# Islamorada



## shilty (Apr 23, 2015)

Headed down for a few days two weekends ago. Fished the everglades on Saturday the 11th but a strong north wind really made it difficult. No snook or redfish to be found but still made a day out of it with jacks and lost a large bull shark to a bite-off. Went out of Bud n' Marys on the Reel McCoy with Captain Raymond Baiz. We tried to kite fish for sails in the morning and the afternoons but struggled to keep the kites up with extremely light breezes. Lost a big hammerhead after a long fight due to no wire leader but still was fun. Caught some big kingfish on the kites and enjoyed those but no sails despite a great edge and color just offshore. With no sails we started cruising looking for cobia and boy did we hammer those. Caught one in the 50# range and several others in the 30# range. Those things whooped up on us. The conditions weren't particularly kind to us for what we looked to do but Captain Raymond Baiz is amazing and knows his stuff. He worked his butt of as did his mate to get us on the fish and I would highly recommend them to anyone. It wasn't his fault the wind and sails weren't cooperating. No one else in the marina caught any that day. Had a great time and will be back out with him soon.


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Dang, I am jealous.
Just seeing that water makes me drool.


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## elkhtr (Oct 23, 2006)

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you had a good time and memorable expericnce despite the tough conditions. We were down in Marathon over Thanksgiving and had a great time. Next time it's Islamorada. Want to try the inshore fishin and see the Everglades.


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## Spike Dog (Mar 13, 2015)

Good job Shilty. I'm going to Marathon in June. How did you target the cobia? I want to catch some cobia while I'm down there!


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## MDBuckeye (Sep 29, 2009)

Not sure how they did it but we always site fished for them. Easy to spot with a boat with a tower and not too spooky generally.

Nice fish! Sometimes the winds don't cooperate. In-shore fishing for reds is hard to do with much wind.


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## shilty (Apr 23, 2015)

Spike Dog said:


> Good job Shilty. I'm going to Marathon in June. How did you target the cobia? I want to catch some cobia while I'm down there!


Caught live pinfish and grunts to use as bait. Live is key. Then we cruised some sandy bottom around reefs looking for bull sharks or large rays from a tower. When you spot them the cobia typically are schooled up and swim directly behind them. Once you spot the school look for the biggest one and throw a livey to them. When they eat you have to absolutely hammer the hookset a couple times because the have a very hard mouth.


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## reelwonders (Apr 10, 2016)

great Cobia advise! I never thought I'd have to set the hook that hard in my life!


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## Bluegillin' (Jan 28, 2009)

We caught some Cobia a couple of years ago when we were down there. The Cobia was very good on the grill.


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## loves2fishinohio (Apr 14, 2011)

Cobias are bruisers for sure. Great eating though.


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## heidlers (May 24, 2010)

Nice pics. We have a tarpon trip scheduled for mid-May out of Bud-n-Mary's. Let you know how we do.


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## heidlers (May 24, 2010)

Well, we got out yesterday on a half day tarpon trip out of Bud-n-Mary's in Islamorada. Beautiful morning! Day started well jumping a fish, est. 90-100#, within the first 30mins. threw the hook quickly on a jump. Had one other jump off later in the morning, and 4-5 other fish play kickball with our baits before giving up on them. A disappointing trip, but always relaxing to be out on the water.


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