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Weekly Florida Keys Fishing Update from Capt. Dave Schugar and Sweet E'Nuf Charters
Archive for the ‘Offshore Fishing Report’ Category
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — This has been interesting fishing these past weeks! With the wind blowing from 15-25 knots, I have stayed close to shore. We fished the reef, which yielded nice yellowtail from 1-3 pounds and a few goliath groupers from 20-60 pounds. The current was slow but enough which allowed the chum to trickle down the reef. We also fished the thunderbolt and got mugged by sharks one day and the other day we were invaded by blue runners. Blue runners and small bonita have been swarming all month.
While fishing for grouper on my yellowtail spots we also got a few nassau groupers, which are protected and we released them unharmed to fight another day. When you got your yellowtail spot all chummed up it is always good to drop down some small baits like half of a ballyhoo or small pinfish for some great mangrove action.
Speaking of mangroves, the bite has been great at night. Don’t rush out there, because the bite hasn’t started ’til late. If you leave around 9:00PM you will be able to fish for a few hours to get your limit. Fishing out in Federal waters you are allowed to keep ten mangroves, but if you fish close to shore in state waters you may only keep five mangroves. Make sure you know where you are fishing so as to not accidentally go over your legal limit.
The bait has been abundant so you really don’t need to bring a lot out with you. Pilchards and gogs are swarming, and all you need to catch them is a few sabiki rigs or a cast net if you know how to throw one. I prefer to drift back large baits for the bigger mangroves. The small ones can peck at it until the big one comes and steals it from them. My rig is usually 40-pound leader with a small slip sinker like 1/16th –1/8th oz. I slowly drift back the bait until I get a taker and I feed the bait for about 6-10 feet before a set the hook. You don’t get every one, but if it is a big fish he will have that bait down his throat and you should hook almost all of them. You don’t need lots chum, just enough to keep the bait around the boat, which keeps the snappers there.
Towards the end of this week we fished for muttons and amberjacks. Since this is the last moon of the spawn we took advantage of it. We didn’t set the world on fire but we managed 3-6 muttons each day with lots of other action such as amberjacks, jack crevales, and kingfish. There has been an abundant amount of kingfish this week, which is a little unusual. We have kings all year round, but during the summer months they are few and far in between. We even got one that pushed 40 pounds but most of them are 10-15 pounds. They aren’t the best eating, but if you smoke them they are out of this world.
The dolphin picked up this past week, with fish from 6-30 pounds. I haven’t been out there, but my friends have shot out there a couple of times this week and have come back with some impressive catches. On Thursday, Big Time Bait and Tackle put on a tournament with Maui Jims Sunglass Co. I was one of the lucky individuals who took out one representative and writers from all of the major fishing magazines for a day of fishing. It was supposed to be a dolphin tournament, but since it was blowing 20-25 knots, we all weren’t going offshore…so they changed the rules to heaviest weighable fish.
I ended up winning with a 39-pound amberjack. It was just a friendly tournament, but the writer who caught the biggest fish won a trip to Hawaii. This whole trip was set up to let these writers experience the Maui Jim’s sunglasses. I got to try on a bunch of them and I am hooked. I really saw the difference between my Costa’s and the Maui Jims; I am a Maui Jim guy now. We also caught three large muttons around 18 pounds a piece.
Just to let everyone know, there is no oil down here and hotels are starting to drop their prices so come on down and enjoy the Keys like the rest of us are!
Tags: amberjack fishing, big time bait and tackle, bp oil spill, jack crevale fishing, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, mangrove snapper fishing, maui jim's sunglasses, mutton snapper fishing, reef fishing, tournament fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Saturday, July 10th, 2010
 MARATHON, Florida Keys — This past week we fished 40 miles west of Key West for yellowtail and grouper. The bite was on for the yellowtails. We placed a block of chum in the bag and it wasn’t five minutes when we were pulling in our first flag yellowtail. We had blue runners about five pounds swimming around the boat busting on fry which was an incredible site to watch. During the summer the snappers are spawning and fry are all over the place and this brings in other fish that feed upon them. For about three hours we caught jumbo yellowtail and then we finally got a bite one the bottom rod.
