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FISHING SEASONS
February
15 - April
May
- August
September
- November
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All about fishing for:
TARPON,
SAILFISH,
DOLPHIN
FISH
(Mahi Mahi),
SWORDFISH,
BLUE MARLIN, &
BONEFISH,
PERMIT,
SNOOK
FEBRUARY 15 -
MARCH - APRIL
Tarpon:
“The Peak Season
Starts” and
ends July
31
In February
the big tarpon start to show up in the channels, and we are almost
exclusively fishing for them every day. Last year we caught 54 tarpon
in the first 10 days of March. One day we caught 9 tarpon, another 8
tarpon, and on March 6 we caught 7 tarpon. On March 4 we had 21 tarpon eat
the baits, hooked 8 and only caught 2.
In the last five
seasons
1,117 TARPON RELEASED!
Dream It! Live It!
10 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 2 different days
9 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 7 different days
8 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 13 different days
7 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 16 different days
6 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 20 different days
AN INCREDIBLE DAY:
Hooking 19 tarpon out of 30 tarpon
striking the baits and releasing 7 tarpon that day
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - -
2003 TARPON SEASON:
Another phenomenal season
328
tarpon released!
We caught them in 77 FULL DAYS
OF FISHING. This was done live bait fishing the channels.
We averaged more than 4 tarpon released per FULL DAY of
fishing.
This
is
hot fishing action,
lots of strikes and fish jumped off. We averaged
9 tarpon “striking the baits” per day while “hooking and
fighting” 6 tarpon a day, then catching 4 tarpon per
full day. (1999
was better than this year. We averaged just about
5 tarpon released for 9 tarpon
“hooked up” for 14 tarpon “striking baits” per day. Check past fish
reports for details).
THESE ARE BIG TARPON:
Chances for catching a big tarpon were great. Check out the
percentages.
(Check out the tarpon photo gallery too.)
a.)
Tarpon over 80 pounds: 63 % of the catch
b.)
Tarpon over 100 pounds: 32 % of the catch
c.)
Tarpon over 120 pounds: 16 % of the catch
d.)
Tarpon over 140 pounds: 5 % of the catch
e.)
Tarpon over 50 pounds: 85 % of the catch
Most often we are catching these fish in twenty
minutes, even tarpon up to 175+ lbs. How do you think we can catch 9
and 10 fish in a day? I teach you the technique to beat these fish,
responsibly. That way the fish is in good health, and you are not totally
whipped. Ready to catch another big, wild, jumping tarpon. Sometimes
a fish will take forty-five minutes or more, what can you do but slug it
out.
If
a late season cold front comes through and puts the tarpon down for a
day or two, we have three options for excellent fishing. First, this
is an ideal condition for sailfish fishing 3.5 miles off the Keys. While
sailfishing we can catch: blackfin tuna, wahoo, kingfish, cobia, dolphin,
mutton snapper, yellowtail snapper, groupers, and barracudas etc. If
it is too choppy for you, we can fish the inside patch reefs in 15 to 50
feet of water. We can either troll for grouper or anchor and chum for
snapper (mutton, yellowtail, mangrove, and hogfish), grouper (black,
gag, red, and Nassau), mackerel (Spanish and cero), barracudas, and sharks.
Or we can go out to the lee side of Florida Bay and fish for big sharks,
Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper, red and gag grouper, and sea trout.
These are great options for when a cold front comes through.
OFFSHORE FISHING:
BILLFISH: This is a
great time of year to sailfish with live bait. I have caught as many
as 4 sailfish in a day and missed the 5th right at the boat after a long
fight. We either kite fish with live baits or slow troll with live baits,
depends on the conditions. Also if the conditions are right, we can look for
tailing sailfish on the powder edge (a chalky water from the shallows up
against the blue water). Here we spot a sailfish swimming down sea along the
powder line, we turn the boat and cast a live bait right in front of them
for the hook up.
If we get offshore on the
humps for blackfin tuna, we have a shot at catching a blue marlin or white
marlin. If we are out dolphin fishing we could catch a blue marlin,
white marlin, or a sailfish at any time. My last year running a larger
offshore charter boat here in Islamorada, we caught a 300 lbs. blue marlin
which was the 112th blue or black marlin I released for clients.
If anyone can catch you a billfish, I can do it for
you. I have released close to 900 billfish for clients, friends, family, and
myself. That is 112 blue and black marlin, and over 750 sailfish (Atlantic
and Pacific). Check out my fishing log
highlights for the details.
BLACKFIN TUNA: This is a
great time of year for big blackfin tunas (20 - 30+ lbs.) on the local humps
offshore, but you got to be able to make the rough run unless it is calm. We
could catch a half dozen or more in an hour or two. Believe me, two or three of
these guys each will kick your butt on #20 lbs.
We also catch them occasionally
while fishing for sailfish along the edge of the reef. Also big schools of
little tunny come through, which fight just as hard.
KINGFISH: This is a staple
sport fish in the keys. They are generally small (less than 20 lbs.), but fun on
light tackle. They are in the same area as the sailfish. Occasionally 30+
pounders are caught.
COBIA: You can catch
them tailing down sea while sailfish fishing, or hitching a ride along a whale
shark. There are also spots inside the reef where you can find mud rays cruising
across the big sand patches with cobias following them. They will also come up a
chum line while bottom fishing, and you can catch the occasional one while kite
fishing.
WAHOO: They are
along the reef and out deeper (200' to 400'). To target them it is best to
troll in the deeper water, but we could catch one while sailfish fishing.
While we are fishing for dolphin, wahoo
often accompany the dolphin under the floating debris. These fish are 10 to
30 lbs. typically.
PERMIT: Start to
show up in March and April in big schools on the reef and wrecks, and
we can catch 2 or 3 in an hour sometimes. These fish are 15 to 40 lbs.
SNAPPER AND GROUPERS:
After a front the grouper fishing can be good, especially trolling for them
along the reef and inside the reef. Anchoring and chumming after a front is also
good for the snappers and a couple of grouper. You will catch more snappers than
grouper this way.
They school up on he reefs and wrecks, and can really be
fun. Big yellow tails, mangrove, and mutton snapper can just be great action. While you are fishing for snappers, groupers can be caught
with big, live bait near the bottom. We catch blacks, gags, and Nassau
grouper here.
FLATS
FISHING:
BONEFISH: This is the best time of year to catch
big bonefish (fat with row), and lots of them. No other place in the world
has bonefish as big. Our fish average 8 – 10 lbs., and catching fish up to
13lbs. is almost common. A lot of 14 and 15 lbs. records are from
Islamorada.
Let me tell you, an 8 – 10 lbs. bonefish is a
completely different fish than a 2 – 4 pounder from the Bahamas or Central
America. I am talking about our bonefish running 150 to 200 yards in 30
seconds, compared to a +40 yard run by the smaller bones, or a 20-minute
fight compared to a 5-minute fight. I’ve caught those fish over there, and
they are no
comparison, almost
boring after catching a few of those small fish.
They are here to spawn and we find lots of fish to cast
at. If we find less than 100 bonefish to cast at, we have had a below than
average day. Some days we have seen up to 300 bonefish.
This time of year we find lots of “tailing
bonefish,” and we can find them all day long. If you really want to do
something very exciting – that will put you on the edge – try hunting
these guys with a fishing rod. (A couple of years ago, a client confessed
that he had fished 5 days in the Bahamas and never saw a tailing bonefish,
only cruising and mudding fish. What a shame.)
PERMIT: This is one
of the best times of year to catch
permit. We can find big schools of them right on the edges of the flats.
Schools of 10, 20, 50 even 100 permit in a school on the flats, but
typically we can see 75 permit in a day while we are bonefish fishing. (On two
separate days I have seen up to one thousand permit, schools of 50 to 300
and big fish too. I consider this very rare. Even seeing more than 150
in a day is uncommon.)
These fish average 30 to 15 lbs., and the largest we
have caught was 39 ½ lbs. Every
year I see some very big permit in that +40 lbs. size. Any permit over 25
lbs. is a big permit.
I have caught quite a few permit on fly too, 5 here in
Islamorada (9 total). If you want to catch a permit on fly, I can help you
with the “nuances” of hooking a permit on fly.
BARRACUDAS AND SHARKS: The big barra cudas are still on
the flats and are great fun to “sight cast” to, and when that big
barra
cuda attacks your lure 20 feet from the boat as you’re cranking it in,
it’s a real jaw dropper! And in shallow water, they fight hard and jump
well. These barra cudas are 15 to 30 pounds.
This is one of
the best times of year to fish for sharks on the flats. Black tip sharks
start to show up with the mullet runs. They are unbelievable jumpers and
attack plugs ferociously. They are 50 to 150 lbs. Often you can see 4 or
more sharks working a school of mullet. They also patrol certain flats
waiting for the mullet schools.
Big bull sharks
start to show up too, they are following the tarpon. They get into 2 feet of
water some times. Imagine a +400 lbs. shark in there chasing your lure!
Big lemon sharks are plentiful this time of year. They
are fun to cast to and they fight very hard. We can catch them on bait or
plugs, and fooling them on a big plug can be exciting. We can catch big ones
on 30 lbs. spin (from 50 to 200 lbs.), or small ones on 10lbs. spin.
REDFISH: It is one of the best times of the
year for redfish fishing. A
couple of years ago we caught 62 reds in two days. We caught them “sight
casting” on the flats and they were all 6 to 12 lbs., big reds for here.
As we “sight cast” to these redfish
on the flats, I like to use artificial lures like jigs, soft baits, or
plugs. Bait can be used, like shrimp or a shrimp tipped jig, but I do not
find it necessary. Redfish are very aggressive once they see your lure, and
will quite often hit your lure more than once if you do not get the hooks in
him the first time. Keep your eye on the fish and lure, and strike him when
he eats it, not when you feel him. A redfish can eat your lure with out you
feeling it, by lunging forward and creating a moment of slack line then
spitting it out.
SNOOK: As we are
redfish fishing we come across snook
often on the flats. They can be nice fish up to 12 lbs. They are also quite
spooky, but if you get your lure in front of them before they spook hard,
they will eat it. And what a nice run they make in shallow water, sometimes
up to a hundred yards. Then they come up shaking their head and you pray:
“don’t shake that hook, please just don’t shake that hook.” Sight
catching a snook or two on the flats is always a nice bonus to a day of
redfish fishing.
MAY
- JUNE - JULY
“We
have cool summer weather:” Surprisingly, the
weather can be cool and pleasant here in the Florida Keys because we are
surrounded by water creating a cool, sea breeze. In the "shade" it is often 86o F – 89o F
(the same temperature as the water), and a gentle breeze.
And
on the 23' SeaCraft we have the “big
shade” of my big T-top
(9' x 7') while tarpon
fishing or offshore fishing.
In the last five seasons
1,117 TARPON RELEASED!
Dream It!
Live It!
10 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 2 different days
9 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 7 different days
8 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 13 different days
7 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 16 different days
6 TARPON RELEASED in a DAY:
On 20 different days
AN INCREDIBLE DAY:
Hooking 19 tarpon out of 30 tarpon
striking the baits and releasing 7 tarpon that day
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- -
2003 TARPON SEASON:
Another phenomenal season
328
tarpon released!
We caught them in 77 FULL DAYS
OF FISHING. This was done live bait fishing the channels.
We averaged more than 4 tarpon released per FULL DAY of
fishing.
This is
hot fishing action,
lots of strikes and fish jumped off. We averaged
9 tarpon “striking the baits” per day while “hooking and
fighting” 6 tarpon a day, then catching 4 tarpon per
full day. (1999
was better than this year. We averaged just about
5 tarpon released for 9 tarpon
“hooked up” for 14 tarpon “striking baits” per day. Check past fish reports
for details).
THESE ARE BIG TARPON:
Chances for catching a big tarpon were great. Check out the percentages.
(Check out the tarpon photo gallery too.)
a.) Tarpon over 80 pounds: 63 % of
the catch
b.) Tarpon over 100 pounds: 32 % of
the catch
c.) Tarpon over 120 pounds: 16 % of
the catch
d.) Tarpon over 140 pounds: 5 % of
the catch
e.) Tarpon over 50 pounds: 85 % of
the catch
(In the last two weeks of July the
big tarpon, “the spawners,” migrate out of the Keys leaving the smaller
tarpon behind. We still catch big tarpon of 80 to 100 plus pounders, but the
percentages start to fall. We catch more tarpon in the 50 to 70 lbs. range
and more tarpon down to 30 pounds. The number of tarpon per day stays the
same.)
Most often we are catching these fish in twenty minutes, even
tarpon up to 175+ lbs. How do you think we can catch 9 and 10 fish in
a day? I teach you the technique to beat these fish, responsibly. That way
the fish is in good health, and you are not totally whipped. Ready to catch
another big, wild, jumping tarpon. Sometimes
a fish will take forty-five minutes or more, what can you do but slug it
out.
FLATS FISHING:
BONEFISH: This is a great time
of year to catch a lot of “big, Keys bonefish.” They are not as huge as
during the spawn of March and April, but they average 8 – 10 lbs. Real “freight
trains” compared to the 2 – 4 pounders of the Caribbean.
This time of year you can find big schools of tailers
and mudders all day long. We have caught 6 to 7 bonefish in a day. They are
not as pursued, so they can be a little less nervy when fishing for them in
the summer.
PERMIT: From May to July permit
migrate out to the reefs in
huge schools to spawn. However in August,
permit are back on the flats in big numbers because they have finished their
spawn on the reefs by mid July. This is excellent fishing for permit through
October. We find them right on the edges of the flats
in schools of 10 to 20 permit. We can see 50 permit in a day while we are
bonefish fishing.
These fish average 30 to 15 lbs., and
the largest we have caught was 39 ½ lbs.
Every year I see some very big permit in that +40 lbs. size. Any
permit over 25 lbs. is a big permit.
I have caught quite a few permit on fly
too, 5 here in Islamorada (9 total). If you want to catch a permit on fly, I
can help you with the “nuances” of hooking a permit on fly.
REDFISH: We can catch redfish in the summer, and
we have gotten into some good schools of fish, but it is generally better in
the fall after the water stars to cool again in September.
Barracudas
and sharks: While we are tarpon fishing there are plenty of big
barracudas that can almost be a nuisance. There are not as many big ones on
the flats as in the winter and spring, but at any time a big barracuda (up
to 30 lbs.) can be on the flats.
Big lemon sharks are plentiful this time of year too.
They are fun to cast to and they fight very hard. We can catch them on bait
or plugs, and fooling them on a big plug can be exciting. We can catch big
ones on 30 lbs. spin (from 50 to 200 lbs.), or small ones on 10lbs. spin.
Also, black tips and bull sharks are still around, but
not like the numbers we find in the spring.
OFFSHORE FISHING
DOLPHIN: the keys are just as well known for its
outstanding dolphin fishing as its tarpon fishing. We have caught some big
“slammers” while I ran an offshore charter boat here, 40 plus pounders.
These are great fish on spin, plug, or fly tackle.
BILLFISH: This time of year we can catch a blue
marlin, white marlin or a sailfish at any time while we are fishing for
dolphin. My last year fishing offshore here in Islamorada, we caught a 300
lbs. blue marlin, which was the 112th blue or black marlin I
released for clients.
If anyone can catch you a billfish, I can do it for
you. I have released close to 900 billfish for clients, friends, family, and
myself. That is 112 blue and black marlin, and over 750 sailfish (Atlantic
and Pacific).
