that and lost a couple fish after 1 hour battles. 

Give us a call in the marina office to book your next Islamorada Fishing Charter and we'll set you up with the best available boat. Remember we have logding options at Bud n' Mary's Marina so you can stay right close to the fishing action! 305 664 2461

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

3/15/18 March Backcountry Fishing Report

March is here and it's been busy around town again thankfully!  Many guides have been fishing just about every day.  Though we've had some crazy winter weather as they've been getting all up and down the east coast.  February was ridiculously warm with 80 degree temperatures every day, but March we've had several fronts in a row and some severe ones at that dropping temps down into the mid 50s several different times.  This has of course slowed the spring tarpon bite down some after it was pretty good in February.  But this isn't uncommon in the early part of the spring season where these late cold fronts can happen.  But hopefully for the latter part of march that will be over with and I think in the long run it will be a good thing for the tarpon fishing later in the season as if its super warm super early, sometimes the fish just push right on through early on, so this will hopefully have held some up for a few weeks anyways.  We've still had good fishing despite the cold but have had to mix things up a little bit.  I had some decent cold weather everglades fishing last week, catching a small tarpon each day, a handful of snook, a few black drums, and a good amount of trout each day.  Not a red hot bite but was able to pick away and catch a few quality ones.  Though this previous week we had a very tough day back there not catching much at all, but luckily we bailed and caught some fish out front on the patch reefs for the last couple hours.  The patch reefs have also been good to me this week we had a good mix of hogfish, porgy, yellow jacks, various snappers, groupers, and got a permit on two different day trips.  On the handful of nice days I've had some luck with the big tarpon, but fishing really hasn't been red hot for them often it's been a good solid bite or two maybe, but as we get more into April it usually turns on more.  Capt. Bill Bassett has been going deep in the everglades in his canoe and finding good amount of snook and little tarpon.  Capt. Jim Willcox had some good fishing last week with some bonefish, and a few drum, snook, and little tarpon on one day this week.  Yesterday he caught some snappers around the islands and got a big bull shark in the local channels.  There had been several big bull sharks caught locally as well as a few hammerheads before the major cold fronts, was unusual to see those big sharks in many of the local channels, some were over 300 lbs!  Capt. Mike Bassett had some good spanish mackerel action in the gulf yesterday despite the high winds.  Capt. Skip Nielsen has had good patch reef fishing with various snappers and some good grouper action on the bottom.  Capt. Gunner Guthrie had a good patch reef day with a load of lane snappers, hogfish, and a permit on last sunday when it was flat calm.  Capt. Tim Arce I know caught a permit to start his day out there today.  Capt. Chris Daly and Capt. Clyde Upchurch have had some redfish mixed in with some snappers around the islands as of late.  It's good to see a few redfish back around, though of course we advocate catch and release with redfish as there numbers are very low in our area right now.  Capt. Mike Venezia had a good mixed bag of snook, redfish, and drum in the everglades several days ago during the cold.  Anyways as you can see there has been plenty of fun things to fish for but the cold has just mixed it up a little bit.  Hopefully this will be the last of it I know there is another front on the way next week but I think so far they are saying the temperatures will not drop severely so that should be good news.  The weekend looks to be very nice might allow the big tarpont to spark up again.  Give us a call if you want to get out fishing!  305-664-2461

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing

3/12/18 Early March Reef and Offshore fishing report

We had a couple late season cold front last week and we have another on the way now. March and April are "transitional" months here with regards to fishing and weather. This time of year we see a lot of different fish but not always a lot of each species. A mixed bag is common and with conditions changing certain fish bite better than others. The sailfish bite has been a little on the slow side the past week off Islamorada with just a few releases here and there. However, the Catch 22 fished the Jimmy Johnson Billfish Tournament out of Key Largo last Friday and Saturday, and managed to take 2nd place and bring in $210,000!!! The fished out of Ocean Reef for the two day event and had a charter that had never live baited for sailfish before! They were up against the best tournament teams in Florida that fish all of the big tournaments from Key West to West Palm Beach all winte and Spring. CONGRATS to all those aboard and to all the winners!! 