The bait was violently hit which then turned into a battle for my client Tom. He fought this fish for nearly 45 minutes and then we caught a glimpse of what it was. We thought it was a shark, but we were close, it was 15-foot sawfish, one of the rarest fish in the ocean. This impressive fish is practically a dinosaur. The saw like bill has one-inch teeth sticking out of it was almost six feet long. The massive body measured four and half feet wide and it was as long as the transom of the boat with is 15 feet. Very cool sighting, most people will never see one in the wild, and this is the second one we have caught in two years.
After sweating out gallon of water we decided to move and try some deep water for muttons and scamp grouper but we never hooked up. We got a few bites but never connected to any of them. There is a ledge out in 250 feet of water out there, and we marked fish all over it, but with no current the fish were not being cooperative. After about two hours of no bites be decided to anchor back up on a yellowtail spot and stay there the night. It was getting late and we caught a few more yellowtails and one large red grouper. As the sun started to go down we started to cook dinner, which consisted of grouper on the grill, grilled asparagus, garlic pasta and some rum. You’ve got to have the rum.
The following day after breakfast we headed to the shallow banks on the inside edge of the Gulf and fished for red grouper. It was like clockwork, dropping down dead gogs, and live grunts we were limited out in a couple of hours. At this time we decided to head back to Key west for a fun filled Fourth of July. Watching the fireworks from the boat while we ate bubba burgers, yellowtail ceviche and garlic pasta with a mozzarella, tomato salad. After the fire works the boat next to us had a cannon, which they fired off and it was deafening.
After the Fourth, we headed to Cay Sal Banks, not getting too close because that would be illegal. You have to check in before you can enter Bahamian waters. There are areas where you can troll and deep drop where you are not actually in Bahamian waters. You have to stay 12 miles outside any land. Unfortunatly, there aren’t any places to check in over here, you would have to go 150 miles to check in, but the Cay Sal Bank is only 50-75 miles away in the opposite direction. While we were over there we caught about fifty barracudas on the troll so we tried deep dropping in 1200 feet of water and caught 10 black snappers and one forty pound misty grouper. After that we headed home which is over three hours from there.
With one day off, I had a guide trip with a great bunch of people — Mike, Jack, Max, Wyatt, and Spencer. We had a goal to yellowtail fish, but with no current it was hard fishing. After about three hours and two spots we decided to go mutton fishing. It was a good thing that we did, because we caught five muttons and lost at least five others. They guys had a great day and some excellent fish for dinner that night. We fished a wreck in 180 feet of water and it was on — we got bites every drop with many double hookups. The bite was on and if you are looking to catch some of these big mutton snappers this is the time to get down here.
Come on down! The weather is hot as the bite. And to all of you who are worried about the oil, don’t be! There is no oil and there isn’t any likelihood of oil in out near future. Listening to the news I found out that they might be able to cap it this weekend, keep your fingers crossed. If the oil does make it to the Gulf Stream it will most likely pass by the Keys out as far as twenty miles, so if it does come this way the reef shouldn’t be harmed. Of course we never know what the weather will do so we still got to keep our fingers crossed that they will be able to contain this spill before a hurricane around the corner scatters it all around. Stay informed about what’s going on down here and keep my web site on your favorites.
Hope to see you down here! Come on down while the fishing is good!
Tags: barracuda fishing, black snapper fishing, bp oil spill, Capt. Dave Schugar, cay sal banks fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, grilled fish, key west fishing, Marathon fishing, misty grouper fishing, mutton snapper fishing, red grouper fishing, sawfish, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Saturday, July 3rd, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — This week we were inundated with lots of small dolphin offshore, with a few bigger ones. Break out your ruler because most of them are close. One day there were decent schoolies from 6-9 pounds, real quality fish, but they weren’t eating, and they wouldn’t stay with the boat. The full moon has shorted the bite, but if you leave early the fish should cooperate till 10:00AM. As we get closer to the new moon the bite should lengthen and being overcast can help too. Makes it harder to see the fish, but they seem a little less timid in low light conditions.
