Spring time… you’ve got to love it!! Islamorada is back in full form at this point. Fishing has been outstanding, despite the perfect weather and the gin clear waters! Where do I start! Well, the Backcountry has turned into a frenzy as Capt. Clyde has had an outstanding week of fishing. Has released several 80 to 100 pound Tarpons all on light tackle with the bait of choice being live crabs and mullets. And, of course, the secret Fly. Capt Clyde tells me it seems as if the bite is here for the season now, which is great news for those heading down to see us over the next couple of months. Capt. Jeff has spent a few days deep in the Backcountry with super results. Snook and Permit seem to be showing up as he released several of both this week along with some speckled trout and plenty of Ladyfish. He also spent some time on some wrecks and caught some Gag Groupers and a few Cobias.
Ocean side, things there are really showing a change. We had outstanding Yellowtail snapper fishing all week. There were a couple of days where we found some jumbo 5 pounders! We also found some real nice Mutton snappers on the deeper FADS as well as some nice Smoker Kings up to 30 pounds. The bait has become more plentiful with big schools of Pilchards as well as some ballyhoo on the reef edge in 30 to 40 feet of water. We had both Capt Clyde and Capt Mark who fished a day or so on the Pretty Work and they had a nice catch of Smoker Kings up to 30 pounds or so. They both enjoyed the Yellowtails also. By the weekend each of us had spent a day offshore looking for the Dolphins, however, neither of us really found much except for a couple of big Bulls and a Cow or two. There were very few schoolies but we might be still a little early. The Eagle wreck has also come to life with some great Permit fishing, all caught on live crabs. We released several this week up to 30 pounds. It was an unreal fight on light tackle.
On Sunday I headed out on That’s Right for some larger Blackfins and the elusive Swordfish. Well, we did well as we ran out to the Hump 25 miles with our 300 pilchards and began to go nutzzzzzz. This time things worked more in our favor. With only one angler on board over the weekend we found ourselves in the midst of a great bite so Dr. John Beacher got beat up!! He was great! We fought fish after fish! Twenty-five to 30 pound tunas all on light spinning tackle and sight 20 pound with little 4/0 circle hooks. After an hour or so of that we headed out another 9 miles to about 1800 feet and set up our Swordfish drift. It was the first drop that found its way into some rather larger and broke off. However, the next drop we found some love… 150lbs of love! It took the Doctor 2 hours and 30 minutes… a great job for a very stubborn fish!! He ate a small Bonita with a single hook and a 200lb leader. We have another busy week and even some more Swordfishing coming up next weekend so stay tuned. And I still need some folks for the Tortugas!!!
Capt.John Oughton
1-800-763-3047