5/25/17 Deep Sea fishing report for Islamorada

I didn't realize it had been 2 weeks since my last fishing report, but it's our "busy" season here and everyone has been fishing long days so the time has been flying by. The past week the mahi bite has been good overall. There was a couple slower days, but on average the boats are getting 12 - 20 fish per trip. A lot have been nice size "schoolies", which we haven't had to measure, with a few "gaffers", and a couple "slammers". Relentless had a bull pushing 40 lbs a couple days ago and the Bn'M had a 34 lber. Fingers crossed the mahi bite remains steady. 

We've been catching plenty of "football" blackfin tuna on the humps, and there's been a few big ones in the mix. The Warbird had one right at 30 lbs last week! We've seen some big amberjack on the humps, some of them over 70 lbs!!! On the edge of the reef there was a color change with some bigger blackfin tuna caught  and some late season sailfish. well. The color change/current edge lined up for two days and the Reel McCoy took advantage of it one afternoon and released 3 sailfish. A few other boats had a release or two as well. The bottom fish deep drop bite has been pretty steady with plenty of blueline tilefish, a couple snowy and yellowedge grouper, and a couple other species in the mix. The boats bottom fishing the reef have done very well on yellowtail snapper, with a few mutton snapper and still a few black grouper. There's also been some really nice permit on a couple of the wrecks. 

Way offshore I've been out on a handful of daytime swordfish trips. The bite overall has been a little hit and miss compared to last spring, getting fish on about half of our recent trips. However, we had an awesome trip a couple days ago and went 3 for 3 on broadbill swordfish! The biggest one was 192 lbs with a couple smaller ones. Most trips have yielded one bite, and if you catch that bite you have a great trip, if you miss your opportunity it's been slow. It is big game fishing and isn't for everyone, but if you want to roll the dice this is as good as place as any! 

Give the marina office a call if you want to get in on the fishing action at Bud n' Mary's Marina. 305 664 2461. We have lodging options available inlcuding houseboats and motel rooms right on property! 

Tight Lines, 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

5/21/17 May Backcountry Fishing Report Islamorada

Sorry I haven't been able to keep up with the fishing reports as well, having a little baby at home has definitely occupied a lot of my free time!  May is going by fast and we are starting to get into summer time mode here in the Florida Keys.  The last week we had some heavy winds though it's starting to get nice again now and looks like this coming week it'll be nice.  Summer typically means lighter winds, warmer weather, and often very good fishing since the conditions stabalize.  The tarpon bite has been a little up and down though as we've had to deal with periods of heavy winds that have been sustained for multiple days.  But we've definitely still been catching.  I had Pete Davidson and crew the last 5 days and we had tarpon action every day.  The first couple days were nice and flat calm, we had multiple tarpon both days fishing in the backcountry.  The last 3 days were rough and we did go out back one of those days and caught a tarpon, but the following two days we fished locally around the channels and bridges close to home.  We did catch a couple tarpon close by one day, and the last day had a couple bites but they just didn't stay buttoned on for us.  Though a great 5 days of fishing overall.  Yesterday I had Matt Newman and his son Aiden out for a 3/4 day.  I was happy to mix it up a little bit after grinding hard for 5 days of tarpon only.  We caught plenty of snappers and some nice trout for dinner, then just tried for tarpon the last hour and managed to get a nice 80 lber for Aiden!  Capt. Mark Hlis has reported some good sight fishing in the everglades and has said the redfish are starting to be more plentiful which is good to hear as we had a tough year last year with those summer time reds in shallow with some of the algae blooms we had to deal with.  He also got a nice snook on fly with an angler.  Capt. Dave Sisung has reported some tarpon action locally as has Capt. Jeff Beeler, Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti, Capt. Gunner Guthrie, Capt. John Johansen, and Capt. Mike Venezia.  Capt. Bill Bassett and Capt. Jim Willcox reported some good fishing in the gulf a couple weeks ago on the calm days they had pompano, mackerel, triple tail, golatih grouper, and cobia!  They also got into some snook deep in the everglades as well.  As we get into June look for the tarpon bite to get a little more steady, the evening trips fishing with crabs should get more productive as the mullet start to thin out.  Snook fishing in the everglades should be a very good option too with calm winds and clean water.  I love fishing in the summer time here, June - August are just about my favorite time of year!  I am still updating my personal tarpon blog daily through tarpon season as that is much easier for me to do, so if you want to keep up with it head on over to Islamorada Tarpon Fishing website.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

