9/30/15 End of September backcountry fishing report

September is almost over and we are starting to get into 'Fall' mode in the backcountry.  The last couple weeks we have started to see the early signs of the 'fall bait run.'  The first hint of cool and more northerly winds starts bringing down all kinda of baitfish both on the atlantic side and in the gulf.  Lots of mullet can be found in many areas, plus plenty of pilchards, threadfin herring, bunker, and other varieties of bait.  Packs of hungry tarpon, sharks, snook, redfish, trout, and more can be found feasting on them.  Usually mid october is when the bait run is in full effect and you can really witness the gangbusters craziness of it, but we aren't quite there yet.  Fishing has been pretty good too.  I myself have had a few days fishing in the deep everglades in the last 10 days.  All three of those days we boated plenty of snook.  A few redfish have been in the mix as well which is nice to see.  Expect to see more and more reds as things cool off, and eventually when it is cold the black drums and sheepshead will make their presence known.  Today I had my brother and aside from the snook and redfish, we got a couple juvenile goliath groupers, and landed one out of two small tarpon for a boat SLAM.  The conditions were not great with a moderate westerly breeze and took us a little bit to get on good bait, but we made it happen.  The few other trips I've fished have been half days and that has been mostly snapper fishing in the bays, with a handful of trout and ladyfish mixed in.  But you can still get some good size snappers fishing chunks or pilchards as opposed to shrimp.  Elsewhere Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti reported some bonefish the other day staking up in some spots.  With the super high tides they did not see much poling for them.  Capt. Mike Venezia fished Capt. Jeff Beelers daughter Harley in a kids tournament they had fun with some snook, snappers, and other things and she won top honors in their division.  Way to go Mike and Harley!  Capt. Bill Bassett reported some lunker mangrove snappers and several big trout in the bay on a half day trip last week.  October is coming up soon and as I mentioned it can be really good fishing.  If you are wanting to fish the everglades it is an opportune time to do so, give us a call!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

9/29/15 Islamorada Deep sea fishing report for late September

The good fishing has continued the past ten days here in Islamorada. Everybody keeps saying "I thought this was the off season?" What they don't understand is that it's the off season for tourists, not the fish! We've seen some great catches of blackfin tuna from 4 - 30 lbs on the humps. The live bait was plentiful the past week, so the boats have been chumming the tuna up and catching them on spinning rods.

There's also been some hard fighting skipjack tuna mixed in, and if you want a big pull there's been some sharks in the 100 - 300 lb class. The mahi bite has been pretty steady overall, although a couple days were a little tougher. Some boats have limited out on mahi and had as many as 30 fish, but I would say they boats have been averaging 10 - 20 fish. The mahi have been from 3 - 20 lbs.

The swordfish bite has been steady too. Capt. Travis on the Indeginous charter boat went 1 for 2 one trip and 3 for 3 another trip. The fish were from 20 - 60 lbs. I was a guest captain for a tv shoot with George Poveromo early last week and we had a great couple days. We caught over 20 Blackfin Tuna, the biggest being 21 lbs, a pair of beautiful queen snapper, a handful of mahi, a 17 lb barrelfish, and a 75 lb swordfish. The episode should air early in 2016.

 

Yesterday Capt. Dave on the Fishwife ventured offshore with the calm weather and they hooked an estimated 275 - 300 lb blue marlin while trolling for dolphin (mahi)! They fought the fish on a 30 lb stand up rod for 3 hours and then got the release! They were able to get some great pics of the fish around the boat. It goes to show you you never know what you'll catch when fishing off Islamorada.

 

I think the tuna bite will remain steady as long as the live bait sticks around, and we are nearing the end of the consistent mahi fishing, but with as warm as the water is I think we'll see them for a little while longer. Give the marina a call at 305 664 2461 and let us set you up on an Islamorada deep sea fishing charter!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

