7/11/17 Late June and Early July Deep sea fishing report

Sorry for missing our fishing report last week but we've seen some great fishing this summer! The mahi bite has been the best we've seen in a couple years, with lots of schoolies, some gaffers, and a couple big bull dolphin in the mix!

Other offshore fish have included blackfin tuna, a couple wahoo, a couple tripletail, amberjack, and still a couple billfish. The reel mccoy released a 300 lb blue marlin one trip and the next day had a white marlin. The gimme jimmy also released a blue marlin one trip. The cloud nine  had a sailfish on the troll the other day. We've seen some good bottom fish while deep dropping including blueline tilefish, snowy gouper, yellowedge grouper, barrelfish, rosefish, and we had a huge 42 lb golden tilefish one day which was a nice bonus!

 

A few boats have got swordfishing the past couple weeks and it's been a decent bite most days. The Broad Minded, Bn'M, Indigenous, and Water Damage have all got in on the swordfish action. You don't catch them every trip, but the next few months is prime time to give it a shot.

Give the marina office a call at 305664261 when you're ready to book your next trip in Islamorada at Bud n' Mary's Marina and we'll find a great boat for you!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

6/24/17 Offshore fishing report for Islamorada

We had some super nice weather a little over a week ago follow by a few really windy days and now its starting to let up again. Some boats still fished in the 20 + knot winds and came back with plenty of fish. The last 10 days has been some of the best dolphin (mahi) fishing we've seen in a couple years, with plenty of schoolie size fish and quite a few gaffers. There's been a few slammers around as well, with fish in the 20 - 45 lb range. We are all hoping the dolphin fishing stays steady because it sure is nice when you can go out and catch 20 - 40 fish! 

 

In addition to the dolphin we saw a couple nice surprises caught and released this week. The reel mccoy released 2 white marlin (two trips each with one marlin) and the Predator released a 150 lb blue marlin. There's been some football size blackfin tuna on the humps with some big ambjerack and almaco jack down deep. The deep dropping for bottom fish in 400 - 800' has been decent as well, mostly blueline tilefish with a few snowy grouper in the mix. The cloud nine weighed in a 39.6 lb snowy grouper one day! 

 

When it was windy a few boats stayed on the reef and caught plenty of yellowtail snapper and there's been a couple black grouper still around. The permit have been a little tricky on the wrecks but if you're patient and make the shot count it's a possibility! 

 

Way offshore we swordfished before the wind came last week and lost one really big swordfish pushing 400 lbs one trip and missed a couple other bites over a couple of the other days. The last trip we fished though we got Niles his first ever swordfish, so that was pretty cool! 

 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to book your next Islamorada fishing charter or even stay at our motel! 

Tight Lines,

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

6/15/17 June Backcountry Fishin' Report

June is rolling by fast and the fishing has been pretty good overall.  Tarpon have been hit or miss, some days it seems they are thick and biting decently, and other days it's tough to find them at all.  We had 2 days in the last week where we blanked and never had a bite but had plenty of shark action, though on two other days last week on both of those we landed multiple fish getting 3 one day and 4 another.  Conditions were fairly similar but just goes to show how much these fish are moving around and keeping us on our toes.  I think as we get more into summer the fish will settle in once the spawn is over and it should get more consistent.  The last couple days we've had crazy winds though we did get out early and produce a tarpon on each trip which was good for the conditions.  We also had a good day with action fishing a few days ago, with Larry and his grandson a few days ago catching lots of trout, plenty of sharks, and lost a nice snook.  Regular customers Barry and Sarah fished with me for two days, we got a nice tarpon and lost another this morning in the 25 mph south winds, and two days ago we had flat calm perfect conditions and they each caught multiple tarpon, sharks, plenty of snook, 2 redfish, and lost a permit - just a banner day.  Capt. Bill Bassett also had some banner fishing on a couple of the flat calm days.  He was able to get out in the gulf and they caught several permit on fly both days, as well as several on bait.  It was a very special couple days.  Though on Day 3 he said the permit had vanished but they had some fun with jacks and bluefish.  Some times you have to take those kinds of gambles to have incredible days though.  Capt. Mike Venezia reported some good snook fishing over the weekend as well.  Capt. Chris Daly had some small tarpon on fly as well as some snook.  Capt. John Johansen has reported some decent evening tarpon fishing still as of late.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported some good snook action a few days ago, as well as some good action in the gulf with jacks, sharks, and lost a nice permit on a wreck.  If you are wanting to get out fishing this summer, it's a great time to go.  Make sure to bring your bug spray if you are wanting to venture in the everglades, the bugs have been a little worse than normal with all the rain we've had.  Conditions should be improving later in the week once the winds settle down, hopefully by wednesday or thursday.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

