Islamirada Fishing July 15, 2012

Coutesy of Bud & Mary's Marina

The boats offshore fishing and reef fishing off Islamorada have been staying quite busy the past few days. On the 11th the Catch 22 had the best catch of dolphin (mahi) on the dock for the entire season. They had a rack full of fish including 15 fish from 12 – 35 lbs! Angler Vic Gaspeny also reached a milestone in his fishing career catching his 200th broadbill swordfish , not a monster but a 75 lber. Young 12 year old Joseph aboard the Redfish also caught his first swordfish after a 2 hour battle that weighed 134 lbs! Steven and Brent each caught a daytime swordfish aboard the BNM, Steven's was a beautiful 195 lber, great activity for his bachelor party! They're gonna have some fresh swordfish at the wedding for sure. We also tagged and released a juvenile broadbill on the BNM a few days ago, but unfortunately the streak ended today of consecutive swordfish catches after a stretch of 16 consecutive trips on the BNM. The Could Nine also had a 70 lb swordfish as well as some mahi. The dolphin (mahi) bite has been decent the last few days as a whole. There's been a handful of nice fish in the 20 – 25 lb range, some medium size fish in the 5 – 15 lbs range, and LOTS of small fish, many are undersize and must be released, but still enough keepers if you stay patient at it. The reef has been producing some nice mutton snapper, the Kalex had a handful the other day up to 15 lbs, as well as plenty of yellowtail and mangrove snapper and the occasional grouper.