Islamorada Fishing Report – January 03, 2011

 Happy New Year!!!!  May this be a year of great memories and peace!   Well, it seemed that the weather got the best of us once again.  Between the snow and cold temperatures the holiday weekend was a wash out. However, by mid-week we seemed to come around as it has warmed up nicely.  We are now looking forward to some super fishing over the next couple of months.

The last ten days have been good ones when we fished as both the Ocean side and Back country have produced some fun and action packed days. Let’s start out front on the Ocean side.  Starting just before the holidays the “Pretty Work” has had some real good days as the Gulf Stream had pushed in real tight to the reef edge and Captain Clyde had a great catch of Dolphins.  He had just about his limit with nice fish averaging eight pounds with a few bigger ones mixed in along with a couple of Sailfish.  Captain Clyde and his group managed to take advantage of the weather and the fishing, as they managed to catch several different species on The FLY!!  The Gulfstream stayed tight for another day for us and managed to catch some more Sails, a few Dolphins and even some Cobias popped up on the current edge.  Then the COLD front hit us all hard, so needless to say we lost several days right after Christmas. By mid-week we were able to get out again and the fishing has turned out to be pretty good despite the drop in air temperatures.  Fortunately, the water temperatures never really got too bad which was odd but good for the fish. There was one day of incredible Cobia fishing, I’m sure they got pushed out from the back because that water did drop into the low 60’s.  Lots of big fish, some 60 and 80 pounders so it was full contact!!

Red groupers, dolphin and macksisla14King Mackerals

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Thursday turned out to be a slow morning put did pick up in the afternoon.  The Sailfish and King Mackerals both decided to get hungry and finally made a showing.  “Pretty Work” managed to catch a couple of Sailfish and “That’s Right” managed to catch its limit with some real nice Kings all on the few Cigar minnows that we had left from the morning, as well as the Gotcha Lures; man they just tear those things up!!  Well, on Friday the wind got us all so we had to come back in, way too rough.  New Years was spent relaxing and just enjoying the day.  Sunday was game on!!  The fishing was the best I’ve seen all year, get it? (insert LOL here) Anyhow, yes it was outstanding! The bait was easy and the weather was fabulous.  There was a light breeze out of the ENE and it was a cool 80 degrees. Both “Pretty Work” and “That’s Right” found themselves all alone at the southern end of the Reef Edge on a wreck called the “Mist” which sits in about 55 feet of water. Both boats did great with limits of nice two to three pound Yellowtails and a mixed bag of small to jumbo King Macks. The Yellowtails bit real nice for about four hours.  The bottom was the ticket as the Kings had them a little scared to come up.  We had to make tight sand balls about the size of a golf ball and send them to the bottom with bait in the middle, instant bite! However not a very aggressive bite so it was tough for the first hour but once we got them figured out it all came together.  We had the Kings biting the Cigar Minnows on almost every cast.  Remember, down here we find ourselves using all light tackle so these fish can wear out an angler pretty quick.  The fish were mostly 8 to 12 pounds with a few 25 to 40 pounders with Smokers mixed in.  No wonder the Tails were all on the bottom!

isla21Jack

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In the afternoon “That’s Right” and their gang decided to take what few Minnows we had left and go pull on a few large Cudas!!  Again great action on the light tackle as these fish also gave the guys a great aerial show!  As things were winding down we noticed a few Man of War birds picking in about 55 feet of water just outside us, so off we went and sure enough there were a few Sailfish picking in the weeds. We pitched bait out and a 15 pounder gobbled it up and hooked up.  Meanwhile the “Pretty Work” was just getting done doing battle with a Smoker King Mackerel tipping the scales at 40 pounds!!  Nice job on straight 20lb test.  Perfect ending to a beautiful day on the water!

The Back country was kind of a different story as the cold front played havoc on the water temperatures. So needless to say most of the week was very tough. Captain Jeff did fish and managed to capture some small Cero and Spanish mackerels, as well as some snapper Blues.  By the weekend he found himself and the fish getting back to normal, with good reports of plenty of Redfish; mostly smaller fish but they provided plenty of quality bites. He also found the Trout biting again too, mostly on the live shrimp and poppers. He and Captain Clyde tell me that they are looking forward to some Bone fishing and the Red fish and Trout should provide for super fishing over the next couple of weeks.

Captain John Oughton
prettyworkcharters@gmail.com
1-855-GOT-BAIT

Florida Keys DolphinBar Jack

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