6/15/17 Mid June Islamorada Deep Sea fishing report

The dolphin (mahi) bite has been on fire the past week here in Islamorada! A lot of boats have been limiting out on schoolies (3-6 lb mahi) and there's been a few gaffers and slammers in the 25 - 40 lb range in the mix! The blackfin tuna bite has been decent on the humps, most fish in the 3 - 10 lb range but there was a couple over 20 lbs caught. If you want a big pull just send a bait down deep and we've seen some bruiser amberjack from 40 - 70 lbs! Deep drop bottom fishing has provided tilefish and grouper as well. 

Back on the reef the yellowtail snapper bite has been steady with a few mutton snapper in the mix. The permit have been pretty consistent on a couple wrecks too. We catch and relesae our permit here, especially since they are spawning this time of year. Barracuda have been around the top of the reefs as well as a couple mackerel. 

Way offshore a few of us have got out on daytime swordfishing trips. The Bn'M caught a 135 lb fish about 10 days ago. The fished  a few days back and pulled 2 hooks, and I fished the past two days, missing one bite one trip and then battling a giant pushing 400 lbs yesterday. The big fish yesterday was foul hooked and eventually pulled off. That's part of swordfishing. Other exciting news from last week was when I teamed up with my friends on the "PAYDIRT" and we fished the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Championship and we caught a new pending record for Mississippi! The fish weighed in at 242.5 lbs and won the swordfish division in the tournament! 

Give the marina office a call while the weather is nice this coming week to book your fishing charter! 305 664 2461! 

Tight Lines, 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

5/31/17 End of May Islamorada Offshore Fishing report

We had some incredible weather the past week offshore fishing in Islamorada. Mahi have been the main target for the boats on full day trips. The mahi bite was decent most days, but a couple days were tough when it was slick calm and there was no wind. Some boats had as many as 25 fish, while others just had a couple all day. The boats that found floating debris did well and a couple boats found nice schools of migrating fish. The bite was pretty steady today with the little bit of wind we had, so hopefully it stays that way the upcoming week. Most fish have been in the 3 - 10 lb range, with a few gaffers in the mix and a couple big bulls over 30 lbs. There's been a steady bite of "football" blackfin tuna and plenty of hard fighting amberjacks as well. We caught a few small wahoo on one piece of debris and a couple boats had a few tripletail. 

The deep dropping offshore has been pretty good with blueline tilefish, a couple queen snapper, yellowedge grouper, and snowy grouper. Back on the reef the yellowtail snapper bite has been decent most days and we are still seeing a couple black and red grouper. Some of the boats have released permit on the wrecks, with a couple fish approaching 30 lbs! Other fish caught have included crevalle jacks, sharks, barracuda, and the odd sailfish. 

Way offshore we have been out on a few daytime swordfishing trips the past week. It's been a little hit and miss this Spring, but we did get a fish 2 of our last 3 trips aboard the Broad Minded. The Catch 22 didn't have any bites the other day, but that's big game fishing. We don't get them every trip, so it makes you appreciate the good days when you are successful! 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 and we'll find the right trip for you! 

Tight Lines

Capt. Nick Stanczyk