9/20/15 Mid September Offshore fishing report

I was out of town for the past 10 days, so just now getting a chance to update everyone on the recent offshore fishing in Islamorada in September. It sounded like some windy and rainy weather last week for a few days, but the last couple have been very nice. The blackfin tuna bite has been on fire lately! The boats have been catching lots of live pilchards and then chumming the tuna up around the humps and catching them on spinning tackle. The fish are averaging 4 - 20 lbs, with a few over 25 mixed in. There's also a few skipjack tunas mixed in as well. The mahi bite has been decent most days and a couple days some of the boats found giant schools of "gaffer" size fish from 5 - 15 lbs. A couple of the boats limited out on mahi with as many as 30 - 40 fish. The tuna bite should remain strong into the Fall months, but having lots of livebait will be the key to success. I'm sure we'll be able to catch a few on the dead bait and artificials, but when you are throwing the live bait over and the fish are behind the boat in a feeding frenzy it's pretty exciting. I think we'll see some decent mahi fishing in the near future, but we are nearing the nearing the end of the usual season so I'm not sure how much longer it will be consistent for. We do have boats fishing most days so I'll keep you updated. If you want to avoid the big crowds of people on the water now is a great time to fish so give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 and we'll set you up on a charter! The Miss Islamorada is still out of commission for a while for yearly maintenance, but it should be up and running in a 2 - 3 weeks.

Tight Lines,

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

9/18/15 Mid September Backcountry Fishing Report

September is half way over and we've had some wet weather recently.  The last few days we had more rain than we have likely had in a couple months!  Wednesday it was solid rain most of the day which we rarely see here, though yesterday was much more scattered and localized, and today so far has been nice and sunny.  Anyways the islands needed it that is for sure!  Things look to be getting nicer though for the weekend as far as that goes.  Fishing has been decent still a handful of guides have been getting out every day.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk has fished a few days each week and is still reporting some tarpon action.  He has reported catching tarpon just about every outing though most days you may only get a shot or two.  Some days you get lucky though and can get in a hungry pack.  The shark action has been very slow though which usually is nice as filler while you are waiting for that tarpon, though yesterday Capt. Rick did say the sharks seemed to bite much better they got a nice bull and a few big blacktips along with a big 90 lb tarpon.  As things start to cool off he says the sharks should move back in.  Capt. Mike Venezia last week reported some stellar fishing they landed multiple tarpon he also reported action with some snook, redfish, trout, and got limit of snappers for dinner.  Capt. John Johansen has also reported tarpon action still in the backcountry.  Capt. Bill Bassett reported good action in the bay on several morning trips with limit of snappers and some trout and big ladyfish mixed in.  He also reported a lot of activity on light tackle with bonnet head sharks and sting rays while trying to catch a bonefish, he said the rod stayed bent most of the day and the customers loved it even though they did not get a bonefish.  Capt. Chris Daly said last week they had a good day catching some snook and reds in shallow water, while trying to catch some baby tarpon they saw lots of but were not able to get to feed.   Capt. Dave Morris has been doing some lobster trips still and has had some good luck with that.  If you are interested in lobstering now is a good time to go as the crowds are gone and the lobster have had a chance to settle down after being hit hard during the beginning of the season.  As we get further into the Fall look for the snook and redfish fishing to get better and better.  Pilchards, mullet, and the like should start to show up strong for a while as we get some northerly breezes but before it starts to get really cold.  October can be stellar fishing and that is right around the corner!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

9/9/15 Deep sea fishing in early September

Well it's defniitely the "off-season" here now, with regard to the amount of people in town. However, we've seen some really good days of fishing! The mahi bite overall has been pretty good, although there was a couple days where a few boats struggled. They didn't come home empty handed though! There's been a great bite of blackfin tuna on the humps, and with all the live bait that's been around it's been some exciting fishing. The boats will "live chum" , where they throw dozens of live bait out to get the tuna feeding on the service, and then they will hook baits on light to medium weight spinning outfits in and pitch them back into the feeding frenzy. The tuna have been from 4 - 25 lbs. The mahi have been from 5 - 20 lbs, but we did see a big 48 lb bull from the Gimme Jimmy the other day. A couple boats have fished the reef and the king mackerel are just starting to show up and there's still a few mutton snappers around as well as some yellowtail snapper. Offshore the swordfish bite has been decent, with a few fishing up to 130 lbs caught the past week. The Miss Islamorada Party Boat just went to the boat yard for it's yearly maintenaince, so it will be out of commission the next 4 weeks or so. If you want to get in on the offshore or the reef action give us a call at 305 664 2461 and we'll set you up on a charter.

Tight Lines,

Capt. Nick Stanczyk