Most of the fish have been congregating on the edge of the Gulf Stream and a few miles beyond. Most of the fish are under birds, but when looking for fish, try and find as few birds together as possible. This will indicate dolphin instead of skippies. My magic number is two to three birds for big fish, but five birds can be either schoolies or a bunch of big dolphin. You just never know what going to be under a huge flock of birds either, but in most cases they are skippies. If the skippies are small, you might find wahoo or marlin close by. When I fished in Costa Rica, I learned to troll around the birds and not through them to raise billfish. The billfish are looking for the few bait fish that get separated from the school, it seems that they can take them out easier one at a time than trying to slash into a ball of moving fish. I learned that one on the discovery channel.
The tuna have been biting pretty good on the live bait. Jigs seem to catch a few 10 pounders, but if you’re looking for the big ones, you will need plenty of live pilchards. Getting the pilchards hasn’t been hard if you venture out on the reef after dark. Anchoring anywhere from 18-40 feet of water after dark you can enjoy the great mangrove bite and load up on pilchards for the following day to the hump. If you anchor in 40 feet of water, the pilchards will be a little less dense, but the gogs are much thicker in this deeper water. By using the bigger sabiki rigs you can keep more gogs on the line without as many coming off. The sword fishing report was good, and my Buddy Capt. Brian caught a 350-pound mako with his clients.
You have to get out to the wrecks and catch some muttons! They are still biting ok. Many days I get six or so with all the amberjack action you could want. The muttons have been averaging about 12 pounds, with some into the 25-pound class. Live bait is where it’s been at. Pinfish, cigars, grunts, and crabs have all been producing well. Dead bait which can work well when the fish are stacked up, it really hasn’t been working for lately, but I always keep throwing some dead baits down because sometimes they will get lazy and catching a live bait just seems like too much effort sometimes. Split tailed baits or plugs will work, even strips of bonita are some of my favorite dead bottom baits.
I am headed to the Tortugas for a few days, and I will post again after I get back so check sometime after Tuesday. Have a great “Fourth” and don’t forget that it is our military that we really need to thank so that we can go fishing. Remember that here in Marathon you don’t have to drive home, call a cab and for a few bucks extra they will drive your car home for you.
Tags: amberjack fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dead bait fishing, dolphin fishing, dry tortugas fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, gulf oil spill, happy fourth of july, jigging, live bait fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, pilchards, sabiki rigs, skipjack tuna fishing, skippy fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tuna fishing, wreck fishing
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Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — After getting back from the Bahamas, I was booked everyday for just about the rest of the month. We started off the week with some dolphin fishing, which wasn’t how I left it. All we could find were illegal dolphin. After running out as far as 40 miles only to find some smaller fish, we decided to do some deep dropping. Since there wasn’t much current we were dropping five pounds of lead to 1200 feet of water and holding nicely. We caught eight rose fish and four barrelfish in five drops. That was pretty good fishing. On the way in we encountered some more small dolphin and skipjack tuna.
The next day we went wreck fishing. We caught five amberjacks and three muttons. The muttons seem to biting from 140-180 feet of water. They weren’t biting great but we did miss quite a few other fish, which could have been other muttons as well. We tried heading offshore again for a few days only to catch a few schoolies, which were legal to harvest. The bite at the hump was slow, too; lack of current seemed to have hindered all the fishing.
I went yellow tailing only to have the lack of current hinder that as well. So we went mutton fishing and caught a few muttons from 15-20 pounds. We also got our fair share of amberjacks too. While we were yellow tailing I dropped some pinfish to the bottom. The bottom bite was active. We caught two goliaths from 30-70 pounds, a Nassau grouper weighing in at 25 pounds and plenty of five-pound mangrove snappers.
Towards the end of the week I heard of a few big fish being caught or seen, but not much. The large schoolies have been numerous east of the Marathon Hump from 1100-1300 feet of water. Basically all you wanted if you wanted to travel that far to the east. Most of the fish have been reported from Holiday Isle to Caloosa Cove.
The mangrove spawn is just starting, so get out of the heat and fish at night from 25-70 feet of water. Lots of bait out on the reef too, so you might want to bring your cast net or sabiki rigs.
Tags: amberjack fishing, barrel fish fishing, caloosa cove fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, goliath grouper fishing, Holiday Isle Fishing, mangrove snapper fishing, Marathon fishing, Marathon Hump fishing, mutton snapper fishing, Nassau grouper fishing, pinfish fishing, reef fishing, sabiki rigs, skipjack tuna fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, wreck fishing
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Friday, June 18th, 2010
 MARATHON, Florida Keys — I am just catching back up from my week and half in the Bahamas. We traveled all night, putting along to conserve fuel and at first light we were on the Bahamian Bank. We ran high speed over the bank and through the pocket to Chub Cay. We checked in and went out to fish. We trolled the pocket for a while with no strikes, what a bummer, I was hoping for a late afternoon bite. So we headed to a reef where we caught red hinds (Strawberry grouper) for that evenings dinner. We had an amazingly fresh grouper dinner with garlic and oil over our pasta and salad. I went over there on my clients boat, the Cara Mia, a 38 foot Blackfin Express.
The following day we went out of Chub Cay and ran to east end of the Berry Islands and trolled for a few hours. Not much there either so we decided to make the final run to Harbor Island. On the way there we encountered some birds, but not much. We trolled around and through the birds and caught a small yellowfin tuna. Since it was getting late we needed to check in to our slip before the dock master went home for the evening. That evening we jumped on the golf cart and drove around till we came across Ma Ruby’s, an incredible little joint with excellent food. I had a conch burger that was out of this world; everyone else ordered their cheeseburger in paradise, which was recommended by Jimmy Buffet. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the rum seems to flow from the faucets here. It seems that happy hour starts when you hit the dock and it doesn’t end till bedtime.
The following day we had a slow start due to the empty beer cans all over the deck and few empty rum bottles on the live well. After getting some fresh coffee in our systems we geared up for the unexpected. I have never been to Harbor Island before but after spending a little over a week there I highly recommend it. Heading south to get out of the cut we encountered some big swells in the cut. Some of which were fifteen feet or better. Once out of the cut, it was a short ride, which seem like forever to James Point. This point sticks out five miles from the edge of the beach and sticks out into the current. 3,000-4,000 feet on one side, 50 feet of water on top and 3,000-4,000 feet on the other side. Harbor Island has five points like all within range of a day trip.
The first couple of days the seas were angry, ten to twelve footers with a fifteen-foot ground swell. It was still very fishable though. Being that it is at the edge of the North Atlantic, the ground swells were neat to fish in. Once the wind subsided the seas were flat with 15-20 foot ground swells, and again that was really neat to see, kind of reminds me of the rolling hills of Kentucky. The first couple of days we caught some big dolphin averaging from 25-40 pounds. We actually had a blue come up and seize up one of the dolphin we were reeling in. It was a little big for the blue to eat and he refused to eat any of our pitch baits we put back for him.
We went out a couple of other days and got some barracudas and one white marlin weighing in at 90 pounds. That was impressive to watch unfold from the tower. The water temp kept rising and it seemed to drive away the marlins. Even the dolphin were absent, but we did catch eight yellowfin tunas one afternoon live baiting off of one of those points. We kept trolling for marlin but had no luck, that how it goes sometimes, even in the Bahamas. On one of our last days fishing we sucked in an injector, which destroyed our turbo. We had to limp home, which took 41 hours of driving. We did stop and make two legs out of it. Be held up over night at the Berry islands and then the following morning we trolled all along the Berry’s catching some more yellowfin tuna and blackfins. Once we got home, I started back fishing on Sweet E’Nuf. Boy what a change.
Tags: bahama fishing, berry island fishing, Blackfin Express, Capt. Dave Schugar, Cara Mia, cheeseburger in paradise, chub cay fishing, conch burger, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, harbor island fishing, james point fishing, jimmy buffet, Ma Ruby's, Marathon fishing, red hind fishing, strawberry grouper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, white marlin fishing, yellowfin tuna fishing
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Monday, May 10th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Dolphin, dolphin, and more dolphin. It still isn’t a full-blown dolphin bite, but there are days which you can be proud of. It seems to be good one day and slow the next. I fished every day this week, but only one day was devoted to dolphin, and it was a little slow on that day. There were some fish caught around 12-15 miles from the beach, with a few big fish in the 30-50 pound range. I even heard of someone getting a 70 pounder…now that is a fish of a lifetime. Most of what I had seen and heard, schoolies have been scattered just about anywhere. Any day now we will see lots of large fish pouring through somewhere, I hope it is tomorrow.
While you’re out offshore, you might as well drop a few times for some snowys and other bottom fish. The bite has been great, but I wouldn’t know personally…I have been stuck on the reef catching my share of the yellowtails and groupers. The spots I have been fishing range from 75-98 feet of water. Finding a good big yellowtail spot isn’t hard to do right now…it’s their time to do the wild thing so they are very aggressive and hungry. I have been fishing this one spot where three bull sharks have taken up residence and occasionally a hammerhead or a tiger shark will show up to get their fill of these yellow delights.
The grouper bite has been great ever since it opened back up on May 1st. Hitting the wrecks and fishing the reef has produced a bunch of nice black groupers from 15-30 pounds. I have landed many goliaths from 30-150 pounds this week. We hooked many fish that I didn’t even slow down. I use a simple leader rig with 80-pound main line with 100-pound leader. Even with the drag locked down, I still can’t stop some of the fish before they get into the structure. I am thinking about going up in test, there are some slobby groupers out there. I am still looking to beat my 63-pound black grouper I got a few years back…one of these days, I can feel it! To fish for these dinosaurs, I like to use large yellowtails, up to 2 pounds, and grunts bigger than your hand. Even small-but-legal grouper can eat either of these baits; they have a voracious appetite and a mouth to match.
The swordfish bite was red hot, from what I heard from the boys. Summer time isn’t the best time to get a lunker, but there are lots of them out there. Even though you still might get lucky and get a 500 pounder, most of the big fish are on their way back up to the North, where they’ll be harvested by long liners up off of New York and Boston. Strip baits still seem to be the best baits along with squid. When you use squid you can sometimes end up with an oilfish, escolar, or even a pompfret. You just never know what you’re going to get when you drop a bait down 2,000 feet.
Good luck, and make sure you got all of your paper work onboard. Law Enforcement has been out in full force, especially if you are diving…those dive flags seem to attract them. Make sure you are abiding by all the new laws, or it could cost you.
Tags: black grouper fishing, bottom fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, escolar fishing, fishing law enforcement, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, goliath grouper fishing, Marathon fishing, oilfish fishing, pompfret fishing, snowy grouper fishing, squid, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, swordfish fishing, yellowt
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Monday, May 3rd, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Grouper season is officially open; get them while they are still congregating on the reef! I wasn’t booked on May first when the season opened, but my buddy Capt. Blaine Lemm and I went out to get our take. We didn’t leave the dock until 2:00 in the afternoon, but we had some great late afternoon action. Instead of weeding through the small ones we targeted large grouper with half pound to one-pound baits. We ended up hooking nine fish and only getting one 30 pounder to the boat. We got a few heads, before we were able to get a whole one to the boat. In the process we each caught a goliath grouper in excess of a hundred pounds.
If you’re heading offshore, the dolphin aren’t thick by any means…but if you put your time in you can make a pretty good day of it. Most of the fish have been from 12 miles out to the edge of the continental shelf. Almost all the fish have been under birds, with a few exceptions of some extraordinary floaters. My buddy John Foster found a boat with two motors floating, but half sunk with a school of wahoo on it. The only problem was that the wahoos weren’t the top predator in this little floating ecosystem. They were only able to get three whole 20 pounders and four halves. There must have been a shark or two lingering around. The tuna bite picked back up after its short break. Using live bait seems to be the key now…the tunas are not hitting the jigs as well as they have been, but you still are able to get a few. Using live bait, the tunas were averaging 20-25 pounds with your occasional smaller ones too.
The deep dropping has been phenomenal! From snowys to queen snappers, to tiles and barrelfish, the current has been perfect for this fishing. We need some current, but too much or you can’t hold bottom. Right now, its perfect with a knot and half drift slightly northeast. A few people that I have talked with tell me that that the deep dropping has been as good as it gets. With the new laws you need to be careful of what you catch because you can only have three groupers on the boat now. This would include tilefish in your aggregate limits. So that would mean two snowys and only tilefish, but we can live with a decrease bag limit. From what I heard coming down the coconut telegraph, they intend to shut it all down…so get what you can while it is still legal.
The reef is on fire! The yellow brick road has formed behind many boats, and many people are reporting the start of a great yellowtail season. We do catch yellowtails all year round, but it really is in the summer when the yellowtails school in great numbers. Since they’re competing for the food, they become very aggressive and easier to catch. We caught a few this week in the 5-pound range, which is an absolute monster when it comes to yellowtail. There have been a few muttons around, but now that grouper is in season, we have been concentrating on them instead. Remember, elephants eat peanuts…but to weed out small fish you must use larger baits.
Good luck and I will see you out there!
Tags: barrel fish fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, Captain Blaine Lemm, deep drop fishing, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, goliath grouper fishing, grouper fishing, live bait fishing, Marathon fishing, offshore fishing, queen snapper fishing, snowy grouper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tilefish fishing, tuna fishing, wahoo fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Monday, April 26th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Wow, what a beautiful week we had out on the water. The weather was almost perfect the entire week. We still didn’t find many dolphin but while were searching we came across an unusual floater.
We found half of a large swordfish floating, with a mako shark circling. The swordfish was cut in half, with it’s cobolt blue color still intact. I cut a chunk off of the swordfish and tried to bait up the mako but he wasn’t interested. I guess after eating 100 pounds of swordfish he was full. I t would be just a matter of time before he got hungry again, and I was hoping it would be soon. I tried to remove the swordfish from the water but the mako just left when we did that. So I tied the swordfish to the boat and dumped it back in the water.
It took only a few minutes for the mako to come back. I kept the chunk of bait right behind the carcass, and we just watched this magnificent shark swim around the boat for over a half an hour. The shark kept swimming circles around the boat and with every minute passing I got more and more frustrated. I finally took off the bait and pulled in the swordfish. I took the hook and stuck in the meat of the carcass where the mako had bitten him in half. I proceeded to let the swordfish out on a dock line.
After ten minutes the mako came up to investigate his prize. Shortly after that he took a bite out of the swordfish and it was so amazing to see how effortlessly he cut through it. I noticed that my line was moving away from the swordfish and I set the hook. I stuck him good, thumbing the drag and repetitively set the hook until the fish thrashed a bit. He didn’t go anywhere; he just swam around the boat like there was nothing wrong. Knowing what a mako is capable off I powered the boat away from the fish and then he realized that there was something wrong and he sounded peeling 400 feet of line in seconds. We fought the fish for about an hour when he finally came up for some jumps and shortly after that we lost him. He must have gotten wrapped up in the leader and it parted in the middle of a forty-foot leader. Even though we didn’t land him it was an epic adventure.
The dolphins haven’t shown up yet, but there are a few fish out there. I have found some schoolies in close and a few scattered big fish anywhere from 12-30 miles offshore. The tunas have slowed down at the hump, but if you get there early or stay out late you can manage a decent catch. Trolling around really has been a waste of time; if you run and gun you will find more fish under the birds.
