3/7/16 Deep Sea fishing report Islamorada early March

We had some gorgeous weather here the first week of March, but unfortunately the wind came back up yesterday afternoon. A lot of boats took advantage of the calm weather and sight fished for cobia and quite a few of the boats had success. The biggest fish of the week was a 57.7 lb cobia on the Cloud Nine, and both the Relentless, Reel McCoy, and Kalex had fish in the 40 - 49 lb range. I don't think we'll see many caught the next few days as it will be windy and stirred up inside the reef, but you never know. I think once the wind settles out we will see some good catches again. 

About a week ago the Kalex had a incredible day and released 8 sailfish (including a quad), but overall the past week there's just been a few caught and released each day. Some boats have fished full days for them without any luck, which always reminds us that it's always fishing!! I think we'll continue to see a handful of them here and there, but it won't be as consistent as the winter. 

There's been a couple Mahi caught, but it's definitely a little early to expect to catch them with consistency. The Indigenous caught a nice 25 lb Bull while they were out deep dropping a few days ago. 

There's still been a couple African Pompano around the wrecks, as well as a lot of king mackerel. Further offshore we've seen quite a few amberjack and the sharks are feasting on them as well. The snapper bite on the reef has been fair. When the current has been right the boats have done well on yellowtail and the occasional mutton snapper. 

I think we'll see some good catches bottom fishing on the reef the next few days with this windy weather. If we are lucky and some "east current" shows up I wouldn't be suprised to see some numbers of sailfish released as well. 

Tight Lines 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

3/3/16 Spring time backcountry fishing in Islamorada

We've had some gorgeous weather the last couple days it has laid out flat calm and we are on a warming trend.  This will be good for the tarpon there are some fish starting to show up now.  A few were caught today though it isn't red hot yet, the water temperatures are still in the low 70 degree range in the backcountry and getting in the mid 70s in Islamorada, so a few degrees warmer should get the fish much happier and they should really start showing strong.  Today we had good action in the gulf with sharks, cobia, tripletail, and drum.  Capt. Jeff Beeler reported some nice tarpon action on artificial landing a nice one plus some snook and tripletail.  Capt. John Johansen caught a nice big tarpon today as well.  Capt. Bill Bassett had some decent mackerel fishing and caught some nice sharks in the afternoon.  Yesterday we had one of the best fishing days I've personally had in my life.  We ran way out in the gulf looking for tripletails and we had some good success.  Later in the morning we came across a huge ball of gigantic redfish it was unbeleivable seeing the school of them in the water.  Anyways we set the boat up and tossing a simple shrimp and jig rig, we landed double digit bull reds in the 20 to 35 lb range in about two hours!  Simply phenomenal I've caught a handful of big reds but never more than one or two in a trip and they are definitely a rarity here.  We also landed a nice 15 lb snook.  It was the type of thing you dream about and I am grateful to have experienced it.  The day before we landed 1 nice red like that, but that was it, and we did catch plenty of nice tripletail that day as well.  The forecast looks great for the weekend looks like calm weather though next week it may pick up a bit.  Should be a great weekend for fishing so get on down here spring time is here!  305-664-2461

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

2/29/16 End of February offshore fishing report

We had an extra day to fish in February this month and a few boats cashed in on it! The weather finally calmed down some this afternoon and a couple of boats put the time in searching for cobia and it paid off! There was a few 40 - 50 lbers and some 15 - 30 lbers, as well as some small ones. Cobia fishing takes extreme patience as the boats search for schools of them following stingrays inside the reef, but if you are fortunate enough to find a school it can be super exciting pitching baits at them.

There has been a few sailfish around each day, but they too have taken patience to get your shots at. Making your bites count has been the difference between the slow days and the succesful days. There's been a few king mackerel on both the reef and the wrecks as well as couple african pompano.

Bottom fishing has produced yellowtail snapper, a few mutton and mangrove snapper, lane snapper, porgy, and some grouper (which must be released till May 1st). Further offshore the amberjacks are showing up on the humps in good numbers and there's some big sharks around too. The "football" blackfin tuna are also out there if you make the run.

If you like deep dropping (bottom fishing in 300 - 500' of water) there has been a couple yellowedge grouper caught (which is the only species we can keep right now), as well as some yelloweye snapper, rose porgy, and vermillion snapper.

It looks like we are going to have some beautiful weather the next few days so give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 if you'd like to try your luck offshore fishing in Islamorada. This weeks fishing report brought to you by Yeti. 

Tight Lines, 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk 

2/25/16 Late February Islamorada Backcountry Fishing Report

February is nearing an end and we have more cold weather on the way this evening!  Amazingly lows will be in the low 50s again the next couple nights.  This will put the tarpon off for a while longer, they never really got going much this February as it was consistently cold throughout most of the month and just now when temperatures had gotten to that bottom level of 75 degrees for it to be possible, another cold front to slow it down.  Luckily there has been some other things going on.  I myself had fished out in the gulf mostly the last week.  We had good action with the mackerels, a few days it was just about every cast so I would call it red hot action.  Some nice size mangrove snappers out there too in the holes and any kind of structure, drifting cut bait worked well for nice 15+ inchers.  Further out the tripletail were plentiful, not a lot of big fish unless you got way up off the mainland, but in the usual areas we fish there were plenty to cast to and you could pick a keeper here and there.  Last week we also got a nice permit one day on the patch reefs which was the highlight of the week for me.  Today fishing was slow in the backcountry we had 25 mph northwest winds with the impending cold front, after blowing hard south yesterday so it was what we call a 'mudhole' back there.  We didn't find much around cape sable, nor in many of the trout cuts we usually fish, but were able to catch our limit of mangrove snappers to get some dinner for the table at least.  Capt. Bill Bassett last week reported a few good days of mackerel fishing as well, he also ran deep into the glades on a few trips and was fairly productive most days.  He said you had to fish hard and keep moving but was able to produce some redfish, drum, sheepshead, and a few snook.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti had some good trout action in the local bays the last week they also caught a nice goliath grouper fishing the big rods in the local channels.  Capt. Dave Peck reported good mackerel fishing close to home in the bays along with a few sharks, and some snapper and grouper in the channels.  Overall it's that transitional time of year so nothing has been super consistent, really the best bet has been the gulf/mackerel fishing.  With the temperature drop again hopefully the deeper canals and runoffs in the everglades will give us some good fishing over the weekend, as well as the patch reefs.  In March as long as things continue to warm up the tarpon should start showing up, one flat calm day is all it may take to really radiate the water and have the silver king showing up in droves!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

2/20/15 Deep Sea Fishing Islamorada

It's Mid February here in Islamorada and "season" is starting with lots of boats fishing every day. The deep sea fishing charters are mostly taking place on the reef and wrecks, but a few boats have ventured further offshore and had action too. The sailfish bite has been fair the past week. Some days the bite was on and boats had 3 - 5 releases, and couple days the bite was off and there was only a couple fish amongst the fleet. Last monday was the 35th annual Islamorada Barternders Sailfish Open and since my new boat wasn't quite ready I brought the team from Dillons Pub and Grill on the Hey Papa with Justin. We released 3 sailfish the first couple hours of the day and it turned out to be just enough and we wound up taking 1st place! 

King and cero mackerel have provided some action on recent trips as well as a couple blackfin tuna and mahi. We should start seeing more tuna and mahi next month. On the bottom there's been some nice mutton snapper, a few african pompano, and some big amberjacks. Boats have also been releasing grouper since season is closer for the shallow water species. We saw some cobia a week ago when the weather was calmer, but the last few days conditions just haven't been right for them. I think we will see some more caught when the wind lets up. The yellowtail snapper bite has been decent most days, and the Miss Islamorada party boat had 200 fish one trip last week! Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to try your luck fishing in Islamorada! 

Capt. Nick Stanczyk