1/12/17 January Gulf Fishing in Islamorada

Got out in the gulf today, customers wanted to try to catch sharks.  Unfortunately with the water still in the low 60s, the shark fishing usually isn’t as productive as it is in the spring or summer months.  But I thought we’d still have a decent shot.  So we hit the near by wrecks for some spanish mackerel.  The first stop the water was dirty and we caught a bunch of jack crevelles, but no macks.  So we went to another area and found much cleaner water and the mackerels bit very well.  We spent a little over an hour there and caught 20 or so, plenty for bait.  We then ran into the backcountry to try some shark spots.  The tide was just trickling in and we had several bites and landed two lemon sharks, one about 70 lbs, and the other was a whopper probably 200 lbs!  After that it slowed down we had one big mystery fish that was laying on the bottom with the bait but we pulled the hook.  We tried another channel on the way home for the last hour as the customers wanted to keep trying, but no more luck for us.  Anyways was happy to get a couple good sharks with chilly conditions that weren’t great, plus plenty of action fish in the AM!  Tomorrow we may do mackerels and everglades/drum/snook, not sure yet….

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

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