Our day fishing usually starts in the shallow parts of the reef, gathering bait. We do so by anchoring and putting out a block of chum. Within ten minutes or so, there is always an assortment of bait close behind the boat. We catch larger fish on blue runners, ballyhoo, and speedos, while smaller fish are usually caught on pilchards, sardines and cigar minnows.

After putting an assortment of baits in our livewells, it’s on to finding some fish for the box. Springtime in the Upper Keys presents all sorts of opportunities--from sailfish to tunas, mackerels to snappers, and all of the above. Springtime means opportunity.

One of my favorite things to do happens under just the right conditions. When the current and wind are going the same direction, and the water is a little on the dirtier green side, we anchor the boat in the 70’-80’ outer edge of the reef and do a combination of snapper fishing, as well as putting some live baits out of the riggers, or a kite to target sails or mackerels. Using a lot of chum and cut bait, the yellowtail fishing should also be good. And, with all the chum going out behind the boat, bait fish will gather, attracting kings, ceros, cobias and sailfish. Slipping down a deep rod should get some mutton snapper bites, too.

On days when the water is clear, or the current and the wind are in opposite directions, I like to set up a live bait drift anywhere from 90’-200’ with live ballyhoos or cigar minnows in the outriggers, or pilchards, minnows or sardines from the kite. Frisky live baits are irresistible in the Springtime to blackfins, sailfish or mahi coming down the reef.

The reef is alive here in the Upper Keys in the springtime, and there are plenty of options. Stay safe and we hope to see you out there!

Setting up a live bait drift with live ballyhoos out of the outriggers, or dangling live goggle eyes, sardines, or cigar minnows from kites, is a sure way to get multiple bites. Also, using the sun to your advantage when it gets high in the sky, by driving the boat from the tower, you can locate swimming sails in the sand or on the rocks. They will be swimming shallow, chasing ballyhoo and houndfish. Seeing spraying bait is a sure indicator that there are sails chasing them, so try to position the boat in front of the bait shower, and be on the watch for one or multiple sails pushing the bait. Getting a downwind cast in front of the pushing bait, will likely get you a bite.

Offshore, the mahi have still been plentiful, along with some blackfin tunas on the offshore humps. Looking for birds working floating debris will get you in on the action.

The patch reefs have been excellent when the water is not gin clear. The mutton snappers are very plentiful. Try and anchor the boat not on top of the patch so you can fish the sand edge of the patches. This will prevent you from getting rocked up so much. Live ballyhoo or pilchards on a knocker rig should yield plenty of action.

The deep edge of the reef is loaded with yellowtail snappers as well. Days with current and wind going the same direction, can produce a box full of yellowtail quickly. Lots of chum and free lining cut bait on super light line should get plenty of action. Also, while drifting for yellowtail, put a bottom rig down for grouper or muttons, and put out a live bait under the kite for sails or mackerels.

The wreck fishing is also very good now. Mutton snappers and grouper catches have been excellent using live baits with a fairly long leader on the deeper wrecks.

All of the different types of fishing we offer here in the Keys are excellent right now--from snappers to swordfish, or cobias to mahis, it’s all good right now. There are plenty of places to stay and us charter captains depend on your business. So, come on down and go fishing! You won’t be disappointed!

On a typical Summer Day, we will pull back the throttles and put out our trolling spread when we pass into the Gulf Stream current. This is typically between 300 and 600’. While trolling, I will be looking non-stop through the binoculars for lined up weed or working birds circling and picking in one spot. Finding a combination of larger weed patches and groups of birds hovering above is a sure sure sign of schooled up mahi. The fish will sometimes eat the trolled baits, but I prefer getting in front of the birds and casting small ballyhoo or live minnows or pilchards. A fresh frisky live offering is irresistible to a stubborn bullhead 90% of the time. After hooking a fish, we try and clear all trolling rods and switch over to spinners for pitching baits. Always try to leave one fish hooked behind the boat as a decoy to keep his schoolmates around. We start the process by pitching smaller ballyhoo, squid, or chunked bonita to the schooled fish. After the bite shuts down, we then try live baits to entice any tight lipped remaining fish. Keeping the boat in front of the lead fish in the school, usually pointed SW will give you longer time working a school. 

Binoculars are your friend when searching for summertime working birds, weed patches, or floating debris. A nice piece of debris can really make your day. Not only should it be holding some mahi, but tripletail are often found floating near the floatsam. A shrimp, piece of squid or a live bait should get bites from the buoy fish. Also casting a butterfly jig or live bait on a wire leader or trolling a weighted feather, should get you a shot at a wahoo or multiple weehoos. I’ve seen as many as 25 wahoo on one log. 

The sea mounts should be holding plenty of tuna throughout the summer. Early or late in the day, when the sun is not so high in the sky is when I like to try for tunas. The bright sun tends to push the fish deeper and make them more leader shy. Trolling feathers way back, or fishing live small ballyhoo or pilchards are both effective baits for blackfin. Sending a live bait deep on a leaded rod with a super long leader or butterfly jigs are also good tactics for targeting the tunas when they are swimming deeper.

In addition, I like to have my swordfish gear all ready for those calm days when the mahi fishing is slow. Day dropping for a sword can turn your slow day into one for the memory books, you’re only one bite away from being a hero. Also deep dropping for Tiles, Queens, Snowies can be super hot during the summer months. 

There are many options to fill your long summer days and hopefully your coolers as well! Remember drink plenty of water and stay safe. We’ll see you out there!

We had one of those good days the first of April. We started that day by finding the gulls bombing on a slicked-off morning, which meant pilchards. We sabiki’ed 75 or so pilchards and caught just as many, or more, in the cast net.

Then, we pointed it offshore towards the Islamorada Hump. I was hoping to live bait some larger blackfins on the hump, but that wasn’t the case. We pulled the feathers to try and locate the tunas, but all we picked up were two schoolie dolphin. So, I told my mate, Justin Baker, to rig up for an amberjack drop and we sent a blue runner to the bottom and came back up with a 40 lb. AJ. The hump was getting overly crowded, so we ventured further offshore to look for some weed or birds that may be on some mahi. We ran a mile or two south of the hump and started trolling in 650’, where there was some scattered weed. We got jumped pretty quickly and landed two more schoolies.

We then trolled for an hour or more with nothing. Just when we were starting to get a little worried, we spotted some birds on the horizon, so we headed towards them. The birds were on a very thick piece of coiled up rope that was loaded with life. Just what we were looking for! Justin was firing pilchards left and right and we caught ten more schoolies to make a baker’s dozen. There were also five or six small wahoos circling the rope that we toyed with for a bit, but with no luck. We hooked one on monofilament, but it was short-lived; we couldn’t entice a bite on the wire leader. Also lingering tight to the debris, was a fat triple-tail. We pitched it a pilchard, but he had a tough time catching the bait, so Justin wound it in, snipped off the pilchard’s tail and recasted to the triple-tail, and it sucked it down no problem.

With a nice looking fish box, we swung the fence and ran to the 1500’ ledge and made a few swordfish drops. Not long after hitting bottom on our first drift, we had a good bite, but didn’t connect. No bite on the second drift either. However, just as we were winding up the bait from our third drift, we had a pile-on bite--the rod doubled over and started going the other way. I knew it was a decent one the way he immediately scoped up and sounded, and then repeated three or four times. Two hours after the bite, we were able to sink some steel and bring aboard a 200+ lb. broadbill and back to the barn we went.

This was definitely a day not to be forgotten, and one of those days we’re truly grateful for, when “it all (just) comes together”.

The Keys and the Straits of Florida are a special place being that we are in the travel patterns of several migratory offshore pelagic fish species. The fish are coming out of the Gulf of Mexico traveling up the Eastern seaboard, and vice versa, and have to swim right through our backyard, going one way or the other.

The two main characters of our target fish species would undoubtedly be the sailfish and the mahi mahi. There have been several sightings of giant bluefin tunas swimming in the shallows, making their way south. It is difficult to miss a fish the size of a Volkswagon swimming over white sand in 30 feet of water. Also, several yellowfin tunas have been hooked and caught between Miami and Key West, as well as a few white marlin. There is, no doubt, a huge variety of fish swimming through the Florida Straits--and you don’t have to run 50-100 miles to get to them, like in some places.

My former mate and dear friend, Colby Mason and Captain Ray, on the Reel McCoy, hooked a huge yellowfin tuna and fought him for 6-plus hours, until the fish finally wore through the leader. What a heart breaker! The problem is with the water clarity here. We have to use light (super light) tackle to get the bites, unlike from North Carolina up to Canada, where they catch a lot of bluefin. They are using huge 80-130 lb. conventional reels with 200-400 lb. leader. So, if they hook one right, they have a much better chance of landing the fish, versus here, where we’re using 30-40 lb. leader--chances are very slim of you ever getting a gaff shot on the fish.

With all these different fish right out the back door, it’s sometimes difficult to come up with a game plan each day. You can have plans of catching a bunch of snappers or filling the box with mahis, but anyone who’s fished long enough knows that plans can get thrown out very quickly when you get out there and the conditions are just not good for what you had in mind. I try and be prepared for most everything, and really don’t know where the day will take us until we get out there. 

My strategy includes: 

1. Seeing what the water looks like (clear blue vs. dirty green);

2. Seeing which way the current, if any, is moving;

3. Seeing what baits we can gather for the livewells;

4. Communicating with other skippers up and down the line to see what’s biting and what conditions are.

And, last but not least,

5. Having an idea of what the customers have in mind and what they want to catch.

Have fun and we’ll see you out there!

We are in full swing here in 2017! Football is long over and the Keys are starting to get our annual population increase of “snowbirds.” The northern folks aren’t the only ones looking to head south for the cooler months. The Florida Straits are in the main migration pattern for many pelagic fish. With water temperatures falling with each cold front in Florida Bay, loads of bait fish, crabs and shrimp head for deeper, warmer water.

In areas where there are lots of bridges, bait, crabs and shrimp are being pushed from the bay with each out-going tide. Getting in the tower and spotting rays that gracefully swim along the sandy bottom is a super effective way to locate schools of cobia. The rays flap their wings, pushing up sand exposing little crabs and shrimp that the cobia take full advantage of. Finding a decent ray can really make your day. One ray can have as many as 30-40 cobia curiously following. They are a curious fish and will eat most any offering -- some favorites are live grunts, eels, or a bucktail jig. The hardest part is not losing the ray in all the excitement.

My buddy, Captain Raymond Baiz on the Reel McCoy hooked a 100 lb cobia last year and broke the line just out of the gaff’s reach, only to find the same ray the next day -- and he hooked and caught the same fish weighing exactly 100 lbs. on the scales.

Knowing when and where to look for rays is an art all in itself. A clear day when the sun is high is a must. There are a select group of old school captains like Alex Adler, Roy Lindback, Kenny Spalding, Dr. Stanczyk and Paul Ross, who are no doubt some of the best cobia fishermen in the world. I would love to learn half of what they’ve forgotten.

The patch reefs will be loaded with ballyhoo making for good yellowtail, mangrove and mutton snapper fishing when the water is dusty. When the water is clear, look for showering sprays of ballyhoo, hound fish or flyers. If houndfish or ballyhoo spray for more than a brief moment, that means there are sailfish working together to corral baits. This is an awesome thing to watch, especially when you pull up to a bait shower and there are sailfish everywhere, sails out of the water, hunting together like choreographed wolves of the water, all lit up purple and striped up with polka dotted sails flared up to intimidate the bait fish.

Casting a hooked ballyhoo in front of the aroused sail will surely get a bite if you’re using 30 lb or less leader and, most importantly, if you can get him to eat your hooked bait before he gobbles up one of the hundreds of ballyhoo or houndfish running for their lives! Countless times, I’ve had a mate make a perfect cast, thinking surely we’re gonna hook it -- only to watch him strike out as a hound fish disappears; shaking his head like an old dog that’s bitten off more than he can chew. Yep that one’s not gonna eat for a minute, he’s got a mouthful!

In a different scenario, the mate makes a perfect cast, the sail eats, hacks another bait, casts up to a double... and another. We’ve now got a triple header of sailfish hooked up in 35’ of water and there’s three or more fish swimming around back there. It gets pretty exciting quickly. There’s nothing in my opinion that compares to sight fishing for sails inside the reef on a sandy bottom where you can clearly see them.

Yes, with dropping temperatures up north and in the waters of Florida Bay it’s a special time of year in the shallows right out front of Islamorada as migratory pelagics and baitfish seek warmer homes. Get up in that tower and go slow when moving from spot to spot, because sails and cobias are both very curious fish that will sometimes swim right up to the boat to check it out. You don’t want to be going too fast and run them over or too slow where you don’t see them at all. Pay attention for large schools of bait, you never know what’s below or behind them. Stay safe and we’ll see you out there!

It’s difficult to describe the feelings--some high, some low- -that we can go through in just a few minutes on the water. Here’s an example:

I’m pulling the anchor after topping off the live wells with some fresh ballyhoos and cigar minnows, blue runners and a few sardines. The sun is getting a little higher and there’s enough light to see that there’s some royal blue, turquoise water moving pretty good to the northeast; everything just looks and feels right. (As fishermen, you know those times when it just feels fishy.) The breeze is chilly and a little spray in the face, and you smell fish. Sure enough, as the mate is going through his seminar on live bait, light tackle fishing with our anglers, I see a frigate bird nose dive out of the sky like a fighter jet whose target is the spraying ballyhoo he sees from way up high. There is a good spray of ballyhoo moving in multiple directions making me believe there are multiple fish chasing them around, and now the frigates are bombing them from above--these guys are really in a tough spot. I throttle up and climb in the tower to try and have the height advantage of looking down on the fish. There are no need for words; the mate knows that when we accelerate riding down or inside the reef ’s edge, I have seen something and to have a bait hooked up and ready to cast. As I make that last step into the tower, I can see in the distance two sailfish with their sails halfway out of the water trying to coral the baits into their striking distance. I yell down, “I got ‘em!” letting the mate know I have a visual on the fish and to really get ready.

Now back to those feelings and emotions Mother Ocean can bestow upon us. In just a matter of minutes, after catching plenty of live baits to be well equipped for anything we encounter on the day’s charter, we’ve got a chance to cast at a pair of sailfish. I don’t care how much experience you have, if coming upon a couple sailfish floating with their sails up like sitting ducks on the water doesn’t get the ‘ole ticker to speed up a little bit, you may want to consider retirement or another pastime.

There’s thousands of different styles of fishing for different species around the world, going back to the beginning of man and ocean. They all have their purpose, and to each his own. I, personally, love sight fishing for any fish; particularly sailfish swimming in packs, tailing down sea over a sandy bottom where they stand out, while aggressively gobbling up anything they can catch.

As I am coming up on this pair of sailfish, I get the boat positioned, point at the fish and tell the mate how far to throw the line. He makes a perfect cast so the fish chases the frisky-hooked ballyhoo around for a split second, then piles on the ‘hoo like a Labrador retriever catching a wounded duck, thrashing its head back and forth for the kill. As the mate passes off the rod to the angler, I see the ballyhoo disappear as the sailfish swallows it down. The mate counts to 4 and tells the angler to go for it. The angler shuts his bail and the rod instantly doubles over, drag screaming, and the fish starts tailwalking offshore. I don’t even have to say anything and the mate has another bait hooked and casts at the second fish in hopes of a double. Once again, he makes a great shot, three feet in front of his nose and, as he hands off the rod, the sail inhales the ballyhoo in slow motion. After a quick drop back, the angler gets tight on his sail, and we’re hooked up to a doubleheader. We are all satisfied and things are going in the right direction this particular morning, but like I said, sometimes you get all the highs, and sometimes all the lows, out there.

The second sailfish is just lying there so it looks like I will be able to back right up to her for a quick release and then go after the first fish. As the double line is about 3’ from the rod tip and we’re about to reach out for the leader touch, the sail comes alive and starts jumping erratically offshore. This fish jumps over the other angler’s line and the 2 lines instantly chaff through each other. Just like that, an awesome start just turned into being 0 for 2. Hero to zero; dog to hydrant. However, you want to look at it, a huge high followed by an extreme low.

That’s just one of thousands of examples where, in what seems like the blink of an eye, the ocean will put you through a roller coaster of raw emotions. You can compare the events of a fishing trip with what goes on in life sometimes. Everything can be going perfectly executed, and then it unravels right at the last second for an extreme let down. But, hey that’s fishing. And that’s just bad luck. How you bounce back is what makes or breaks us out on the water, or in life. It’s a mental game in which I try and stay positive and keep swinging for the fence. We’ll get the next one. A very wise older captain once told me that “wisdom is the sum of mistakes”. Social media with Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, allows you to instantly see everyone’s highlight reel--you don’t see too many pictures or posts of blunders, or just slow days, knowing everyone has them.

So, hang in there during the tides of fishing knowing Mother Ocean has a plan for all of us. We’ll see you out there!

Live bait trolling some ballyhoos in the 100’-200’ depths should get action from mackerel, sailfish, bonitos, blackfins and mahi. Slow trolling around a current edge or color change will get your best results.

Days when there’s enough wind flying some kites dangling live baits produces some cool bites. On days when the water is a little dirtier, anchoring anywhere from 50’ – 90’ and drifting with bait should provide plenty of action. Lots of chum is key here along with some thawed chum mixed with oats.

To mix it up, put a live bait or 2 on a kite or rigger for sailfish or kings. Also putting a rod on the bottom with a live pinfish could score you a nice grouper.

The shallower patches can also be very productive on days when there’s little water clarity. Drifting for yellowtails in the chum slick and any bait or cut plug on a knocker rig should produce some mangrove snapper. A live bait on a spinner will pick up some mutton snapper or grouper bites. My favorite way to patch fish is to have the wells loaded with small-medium pilchard - live chum to really get all the fish feeding.

Winter time fishing here in the Upper Keys is my favorite season. You don’t have to go 25 miles and burn a full tank of fuel, the fishing is close and the options are endless.

The Keys will be jam packed with people over the holidays so everyone please be safe on the roads as well as on the water.

New Year’s Day there is the blessing of the fleet. Most all the charter boats and whoever wishes their vessel to be blessed are welcome to participate in the boat parade at Whale Harbor Channel at 10:00am. The parade is followed by a huge buffet BBQ cooked by Captain Shannon Attales. Shannon really does it up with pulled pork, hamburgers, hot dogs and all the fixings. There is a donation taken for the plate of food with all proceeds going to the Islamorada Charter Boat Association.

Hope everyone has a safe and blessed holiday. We'll see you out there!

My good buddy, Captain Shannon Attales of Warbird Charters out of Islamorada, landed an 85 lb. wahoo high-speed trolling a color change in 250’ of water, just off Alligator Reef Lighthouse.

Wahoo can be targeted a number of different ways.  You can live bait them, chunk them, troll at regular speed, or high-speed troll.  Wahoo tend to swim a little below the surface, so when trolling or high-speeding, we use an in-line lead, a planer, or a downrigger to get our baits lower in the water column.  Preferably, a high-speed setup would consist of a bent-butt rod (to withstand the pressure of trolling fast) with a 50w or bigger reel, snap swiveled to a torpedo lead (with at least 1’ of wire or cable on each end of lead--wahoo have been known to whack the lead causing you to lose the whole rig and the fish).  The lead should be snapped to at least 50’ of 100 lb. mono, which acts as a shock cord, as it stretches when fish strike at high speed.  Add a snap swivel at the end of the mono, snapped to your favorite lure-behind wire or cable, of course.  Wahoo like red/black and purple/black lures.  You can stagger two of these outfits on the flat lines, so as not to tangle on turns, going anywhere from 9 to 18 knots.  High-speed trolling is good for covering distance, or when fishing from point A to point B.  Slow trolling (6 to 9 knots) can be equally as effective.  You definitely want to use 8 wire or bigger.  Malin strand cable and a typical ballyhoo rig (black/red, purple, red), or naked ballyhoo trolled anywhere from 20’– 80’ down should put you in the meat.

Wahoo can be caught by drifting back chunks of bonita or by free-lining squid — similar to yellow tailing over a wreck. Live bait trolling or kite fishing is also a great way to target wahoo along the outside edge of the reef.  Cigar minnows, ballyhoo, blue runner, or goggle-eyes are all great offerings for a wahoo.  Remember to lighten up that drag, as wahoo are known for their drag-screaming initial runs when they are first hooked up.  This occurrence is where they get their name, “Wa-HOO!”

If you’re holding heavy with pilchards, cigars, or ballyhoos, it’s a good idea to throw over a few “freebies” when you’re fighting a wahoo.  Because they swim in packs, the best time to hook a fish is always when you have another one on.  This strategy may persuade some of the other fish into bumping you up to a double or triple header of wahoo.  There’s some serious adrenaline flowing down there when there are 3, 30 plus lb. wahoo peeling out drag on light tackle.  Hold on!

When trolling and finding a large piece of offshore debris, another tactic for catching “debris-hoo” is to place a leaded feather-style lure on wire a good ways back and stop the boat, letting the lure sink out by the debris.  After sinking a ways, throttle up, and often, if there’s a wahoo lurking, it’s hard for them to resist a lure coming up fast from the deep.  I have caught several (usually smaller ones) off a single piece of debris.

One other super cool way we target them is to sight fish for wahoo.  When we ride in the tower on slick, calm days, usually in the deep waters and on colder months, I’ve come upon packs of wahoo.  While this is usually a spectator thing (meaning I have only caught them this way a few times since it’s tough to get them to eat a hooked bait), if you can turn them on by offering a few freebie baits, your chances increase of getting a bite out of one or multiple fish.  I’ve had the privilege of seeing packs of over 20 wahoo and of seeing multiple packs of wahoo riding down the reef’s edge.  What a beautiful sight it is to see a big wahoo light up--it is like you plugged them into a socket and the purple zebra light turns on!  It’s a sight that stays engraved in a fisherman’s memory forever.          

Go get ‘em!

Summertime is here in Islamorada and that means warmer days, rising water temperature, and less wind; which makes for beautiful days out on the ocean.  Above all, this season means offshore fishermen have one species at the top of their target list--the most popular pelagic gamefish--the mahi mahi; a fish so nice, they named it twice!

The mahi, dorado, or dolphin-fish (whatever you wish to call them), are the backbone of recreational fishing here in the Florida Keys.  With their vibrant colors of blue, green, and yellow darting through the water, they will change colors from a green-yellow, to neon blue with black vertical stripes, when they are excited or are in feeding mode.  It is a sight you’ll have engraved in your memory forever when you see a lit up bull head come waking with his head 3 inches out of the water, his pectoral fins straight out horizontal, his dorsal standing straight up from tail to atop his blunt head, throwing a wake like a speed boat; he changes ten colors from yellow to green, to the most amazing electric neon blue!  Then, you watch him inhale your ballyhoo that the mate had just cast perfectly underneath a diving frigate bird who was pulling off fighter jet maneuvers trying to get one of the flying fish the dolphin are chasing.  The angler comes tight on the rod and the slammer bull head starts dumping drag and jumping all about--it’s dolphin season boys and girls, come and getcha some!

Dolphin roam the open ocean on a continuous hunt for food.  They are relentlessly on the move and are caught by anglers all around the world. One of the largest concentrations of mahi can be found right here off the Florida Straits from late May through August.  They can be caught at any depth; from the deep edge of the reef at 100’ and all the way across to the Bahamas.  We start looking hard for them when we find the place that the Gulfstream current starts--typically somewhere between 300’ and 800’.  A change in water color, sargassum weed that is lining up parallel (not inshore/offshore), and taller waves are good indicators of where the current begins.  Upon hitting the current, we’ll pull back the speed and put out some trolling gear.

When we are fishing for dolphin, a typical spread is a pair of flat lines staggered with a blue/white feather on one flat, and another slightly larger lure on the other flat line.  I like to put a naked or chugger-headed ballyhoo a good distance back on one outrigger, and leave the other side of the boat open for sight casting.

Once a school of dolphin is located, you can usually get them to stay behind the boat by offering some squid, chunks of bonita, pilchards, or any live bait.  We know we’re on a school when we get a strike on the troll, or, when sight casting and connecting with a spotted swimmer from the tower. Once we’ve got one hooked, standard procedure is to clear the flat lines.  Often, the school will follow the flats right up behind the boat.  Next, we’ll get the trolling gear up and out of the way, and switch over to 20 lb. spinning outfits, bimini twisting and splicing the double line to a 50/60 lb. leader with a 5/0 or 6/0 mustad 7766 hook tipped with a squid, ballyhoo, chunk or live bait.  All can be purchased from my favorite local outfitter, Tackle Center of Islamorada.  Next, flip out the spinner to a fish behind the boat (you want to have the bail open), let the fish eat and swim off with your bait for 2 or 3 seconds, then shut your bail, reel fast and there you go! Mahi madness!!

By leaving one fish hooked in the water, the others in the school will stay nearby.  Take your shot at one fish at a time and re-bait and hook another one, repeat…schoolie wars.

A school that is good and fired up will eat most any bait offered.  Our typical bait cooler for a day of mahi fishing is 10-15 rigged ballyhoo (some skirted, some naked), 20 or so smaller ballyhoos for casting, a box of squid, and a bag of chunks (cubed bonita or skipjack).  Ideally, I like to have a baitwell with plenty of live offerings for the stubborn fish as well.

Schooling dolphin typically run in smaller sizes, with your smaller shakers being around a pound, to your nice migrating, heavy lifters in the 8-12 pound range.  The bigger dolphin tend to be loners, or swimming in pairs or small packs.  These larger ones, slammers, are 20-50 pounds.  A 50 pound dolphin is quite a ride!  You hear of 50 pounders and a few that go up to 60 pounds, and, every once in a while, someone will catch a dolphin over 70 pounds--very rare.

Locating schools of dolphins requires being good at reading birds and how they act.  Your best dolphin fishermen are experts in offshore bird activity.  They can tell you what species of bird and what kind of fish they are tracking.  That is an art all in itself.  We are looking for birds hovering, usually tracking southwest, along some sargassum weed.

June means great weather and good fishing, but also a lot of boats out there.  Common courtesy goes a long way on the water> It is just not the right thing to do to come up on a boat, obviously catching fish out of a school, and start trying to catch the same fish. Unless you know the other captain or have permission, this is a not a good way to make friends. It’s a big ocean out there and there will be other opportunities.  I hope everyone has safe and successful mahi fishing trips this summer.  We’ll see you out there.

When I think of May in the Upper Keys, I think of one word--opportunity. With the water warming, the end of certain closures, and several species spawning, there are so many different fish to target.  Whether you plan to spend your day on the reef’s edge, venturing out offshore, or both, May is a fisherman’s dream here in the Upper Keys.

Staying within a few miles from the dock, the yellowtail snapper fishing should be going gangbusters.  They are spawning; meaning they need to feed to get energy.  Yellowtail can be caught drifting with cut bait, while heavy chumming on a 12 lb. spinning outfit with 20 lb. or less fluorocarbon leader with a #2 live bait hook, or a Hank Brown style jig head. My favorite way to target the larger “flag tails” is with live wells, loaded with small to medium sized pilchards. Take a half net full of “livies” and throw them as far as you can, cast a hooked one in the middle of the freebies, and you should be bit within a few seconds if they’re feeding well.  Also, while chumming the yellowtails, the mutton snappers love a live or de-boned ballyhoo on a deep rod with a fish finder rig, with 10’ or more of 30 to 40 lb. leader.

