Sorry we've been slacking on the Islamorada Fishing reports on the blog here. Social Media has really taken over our daily updates, so Make sure to Follow Bud n' Mary's Marina on both facebook and instagram. Here's a report from the last month that should get you pretty excited! In early and Mid October the offshore fleet had some great days live baiting for blackfin tuna on the humps. The bite wasn't on every day, and the tuna did slow down the last couple weeks, but it was on fire for a lot of trips! A few weeks ago We had calm weather with tons of pilchards around, which we netted hundreds, and the boats were able to get the blackfin tuna popping right behind the boat! It was a battle most days to get them past the sharks, but we saw a lot of fish in the 5 - 12 lb range and some in the 20-25 lb range. Hopefully they turn back on this month like it usually is in November.
Back on the reef some of the boats racked up the numbers sight fishing for sailfish the last couple weeks! There's been some sails outside the edge of the reef too but the days multpile boats had 7-11 releases each they were up "showering" (chasing ballyhoo) in 20 - 30 feet of water! Thats some of the most exciting fishing we see here in the Florida Keys. Yesterday was good on them again with A couple boats having 4 releases and a few others released amongst the fleet. The upcoming months are prime time for sailfish! On the edge of the reef and wrecks There's been a couple tuna caught on the live baits, quite a few king mackerel, and the snapper bite has been decent while anchored down too. We saw a few black grouper the last week as well. Grouper will stay open till the end of the year and then shut down for 4 months.
Way offshore there was a couple great weeks of swordfishing. The catch 22 caught 5 fish one day, another day with 3, and a couple days with one. The fish were anywhere from 40 - 120 lbs. On the Broad Minded We had a few slow days the past month missing our only bite on those trips, but then we had a few days with 3 fish, a few with 2 fish, and a few with 1 fish. A couple of the fish were really nice ones weighing in a 238 and 366 lbs! Most of the fish were 40 - 170 lbs. The next couple months is a great time to try for a swordfish, so if you want to give it a shot let us know! We have a handful of boats that fish for them! We had a few mahi last trip, but it is the end of the season for them so they were be a bonus anytime from here on out.
Give the marina office a call at 305-664-2461 to book your next trip! Remember we have lodging options available and the Deli is open for breakfast and lunch.
Tight Lines
Capt. Nick Stanczyk
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