2/17/15 Deep Sea fishing report for Mid February

It was a cold week for us here in Islamorada. We had temperatures in the low 50's a couple days, but it finally started to warm up yesterday. Most of our deep sea fishing boats have been out on charters the last few days fishing here in Islamorada. Not everyday has been easy fishing, but there's been a handful of real quality fish caught, and still enough fish for some action as well as for dinner! Cobia have been the prized target the last week here. The boats haven't found them every day, but the boats that are patient and put their time in looking for them have had some real nice fish. Some have been "pups" which we release, and some have been big 30 - 50 lbers! It can be hours or boredom looking, but if you find the right school it can get crazy!

Cloud nine with some whopper cobias

A lot of boats have hit the reef lately with both live and dead bait. The boats bottom fishing have had yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper, a couple amberjack, hogfish, plenty of grouper to catch and release (shallow water grouper season is closed till May 1st). On the surface with live bait there's been a good amount of king mackerel, some cero mackerel, barracuda, the occasional sailfish, a couple stray mahi, and the occasional blackfin tuna. A lot of boats have also been going out a little deep for deep dropp bottom fishing too.

Catch 22 with some beautiful mutton snapper and a rack of kingfish

A beautiful Juvenile african pompano caught and released on the patch reefs

Big barracuda caught and released

Reel McCoy with kingfish on the reef and then offshore they found vermillion snapper and a snowy grouper

The boats that have hit the depths of 300 - 600' of water lately have had lots of vermillion snapper, snowy and yellowedge grouper (which are both open to harvest, unlike the reef species of grouper), tilefish, rose porgy, and some jacks. We caught a monter 28.5 lb yellowdge grouper the other day which was a great suprise.

Giant 28.5 lb yellowedge grouper on the Bn'M II

Great day of deep dropping with tilefish, porgy, yellowedge grouper, and then a pair of big cobia on the way in

Big delicious blueline tilefish on the Man O War

Bunch of vermillion snapper on the Fearless

I made it out on a daytime swordfish trip yesterday. It was a rough ride out 25 miles with 17 - 20 knots winds in our face. We fished for a few hours with no luck, and I was losing confidence. But sure enough around 1 pm we hooked up and after 25 minutes Zach had a 103 lb broadbill swordfish boatside. It made the ride out there worth it! It's not prime time for swords, but there's still a couple around.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk and young Zach pose with Zach's first swordfish

Give the marina a call when you've seen enough fishing pictures and decide you want to be the person in the picture next to the fish! We'll set you up with a great charter boat! 305 664 2461.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

2/11/15 February Offshore Fishing Report

It's a little chilly here in Islamorada right now. We had another cold front pass through last night. We woke up with temperatures in the low 60's this morning. The Islamorada Offshore charter boats have been fishing a fair amount lately, but the next couple weeks are a great time to beat the Spring Break crowds that we get in March. The sailfish bite has pretty much been the same story the last month. If you are patient and put your time in, most days you're getting a shot or two, but some days they remain elusive. A few boats have done better, like the Relentless who caught 4 fish on Monday, to win the Islamorada Bartenders Sailfish Open. Congrats!

Team Relentless were bartender sailfish tournament champs!

Sailfish action shot aboard the Buzz On

It's been a good year for king mackerel here in the Florida Keys. Some people like to eat them grilled, but my favorite way is smoked. We've had lots of fish in the 5 - 15 lb range, with the occasion "smoker" king in the 25 - 40 lb range.

25 lb kingfish on the Bn'M II

We've seen a couple blackfin tuna still around, with the occasional mahi as well. There's still been some nice mutton snapper while fishing the reef and the wrecks, as well as some amberjack and a couple big african pompano.

Nice mutton snapper for this lady on the Man O War

Monster 36 lb african pompano caught aboard the Bn'M while wreck fishing

There was a few cobia caught yesterday, and with this cold weather I think we'll see another good push of them this week. I expect more cobia to move out of the gulf of Mexico to the warmer waters near the reef on the Atlantic side. We recently had the "Wounded Warriors" fishing with us again. It's always an honor to them out on the water and show them a good time. They are true heroes. They caught some great fish here too!

Nice black grouper caught and released on the Miss Islamorada

Big Amberjack caught on the Wounded Warrior trip on the Miss Islamorada

A few boats have been going "deep dropping" for snapper, tilefish, and grouper (snowy and yellowedge grouper are open for harvest unlike the shallow water groupers). It's a great way to catch dinner and almost all the fish in the 400 - 700' zone of water are great eating! We've had a few sharks around the reef to catch as well as some barracuda too. I made it out swordfishing on one trip and we managed to catch and release 2 juvenile broadbills. It's not my favorite time for them, but there's still some fish around, and if the weather allows and you want to take a gamble and try your luck, you always have a shot off Islamorad for a daytime swordfish!

Barracuda caught and released on the Bn'M

Swordfish release on the Bn'M II

Give the marina office a call at 305 664 2461 when you're ready to book your next fishing adventure in Islamorada!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

2/10/15 February Backcountry Fishing Report

February is rolling on and so seems to be the winter time weather!  We've had a couple late cold fronts already keep things fairly chilly here, not freezing cold but the water has stayed in the high 60 range.  This has kept the traditional winter time fishing options available though has not been good for our hopes of early season tarpon fishing.  It looks like we have more cold fronts on the way through the weekend and suppose to drop in the low 50s a few nights later this week.  Lucky for us we still have great fishing options.  Capt. Jim Willcox has been plugging away in the everglades they had good action fishing for ladyfish, trout, snapper, etc... and some big blacktip sharks.  He also took some customers to some land locked areas and caught some snook and baby tarpon, lots of fun!  Capt. Jeff Beeler had some big black drum a couple days in the last week, fishing shrimp in the canals.  Capt. Mike Venezia had a few redfish, snook, and sheepshead while fishing in the Swamp Guides Ball.  Speaking of that Capt. Bob Reineman fishing with marina manager Bill Broach and friend Capt. Dave Peck placed 2nd in that tournament with several nice redfish and a big snook - way to go!  There were 61 boats fishing in it and fishing was very tough, the target fish are redfish, snook, and bonefish.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk had some good fishing in the gulf a couple days with lots of spanish mackerel, some big blacktip sharks, some goliath grouper, and a nice tripletail.  He also fished the ocean side patches and had a variety pack of snapper, grouper, porgy, and a few hogfish.  Capt. Mike Bassett has had some good mackerel fishing as well as reported a few snook and black drum back at cape sable.  Capt. Bill Bassett has had good mackerel action out in the gulf too with a few days of getting them on the fly too.  Patch and mackerel fishing should remain steady with this cooler weather and even still be viable when things warm up.  The everglades fishing in the winter holes, canals, etc... should also still be decent with the temperatures staying down.  Last year it was already fairly warmed and stayed that way through the spring and the tarpon were chewing, this year looks to be different however it should be better for our tarpon fishing later in the spring as it will push more fish back to arrive later.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903

2/3/15 early February 2015 Deep Sea Fishing Report

Things finally slowed down a little bit with traffic around the marina the past week, but it's not gonna stay quite for long. We still had close to 1/2 the boats fish most days, a few days more got out and a few days more were at the dock. We had a couple nice days with light winds and then we had a few other windy days with fronts passing through etc. The sailfish bite turned on for a couple days, With a lot of boats getting 3 to 5 bites a piece, but then the last couple days it got a little tougher, and a few boats each released 1 fish. Tomorrow is the Poor Girls sailfishTournament, which is always a fun and inexepensive tournament for all the lady anglers, and we can't wait to see how the boats do in that.

1 of 3 sailfish released on the Cloud Nine a few days ago

A couple of the calmer days where we had clear skies a few boats got in on the cobia action. I always tell everyone that fishing for cobia takes lots of patience, as the boats ride around inside the reef looking for big stingrays which the schools of cobia typically follow. Some days you spend hours looking with no success, and other days you look for a few minutes and hit a big school. There was a few schools of small fish found which were catch and release, and then a few other schools had some really nice fish close to 50 lbs.

Kalex with a limit of cobia and king mackerel

There's still been some decent bottom fishing for yellowtail, mangrove, and mutton snapper when the current is with the wind and the water is a little dirtier. A few days we had tough condiditons, but you just don't know until you get out there. The king mackerel have still been a good bet for action lately, especially around the wrecks with live bait.

Catch 22 with a mix bag of kingfish, a mahi, a sailfish , and deep drop fish like yelloweye snapper and tilefish

I made it out on 2 daytime broadbill swordfish charters the past week. We had 2 bites each trip, catching one each day. One fish was around 40 lbs which we released, and yesterday we had an 80 lber which we kept for dinner. We also did some deep dropping (bottom fishing in 650 - 700') on the way out and caught some really nice queen snapper the first trip. The swordfish bite is definitely slowing down a little, but it only takes 1 bite to have a great trip.

Troy with his ever every broadbill swordfish (released) on the Bn'M II

Since we released the swordfish how about some queen snapper for dinner!

Sandy and Jake hold up a swordfish we caught yesterday on the Bn'M II

February is a great time to come down here and avoid the crowds of people we get in March and April, so give the marina office a call at 1 800 742 7945 and let us set you up on an Islamorada fishing charter or in the marina hotel.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

1/31/15 End of January Islamorada Backcountry Fishing Report

February starts tomorrow and right now it feels like winter down here in the Keys.  The last week we had the tail end of the winter weather from up north chill us down.  We had several nights that got into the 50s, plus some wind to boot.  Though fishing hasn't cooled down it has stayed pretty good.  The patch fishing has been phenomenal with a good mixed bag out there.  Today Capt. Rick Stanczyk had great fishing with a limit of nice hogfish, lots of porgy, snapper, grouper, and more.  We've been seeing a few permit out there too, the other day we saw a school of 50+ at the end of our trip, but were not able to get any bites out of them.  Capt. Skip Nielsen and Capt. John Johansen both landed a permit this week though with their anglers.  Capt. Skip also has Cliff and Cathy Fox of Fox Tackle.  Cathy caught a nice permit, plus they had action with grouper and other species out front.  They also each landed nice snook in the backcountry plus some redfish in the creeks.  Capt. Rick Stanczyk yesterday had a handful of black drum, plus two whopper snook of 10 and 12 lbs.  The deeper everglades canal fishing hasn't been red hot as far as numbers of fish, but there have been some big quality fish if you put your time in.  Capt. Jeff Beeler had some nice black drum the other day too, and Capt. Bill Bassett had a mix of redfish, snook, a tripletail, and a few others as well.  There has been some trout in the channel run-offs to give a bit more action on these trips as well as some stuff for dinner if your looking for that.  Capt. Jim Willcox had some black drum the other day as well, he also had a monster 40 lber last week too one of the biggest we've seen.  Spanish mackerel fishing has been consistent as it has for most the winter.  Capt. Rick had Steve Holsinger out last week for the macks and sharks it was good fishing, they also had a good mixed bag on the patches and finished up with a few barracudas they caught on big pilchards - lots of fun!  Further out in the gulf on the nicer days triple tail fishing is a good idea and there can be some cobias on the structure too.  Looks like things should slowly warm up this next week, winds look to be swinging more east and even south tomorrow.  Tarpon fishing should start being a regularlity especially if the weather is warm, February can be good fishing for tarpon with the right conditions and the last few years it has been for the most part.  Give us a call and let's get you out on the water.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk