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Islamorada Fishing Report: Perfect Fall Weather, Tuna, Sailfish, and More
Published 6 months ago
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This is Artificial Lure with your Islamorada fishing report for Wednesday, October 29th, 2025.
We’re kicking things off with perfect fall weather in the Upper Keys this morning. The air’s sitting around 81°, humidity is up, and winds are light, making for slick calm conditions—ideal for both inshore and offshore runs. Sunrise hit at 7:22, with sunset coming at 6:51 this evening, so you’ve got plenty of daylight window to work the tides and chase that bite. Water temps are a steady 82°F according to US Harbors.
On the tide chart, we started the day with a low tide just before dawn around 5:02am, a high rolling in about 10:20am, another dip at 5:10pm, and a final bump with the late-night high at 10:12pm. That late morning incoming tide and the afternoon outgoing should both kick up the activity, especially if you’re targeting the flats or patch reefs, according to Tide-Forecast.com.
Offshore, the past week’s reports are screaming tuna and sailfish. Boats running out past the reef line have been picking away at blackfin tuna, especially around the humps like the Islamorada Hump and 409 Hump. Most are grabbing live pilchards or vertical jigs—just drop them down and hang on tight. The sailfish run is picking up, classic for late October as the cooler water temps stir up the pelagic action. Slow trolling live ballyhoo along the edge is the local go-to, and there’ve already been several releases the last couple of days according to the Islamorada Daily Fishing Report.
Mahi are scattered but still around, mostly smaller schoolies with the odd bigger gaffer if you put in the miles. Keep a spinning rod rigged with a flashy bucktail jig or a swimming plug for when they pop up on weedlines or under birds.
On the reef and patches, yellowtail snapper are chewing hard, particularly during the slower water of the slack tide. Bring plenty of chum, and flip out small chunks of cut bait or shrimp on light tackle for best results. Anglers are reporting solid keeper tails in the two-to-three-pound range, along with a few mutton snapper and keeper mangroves mixing in. Don’t overlook mackerel—Spanish and cero are pushing through and will crush small spoons or white bucktail jigs fast-twitched behind the boat.
Inshore and bridge fishing are just as hot. Tarpon are showing again at both Channel 2 and Channel 5 bridges, strong on both live mullet and artificial swimbaits in the evening moving water. Daylight hours bring good shots at snook and sea trout up around the backcountry islands and channels. Shrimp under popping corks are drawing strikes, but DOA CAL shad tails or Z-Man scented paddletails have been matching the hatch and putting fish in the boat.
If you want numbers, the Islamorada backcountry has been giving up keeper seatrout and the occasional redfish, especially when you can find moving water on the edge of mullet muds.
Hotspots—you can’t beat Alligator Reef for the snapper and mackerel bite right now, and any of the bridges from Snake Creek down to Channel 5 are seeing tarpon activity. The flats around Whale Harbor and the edges of Everglades National Park are producing for those poling the shallows.
Bait of choice today: live pilchards offshore, shrimp and cut pinfish inshore, and for lures, white bucktails and shiny vertical jigs for the reefs, with soft plastics or suspending twitchbaits in the bay and creeks.
That’s it for this October morning in the Purple Isle. Thanks for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for your daily Islamorada fishing fix. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This episode includes AI-generated content.
We’re kicking things off with perfect fall weather in the Upper Keys this morning. The air’s sitting around 81°, humidity is up, and winds are light, making for slick calm conditions—ideal for both inshore and offshore runs. Sunrise hit at 7:22, with sunset coming at 6:51 this evening, so you’ve got plenty of daylight window to work the tides and chase that bite. Water temps are a steady 82°F according to US Harbors.
On the tide chart, we started the day with a low tide just before dawn around 5:02am, a high rolling in about 10:20am, another dip at 5:10pm, and a final bump with the late-night high at 10:12pm. That late morning incoming tide and the afternoon outgoing should both kick up the activity, especially if you’re targeting the flats or patch reefs, according to Tide-Forecast.com.
Offshore, the past week’s reports are screaming tuna and sailfish. Boats running out past the reef line have been picking away at blackfin tuna, especially around the humps like the Islamorada Hump and 409 Hump. Most are grabbing live pilchards or vertical jigs—just drop them down and hang on tight. The sailfish run is picking up, classic for late October as the cooler water temps stir up the pelagic action. Slow trolling live ballyhoo along the edge is the local go-to, and there’ve already been several releases the last couple of days according to the Islamorada Daily Fishing Report.
Mahi are scattered but still around, mostly smaller schoolies with the odd bigger gaffer if you put in the miles. Keep a spinning rod rigged with a flashy bucktail jig or a swimming plug for when they pop up on weedlines or under birds.
On the reef and patches, yellowtail snapper are chewing hard, particularly during the slower water of the slack tide. Bring plenty of chum, and flip out small chunks of cut bait or shrimp on light tackle for best results. Anglers are reporting solid keeper tails in the two-to-three-pound range, along with a few mutton snapper and keeper mangroves mixing in. Don’t overlook mackerel—Spanish and cero are pushing through and will crush small spoons or white bucktail jigs fast-twitched behind the boat.
Inshore and bridge fishing are just as hot. Tarpon are showing again at both Channel 2 and Channel 5 bridges, strong on both live mullet and artificial swimbaits in the evening moving water. Daylight hours bring good shots at snook and sea trout up around the backcountry islands and channels. Shrimp under popping corks are drawing strikes, but DOA CAL shad tails or Z-Man scented paddletails have been matching the hatch and putting fish in the boat.
If you want numbers, the Islamorada backcountry has been giving up keeper seatrout and the occasional redfish, especially when you can find moving water on the edge of mullet muds.
Hotspots—you can’t beat Alligator Reef for the snapper and mackerel bite right now, and any of the bridges from Snake Creek down to Channel 5 are seeing tarpon activity. The flats around Whale Harbor and the edges of Everglades National Park are producing for those poling the shallows.
Bait of choice today: live pilchards offshore, shrimp and cut pinfish inshore, and for lures, white bucktails and shiny vertical jigs for the reefs, with soft plastics or suspending twitchbaits in the bay and creeks.
That’s it for this October morning in the Purple Isle. Thanks for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for your daily Islamorada fishing fix. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This episode includes AI-generated content.