 

The mixed bag on the reef has included yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper, kingfish, a few wahoo, african pompano, cobia, barracuda and more! Boats have been doing both full day and half day charters, but if you want the best fishing experience we always recommend a full day. 

A few boats have been venturing further offshore to the humps as well as to the swordfish grounds. We have seen a lot of football size blackfin tuna on the humps and the big amberjacks and sharks are showing up as well! The "Dauntless" released a white marlin while trolling for tuna too! A few mahi have been showing up, but I wound't say it's enough to specifically go target them. It's been a few here and there, but we did see the "Warbird" bring in 3 nice ones including a 42 lb bull while they were out swordfishing! The swordfish bite has remained decent with the Indigenous catching 2 fish yesterday, and Aboard the Broad Minded we had 1 fish last trip, two the trip before that, 4 the trip before that, 1 the trip before that and 3 the trip before that. There's been a lot of small swordfish in the 30 - 60 lb range but we did have one nicer one at 164 lbs. 

 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to book you're next Islamorada Fishing Charter and we'll set you up with a great boat! Remember we have lodging accommodations on property too! Galley Girls Cafe is open daily from 6 am - 2 pm, for your breakfast and lunch, but we recommend calling ahead the night before at 305 664 0166 to place your lunch order for the following day of fishing! 

Tight Lines 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

 

2/28/18 Late February Backcountry Fishing Report

Well February is just about over with and boy has it been a warm one!  I think I read it's the hottest February on record in the South Florida area, with it being around 8 degrees above average temperature for the entire month.  We haven't had any cold weather though we have had a good bit of wind, typical spring time winds.  The early season tarpon bite has continued throughout the month.  The fishing got a little tougher though as we'd been dealing with some bad water in a few areas and it seemed to push some of the tarpon out of many of the usual haunts that we fish.  Though if you invested some time you could get lucky and find a few in some of those areas, plus a few local fish in some of the nearby channels.  This last week we had a few days we caught some big tarpon, one day we hooked a couple that we lost, and one day we didn't have a bite.  But today was stellar fishing we made a long run and my angler Irv was OK going all in for a shot at glory.  Irv was a former customer and friend of Capt. Ken Cohan and had some good fish tales from fishing with Capt. Ken.  It was a gamble making a long run, it could've been a long boat ride had things not worked out, but luckily they did for us.  We found a good load of big tarpon, jumping and splashing all over off the shorelines of some of the everglades beaches.  We landed three fish up to 150 lbs or so, all very large!  We also found a few tripletail off shore before it got too rough.  Capt. Mike Bassett had some good fishing on the patches yesterday with some hogfish and cero mackerel, and found some trout in the bay.  Today he had some trout, snappers, and got a cobia as well.  Capt. Jim Willcox has been geting into some bonefish on the very windy days in the middle of the month.  He had one day with some good smaller fish on jigs and shrimp fishing the muds.  He also had a nice size snook yesterday he caught in the backcountry too.  Capt. Bill Bassett had some good mackerels the other day as well as a few tripletail.  Capt. Tim Arce had his limit of lane snappers, triple tails, and mackerels yesterday too.  Capt. Mike Venezia had a big sawfish and big hammerhead the last couple days he fished in the channels for big critters.  Capt.  John Johansen has had some shark and tarpon actoin in the backcountry.  Capt. Skip Nielsen has some smaller tarpon on the fly with his anglers, and got into some good size mangrove snappers for dinner.  Looks like we have a couple very nice days coming up here before a mild cold front over the weekend.  The front will likely mix the fishing up a little bit but I think it'll be a good thing overall... it's been way to hot to early for us.  I think it may also help clean up some of the nasty water we've been dealing with in some areas.  But I think March will be a good month for tarpon it seems we are having a very early season this year!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
Instagram: @richardstanczyk
Facebook: Islamorada Tarpon Fishing