The deep dropping was awesome this week. We found lots of snowys, a few queen snappers, tilefish, rosefish, and barrelfish. One of the spots we limited out on snowys on the first drop. We dropped two rods and got a double and a single. You are only allowed to have one snowy per person, so don’t do another drop in the same place because you are liable to catch another one. Usually we only catch one or two snowys in one spot but they seem to be on every spot I drop on. We had to stop deep dropping so we didn’t go over our limit. I do have spots where snowys won’t be. We went out to 1,100 feet of water and got some rosefish, and a barrelfish. This is the time of the year where I do very well catching snowys.
If the reef is more your style, it has been great. We caught lots of yellowtail and groupers. I found that the bite is starting to turn on in the deep water. You will find larger yellowtails in 75-100 feet of water. Using oats and lots of chum you can get the big boys up in the water column, where your odds of landing the big ones increase. We did get a few large mangroves on one spot; most of them were from 2-4 pounds, which is decent. I was fishing in 88 feet of water with a jig tipped with a small pinfish. This is also how we caught all those grouper. If you are looking to gear up for this weeks fishing stop in at Big Time Bait and Tackle, it’s where I go to get everything I need.
Once this wind lets down, get offshore and drop while you still can. And don’t forget to check all of your safety equipment…you never know when you might need it.
Tags: barrel fish fishing, big time bait and tackle, Capt. Dave Schugar, deep drop fishing, florida humps fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, grouper fishing, mako shark, Marathon fishing, pinfish fishing, queen snapper fishing, rosefish fishing, snowy grouper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, swordfish, tilefish fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Monday, April 19th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Cloudy skies, windy, rain in the distance, looks like a great day to fish.
Well when you only have one day to fish, sometimes you take what you can get. This week was no exception. Even though the conditions were lousy, we still crushed them this week. For us locals, when we are given a day which might be windy or maybe the forecast is predicting rain, we can always fish another day, but when someone only gets one or two weeks out of the year for vacation, they seem to grin and bare it, and usually they get rewarded with a cooler full of fish, too.
Well at least this is what happened with my clients this week. We fished the hump and the tunas were eating everything we threw at them. Doubles and triples all day and our biggest tuna was 20 pounds. Most of the fish were around ten pounds, but some bigger and some smaller were flying over the rails the entire trip. After we had enough for my clients to take home, we played a little game called “catch and release.” Some people just have never heard of that one before. Only take what you can use or eat…this will ensure that we have more bigger tuna next year. Just because there is no size limit and limit of how many you are allowed to keep, think about the future and how much fun you’re going to have when those fish double in size the following year.
We caught all of them on butterfly jigs, where as last week we were able to troll up some lunkers on a ballyhoo-Islander combo. As a matter of fact we caught all of big ones this way. We would drift over the hump and catch fish and then we would troll back to the spot were we would start our next drift and catch some tuna. Deep dropping wasn’t on fire but we produced some quality fish. Earlier in the week we pulled up some barrelfish, and tiles which could have been the next all-tackle record except for the fact that were using too many hooks and the IGFA seems to frown upon the electric reel. But it doesn’t matter, its all about the meat elevator.
People ask me if I feel guilty about using the electric reel, and I ask them “Do you feel guilty about driving to the store and picking out a steak at the meat market?” To me it isn’t any different…it is all about “what’s for dinner.”
Later in the week we did a few drops and caught a nice snowy grouper and big 15-pound queen snapper. I guess there are still a few of them still around too. My clients seemed to be avid anglers and extreme sportsman…well they would have to be to go out there in ten-foot seas! Yup, it was big out there but the fish are chewing.
Towards the end of the week I did a little yellow tailing in the afternoon and it was a steady pick of two-pound fish. The first spot I went to was great except for the fact that they didn’t want to eat. I had 3- to 5-pound yellowtails eating almost out of the bag but they were very line shy and tuned away from the bait every time except twice. We only caught two at that spot but it was so cool to see so many dinosaurs that close to the boat. They looked as big as schoolie dolphin.
The second spot was a complete bust, but as we drove off after fishing for only a half hour, I marked a tremendous school of fish holding close to the bottom. Maybe we didn’t wait long enough, but I needed to put fish in the box and yellowtail can be some of the most challenging fish to catch sometimes.