5/10/17 Early May Offshore Fishing Report

The weather has been super nice the last few days here in Islamorada. We had some windy weather late last week but by Saturday afternoon conditions got beautiful. A lot of boats are venturing offshore and I would say the mahi bite has been decent overall. There were a few really good days where all the boats had fish as well as a few days where half the boats found them and half did not. Things should only get more and more consistent each week. On the "Broad Minded" we fished the Marathon Bull and Cow dolphin tournament over the weekend and took 3rd place for the 3 fish aggregate with 29, 28, and 24 lb fish, as well as 3rd place largest cow with a 23 lber. Most of the fish have been in the 3 - 10 lb range but if you put the time in you definitely have a shot at some slammers! The football blackfin tuna turned on the last few days and the amberjacks have been pretty happy on the humps too. A lot of boats have been deep dropping for blueline tilefish, snowy grouper, and there's a couple queen snapper still around. 

Back on the reef the yellowtail snapper bite has been pretty good overall. We finally could keep grouper after May 1st and a lot of boats got in on the grouper action. We saw black grouper on the docks pushing 30 lbs and plenty in the 10 - 20 lb range. There was some red grouper caught as well. Unfortunatley the first few days of season is usually the best few days of the year, but without a doubt the next couple months you'll have a shot at getting a grouper or two if you put the effort in. There's some nice mutton snapper and permit around too. The Reel McCoy released a permit pushing 40 lbs!  

Way offshore the Catch 22 made it out on 2 daytime swordfish trips, catching 1 fish one trip and 2 fish the second trip. All the fish were around 60 lbs. The Bn'M also released a juvenile swordfish their last trip, and on the Broad Minded we got one fish about 125 lbs yesterday, but no bites the trip before that. We did get a bigeye thresher shark though, which is a super cool creature. We released him after a couple photos. 

Give the marina office a call to get in on the fishing action in Islamorada! 305 664 2461! May is a great month here to do a little bit of everything! 

Tight Lines

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

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 

4/25/17 Offshore Fishing report

We finally have nice weather again! It was a windy couple weeks but the winds let up and the seas calmed down Sunday afternoon. Boats still fished in the wind and rough seas, but I know everyone was excited yesterday for beautiful weather and for some of the upcoming days as well. The mahi showed up in big numbers yesterday off Islamorada. Almost all the charter boats that fished caught between 15 - 30 fish. Most of them were "schoolies" in the 3 - 6 lb range, but there was a few biggers ones. Earlier in the week the Buzz On had big bulls 3 days in a row from 31 - 35 lbs. Hopefully its going to be a good year on them, and full days are going to be when most boats make the run into the gulf stream to target mahi. 

A lot of boats fished the reef the past week. Yellowtail snapper have been on most the spots, with a few big mutton snappers mixed in. The groupers are still here, so fingers crossed they bite May 1st when season opens up! The permit are spawing right now on a couple of the wrecks and reef spots as well. Not big numbers of them but there's been a few caught. There was a few sailfish caught and released yesterday, so there is always a chance of getting a sailfish on the edge of the reef the next month and the occasional one offshore while trolling. 

There's been a lot of small blackfin tuna on the humps and plenty of amberjack. If you want to pull on something big send down the shark bait because they are around! Plenty of big bull sharks with a few other species mixed in. 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to book your next Islamorada Fishing Charter and we'll set you up with a great boat. We also have lodging options, including standard motel rooms and floating houseboats! 

Tight Lines 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk