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Weekly Florida Keys Fishing Update from Capt. Dave Schugar and Sweet E'Nuf Charters
Posts Tagged ‘amberjack fishing’
Monday, March 29th, 2010
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.
Tags: amberjack fishing, ballyhoo fishing, barrel fish fishing, big pine key fishing, deep drop fishing, dolphin fishing, florida humps fishing, grouper fishing, live bait fishing, pilchards, queen snapper fishing, reef fishing, rosefish fishing, sail fish fishing, sailfish fishing, sandy key light fishing, snowy grouper fishing, tilefish fishing, tuna fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — It sure has been a while since I had a day off, but you wont hear me complain. Many people who usually come down to the Keys may not make it this year, but since there has been trouble in Mexico, the people who got a few bucks for a good time came down here. Some of my clients this week told me that they were going to go to Cancun but changed their plans due to the problems and threats that heard on the news. Last year it was a swine flu epidemic that caused people to stay in the country.
This week I spent a lot of time offshore, which was very productive as long as you fished the humps and deep dropped on ledges. The humps from Islamorada to Marathon have been packed with boats. The tuna and amberjack bite has been red hot. There have been much bigger amberjacks on the Islamorada Hump but still plenty of them on the Marathon hump to put any tackle you have to the test. The tunas have been smoking hot and their size has been good with many fish from 10 pounds and up. I only caught small ones when we pulled feathers. I only did that to get small ones for bait, the amberjacks love small tunas. You can fish them live or dead, but if you fish them live make sure you use enough lead to take them down three hundred feet to where the amberjacks are holding. It is better to have more lead than less, the tunas are hard swimmers and three pounds may seem like a lot but it will get the tuna down to the amberjacks. Using larger baits will ensure that you can get some of the largest fish out of this gigantic biomass of amberjacks that inhabit the hump.
The dolphin have been almost nonexistent, but there have been a few caught inside of 200 feet and some caught around floating debris out in the 600’s. With the water temperature in the low 70’s the dolphin will not be found in any numbers. I don’t know if it is just me but I can’t wait for the temps to rise, I am looking for the first push of dolphin. It probably won’t happen until the end of April but we can only hope.
The shallow wrecks have been over run with large amberjacks, and the word got out, the well-known wrecks looked like a parking lot. Everyone has been jockeying for the best position on the wrecks. Being in the right area of the wreck makes a whole lot of difference between catching and watching the boat next to you catching.
Reef fishing hasn’t changed much, it is still kind of slow for the most part, but the patches to the west of the seven mile bridge are producing a bounty of groupers and snappers. Most of the snappers are small muttons, and yellowtails with a few big mangrove snappers thrown in the mix.
The bay is full of mackerel, snappers, and groupers. Fishing the large deepwater grass beds near banks have produced for me very well. It doesn’t matter where you are, the mackerel will find you with a good chum slick. The best areas are about 7-10 miles strait out in front of the Seven Mile Bridge. Spoons and jig-n-shrimp combo works well too.
Get out there and fish and if you enjoy fishing please sign the petition to ensure that our favorite past time is still here to pass on to our kids. The web site for the petition is here.
Tags: amberjack fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, florida humps fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, grouper fishing, Islamorada fishing, mackerel fishing, mangrove snapper fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, reef fishing, snapper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tuna fishing, wreck fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Fishing News, Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys – It is starting to look like spring, as this week’s tides have been extremely low. The temperature has been a little cooler than normal, which hasn’t been good for our tourist population. This week’s full moon made the fishing a little interesting.
The yellowtails on the reef are still sluggish, but the mangroves that have been on the patches have been day savers. Speaking of day savers the kingfish which are most often overlooked can give your light tackle a good run for it’s money. Drag screaming off of a reel gets every fisherman’s blood flowing. These toothy critters love this weather and as the water cleared up the bite was really on. Kingfish rely on their great eyesight to eat. They have very large eyes for their size. Kingfish have a torpedo shaped body, which allows them to have incredible acceleration to surprise its prey. One of the many reasons I love to fish for kings is their ability to launch themselves out of the water and land directly on your bait. Sometimes kingfish can jump twenty feet in the air when they attack bait on the surface. These supersonic jet –like predators can eat very large baits, as they will cut larger baits down to size as they shred apiece off on every pass. You can target these fish on deeper wrecks from 125-180 feet of water. If there are barracudas around the wreck the kings will stay further off the wreck so not to be eaten themselves. You can troll for them with live or dead bait along the edge of the reef or anchor up and chunk for them as well. When you’re anchored up try the kite with a large bait and some flatlines with live baits for the best results. They will readily eat a spoon or jig retrieved very fast. These fish are triggered to attack by fast moving action.
Sail fishing has been a little on the boring side. The current still hasn’t been all that great and this eddy of no current was shortly interrupted for a few days as we did experience some current this week. The bite for sails has been slow all the way up to Miami. When we get some current we will see the action pick back up. There were a few dolphin caught along the reef this week, nothing of any size or numbers but a few is better than none. I heard from one of my friends that a large school of schoolies cam by their boat, but they were too small to keep. If I had to go offshore this upcoming week I would venture out to the humps where the action has been with tuna and amberjacks. The super large jacks have held up residence on the hump and so has many large sharks too. The jacks out there have been averaging 65-80 pounds with some 100 pounders being caught too.
For the up coming week, it looks like we are going to experience cooler waters only in front of Marathon and as far out as 30 miles, but later in the week it will be pushed out by the warm water eddy and the warm water looks like it will push almost to the reef. When we loose the cooler water the Upper Keys will get it for a few days until it pushes around the corner to Miami. Look for warm water East or West till Thursday and then we should have some current and warm water for a few days until a new eddy of cold water will plague us once again. All of this cooler water is being pushed by the warm water out of the Gulf of Mexico and creating a Ying and a Yang mixture of cold and warm water along the Keys. This warm water is swirling the cold water up the coast and this is why we will be experiencing these changes of water temperatures.
I am counting the days till the dolphin run, but I am predicting that it won’t be until the end of April or the beginning of May before we see any major runs, but I hope I am wrong. This was the trend last year, and the only way that we will see the dolphin return early is if we experience some global warming, hahahaha, just kidding, but seriously, we need the warm water for the dolphin to show up early. And everyone hated El Nino, but I think that’s why we had loads of dolphin from March to October. I had amazing Octobers in the past when the water stayed warm late in the season. Keep your eyes peeled for birds working anywhere near the warm water for dolphin. Good luck out there.
Tags: amberjack fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, florida humps fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, Marathon fishing, sail fish fishing, sailfish fishing, sharks, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tuna fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | 1 Comment »
Monday, February 15th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys – Here we go again, the cold has started leaking into the Keys giving us 50-degree temperatures. Thinking back all the years I have lived here, I have never witnessed the degree of winter temperatures as we have seen the past two years. The notion of global warming just makes me mad as it has been very clear that what ever research that has been done, has been done wrong. You tell me, records are falling all over the northern hemisphere, as these guys are still defending their inaccurate work they call their research. I have had many calls for the early dolphin run that we used to get during March and April, but I really have to say that we won’t see it this year. Last year was the beginning of this cold trend, and the dolphin didn’t have a good run till the very end of April. But I do believe we will keep our excellent sailfish season into April and if you fish further offshore the sail fishing should continue to be good into May.
This week was a bit rough, which limited the amount of people that should have been out there. Fishing in 4-6 foot seas on the reef and wrecks I was able to keep my clients thinking about their next bite instead of their stomachs. The wrecks were very active with muttons, groupers, and amberjacks. Using vertical jigs and live bait you were very likely to stay very busy with multiple double headers and line screaming off of the fifty pound spinners I use for dropping. I find that most people are more comfortable with spinners and you can let beginners who are enthusiastic about fishing get experience with a fishing combo that is user friendly. I had a charter this week where catching blue runners became a challenge for them, but after filling the well with blue runners they were able to try for the big ones on a little bit bigger tackle. After bouncing around out there we lost two anglers to seasickness, but the other two caught some slob amberjacks on a lighter combo. Women especially, find lighter tackle easier even though it might take longer to land a big fish, you need to have some common sense to understand that most women are not as strong as men and to use heavy tackle with strong drags is just not going to happen. So next time when you are out there dropping for amberjacks and other bottom fish, give the lady a spinner and make her day.
The reef has been ok, yellowtails have been biting somewhat, but the lack of current has really affected the bite. They have been hitting softly and closer to the bottom due to the dirty water and lack of current. Yellowtails are funny sometimes, but it makes complete sense. If the water is dirty the yellowtail will not come up high in the water column for the one reason, they need to see the bottom. If they have a hard time seeing the bottom they will hold deeper in the water column. Sometimes when they are really hungry they will come up and go down, never staying on top. When your school of yellowtail won’t come up, you will loose more fish due to their ability to find something to wrap your line around since they are so close to the bottom. They can be smart by swimming towards the boat but diving deeper as they find something to hang you up on. The other reason when the yellowtails get hard to get to the boat when they are deeper in the water column is that the threat of being eaten by sharks and kingfish increases with every ten feet down in the water column. As the fish struggles on the line the kings and sharks are able to pick these fish out and eat them with ease. Even dolphin (flipper) will take their fair share of your fish while you’re out there yellow tailing.
Sail fishing has been ok, with some captains getting 3-7 releases, and capturing some big kings in the 20-30 pound range. Lots of schooling kings from 8-12 pounds have been swarming around some of the wrecks in 130-180 feet of water. Using vertical jigs, live bait and dead bait has been working really well. You can also get out off the edge of the reef and troll with down riggers or weights and have a blast catching kingfish. They might not be very good to eat, but I do enjoy catching them. They are one of our sportfish that most people overlook. If you use the right tackle these toothy critters are sure to pull hard and test your tackle, especially if your using light tackle. Fishing foe kings in the Kite is so much fun. This is by far some of the most exciting way to kingfish as they skyrocket twenty feet into the air with the bait in their mouth. If you have ever bass fished using top-water plugs, the excitement you get when the fish busts your floating lure making a big splash and surprising you at the same time drives these fisherman to stick with it. The same thing with kite fishing for kings, the aerial attacks and the strike is the number one reason for fishing this way.
Have a great week, and get out there and have some fun. Try something new this week, and try kite fishing for kings while we have the weather for it.
Tags: amberjack fishing, blue runner fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, Marathon fishing, reef fishing, sail fish fishing, sailfish fishing, sharks, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, wreck fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
Monday, February 8th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — As the North enters an ice age, we in the south can sit back and enjoy the slightly cooler weather while enjoying the phenomenal Keys fishing. We had a windy week with a couple of days where the wind died down, but unfortunately I was off for the nice days. I fished the wrecks all week and was able to produce a nice cooler of fish each of those days.
The wrecks have been hit or miss, but when you do find one that is producing, stick with it. That was the case this week, as I hit six to seven different wrecks to finally find one that was producing. Most of what we caught was large to medium amberjacks from 30-50 pounds. On a spinner with 50 pound braid the fight is unforgettable for my clients. Whether you call them bulldogs of the deep or reef donkeys, amberjacks are a formidable opponent on light gear. Using only 40-pound leader the drag on my rods are set fairly light to allow the fish to run, and that’s why I love to fish this way. Anyone can drop down heavy tackle on a conventional reel, but what most people love about catching big fish is to watch the line scream off the reel. I do lose fish because my tackle is lighter than most, but that’s fishing, you can’t catch them all, and if we did, fishing would be too predictable and maybe become a little boring. In between the jack attacks we took our fair share of some nice size muttons in the 12-15 pound range. A few mystery fish which we couldn’t stop, which I thought they might have been big grouper, because they went strait for the wreck and stopped running once they got there.
The reef has been hot, where most people are catching some pretty large mangroves, yellowtail, and muttons. I talked to my buddy Johnny who is an avid free diver and said the groupers are all over the place. John proceeded to tell me an astounding story about his latest dive. After shooting a couple of muttons, he shot another only to have it pull free from his spear when out of nowhere four groupers of all sizes came in to maul the wounded mutton. They watched in awe to the aggressive behavior these groupers were exhibiting. He told me it reminded him of a pride of lions attacking a gazelle on the African plains. To bad he didn’t have his video camera to document these obviously hungry groupers. Johnny had said that his whole group saw a hundred grouper though out the day which would mean that maybe the spawn is on. I am upset we can’t enjoy this fishery, mainly I can understand why they want to close the season, but completely shutting down the season is a little much. It would have been handled better if we had a restriction on how many we can keep during the spawn, but the total shut down is outrageous.
Sail fishing was pretty normal this week with many fish caught and released. The ballyhoo had disappeared due to the dirty water. Finding them on the ocean side was real a challenge, but when this happens venture out to the bay and chum along some of the banks, three miles out and or in front of the Seven Mile Bridge. Be careful back there, there are many banks and you don’t want to end up on the bank or destroying the grass growing on them either. The bite was sporadic throughout the day but the bite is determined by the time and the amount of bait in the area. So look for bait, and find a nice drop off and get yourself a sail today.
Offshore there have been some reports of dolphin and wahoo, so go back to the basics and pull some high speeders. Finding dolphin this time of year can be challenging, but you won’t have to go far, look for weed lines and rips inside of ten miles. I am sure the deep dropping was good, but I didn’t talk to anyone who went out in these conditions to test their boat and their sea legs. I can’t wait till I can get back out there, dinner is much better with queen snapper on the table verses mutton snapper, but mutton will do when there is no queen snapper to be had.
Get out when you can, but make sure you are to date on all the new fishing regulations, and make sure your boat is equipped with all the required safety equipment too, the Coast Guard will appreciate that. Till next week, happy hunting.
Tags: amberjack fishing, ballyhoo fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, grouper fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, sail fish fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, wahoo fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
Monday, January 25th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — It is feeling more and more like the Keys with temperatures up in the 80’s, just where we like it. The warmer weather has warmed up the shallows, which can be essential for finding our bait for the day. Pilchards are showing back up and as well as the pinfish, so get out there and get your bait for some hot offshore fishing. The ocean side has bee red hot no matter which of the numerous species you like to target.
Sail fishing has been as hot as it can get from the showers in the shallows to the packs of sails tailing down sea off the edge of the reef. I haven’t been sail fishing this week but, from what I gathered from my friends and other charter captains, it is good out there, really good. Using live bait will generally always be better than trolling dead bait, but one of my friend got three sails on dead bait, along with some dolphin and blackfin tuna. There are many different ways to fish for sails down here, so pick the best way you know how and go get some. When the wind blows you shouldn’t let it get you down, you can always anchor up on the reef.
The reef has been producing some quality yellowtails from 45-60 feet of water. While your fishing for your yellowtails, put out a kite with a blue runner or a yellowtail for a chance of a smoker king or wahoo. When your chumming and you have a big school of fish behind your boat, there will be some other predatory fish lurking back there for an easy meal. If your chum is going the same direction as the wind, add a couple of big split shots your kite. This will allow your kite to veer to one side or the other. You don’t want your kite bait back in your yellowtail school for two reasons. The first reason is that it might scare your school of yellowtail, and by placing it amongst all the other fish it may get lost amongst the school of yellowtails. So if you get your kite to skirt to the outside of the school it will be an easy target by the predators. Most predators will attack a bait that gets separated from its school first. I also would recommend that you make your kite go to the side closer to the deeper water. When we have North winds you may not even need any split shots if the current is strong enough. Try out this method, it really works. If you never have used a kite and feel intimidated with it, hire me to run your boat for the day, I will teach you how to work the kite and many other methods, which all of us captains use down here.
Wreck fishing has been really good; many different species are being caught in the deeper water. Amberjacks seem to be on all the wrecks, but if you are persistent you might get yourself some nice muttons that have been in the 10-18 pound range. Groupers have been biting well, but unfortunately we will have to release all of them due to the new grouper regulations. The bait has been easier to catch as the warm water returns to the shallows.
Deep dropping is on fire, from snowy grouper to queen snappers. Some tilefish are being caught and of course the barrels have been biting as well. I like to use cut bait and squid when I am deep dropping, it gives them a choice, even fish like a choice. Swords are biting but if you are as unlucky like we were this last trip you can fight a sword for a couple hours only to have a shark eat it before you can get it in. I swear that it was a jumbo because he fought really hard the whole time, and usually when they fight hard on the bottom, it’s a big one. Large swordfish do one of two things when you hook one. They will fight hard and stay down for many hours or fire up to surface faster than you can reel in the line. We had numerous bites and hook ups, but the fish were just coming unglued on this trip. Well I guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching. The more frustrating thing was that my friend Capt Will Wagner fishing right next to me landed two fish. My mother told me there would be days like this.
Have a great week, and catch some fish!
Tags: amberjack fishing, blackfin tuna fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, grouper fishing, Marathon fishing, pilchards, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, swordfish fishing, tilefish fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — The mercury is climbing up and so are all the anglers. My phone has been ringing off the hook since the weather broke. Massive fish kills all over South Florida. Any fish that didn’t make it to deep water died from the temperature change. The water temperature got down to 53 degrees from 70 degrees. There is a temporary closure on most of the inshore species such as snook, tarpon, and bonefish, this means that you can’t take, possess or take out of the water. From what I was told, the Everglades got wiped out to the point, which the scientists think that all most every fish that didn’t leave died due to the cold temperatures. There was a weed line in Hawks Channel a couple of days ago, but no weeds, it was composed of all the dead fish and it stretched as far as I could see. The Keys fishing charters are dependent on our resources and if people find out that there aren’t any fish left it could detrimental on our small economy down here. The inshore species have definitely taken a hit but they will return. Just about every year I hear about the red tide up the west coast of Florida and once it clears the fish return, so don’t worry everyone the shallow water fishing will return.