BLACKFIN TUNA: The big blackfin
tunas will be around until the end of June (15 - 25 lbs.) This is a
good time of year for blackfin tunas on the local humps offshore, but you
got to be able to make the rough run unless it is calm. We could catch a
half dozen or more in an hour or two. Believe me, two or three of these guys
each will kick your butt on #20 lbs.
WAHOO: While we are fishing for dolphin, wahoo
often accompany the dolphin under the floating debris. These fish are 10 to
30 lbs. typically.
PERMIT: They are in big schools on the reef, and
we can catch 2 or 3 in an hour sometimes. These fish are 15 to 40 lbs.
SNAPPER AND GROUPERS: Summer time is when all
the snappers spawn. They school up on he reefs and wrecks, and can really be
fun. Big yellow tails, mangrove, and mutton snapper can just be great action
day or night. While you are fishing for snappers, groupers can be caught
with big, live bait near the bottom. We catch blacks, gags, and Nassau
grouper here.
SEPTEMBER
- OCTOBER - NOVEMBER
FLATS FISHING:
This is the best time of
year to fish the flats. The summer waters are starting to cool
with the approach of fall, and these fish really respond by coming up on the
flats and feeding all day long. Combined with the fact that there is 1/10th
the amount of anglers out there chasing them, they take on a whole new
attitude - they are not as spooky or nervous. This is very advantageous when
pursuing our trophy size flats fish and can make for some great fishing. A
couple of years ago I had an angler catch 5 bonefish in a day, casting at
each one (Not just soaking shrimp on the bottom and waiting for a bite. This
is what many guides do, which is not "sight fishing.").
SNOOK:
The "Fall" is my favorite time to fish for snook, and my
favorite place is the back country of the Everglades National Park
in the "dense mangrove creeks", island motes, shorelines, and points.
I
have had days were we have caught more than 20 snook of all sizes. A good day is
catching 8 to 10 snook, along with a few tarpon and mixed bag of other sporty
fish like redfish, jacks, sea trout, jewfish, snapper, ladyfish, and maybe even
a big shark that can come to catching more than 25 to 50 fish for the day
Typically we use live bait to bang away at them and have a good "rod bending
blast". We can also cast lures and flies at these snook, tarpon, and other fish
if that is what you like to do. They will eat top water lures and flies which is
always a blast. However, for the novice at this, the action often is not like
that of using live bait and you will miss more fish too.
We can also fish for snook on
the flats as we are fishing for redfish in the back country. Often they will be
hanging in the white pot holes, and will attack top water flies or lures -
sometimes two at a time! There can be nice snook up to 12 lbs. They can also be
cruising the flats and are also quite
spooky, but if you get your lure in front of them before they spook, they
will eat it. And what a nice run they make in shallow water, sometimes up to 75 yards. Then they come up shaking their head and you pray:
“don’t shake that hook, please just don’t shake that hook.”
The local bridges will have
some nice snook too, which we catch if we are fishing for small tarpon there
instead of running back to the Everglades National Park. I'll fish the bridges
if we want to mix it up with bonefish and permit for the day. We'll do half a
day each so the angler can have the experience of the hunt for very challenging
fish of the bonefish and permit, and bend a rod at a bridge on tarpon, snook,
jacks, barracudas, snapper, grouper, and cero mackerel. Typically we'll fish the
bridges first after catching bait. Almost every time we're having so much fun
fishing the bridges, the anglers do not want to leave. Then we'll take an hour
or two to fish the flats for bonefish and permit. I cannot do the reverse
because it's very hard to pole with my bait wells filled with 30 gallons of
water and bait.
TARPON: The big spawners have moved on, but the
juveniles stay to grow. We catch lots of tarpon in the 5 – 30 lbs. range
with the occasional 50 – 80 lbs.
Again, the Everglades
National Park is one of my favorite places to fish for baby tarpon back
in the mangrove creeks, island motes, shorelines, and points. Quite often
you can see these tarpon rolling and busting on bait a hundred yards away.
Typically we catch a few mixed in with the snook we a fishing for. If you
just want to target tarpon, we could do that all day and really bang away at
them.
We also fish around the
bridges for them, especially if we are going to do a little bonefish and
permit fishing that day. This can be hot fishing. We can catch up to 6 or
more tarpon in a half day. We have also caught some nice snook while tarpon
fishing the bridges. Big jacks can be a blast on plugs while tarpon fishing.
Mackerels, snappers, and groupers can move in too.
We can also find some schools
of baby tarpon around the flats to cast at. This can be quite fun and we can do
it while we bonefish. They hang out at very specific spots, so it is not like at
every flat you are bonefish fishing that you can encounter these tarpon.
BONEFISH: Some of the biggest bonefish
are caught this
time of year too, because there is a minor fall spawn too. Again our average
bonefish is 8 – 10 lbs. with fish getting into the 13 lbs. range. Record
size bones of 14 plus lbs. can be caught.
Let me tell you, an 8 – 10 lbs.
bonefish is a completely different fish than a 2 – 4 pounder from the
Bahamas or Central America. I am talking about our bonefish running 150 to
200 yards in 30 seconds, compared to a +40 yard run by the smaller bones, or
a 20-minute fight compared to a 5-minute fight. I’ve caught those fish
over there, and they are no
comparison, almost boring after catching a few of those small fish.
We find lots of fish to cast at. If we
find less than 100 bonefish to cast at, we have had a below than average
day. Some days we have seen up to 300 bonefish.
This time of year we find lots of “tailing
bonefish,” and we can find them all day long. If you really want to do
something very exciting – that will put you on the edge – try hunting
these guys with a fishing rod. (A couple of years ago, a client confessed
that he had fished 5 days in the Bahamas and never saw a tailing bonefish,
only cruising and mudding fish. What a shame.)
PERMIT:
They are back on the flats in big numbers because they have finished their
spawn on the reefs by mid- July. There is excellent fishing for permit into
November. We find them right on the edges of the flats
in schools of 10 to 20 permit. We can see 50 permit in a day while we are
bonefish fishing. If we strictly permit fish all day, we could cast at 100
permit or more.
These fish average 30 to 15 lbs., and
the largest we have caught was 39 ½ lbs.
Every year I see some very big permit in that +40 lbs. size. Any
permit over 25 lbs. is a big permit.
I have caught quite a few permit on fly
too, 5 here in Islamorada (9 total). If you want to catch a permit on fly, I
can help you with the “nuances” of hooking a permit on fly.
Redfish:
It is
one of the best times of the year for
“sight casting” to redfish.
As the waters start to cool off, big
schools of redfish are found up on the middle of the flats in north Florida
Bay. Schools of 6 to 50 plus fish can be found and they average between 6
and 12 lbs.
As we “sight cast” to these redfish
on the flats, I like to use artificial lures like jigs, soft baits, or
plugs. Bait can be used, like shrimp or a shrimp tipped jig, but I do not
find it necessary. Redfish are very aggressive once they see your lure, and
will quite often hit your lure more than once if you do not get the hooks in
him the first time. Keep your eye on the fish and lure, and strike him when
he eats it, not when you feel him. A redfish can eat your lure with out you
feeling it, by lunging forward and creating a moment of slack line then
spitting it out.
Barracudas: There are not as many big barracudas on the flats as in
the winter and spring, but at any time a big barracuda can be on the flats. When
the mullet show up mid to late fall, big barracudas are right behind them,
literally.
When that big
barracuda attacks your lure 20 feet from the boat as
you’re cranking it in, it’s a real jaw dropper! In shallow water,
they fight hard and jump well. These barracudas are 15 to 30 pounds. I
always keep a barracuda rod rigged up while we are fishing the flats for
bonefish and permit, so when we see one we are ready to cast at it if we
want. If we come across a school of them we can rig another rod so both
anglers can cast to them, sometimes getting a double header on.
