Shark Fishing – Page 2 – Islamorada Shark Fishing

November Shark Fishing in the Florida Keys!

I had Mark and his 3 boys out on the Bn’M II yesterday, and they wanted to catch a monster shark! I told them Florida Keys Shark fishing is as good as anywhere, if not the best! Mark had fished with the Legendary Frank Mundus off Montauk many times before, and wanted his kids to experience the battle of a big shark. We headed offshore of Islamorada about 13 miles in rough conditions, but 20+ knots of wind was going to keep the 36′ Jersey Devil back on land. We decided to try to catch some blackfin tuna first, but every time we hooked up, the sharks ate them before we could get them to the boat! Well I know we were in the right spot, and finally we got a few tuna in the boat. We rigged up the 80 wide rod and reel and sent down a fresh shark bait on a 16/0 circle hook. I like to use circle hooks to help insure a healthier release on the fish. We didn’t get a bite the first drift, but we made a second drift, and the rod doubled over!

Brian got in the fighting chair and harnessed up. I figured it was dusky shark, because that’s what had been out there lately. The shark wouldn’t give up though. I started to doubt it was a dusky, because we had been working on the fish for close to an hour! We went up and up on the drag, till we hit 35 lbs of pressure. Finally we got the leader on the fish. It took a few looks, but then I realized we had on the biggest dusky shark I had ever seen! The fish had a huge belly on him!

We were all in shock when Josh took some wraps on the leader and pulled the beast up to the side of the boat. The dusky shark was every bit of 500 lbs! Brian was out of breath but happy the battle was over. We took a few pics in the rough weather and then headed back to the reef to finish up the day. Mark said he had never heard of a dusky shark that big, but we did look in the record books and there has been fish over 700 lbs reported years back. It wasn’t a record, but it was a new best in my Book!!!

If you want to try your hand at a monster shark let me know and I’d be happy to get your out there! Send me an email at bnmcharters@gmail.com

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

10-3-13 October Deep Sea Shark Fishing Report

Well the Fall sharks are here! The humps and reef have both been producing some hard fighting sharks. All of our shark fishing in the Florida Keys is catch and release, and we typically use circle hooks to ensure the safest hook placement in the corner of the mouth. On the 2nd we went offshore to start the day and caught a bunch of tuna. The tuna would make good table fare as well as shark bait. After getting what we wanted we put out a live skipjack tuna on the 80 wide reel. It didn’t take too long till we had a bite. After a quick drip back we set the drag. Vinnie worked the rod and after a 2o minute fight had an 8′ long, 250 – 300 lb dusky shark along side the boat.

We took a few pictures and then sent the shark back on his way. It was the biggest fish Vinnie had ever caught! We then came back to the reef and were having plenty of action with small fish and then decided to try for some bull sharks. We had 3 bites in one hour of fishing, but unfortunately they all got away. The next day I headed back out to the hump and saw a couple of hammerheads swimming down the waves. We rigged up a butterflied skipjack tuna and sent the bait out. After a few minutes a shark had found it, and after a 25 minute battle we had a 7′ hammerhead shark next to the boat.

We took a few pics and then released him to fight another day. The hammerheads are definitely one of the strongest fighting sharks around, and also one of my favorite since their head shape. We should have some more sharks around all this month, so if you want to catch something big in Islamorada, Send me an email and fishing for sharks might be the right choice!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

9-9-13 September Sharks…

Well the sharks have still been active with the fall tuna run out on the “humps”. The ”humps” are giant sea mountains that rise up hundreds of feet from the bottom 10 – 30 miles from Islamorada, Florida Keys. These are some of the best places to do heavy tackle shark fishing. We stopped by a hump yesterday on the 12th on the way home from deep dropping for swords, and within minutes we had a 300 lb dusky shark circling the boat. We didn’t put a line out for him though, we were trying to get home to weigh the sword we had in the boat. A few days earlier on the 9th though we hooked a cuban night shark down 1400′. The shark was over 7′ long and had a green reflective eye like a big cat. It was Ken’s first night shark, so after a quick pic we let him go to fight another day. The next couple months should provide shots at big bull sharks, silky sharks, and dusky sharks so send me an email at bnmcharters@gmail.com to set up a trip!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

8-19-13 Sharks are here with the Fall Tuna Run

The “humps” have been very active the last week here off the Florida Keys. There’s been lots of blackfin and skipjack tuna, which means the sharks aren’t far behind! We stopped by one of the Humps the other day and we hooked 10 tunas, but were only able to get 3 in because the sharks were eating them faster than we could bring them in. Since we did catch a few tuna, I rigged up our shark rod and put a live skipjack out for bait. It only took 60 seconds to get a bite, and after a 20 minute fight we had a 7′ long, 200 lb silky shark next to the boat. After a few pictures we released the fish. It was Paul’s goal to catch a fish over 100 lbs in his lifetime, and the shark was the ticket! His wife Melissa was up next, and at 105 lbs she was in for a battle. We put out another skipjack tuna, and within minutes she was hooked up to a monster. After a 30 minute tug of war, she had a 9′ long , 300 lb dusky shark boat side! She was exhausted but ecstatic! We took a few pics and released the shark to fight another day. If you’re looking for some monster shark fishing send me an email and we’ll give it our best shot!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

2-15-13 Shark Fishing in Islamorada

The spring time is almost here, and that means one thing. Sharks, BIG SHARKS, are on their way. Now is when you want to book your Islamorada Shark Trip. We went out to the Hump yesterday, which is a large underwater sea mountain that comes up from 500′ to 290′, spending a few hours there fishing. Now we didn’t catch any sharks there, but we did catch a couple amberjack, and they spawn here in the Spring Time, and the Humps is where sharks feast upon the amberjack in a feeding frenzy. We did catch a couple amberjack yesterday, including a fat 75 lber. After that we did some “deep dropping” , which is bottom fishing in 500′ of water, and caught the rare Cat Shark. This is the biggest one of these I have caught, probably 3 1/2 feet long. The Day before we stopped at the hump for a few minutes and sent down a bonito for shark bait, and had a couple bites, but they appeared to be small sharks because we couldn’t hook them and got most the bait back each time. In another couple weeks we should be battling the sharks over the amberjack as we catch them on the hump. And if Shark Fishing in Islamorada interests you, the Spring time is when you want to try to get those big tigers, bulls, and hammerheads. When you use a 40 lb amberjack for bait, you know it’s going to be a big creature that eats it.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com