Fishing Reports

2-18-13 offshore fishing islamorada

We’ve been out fishing Islamorada a bunch the past week, and we’ve caught a little bit of everything! We had our strongest cold front of the year pass through this past weekend while Fishing in Islamorada in February, and it definitely shook things up a little bit. Today started out pretty cold with a North Wind, and by the afternoon had warmed up quite a bit and the wind was strong out of the East. Anyhow we did two 1/2 day trips today, which you can get away with this time of year and usually still have some action on the reef. Dinner was the goal of the morning trip, and that’s exactly what we did. We worked hard at it, and moved a few times, but by the time the trip was over we had a handful of tasty yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper, and porgy for the dinner table. We also released a nice black grouper due to the closure. The day before yesterday we also got out and had a great Islamorada Fishing Trip! We caught live bait first thing and then moved out to a spot just out side the reef and started slow trolling. We managed 2 sailfish releases, boxed 3 nice king mackerel to 20 lbs, and a 15 lb blackfin tuna within the first few hours. After that we looked for cobia for a couple hours inside the reef, but no luck. For the last hour we anchored down on the reef and caught 15 snappers including yellowtail and mangrove before heading home. We also released a fat black grouper this day too at the end of bottom fishing! The Day before that we went offshore fishing in Islamorada and caught some big fish! We started out at one of our “humps” (underwater sea mounatain), using tormenter vertical jigs. Now this is a major work out, dropping down 300 – 400′ with a 7 oz. jig on 80 lb braided line, and working it up aggressively, but when you hook up the bite and fight is incredible. We caught a couple almaco jacks and then finally hooked a big amberjack about 40 lbs. After that we sent down a big bait and hooked a monster amberjack! After a 15 minute tug of war we had a 75 lb amberjack in the boat! After we caught a couple big fish we decided to go for some tasty eating fish so we rigged up for some “deep dropping”. This is basically bottom fishing in 400′ to 600′ of water with chicken rigs. We managed to catch a handful of blueline tilefish, a snowy grouper, a mystic grouper, and a few rose porgies, which are all great eating fish! On the way home we put out the wahoo lure, and it had been about 6 months since we had a bite on it, so there we were running 14 knots with a lure out and it started screaming. The only bad news was the fight was short lived because after 10 seconds the fish shook free… oh well, we’ll have to get him next time. Pretty soon we’ll start heading offshore more, but we will still concentrate most of our time near the reef while February Fishing Islamorada.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

: islamorada amberjack

: islamorada sailfish

: islamorada black grouper

: islamorada blackfin

: amberjack vertical jig

February 19, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

2/15/13 Backcountry Fishing Islamorada Report

Well today February fishing islamorada in the backcountry we had shots at several different types of fish. Tarpon, redfish, snook, trout, cobia, tripletail, and more! That’s all possible when you go fishing in the florida keys, especially out of Islamorada. We caught most of them too, unfortunately the snook we broke off and cobia we had some hook pullage. But several, nice 22-24 inch reds in some creeks plus a juvenile tarpon which ate a big lively shrimp on a jig. We found some nice slowly falling water with some tanic water coming out of a side creek which usually spells F-I-S-H. We hit the gulf after that escapade and had our cobia bite, unfortunately no others and the conditions did look good plus we caught the tide change which usually is a sure bet for decent cobia fishing in islamorada – perhaps the incoming front had thrown them off. We hit the trap lines on the way back, lots of triple tail which I’m happy to report, we caught plenty plus one for dinner. Also got into a mess of trout on the way home and some keepers as well. After this weekends front, fishing should continue to improve as we enter the spring time. You know what is on the agenda then – big tarpon! We’ve been seeing plenty showing up and after the cold weekend they will likely be in feed mode, so be ready! Until our next february fishing report islamorada.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

: gulf triple tail

: tarpon islamorada

February 15, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Backcountry Fishing Reports Fishing Reports

