Got out with Jeff and George, a couple regulars of mine who I love to fish. We caught the mackerels good this morning first thing. Had to wait a bit for the tide to get going, but once it did it was a fish every cast. We probably caught 30 or so mackerels in a little under 2 hours. After that we tried the channels where we found some tarpon, sharks, and other creatures yesterday. The tarpon were there but didn’t seem to want to play, but we did hook a huge ‘mud marlin’ sawfish which we had on for a while, though never got up to get a look at although we did get the leader multiple times. We also caught a very large blacktip shark. After that we went into the everglades creeks and George caught his first redfish, his first snook, and almost got a tarpon for the slam but unfortunately he came off after a few jumps. Anyways all in all it was a great day here fishing in Islamorada in December!
Backcountry Fishing Reports
12/18/16 + 12/17/16 December backcountry fishing report Everglades Florida Keys
12/17/16 – Did some mackerel fishing on a half day today. We hit the edge of the gulf with a bit of a breeze out of the southeast. Chummed it up and jigged with our shrimps. We had great action landed probably 20 macks, some blue runners, and a few yellowtail snappers. On the way in we stopped for some mangrove snappers. It was tough to find any big ones in the time we had, but managed a couple keepers. Good rod bending action and a few fish for dinner!
12/18/16 – Today we started out the same way as yesterday. Crushed the mackerels for 2 hours, I had 3 guys so this was something easy to do where they could all fish at the same time. We probably caught close to 50 mackerels I’d say. Some blue runners mixed in as well. After that we hit the channels to try for sharks, and got lucky and found some tarpon and other big stuff in the mix as well! It’s so warm right now that the fish think it’s spring time, so you never know what you may get unless you try. We caught several blacktip sharks that put on a good show jumping and spinning. We jumped one tarpon and a bit later caught one – about a 70 lber nice fish. We also finished the day with a large ‘mud marlin’ sawfish which was probably 300 lbs. What a way to finish the trip! Anyways things should stay warm for a bit longer so this type of fishing is a possibility for sure. Give me a shout if you are wanting to get out!
12/16/16 Backcountry Fishing December Report
Got out today with my dad for a little ‘fun fishin.’ We brought some live shrimp and didn’t mess with catching other bait, and it worked well for us! We had a good time fishing way back in the everglades. We stopped at some creek mouths to start the day and landed a nice snook and a black drum. After that we caught a nice cobia just offshore of the beach of the cape, about a 25 lber. Plenty of small jacks too! After that we tried some creeks for snook and redfish, but didn’t have much action in the first few stops. Once the tide started coming in we tried a different creek and there was much more life there. Lots of ladyfish, jacks, snappers, etc… We did pick away at the snook and caught 4 or 5 in there. We also got into a good school of tarpon as the tide got higher further in, and ended up catching a nice 30 lber on shrimp. Unfortunately he shook the hook as we were leadering him into the net, but we got the release on him. After that we stopped in a few other areas, caught one more snook off the beach line, then we caught a snook, nice redfish, and a few more black drum in another creek before calling it a day. All in all a great day! Fishing the next 3 days and then Wednesday, but I am available Tuesday if anyone is looking to go. After that we are going out of town until the day after xmas, then i’ll be busy busy busy through new years! I still have a few days open for that week too though so gimme a shout.
12/12/16 December Half Day Fishing in Islamorada
Got out back on the water today after being down for most of the last week getting repowered. New motor is running great and it’ll make me sleep better at night knowing everything is in good working order as we get into the 2017 season! We ran out into the near gulf today, the winds laid down nicely to 10 mph after it was blowing 30 mph yesterday! We were suppose to fish then but decided to move it to today which turned out to be a great move. The spanish mackerel bite was as good as you wanted, we probably caught a couple dozen in about an hour, plus plenty of blue runners. Was hoping for some snappers for the table, but they didn’t want to bite. We could see a few swimming around in the chum, but we tried drifting shrimps and cut bait but got no response. Anyways we tried around some of the islands on the way home for snappers and the nasty algae water was where we stopped. We were able to pick away at some snappers, but they still weren’t biting great. Mostly little guys but we did end up with one nice 2 lber for the table. All in all a very productive morning half day. I have several days open this week and the weather looks awesome – flat calm and warm – so drop me a line if you want to get out!
12/7/16 December Islamorada Patch Reef Fishing
Got out for a half day today with Jeremy Fellgraff and his father Jon. They’ve been fishing with me for the last several years and Jeremy even moved down here from NJ after our first trip together because he loved it so much. The wind slicked off today just a light breath of wind out of the southwest. We found a load of pilchards near the marina on the way out and caught some of them, though most of our action was on shrimp today. We hit the patches first and caught plenty of mutton snapper, porgies, and a few other specimens including a nice lane snapper. We then went in the bay and hit a wreck that was loaded with small to medium size pompano! We probably caught about a dozen or so, plus plenty of jack crevelle, mangrove snapper, blue runners, and even a few mackerel. It was something every cast for a while! After that we tried a couple spots for local islamorada snook. This winter there have been some fish around locally in certain areas and if you have the pilchards you can usually have a shot at catching them. Anyways the first stop we didn’t get anything, but the next one both Jeremy and Jon landed nice medium sized snook plus some decent mangrove snappers. A great way to end our morning half day trip in the Florida Keys! Fingers crossed I’ll be getting my boat back this afternoon and hopefully back up and running tomorrow. Looks like some cooler weather this weekend which will be nice!