May also means the opening of groupers. After being closed since the New Year, a live bait of most anything that wiggles should entice a nice red in the shallow or patch reef, or a delicious black or gag on the deep reef or wrecks. Although we are seeing an increase in groupers since closures a few years ago, groupers can be caught while you are anchored up, chumming the yellowtails on the deep reef. Using this method, you need to have a heavy outfit with the drag beefed up to “beat” the grouper--and anyone who’s been grouper fishing knows what I mean by getting beat by a big ole grouper. I like to use a 50 or 80 offshore reel with braced line to prevent stretch for my main line, with the appropriate lead to keep the bait down swivel, and 10 or so feet of 80 lb. leader with a 6/0 circle hook. Put the drag on almost lock, and as soon as the rod tip starts to bounce pretty good, start reeling. Don’t give him a chance to get you in the rocks. Groupers love most any live bait; my favorites are pinfish, grunts, or speedos.  Groupers can also be targeted drifting over structure, rocks, or wrecks. The same method is used here, but you can lighten up the drag a little because, when you get tight, the person driving can motor off the structure that could break you off. 

On the reef’s edge, the pelagic fishing can be great.  May is usually the end of the spring migration of sailfish. May is typical for calm, sunny mornings with breezier afternoons. I like to do my anchor fishing early, when it’s calmer and not so hot, and, if the breeze shows up, we like to put out the kites anywhere from 90’ to 200’ looking for sailfish, blackfin tuna, mahi mahi, and king mackerel. Live pilchards, goggle eyes, sardines, and blue runners are irresistible to a pelagic swimming in the upper water column looking up at a nice vibrating “livie”. I like to look for current edges or tide lines to set up a kite drift.

And then, of course, there’s the offshore fishing--and everyone is thinking mahi mahi. By far, the most popular gamefish because of their abundance, beautiful changing color, and delicious table fare. Mahi can be caught year round here in the Keys, but they usually show up in numbers May - October. Mahi can be found anywhere from 120’ to the Bahamas. We typically look from 200’, to as far as we have to go, to find them. Finding feeding birds, weed lines, or weed patches can be good indicators there are dolphin around. Also, days when there’s a good bit of Northeast Gulf Stream current, tends to make the fish feed better.

May usually offers some decent blackfin tuna fishing on the offshore humps.  Going with the live wells loaded down with pilchards can be a lot of fun if the larger tunas are there and the sharks aren’t bad, which seems very rare anymore. Setting up to drift over the top of the hump, throw back a net full of “livies” and, if they’re there, you should see them start to explode on the freebie baits. Then, cast back a small live bait or circle hook, with 30 lb. leader, hooked with a pilchard free lining it back, and wait for a bite. Have several spinners ready and keep throwing freebies, and you can get the tunas to stay with your drift, hooking several at a time. However, if the sharks are there, it can be disappointing feeding your 15 lb. plus tunas to the tax man--and this scenario seems a lot more the norm the past few years. While at the humps, some deep dropping for yellow eye snappers can produce on chicken rigs with squid, or any type cut bait. Amberjacks also live there, so sending down a blue runner, grunt, goggle eye or speedo on a 25’, 100 lb. leader with a 10/0 or 12/0 circle hook, can set up a situation for some back-breaking, rod-doubling action.

May presents a huge variety of fish to target, and with school coming to an end, there will be no shortage of boats out there. Please, everyone, remember to respect our beautiful resource by not polluting and following rules and regulations. Please show respect and courtesy out there. If a boat is working some birds or catching fish, if you don’t know the person, or have not asked permission, don’t go motoring in trying to catch the same fish--it’s just not the right thing to do. It’s a big ocean and we are all out there to try and catch a few fish and have a good time. I hope everyone has a great May and catches a lot of big ones. We will see you out there!