2-12-13 Fishing Islamorada in February

Well we just wrapped up the last of our Sailfish Tournaments aboard the Bn’M while Fishing Islamorada in February. Yesterday was the 32nd annual Islamorada Bartenders Sailfish Open where a Dozen different bars/restaurants competed against each other for the most sailfish releases to bring the big wooden plaque back to their place for a year. We started out Kite fishing and within the first 6 minutes we had our first hook up of the day. Within two minutes we grabbed the leader for an official release and put the baits back out. About an hour and a half later we had our second Islamorada Sailfishing encounter. After a bunch of jumps we were able to back down on the fish and get the leader for a 2nd release. It was slow fishing overall, with one other boat releasing a double header and 3 more boats releasing a single fish, but we were able to bring the trophy back to Dillons Pub for the 4th time in 7 years. We also caught a 34.6 lb king mackerel off the kite to win most outstanding catch other than a sailfish. Over the weekend we fished the Islamorada Women’s sailfish tournament. We started out Saturday with the first release 15 minutes into the tournament, but that was our only bite until 2:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. At the time we raised a double header sailfish, hooking one but unfortunately he broke the 12 lb test main line when a ton of sea weed got on the line. With a slow bite we still managed to finish in 3rd place overall. Deep Sea fishing in February in Islamorada usually still takes place on the reef, and we should start seeing some spring time fish here shortly. Let us know if you want to get out for some fun on an Islamorada Fishing Trip!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

: 2013 bartenders sailfish open

: february islamorada kingfish

February 12, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

2-3-13 Offshore fishing in Islamorada

We’ve had great weather here the past couple of days while fishing in Islamorada. The temperatures have been from the Mid 60’s to the Low 70’s and the sun has been out for most of each day. I had John and his dad out on the Bn’M, down from New York for a couple of days of Islamorada Fishing. Today we started out by catching bait, including cigar minnows and ballyhoo and then headed out just past the reef and put the kites up for sailfish. We also put a bottom rod down, which was great idea because after about 30 minutes we got a bite and John caught a fat 14 lb mutton snapper! Great way to start out the day. After that I went back in the tuna tower and headed just inside the reef to look for some sails since we didn’t have any bites on the kites. After about 20 minutes I came across a big sting ray and there was a school of cobia following him. We caught 4 or 5 fish, all just under legal size to keep, but still some good action. After that we went out to a wreck and caught a handful of king mackerel. John then told me he was happy with what we had and he really wanted to focus on trying to get a sailfish. It didn’t take long and we found a sailfish up shallow in 30′ of water chasing a school of ballyhoo, but he didn’t want anything to do with our bait. We saw a couple more sailfish the next few hours and most of them would look at the bait, but wouldn’t eat it. Finally at about 2 p.m. we found a triple header of sailfish up in 25′ of water, and we made a good cast and one inhaled a ballyhoo. After about a 10 minute fight John released a 40 lb sailfish. We called it a day and headed in after that. Yesterday we missed a sailfish right off the bat and then John hooked one and fought it for about 10 minutes. The fish sounded and then came up jumping and unfortunately he threw the hook while jumping around. We did catch a couple porgy for dinner, and had some action with a big Barracuda and bonita. On the way home we came across a school of cobia as well and released a few short fish and then caught one keeper, a healthy 25 lber! All in all the fishing hasn’t been easy, but we’ve been working hard each day and putting together some decent catches on our offshore fishing charters in Islamorada!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

: islamorada cobia

: islamorada mutton snapper

February 4, 2013 by Capt. Rick Stanczyk Fishing Reports Offshore Fishing Reports

1-29-13 Reef Fishing in Islamorada

I’ve had the last couple days off here from fishing in Islamorada, so it’s time to tell everybody what’s been biting. Our last trip our we focused on sails, unfortunately the bite was slow and we didn’t come across any, but we did still have plenty of action for the kids. We caught some little tunny’s while kite fishing, then we caught barracuda while slow trolling, and finally we did some bottom fishing with fresh shrimp. The shrimp produced some great eating fish, including a couple hogfish and a few porgy’s, making for a delicious fresh fish dinner while Islamorada Fishing! The previous day the target species was sailfish, and after a few hours of hunting around we were hooked up! We found the fish up shallow chasing a school of ballyhoo, and after a few casts he ate our bait. After a 20 minute fight on 15 lb test we had the est. 50 lb sailfish boatside and took a couple quick pictures and then sent him on his way back into the ocean. We also caught a handful of dinner fish including hogfish, yellowtail snapper, and trigger fish. The day before that we caught a big variety of fish on our deep sea Islamorada Fishing Charter. We had big crevalle jack, decent size amberjack, a huge red snapper (unfortunately it had to be released due to the closure in federal waters), atlantic sharpnose shark, almaco jack, lots of lane snapper, and a couple porgy.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com