8/12/16 August Backcountry Islamorada Fishing Report

August is well on it's way and it sure feels like summer here in the Keys.  Things have still been remarkedly busy at the marina with many boats still getting out every day and the weather has been good for the most part.  We've had couple rainy days where people had to either alter their plans or even cancel days which is no fun but definitely not the norm.  I myself have still been tarpon fishing mostly this month.  We've caught a few nice fish and still finding them most every day.  I had Stephen and Michael Johnson out a couple days earlier this week.  Fishing was pretty good we got a couple tarpon on day 1 along with plenty of sharks, the second day they wanted to go after snook and we had pretty good fishing for them too getting into the double digits plus a nice redfish and couple jacks.  Though the immediate day following the tarpon, we tried to get out for some tarpon and got chased home by the weather.  We did get a good hour of fishing in though for the early morning, found the tarpon but they would not cooperate just not interested in biting!  Anyways not super red hot fishing but definitely some quality that you could put a little time in for.  Earlier in the month we had a day with a nice tarpon and also a monster 350 lb goliath grouper which was very cool we got him on a tarpon rod in one of the channels.  Capt. Mike Venezia and Capt. Gunner Guthrie have reported a decent bite of trout and snappers in the bay since the winds have let up.  Early this month we had strong south/southwesterly winds and it had mucked up the near gulf bays pretty bad leading to some tough fishing conditions out there.  Things have started to clean up though now as the winds swing more easterly and have died out a little bit.  Capt. Jim Willcox reported some nice size jack crevelles out there one day.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported some snook the other day as well as a nice small tarpon.  Fishing can still be good this time of year in the backcountry it isn't red hot every day, and sometimes one day is good and the next day not.  Things get kind of up and down with the hot water temperatures and the conditions, but you don't know unless you go!  

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

8/11/16 Islamorada Offshore Fishing Report

We're approaching Mid August fishing in Islamorada and quite a few boats have still been getting out on a daily basis. As we enter the Fall months not as many boats will be fishing because school starts for the kids and summer trave; is coming to an end for many. That being said there isn't as many boats to compete with out there and there's still fish to be caught! The Blackfin Tuna bite has been the best bet the past week. Most of the boats have been catching a livewell full of pilchards and chumming the tuna up, pitching out light spinning outfits. Most of the tuna are 5 - 18 lbs, but there has been a few in the 20 - 30 lb range too. There's also been plenty of skipjack tuna mixed in, which are great to eat if you have them fresh that night, or if you freeze them they make a nice tuna salad. The sharks have been thick on the humps and some boats have struggled getting the tunas past them, but hopefully the sharks thin out and the tunas keep showing up in bigger numbers. If you want to catch a big shark just tell the crew as we've have hammerhead, dusky, and bull sharks all caught and released the past few days. 

 

The mahi bite has been tough the past week. A couple boats caught some nice fish, but the keepers have been few and far between for most of the boats. There's been quite a few "shakers", which are undersize fish we shake off the hook by the boat. However, we are approaching the full moon this next week and with the wind predicted in the forecast I think we are giong to see another nice push of quality size fish. You could still get lucky any day and find the right pack of fish, or the "magical" piece of debris and put a great catch together. Some of the debris has been holding some tripletail too. Quite a few boats have been doing some "deep dropping" in 400 - 1000' of water as well, and we've seen a little bit of everthing the past week including blueline tilefish, rose porgy, snowy grouper, queen snapper, barrelfish, and even a wreckfish! 

 

The boats on the reef have been catching yellowtail and mangrove snapper, as well as a few king mackerel. Staying on the reef is what most half day trips will do because it doesn't always give you ample time to run 20 miles out to look for tuna and dolphin. 

Way offshore I've made it out on a few daytime swordfish trips and we caught 2 fish our last trip, 1 fish the trip before, and 0 the trip before that. The Fall months are prime time for swords if the weather cooperates, so give that some consideration if swordfishing is on your bucket list. 

Give the office a call at 305 664 2461 to book your next fishing trip! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

8/4/16 Early August Deep Sea fishing in Islamorada, Florida Keys

The winds look to be calming down the next week here in Islamorada. We had some windy weather the past ten days, but it didn't stop the boats from getting out and catching some fish. Last week we saw some of the best catches of mahi so far this season. There was a good number of fish from 20 - 40 lbs on the dock every day. The past few days the bite slowed way down for most of the boats, although them still found some keepers.  Mahi fishing has been this way all summer, with the bite turning on and off, but I'm sure they'll spark back up again as we work toward this next moon. 

On the humps the blackfin tuna bite has been pretty good most days, with fish from 3 - 18 lbs. We should see a lot more pilchards showing back up this week with the calmer weather, so live baiting the humps should be an option.  They are great fighters on light spinning rods and when you get them chummed up on live bait behind the boat it's an exciting sight to see! The Relentless released a suprise blue marlin earlier this week as well. You just never know when you'll catch one trolling here. 

 

There has been a couple wahoo around offshore, as well as some tripletail. Back on the reef the mangrove snapper bite has been very good, with some real quality fish up to 5 lbs. The Warbird also had one of the biggest cero mackerel we've seen at Bud n' Mary's in a long time, weighing in at 12.4 lbs. There's also been some yellowtail and a couple mutton snapper around. 

 

Way offshore there has been a fair bite of swordfish. A few days have been slow with just a cheap shot or two, but we had one really good day on the Broad Minded where we caught 3 fish. Many swordfish trips are decided by one bite, meaning if you catch that bite you have a great trip, but if you miss it you have a slow trip. We are getting into the prime months for swordfish, so I'm sure we'll see some fish as we approach the Fall. 

 

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 to book you're next fishing charter and we'll find a great boat for you! 

Tight Lines, 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

 

7/29/16 Late July backcountry fishing report

July is almost over though fishing has still been pretty good out in the backcountry.  Mini season has come and gone, so opening week of lobster season will have plenty of people around and then things will really start to slow down with business.  Luckily much of our fishing we do in the everglades national park so the lobster mobsters don't really bother you.  I myself have been tarpon fishing mostly as of late and it's still been pretty good.  Not quite as many fish around or as consistent as last summer, but we're usually getting at least a few bites a trip.  We had one very good day early this week fishing around flamingo and landed multiple tarpon, however the next day the fish just went into 'lock jaw' mode and wouldn't respond!  We ended up finding them in another area that day and getting 1 in the early afternoon.  Today we ran deep off the beaches and had to look long and hard but eventually found a pack of fish and we had good action for about 30 minutes, the fish didn't want to stay buckled on the hook but eventually we landed one.  Other than that there has been plenty of shark action we had several blacktips and a couple hammer heads today too.  Capt. Jeff Beeler, Capt. John Johansen, and Capt. Mike Walter also had some tarpon action the last few days.  Capt. Jim Willcox and Capt. Mike Bassett have still been getting into a few snook in the backcountry.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti reported good trout and snapper action in the bays on a half day trip as well.  August can still be very good fishing hopefully the wind will stay down as it is suppose too.  We still get plenty of tarpon in the next few weeks, plus the gulf and everglades can be good fishing as long as you can take the heat.  

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

7/24/16 July Offshore Fishing Report

I was out of town for a couple weeks so I'm just catching up with all of the Islamorada Offshore Charter boats at Bud n' Mary's Marina to give you an update on what they've been catching lately. We want to congratulate "The Indigenous" on winning the Key West Marlin tournament! It was a 3 day tournament and Capt. Travis put his crew on a blue marlin the second day, but the deciding fish was a 110.5 lb yellowfin tuna the last day! It gave them the most points which put them in first overall! Yellowfin tuna are very rare here and that was a great fish! Congrats guys!!! 

Most of the offshore boats here have still been focusing on mahi, and they've had both great days and some slow days the last couple weeks. It just seems to be the norm this summer. There was a couple days where the boats had 15 - 20 fish, with a handful from 20 - 35 lbs , but then the following days they would have trouble finding a few fish all day. There has been quite a few blackfin tuna around, and the boats also saw a surprising amount of wahoo the last week. Most of the boats that put the time in trolling had bites and caught fish. We are all hoping the mahi bite turns on and is consistent eventually this season. 

A few boats have been doing a little deep dropping and there's been blueline tilefish, snowy grouper, and we managed this golden tilefish on our way home from the bahamas yesterday. Back on the reef there's been some nice size mangrove snapper, as well as the usual yellowtail snapper and a couple mutton snapper. 

It is lobster mini season this coming Wednesday and Thursday, so if you want to get away from all the people that are diving and snorkeling near shore give the office a call at 305 664 2461 and we'll set you up on a fishing trip! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk