Islamorada Fishing Forecast
by Capt. Joe Hendrix & Christine Hendrix
Happy New Year! It is January and we are starting anew. Our goal is to make this year better than the last. We plan on fishing more days than last year and catching more fish too!
Last year, we lost quite a few days due to windy weather. This year, we hope that that’s not the case and we can get everyone out for a good time. I always want people to have a good time, so I don’t push people to go if they’re not comfortable with the weather. I’d rather get the opportunity to fish with them again, than take them once where they have a bad weather experience and don’t want to do it again.
The weather, so far, has been great! It looks like we are back into our normal, nice weather down here in the Florida Keys; where the seas are calmer, the wind is light, and the sun keeps shining.
It seems like it’s going to be a good year for sailfish. They showed up early and it’s still continuing on as we speak. We have been getting shots at them every day, which has been exciting and good for business. I anticipate that they will get even better further into January.
In the past weeks, we have been finding great schools of bait offshore and along the coast; cigar minnows and ballyhoo offshore, and pilchards all along the coast with, some days, finding them offshore as well. As we all know, good, live bait usually makes for some really good fishing.
There has been a good push of king mackerel (great one for the smoker and for some fish dip). It seemed to be off the last couple of years, but there are some good numbers this year. Even though they haven’t been large in size, there are plenty of them around, which is a good thing.
While the bait fish move down the coast, so do the tourists. A couple of cold spells up north, and the town gets busy. We are able to get out most days now and that is always a blessing. It keeps us on the fish, and me out doing what I love. I am looking forward to a great 2017! Here’s wishing you all a wonderful and successful 2017
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Capt. Joe Hendrix
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Capt. Joe Hendrix can be reached at 786-295-2162 or 305-505-6099. www.fearlessfishing.net