We had a strong cold front here in the Florida Keys last week with Temperatures in the Mid 50's! Sure that doesn't sound cold to a lot of people but when you run on the boat and the water is chilled it makes a cold ride for us South Florida Folk! The good thing about the Front is that it brought some sailfish with it! The ballyhoo were thick on the reef and there was a few good days of sailfishing! A lot of boats had 2-5 bites per trip, and if you caught them you had a great day. Sure you won't always catch them all, but if you get a few shots you know you're in the game! The Catch 22 had an epic day releasing 14 sailfish all sight fishing on top of the reef! That means they never put a bait in the water until they saw a fish!
Other reef fish have included a few wahoo, king mackerel, yellowtail mangrove and mutton snapper, black grouper, red grouper, cero mackerel, barracuda and more. There was one day where the cobia showed up on the rays and multiple boats had their limit including a few big ones in the 45 - 60 lb range! We saw a few amberjack and african pompano on the wrecks as well. Grouper are closed for harvest starting January 1st, but that means we still have a couple weeks to get them! Out a little deeper there have been vermillion snapper, yelloweye snapper, and queen snapper.
Way offshore We just had the best swordfish bite of the year! Yesterday we caught a 200 lb swordfish, lost a 150 lber by the boat, and tagged a 50 lber. The day before we caught a giant swordfish that weighed in at 389 lbs! It was an epic battle on stand up gear for Dale, but in the end he hung in there and put the fish in the boat. The day before that we caught 5 of 6 swordfish from 40 - 100 lbs! It was nice to see all the action so late in the year as well as having the weather cooperate.
We are hooking up our houseboats this week so if you're looking for a place to stay on your Christmas Break check out our lodging options right at the marina! Give us a call to set up your florida keys fishing trip! 305 664 2461!
Capt. Nick Stanczyk
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