OU: Islamorada Fishing Report - The Hull Truth

overunder · 01-02-2010, 08:13 AM

WOW what a great week of fishing!! Islamorada has turned on. The Sailfish action was spotty most of the week; however it did seem to pick up over the weekend, bait of choice Ballyhoo. The reef edge and some of the deeper fades and wrecks have also picked up with some real nice color fish [groupers and muttons]! Capt. Andrew and Capt. Jeff held down the fort while I’ve been gone and they have had a super time. They produced and wonderful catch of Yellowtails and mackerels all week. The Ceros have moved out from the backcountry and are snapping. The light 12lb tackle suits them the best. Casting GotCha lures and small live bait has been the ticket. They told me that during the week every cast produced a bite!! The sardines and cigar minnows have been kinda on the small side so we have dropped down our tackle in order to be productive and its work wonders. The Ceros and Spanish have ranged anywhere from 3 to 7 pounds, and the monster King Mack’s have shown up in pretty good numbers. We had some up in the 40 pound range and quite a few between 12 and 25 pounds. The bigger baits have been the ticket here, the small ones seem to stay closer to the surface with the strong currents this week it makes it tough for those baits to swim down like we need them too. However as we pick through the baits we find some bigger ones which have produced instant bite from the Smoker Kings. Light tackle again is so much fun 20lb to #3 wire is all we can handle!! Even been a few Wahoo’s around as the water has cleaned up nicely, as well as the temps have dropped a little bit down to 75 which is a nice gradually change as not to shock the system!! The Mutton snappers have begun to move which is a really good sign they should get better and better as time moves on, had several in the 8 to 10 pound range. Looking forward to another good week lots going on and best of all the weather looks as if it is going to be on our side with temps holding in the mid to upper 70’s.
Tight Lines,

Capt. John

overunder · 01-02-2010, 08:27 AM

Hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year and also hope this cold front wasn't as severe when it moved through the great white north, but for some reason, I think it was probably worse... the benefit for us here in the Southernmost City, though, has been GREAT fishing. On the reef, we've seen some of the best light-tackle and fly-fishing of the year, with cero mackerel to 10 pounds (world-record class for guys and gals interested in setting IGFA records), as well as a variety of species ranging from sailfish, horse-eye and crevalle jacks, king mackerel and mutton and yellowtail snapper. Offshore, we've also been seeing some good — strike that — great blackfin tuna fishing. We've finally gotten the east current we've been waiting for and the tunas are stacking up over some of the deep structure. Double digit days on fish to 30 pounds — all on light spin and conventional gear — is the norm. It should continue to get better and better with each successive front. We have had a flurry here and there of wahoo, but have yet to see the full on blitz we get (mainly, I think due to the unseasnable lack of east current). Hopefully, that's going to change soon.

In the backcountry, bonefish and permit have been sunning themselves between coldfronts, but this snap should kickstart our trout fishing, while also pilining pompano, jacks and a variety of other backcountry species into the comfort of the mullet muds.

The weather might be cold, but the fishing is HOT!

Tight Lines,

Capt. Ted Lund - Key West