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Upper Florida Keys & Islamorada
Capt. Izzy Donatiello
July 10, 2001
Islamorada - Saltwater Fishing Report
The last couple of weeks have produced some excellent catches. The dolphin fishing is the best its been. I had Will Whitehead and party out. We ran out about ten miles, found some weeds and birds and began trolling; it wasn't long before the long line went off. A 30 pound Wahoo eat a horse Ballyhoo and a black and red Ilander lure. At about Fifteen miles; we hit the rips and trolled in and out of them chasing birds. At the end of the day; we had three Wahoo in the box. The largest being 42 pounds and about 18 dolphin with a 22 pound cow heading the list; most of the other fish were in the 10 pound range. On 7/3, I had Kevin Kice from Denver, CO. This time, we hit the birds at 18 miles. We came in with over a dozen nice dolphin the largest a 17 pounder, and they released the smaller schoolies. We also had a sail on for about 5 minutes before pulling the hook. There has been some nicer fish out there; no need to take the small ones to "fill nails".
The reef has been real productive. The Yellowtails were biting real well a week ago; however, the last two trips I made; the conditions were bad a so was the fishing. However, the Mangrove snapper (Gray Snappers) have moved out on to the reef and have filled in the void. On 6/30, I had Mike Ferandez's party out. Mike fishes with me about once a month. They usually fish the bottom, and are real good at it. That day we came in with three Black groupers from 17 to 12 pounds, a 6 pound Mutton and we had are limit of Mangrove snappers up to 5 pounds. On 7/5, I fished Stanley Mitchell from New York. We caught some Yellowtails, but the bite was slow. However, the Mangroves again saved the day; we caught them on the bottom from 80 to 25 feet of water and again 3, 4, and 5 pound fish. The Mangroves should stay on the reef for the next month as long as there aren't any bad storms.
The tarpon fishing remains strong; I been averaging a fish a trip. They been eating dead baits best, morning or night it doesn't make a difference. For some reason, people think that the Tarpon evaporate on the end of June, therefore, I don't run as many trips. There aren't as many 100 plus pounder as in May and June; but a 70 or 80 pounder ain't bad and there aren't a 100 boats trying to catch them.
School is out take a kid fishing; book a trip with a pro CALL 1-800-320-2753.
Izzy
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