Our third spot was the ticket, almost all the fish were two pounds or close to it. No sharks like the first spot, and we picked fish till we hit our quota which is ten fish apiece.
Good luck! And if any of you need a shove in the right direction, don’t hesitate to call. I also can guide your boat so you can learn with your own equipment. You can read all you want, but when it comes down to it, hands-on training seems to work much better for most people. Be safe out there, and be courteous to your fellow anglers.
Tags: butterfly jig, Capt. Dave Schugar, florida humps fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, Marathon fishing, queen snapper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tuna fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | 1 Comment »
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Spring is here, thank God. It seems that our cold days are in our past. The water temperature has been warming and soon we will be in full swing with lots of dolphin. The Gulf Stream has moved in and out this week, this has caused the shallower water to warm as well as the heat from the sun too. Keep you eyes and ears open because it isn’t going to be long before the dolphin come pouring through.
I have been all over the pace this week. I fished the deep, the shallow and all the places in between. In the beginning of the week we went out for tunas at the hump and did very well. Most of the tunas were perfect size, not too small to eat and not too big where the meat gets really red. I prefer the 10-20 pounders…they have pinkish meat and I believe it is the best tasting. We filled the cooler with all the tuna my clients could eat and then we took a short ride to the west to fish for queen snapper. We caught tilefish, and queen snappers — good size to them as well. The fish have been averaging 12 pounds, but we have been getting a few close to 20 pounds.
The next charter this past week was a guide trip. A guide trip is when I jump on my clients boat and I give hands on training of the rigs, bait, and the area. If anyone is interested in this please give me a call…I would love to help you out! My client Dave wanted to learn about the reef so we went yellow tailing. It took a while for the yellowtails to pop up, but once they did we caught a few before they got spooked off buy the numerous kings and mackerel…or maybe it was the current (or lack of). We tried every trick in the book and they still wouldn’t bite. So I move to another spot out in 88 feet of water.
We marked a nice school, but I hadn’t been in this spot for quite some time now, so who knew that we would get into some great mangrove action? Most of them were 3-4 pounds, but none smaller than 2 pounds. After the bite died off, we switched to a jig, and whipped-jigged kings and mackerel on 8-pound test line. What a blast that was! All throughout the day we were catching grouper on the bottom with a small 1’4 oz jig tipped with a small pinfish. We were targeting muttons, but only caught groupers and mangroves. We probably caught 20 groupers (gags, reds, and blacks) and half of them were keepers, which we released unharmed to get a little bigger. I can’t wait till the grouper season opens, it’s killing me to release such quality fish, but the law is the law.
My next charter was another guide trip and we did our tuna thing for while when we finally caught some small ones, which we bridled up on two Tiagra 50 wides with 80-pound test. My client wanted to troll live tuna around the hump, so we did. We didn’t get any strikes but the anticipation of what might eat our baits really got our blood flowing. One of these days we will get a big marlin or maybe a mako. While we trolled around trying to get the smaller tunas we picked up one dolphin, which was a bonus. After a few hours with no strikes we went deep dropping and we caught a 60-pound wreckfish, rosefish, and a barrelfish. Unfortunately we were unable to keep the wreckfish due to its “no take” status. They are commercially taken but recreational anglers are not allowed to posses this fish.
On Sunday we headed out o look for yellowfin tuna, but we couldn’t find any. It was a desert out there, no dolphin and no yellowfins. We did manage to catch a sailfish on a squid spreader bar. We looked all over for birds but to no avail. I was using an open array radar to search for the birds, but we only found a few and they were just flying.
Good luck and keep it safe.
Tags: barrel fish fishing, black grouper fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, grouper fishing, guide fishing, Gulf Stream, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, mackerel fishing, mangrove snapper fishing, Marathon fishing, queen snapper fishing, red grouper fishing, reef fishing, rosefish fishing, sailfish fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tilefish fishing, tuna fishing, wreckfish fishing, yellowfin tuna fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | 1 Comment »
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