We are in mid june and the weather has been stable and nice. While it has gotten a little hot on some days, most have had a slight southeast breeze which has kept the real heat down. The mornings are often a little overcast too, perfect for half day fishing trips though if you do the full day at least you get a break with the clouds off and on. Fishing has been good for the most part we’ve enjoyed lots of action in the bays with plenty of mangrove snappers along with a mix of trout, jacks, ladyfish, and more. The backcountry channels have had a variety of sharks and there have still been plenty of tarpon around too. Most full days we are mixing it up with the smaller fish bending the lights rods, perhaps catching dinner, and then going and trying for tarpon or sharks. We’ve gotten a few reds and snook on occasion as well as the occasional floating tripletail or cobia when we are running around. For the most part though tarpon is still my mainstay this time of year. For the best fishing leaving early gives you an added chance of success as the mullet are much thinner now though there are a few spots you can find them before it gets too bright. You can also catch the last of the falling tides in the morning and have good fishing drifting crabs. This is the same on the evenings, the tarpon are feeding on crabs much more now especially with the falling tides and near dark. Of course soaking mullet on the bottom or fishing them live if you can find them is still a good method too. I’m pretty booked up the rest of the month though I have days available in July which can be great tarpon fishing in the everglades then. Again it’s an early game though we often depart the dock at 6 AM or earlier. Drop me a line if your interested in getting out!
5/5/14 May Deep Sea Fishing in Islamorada
We’ve been busy so far this May while deep sea fishing in Islamorada. The last half of April was very busy too, and the fishing has been similar the last few weeks. The mahi bite has been on the slow side compared to what it usually is, but that’s why they call it fishing. There has still been some fish around, but it just takes patience to find them. On the hump there’s been some big sharks still, as well as some amberjacks and a few blackfin tunas. We’ve also caught a couple wahoo while trolling, and some tilefish and deep water grouper while deep dropping. I caught a couple swordfish my last trip, as well as 1 the trip before that. They were from 50 – 105 lbs. On the reef the Shallow water grouper season just opened on May 1st, so it’s nice now that we get to keep some black and gag grouper for dinner! May is one of my favorite months to fish in Islamorada, so if you want to get out on the Bn’M II, send me an email to bnmcharters@gmail.com , and I’d be happy to get you out! The mahi and blackfin tuna bite should get better and better, as well as the daytime swordfishing!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Nick Stanczyk
4/16/14 Tarpon Fishing in Islamorada in April stays strong!
The april islamorada tarpon fishing bite has continued to stay strong throughout the month. We’ve been catching fish on every trip really. I think I only had one trip where we fished a half day due to a cold front and caught fish on the patches, only giving the tarpon a try for the last hour, where we did not hook at least one tarpon. And only one other trip where we did not land a tarpon (we had two tarpon break us off in the bridges). That’s great fishing! We average probably two fish landed a trip, when you average the good ‘banner’ days where we release 3, 4, or more. We’ve had a share of 1 fish landed trips in early april as we had a bit of a lull in the numbers of tarpon around, though the last week we’ve seen plenty more show up. I think we had such a good early start that fish showed up strong in february and march, leading to a lull in early April which is traditionally considered ‘peak’ season. Every year is different but like I said the last week seems to have seen big numbers around town again. The backcountry has been a little slow with the tarpon since the last front, but they can show back up there any time again too I think when the wind stops blowing and some of the nasty ‘red weed’ that has been plaguing us back there dissipates. Look for May to be stay strong that is often the best month of the year for tarpon and the weather stays consistently warm. Summer can be very good too, last year July was just about as consistent as April with the early mornings being very good in the backcountry as well as good fishing around town on the evening trips with much less pressure on the fish since it is a bit slower with business and boats then. I have some evenings available over the next couple months, just about every day is booked until June, but tarpon is what I’m doing and if your looking to catch one now is the time!
4/3/14 April Islamorada Tarpon Fishing Report
It’s April and the tarpon have made their presence known here in Islamorada and throughout the Florida Keys. Islamorada tarpon fishing is the big thing here for the next several months. We’ve had a great early season and the weather is now really getting right for a big month in April. Plenty of big schools of baitfish (mullet) have been showing up, several big ‘balls’ of thousands at a time that we use for bait. The last few days I’ve been having great action fishing live mullet for tarpon. We’ve had 6 fish to the boat in the last 3 trips, and over another fifteen or so that didn’t quite make it there! Lots of other fish boiling, flashing, and busting the baits that weren’t hooked too. It’s game on here for april tarpon fishing in Islamorada. The fishing should only get better. I’m booked most every day but I do have evening trips available that go from 4 to 8 PM so check with me. It is a great time to go after big tarpon and the bite around sunset usually goes off! You can see from the pictures below we’ve been having wild action the last month, and as stated before April only gets better. The weather usually stabilizes and the big schools of migrating fish show up along with the schools of mullet. It’s a mixture for tarpon craziness that you don’t want to miss! Drop me a line lets get you hooked up to the fish of a life time!
3/25/14 Offshore fishing in Islamorada on the Bn’M II
It’s been a busy month here while offshore fishing in Islamorada. March is a transitional month and there’s been a little bit of everything. We have caught grouper, wahoo, mackerel, mahi, tiger shark, hammerhead shark, yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper, golden tilefish, blueline tilefish, blackfin tun, amberjack, barracuda, swordfish, etc! Some days have been slower than others, but hey, that’s why they call it fishing. The slower days make you really appreciate the good days. We are still fishing on the reef quite a bit, but the next few weeks we will really focus on going “offshore” further, out into the gulf stream looking for more pelagic species. One of the most exciting things lately has been vertical jigging with tormenter tackle for big amberjacks, some over 50 lbs on spinning jigging outfits! Send me an email when you’re ready to go give it a shot! bnmcharters@gmail.com
Capt. Nick Stanczyk
