MARATHON, Florida — Tailing conditions have arrived and the sailfish are on the move.  As many as 25 to 50 sailfish coming down sea in packs of 5 to 20 fish at a time, what a sight.  If you’re looking to put some numbers up, this week was the week to do it.  Unfortunately I was not sail fishing, my clients wanted food so I missed out on the great sail fishing.  This has been the trend and having a tower sure makes it easy to find the fish, but the sails have been finicky, turning on baits but not eating from what I have been hearing.  If you’re looking to try this for the first time, look for an edge from the reef line out to 200 feet and head to the west.  Just keep heading west the hot spots have been from Big Pine Key to Sandy Key Light.  Ballyhoo has been tough to get, but the pilchards are thick, so get in the skinny water and bait shouldn’t be a problem.

If sailfish isn’t your thing the dolphin have showed up in great numbers just not any size to them though.  I have heard of a few gaffer size fish but for the most part the fish are running small from 28 inches to 15 inches.  Lots of throwback dolphin being caught, and lots of fun to be had.  We had caught over 50-60 fish with only 20 keepers one day and 15 keepers the next.  The fish have been out on a current edge just inside of 500 feet of water.  The water temperatures hare cool for them but it hasn’t seemed to influence their appetite.  The fish are moving in small packs and the most fish we hooked at a time was 10 fish, but we never moved far before we hooked up more.  It appears that the fish are loaded up on the edge, with most of them on the inside edge of the slower moving water.  Their isn’t much of a color change but you will have no problem seeing the edge of the current, the rip sticks out like a sore thumb.  I would recommend using the smallest ballyhoo as possible and any small feathers or chuggers.  The fish are small so use smaller baits to help your hookup ratio.

The reef fishing is still kind of slow, but if you put your time in you can manage a good catch of snappers and there are plenty of groupers too.  I had out one of the scientists that is currently doing the grouper research in the Gulf and he was telling me that they have been working hard to get the research done so they can make a decision on the grouper closer.  He was telling me that the groupers have a 20% mortality when they are released.  The way they figure this out is to catch a bunch of groupers and then put them back down in the water in a cage.  Then they come back at different intervals to check how many groupers have died.  The research still points to the decline of the gag groupers in the gulf but the red population is fine.  Hopefully they will open the season on time, but I have serious doubts.

Way offshore the hump has been steady, with plenty of tunas and amberjacks.  Live bait and jigging are the best methods for getting bigger fish and if you happen to get out there on an overcast day the bite has been even better.  My favorite colors for the jigs are chartreuse and pink; I don’t own any other colors.  Well that’s, a lie, I have some purple ones but I haven’t used them in quite some time now.  The 5-7 oz. Stick jigs work the best.  You don’t have to buy shimano but if you want to spend more money for the same results then go for it.  I generally start my drift just before the rise on the hump, which is like 700 feet of water, and this usually gives me an idea where they are holding up that day.  Sometimes I will head out to 800 feet of water, which is pretty far away from the hump and drop down really deep to get the bigger ones.  If you try this on top of the hump your chances of hooking an amberjack on light tackle is sure to happen.

Deep dropping has been good for the brave fisherman who have been heading out to the 650’s and beyond.  I did really well early this week and got a few snowys, tiles, rosefish, and barrels too.  The queen snapper season is over for the most part, but there are a few stragglers left behind.

Good luck this week and keep safe.