On another note the offshore fishing has been on fire. The reef, and beyond have plenty of fish to bide your time until the shallows heal. The sailfish bite went off this week with many captains getting double digits or at least catching a few. The bite has been better up to the east from Tennessee to the west end of Long Key bridge and east of Sombrero light about two miles. Lots of spraying fish, so those of you with towers take advantage of it, but the rest of us the slow trolling with ballyhoo has been deadly as well. Big kings and wahoo have also been good, so when live baiting use four to six inches of #5 wire in front of your hook. Don’t worry about the sailfish seeing it, they won’t. I use an Albright knot from my leader to the wire but if you don’t know how just use a 50-pound swivel. There has been a few big blackfin tuna and one yellowfin tuna from what I heard from a friend. My friend Jay who runs the Sea Scape hotel got himself a nice yellowfin while trolling the edge so you just never what might pop up. This is why fishing can be so much fun, you just never know what’s going to bite. Put some live bait and you can’t go wrong.
I have been wreck fishing this week in between the eight footers, which can get dicey when you’re backing up into the sea, but we pulled off nice loads of muttons and amberjacks. I found that most of our mutton bites came from split-tailed ballyhoo laid on the bottom where as the AJ’s just wouldn’t leave the live bait alone. Bait was really tough to get, even the pinfish were hard to get. Any spot shallower than 25 feet of water was barren and even out deep the bait was still scarce. We were able to get enough bait for the day after about 2 hours of hunting. When this happens I stay out longer to keep the smiles on my clients faces. Working for all the different Captains and boat owners over the years got me thinking. They always got upset with me when I came in late, so now that I own my own boat, I stay out, as long I want.
Good luck everyone and play safe.
Tags: amberjack fishing, ballyhoo fishing, blackfin tuna fishing, bonefish fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, everglades, Florida Keys Fishing, hawks channel fishing, Long Key Bridge fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, pinfish fishing, reef fishing, sailfish fishing, snook fishing, Sombrero Key Lighthouse fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tarpon fishing, yellowfin tuna fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — With all the bad weather we had to pick the right days to get out this week. I did manage to get out and find some quality fish. When the wind blows or it’s just too cold to go fishing you can use this time wisely and go over all your safety equipment. Having the operational emergency equipment is important no matter who you are. Even if you never need them, always check your fire extinguishers to make sure they are fully charged and check out your first aid kit to make sure that everything is good and not moldy. We have a problem with mold down here from the humidity and even if you never opened it could be ruined. Most of you already know that your flares have an expiration date so check them and if they are expired keep them onboard and get some new ones. Even though they are expired it couldn’t hurt to have a few extra. They might be out-dated but they will most likely work.
We went sail fishing in the beginning of the week and it wasn’t great but we did catch two fish. Fishing for sails can be a waiting game sometimes and if you are impatient you can miss out, but sometimes making a move can also turn your day around. Sometimes it can be a coin toss, but what I look for is an outcropped piece of reef when I set up for sails. The bait holds up on the shallow patches and will get pushed out by the tide and wind, game fish such as sailfish will gather in these areas. So look on your chart for areas with really shallow water near the drop off. Before you set up, look around, ask yourself a few questions such as; is there any bait around, is there a color change in the area, and is there a temperature change in the area. If you can say yes to at least one of these questions, fish the area and see what happens.
Before the weather broke on Friday I mutton fished two days in all this wind and we caught some choice fish. We didn’t set the world on fire but we were able to put a nice catch of muttons together with numerous amberjacks. I was able to keep my clients with bent rods and smiles on their faces. Live bait was also the key. I like to drop a live pinfish or grunt and a split-tailed ballyhoo to keep them honest. You just never know what they will eat but when they choose one of the two I will drop the same bait on both rods next time. But in this case the live bait was working while the dead bait just didn’t seem to get noticed. Most of the muttons were from 12-15 pounds and the amberjacks were from 20-30 pounds with a few small ones around 10 pounds. The AJ’s were biting on every wreck, but the 140-180 foot wrecks is where we caught the muttons. We also caught some muttons on live bottom in 140-165 feet too.
Finally we got a break from the wind on Friday, so we went offshore to do some tuna fishing, deep dropping, and sword fishing. The tuna bite was hot, but the fish were only a few pounds. I kept a few for bait and we went to my queen spot down to the west and the bite was on. We dropped five times and caught fish every drop. We ended up with two queens around fifteen pounds and two around ten pounds. We also dragged up a big amberjack, which we released unharmed to fight again. Four big queens were enough and the day was getting late so we headed further west to drop for swords. We had a really long first drift and no bite so we started to bring up the bait when all of a sudden we got a bite a couple hundred feet off the bottom. We stopped the retrieval of the bait and slowly dropped the bait down so to put slack in the leader and it was just enough to allow the sword to eat the bait. Hooked up, we ended up landing a 100 pounder, not a big one but it was getting late so we bagged the fish and headed home. What a cooler, four jumbo queens, and a decent sword to boot.
Good luck this week and wear layers to keep warm.
Tags: amberjack fishing, ballyhoo fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, Florida Keys Fishing, grunt fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, pinfish fishing, queen snapper fishing, reef fishing, sail fish fishing, sailfish fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, swordfish fishing, tuna fishing
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Monday, December 14th, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Hogfish, it’s what’s for dinner. Hogfish has to be one of the best fish we have down here in the Keys and they are all over the place right now. I have been taking my friends out to the patches and we have been shooting our dinner. Hogfish have to be the easiest fish to shoot; they turn sideways to make it easier to shoot them when confronted. Not very smart for as fish go, but it sure is nice of them. You can find hogfish on reefs, and grass beds. I usually will find them on the outskirts of the patches. These fish can change colors in an instant to blend into the bottom. It is really neat to see these fish change colors and they really do blend in amazingly. Most of the hogfish you will find in shallow water, but if you dive in the deeper reefs they can be abundant out there too. I will usually find bigger ones out in the deeper water, some up to five pounds or better. I donated the fish to the Monkey for a fish fry this week. My buddy Bobby Butler made some fried hogfish poorboys that were out of this world. He took the fillets and marinated them for a couple of hours in Coco Lopez, which is sweetened, condensed coconut milk. Then he breaded them with rice krispies and put coleslaw on a sub roll and man it was amazing. Thanks Bobby.
The sailfish action was a little slow this week but there was some great wahoo fishing. High speed trolling has been working well from 150-250 feet of water. Most people were using drails and plastics, but I talked to one of my friends up the road a bit and they were having some great luck with live speedos. They caught lots of kingfish and five wahoo from 20-40 pounds. One of my friends caught a few wahoo this week using ballyhoo with cone lures in front. The sailfish action was slow but a couple of days they turned on pretty good in the shallows. Following the bait sprays was the key this week. Finding the frigates diving was also a good indication of some action too. Live bait has been pretty easy to come by right now. There are lots of cigars here in Marathon, which is unusual, and plenty of pilchards on the flats from 79th street up to Valhalla. The ballyhoo can be found just about everywhere, but if you want the green backs they are back in the bay and they are all over the place as well.
The reef is still on fire with yellowtail, jacks, kings, muttons and groupers. Anchoring up can be so much fun this time of year. You can do all sorts of fishing while you’re anchored up on your yellowtail spot. I like to yellowtail fish first and while we are catching yellowtails I put down a couple of bottom rods with one large bait for grouper and a small bait for muttons. After we have enough yellowtails I will switch over and king fish either from a kite or just flat lining from the back of the boat. Big kings will circle your yellowtails and putting one up in the kite off the side of the boat will usually yield some big smoker kings. Most people don’t like to eat kingfish, but I will tell you from my own personal experience, they make great smoked fish dip. Besides, they really are a great sport fish, which is usually overlooked because of their poor food quality. I have caught many kingfish over 50 pounds and they are like fighting a large wahoo. They will make blistering runs and my favorite part is when they strike the bait on the surface, either exploding on the bait or coming fifteen feet out of the water with the bait in their mouth. Wintertime fishing is one of my favorite times of the year because you just never know what you’re going to get. You could catch dolphin, sailfish, wahoo, tuna, white marlin, grouper, muttons, yellowtail and other assorted snappers. There are sharks, and barracudas, and numerous kinds of jacks, which will test your will and your tackle.
Way out has been a virtually barren except for some sword fishing off the shelf and lots of big tuna at the humps. The tunas have been thick but so are the sharks. You just never know when the sharks will be bad, but most days this time of the year they seem to swarm the humps and the reefs. We dove the other day and the first three spots had a big bull shark swimming on them. We only stayed in those areas for a short time, because they bull sharks were starting to investigate us, so not to tempt fate we moved. The jigs and live bait were the only way to get the big tunas to bite. If you trolled you only caught bait size tunas. Fishing further in front of the hump can help keep the sharks from getting your tuna, but you really are at their mercy.
Good luck, it looks like the rain missed us this week, and I looking forward to the next front, hopefully it will spark up the sailfish bite.
Tags: amberjack fishing, ballyhoo fishing, barracuda fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, florida humps fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, fried hogfish poorboy, grouper fishing, hogfish cooking tips, hogfish fishing, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, sailfish fishing, sharks, snapper fishing, spearfishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tuna fishing, wahoo fishing, white marlin fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Monday, October 26th, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Fall has been falling short of last year’s phenomenal fishing. We really never got a dolphin run this fall like we usually do. This year has definitely changed for the worse. Not only has the economy hit us charter boat captains hard, the fish seem to be on strike as well. Compared to last fall, this fall has fallen short of normal. Water temperatures have been on the cooler side as was the air temperatures as well. The offshore fishing has slowed to a halt.
With the offshore fishing slow, we have been fishing the reef and wrecks to show our clients a fun filled day of catching. The muttons have been biting well, no size to them but plenty of fish from the 6-10 pounds. One day this week we caught over twenty muttons on a half-day charter. It was blowing over twenty kts. So, we stayed close to shore, fishing Hawks Channel and the patches, which have been full of snappers. The yellowtail snapper have been chewing really well, with some large fish being caught. While fishing for yellowtail snapper we have been catching a few muttons on the bottom as well with a grouper here and there. Always bring some live bait while your fishing on the reef to catch some of the bigger fish off of the bottom. Live bait such as ballyhoo, pinfish, grunts, and even small legal lane snappers work great for the groupers and muttons. Remember when fishing for muttons, a lighter leader is best, but if a grouper eats your bait you will most likely loose him. I will try using a heavy leader first to get the groupers, and as the day goes on, I will drop the leader size.
Wreck fishing has been on fire with amberjacks swarming over most of the wrecks. There are a few African pompanos and muttons being caught. I have been using mostly pinfish and small grunts to target all of these fish. I will use a split-tailed ballyhoo also, it will sometimes be the secret bait which most people overlook. When fishing the wrecks for most of the bottom dwellers I prefer to use a 15-20 foot leader from 40-60 pound floro carbon leader. One other important thing you must get down with dropping long leaders to the bottom is that you have to have the boat moving forward while dropping the bait down to the bottom. This will allow the line to scope out a bit and will prevent tangles while dropping down 150-250 feet of water. This past couple of weeks I have caught, cobia, muttons, amberjacks, jack crevales, grouper, African pompano, mangrove snapper, white margates, yellow jacks, and barracudas. I really have been doing well on the deeper wrecks from 180-250 feet of water.
Deep dropping this past week was a little slow with a few tilefish and barrel fish being caught. I have heard a few people got into a few queen snappers but for the most part the deep dropping has been slow except for the tilefish and an occasional snowy. The sword fishing has been great although the weather has been dictating the days, which we are able to fish for them. I went one for three at the beginning of last week. It wasn’t really big one but a keeper never the less. Sword fishing has been taking most of the attention of a lot of people these days, getting a big one can really change your outlook of the offshore fishing. Fall through the winter the sword fishing should be great as the fish from the North East migrate south to warmer waters. We are in a great place down here in the Keys to catch these fish only 30 miles from shore. If you have never though about it, you should, it is some great fishing and can produce a lot of meat for you meat hunters.
Have a great week and hope to see you down here, stay warm until you get down here.
Tags: African pompano fishing, amberjack fishing, ballyhoo fishing, barracuda fishing, barrel fish fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, cobia fishing, deep drop fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, grouper fishing, Hawks Channel, live bait fishing, mangrove snapper fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, queen snapper fishing, reef fishing, snowy grouper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, sword fish fishing, swordfish charter, swordfish fishing, tilefish fishing, wreck fishing, yellow jack fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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