Catching barracudas on live
bait is a lot of fun too. It's a surface bite - an attack! We do this mostly to
catch bait for shark fishing, but often we spend a little more time because the
clients are really enjoying the barracuda fishing.
sharks:
Big lemon sharks, black tips, and bull sharks are plentiful this time of
year. We usually fish for them by chumming with big barracudas, which are
fun to catch on the way out on light tackle. Once we anchor and start
chumming we can get up to six or more sharks (up to 300 lbs.) cruising
around right behind the boat in the chum line looking for our baits. In does
not take long for them to find it, and will they take you for a good fight.
I also like using a fishing
kite and live baits, if we have enough wind. Watching a shark chase down a live
bait on the surface is awesome - they often explode on it. We caught a 230 lbs.
bull shark this year off the kite. That was exciting, and it attacked the boat
three times. At first i thought it felt trapped up on the flat and we just
happened to be in the way of it trying to get off the flat. But the third time,
we were in a channel about 7' deep. It was pulling on us at a perpendicular
direction, like circling. Then it turned straight at us and charged, hitting us
with its head or back and lifting the boat out of water a little! I got it on
video! That's how I can see the boat jump up, and everyone is yelling and
laughing, "he hit the boat!... he hit the boat!" That will be one of the videos
I put up this year.
While we are fishing the flats
for bonefish, permit, or redfish, we can cast plugs or bait to a passing shark. They are fun to cast to and they fight very hard.
Fooling them on a big plug can be exciting. We can catch big
ones on 30 lbs. spin (from 50 to 200 lbs.), or small ones on 10lbs. spin.
OFFSHORE FISHING:
SAILFISH: With the first
cold fronts of October
the sailfish start to push down the coast, and catching a couple sails or
more is possible. We can either troll live baits, or if there is enough wind
we could fly a fishing kite to present live baits for the sailfish. My
techniques and description of sailfish fishing is detailed in this link:
SAILFISH
SNAPPERS
and GROUPERS: Snapper and grouper fishing on the Atlantic wrecks and
reefs starts to get very good in the Fall. Big mutton snapper, and nice gag
and black groupers move back into these areas now. As we get to the end of
Fall they will start to move into shallower spots along the reef and even
into the patch reefs.
While we are sailfish fishing we can fish for grouper by
dropping a live bait down or deep jigging. If you want to just catch
grouper, dropping a big bait down on specific wrecks can catch some nice
fish or trolling ballyhoo and plugs down the reef can be very effective for
catching them also.
KINGFISH, WAHOO, and CERO
MACKERELS: This is the time of year that that fishing gets good for them
too. We catch them while we are sailfish fishing along the edge of the reef.
Kingfish can be constant action and fish up to 30 pounds. They are mostly 10 to
20 lbs., but great fighters. When you find the cero mackerel (a great eating
fish), the action can be so good you can cast out lures and get surface strikes
right around the boat. Most of the time we locate them by trolling live ballyhoo
on top of the reef in quite shallow, and we still catch sailfish in there too.
We can even troll a live bait for a grouper too. Wahoo are found by mostly fast
trolling just outside the reef line with lure, plugs, or rigged ballyhoo. If you
know spots where they concentrate, you can fish for them with big speedos or
blue runners by slow trolling.
BLACK FIN TUNA: There
can be good numbers of them out on the humps, with the typical good tuna being
10 to maybe 20 pounds. As winter approaches, they will start to run just outside
the reef line along with the big bonitas. We will occasionally catch them on the
deep wrecks too. These are great fighting fish and excellent table fare for
taking to the local restaurants or even sushi bars for a discount on the meal.
DOLPHIN: There can be some good dolphin fishing
in the fall with fish in the 10 to 20 pound range and maybe a 30 pounder.
Catching 10 to 20 fish like that can happen with the right conditions, or
coming across floating debris can mostly have dolphin too.
COBIA: In October the cobia migrate down the
west coast and start to show up on the wrecks, sometimes in big schools.
These fish are ready feeders, and big fighters. They are between 15 to 30
lbs. with the occasional 50 plus pounder.
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