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Weekly Florida Keys Fishing Update from Capt. Dave Schugar and Sweet E'Nuf Charters
Posts Tagged ‘kingfish fishing’
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 »
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Cold and blusterous, seems to be a theme this year. There has been cold water plaguing us here in Marathon. This was caused by the Gulf Stream shooting into the Gulf of Mexico and forcing out cold water, which inevitably was forced along the Keys and it was the reason why the Gulf Stream or warmer water was so far out this week. If you think of a bucket that has been filled to the top with cold water, then add a hose with warm water; the water leaving the bucket first will be cold and then a mix of warm and cold water. This is what we are going to experience this coming week. There will be very large spikes of warm water all along the Keys. By heading either East or West you will find the warm water when heading out offshore. Listening to the weather report by NOAA you will be able to find out if your homeport is in the vicinity of the Gulf Stream. If it isn’t, you will either travel far offshore or up and down the road where the current and warmer water comes closer to shore. Fishing in these cold water is a waste of time and money. Find the warm water and you find the fish.
Offshore has been awfully bleak. There has been a few dolphin around the edge of the warm and cold water. Off of Marathon this week it was 30 miles out and further. There is warm water heading our way for the rest of the week. The Gulf Steam aught to be no more than ten miles from shore if not closer. This warm water will only be here for two to five days before another body of cold water from the Gulf of Mexico is pushed around Key West and then up the Straits of Florida. Most people think we are fishing the Atlantic Ocean, but in fact we are not in the Atlantic but the Florida Straits.
The reef has been fair with some yellowtail biting even though there hasn’t been any current in three weeks. The water has been dirty green and cold, not a great combo for a normally warm water-loving, cold blooded animal. The yellowtails are there and schooling in the chum, but they are not motivated to eat. I fished for yellowtails once this week and we got our limit but it took a while. The grouper action is hot just about everywhere. From 20 feet of water to 160 feet the blacks have been on a rampage, eating most baits. It is too bad we can’t even keep one a day. A few muttons have been taken on the reef from what my friend have told me, we didn’t see any though. The kingfish are pretty much all over the place; they seem to be digging the cold water. Cobias have been spotted in great number on the ocean side following rays and turtles. I wish I were out there to see it, I was told it was pretty impressive, with many fish in the 50-pound class and bigger.
Sail fishing was a bit bleak in Marathon, but if you traveled twenty miles East or West the bite was decent. There has been cleaner and warmer water in these areas, which have been teeming with sails and dolphin. Set up on the edge of the reef from 80-130 feet for the sails. Many multiple hook ups are possible and don’t forget about the wahoo, they are still around. My buddy John Foster got a fifty pounder this week. By using a little wire on your sailfish rig you can capture some of the toothy critters, which are in the same areas as the sails. Six inches of number Four or Five wire will work just fine and the sailfish won’t even know it was there, especially if you’re using ballyhoo.
Check the weather reports and fish in areas that look fishy don’t just choose an area out of a hat, and be precise with your rigging. By using all the tools and information available today the fisherman can be very productive these days, but when you fish blind sometime you get lucky and sometimes fall down. So use everything at your disposal from the Internet to the electronics on your boat, and be safe and good luck.
Tags: Capt. Dave Schugar, cobia fishing, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, Florida Straits fishing, grouper fishing, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, sail fish fishing, sailfish fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
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
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Monday, December 28th, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Flags flying from both sets of riggers is always a good sign. That’s right lots and lots of sailfish this week. I talked with a few buddies from up the road with multiple days of double digits. I was able to get out there and get 2-11 one day and 8-11 another day. I had a lot of miss-haps the first day but we got it together on the second day. Sometimes, clients who have never fished for sails before can be a little frustrating, but hey, if they have fun that’s the goal. You have to let the fish eat and sometimes letting the line fly off of the reel is the last thing inexperienced anglers will let happen. We lost a few fish this way and the others we had just came unglued after a while. All in all we had a great time and these people will never forget the constant action of sailfish action.
I had better luck late in the afternoon with the sailfish. It just might have been the fact that it wasn’t till the afternoon when we ended up ten miles down the road where we had all of our sailfish bites. The bite was absolutely off the chain from 12:00 to 4:00 out in front of Bahia Honda. 90 feet of water was the zone, if you ventured out past 100 feet I had no bites and if you got inside of 90 feet you got ate up by the mackerel. I had a great drift because I never put the engines in gear, I just pointed the boat down sea and turned on the autopilot and away we went for an eight-hour trip. I could have turned the engines off, but I like to have at least one running to keep up the juice to my batteries from the bait-well running. We caught a few kings while we were trolling, nothing huge but decent fish from 10-18 pounds.
The reef took a nosedive later this week but no worries it will return soon. Early in the week the yellowtails were hot along with a few grouper and plenty of cero mackerel if you wanted to catch them. Some muttons have being caught on the bottom and flat-lining while you’re anchored up. If your not getting any bites while you’re yellow tailing, try and drop down in leader to produce some muttons and shy bottom fish.
Looking to get out and catch a broadbill, then get out there while the bite is still hot. Many reports are coming in about how great the fishing has been for them. Picking the right weather is essential for success for sword fishing in the daytime. Many people are a little intimidated with this style of fishing, but it really isn’t that hard. Just get out there and do it. Big Time Bait and Tackle and Cudjoe Sales are very knowledgeable and are glad to get you set up with all the equipment and terminal tack required to fish for these tasty fish. While you’re out there the tunas have been biting at the humps, but watch out for the sharks, they have been bad on some of the days. Jigging and live baiting have been the only way to get the bigger fish, but if you troll, there are some smaller ones readily available to engulf one of your feathers or all of them.
Good luck and happy New Year. For those of you that want to learn or just want to catch fish please call soon, my calendar has been filling up fast for the next two months.
Tags: Bahia Honda fishing, broadbill fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, Florida Keys Fishing, jigging, kingfish fishing, live bait fishing, mackerel fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, reef fishing, sailfish fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, sword fish fishing, swordfish fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
Monday, December 21st, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Happy holidays everyone. It is usually pretty quiet down here the week before Christmas and it seems that this year is following normal trends. With a fresh blanket of snow in the northeast we seem to be pretty cozy down here in paradise.
The sailfish action has been steady with 2-4 fish as a daily average. Most of the fish were found tucking up along the edge of the reef. Putting the time in with slow trolling live baits has produced some nice action with kings and dolphin while waiting to be attacked by wolf packs of sails. During the midday the bite has slowed down and I would recommend dropping down on wrecks and the edge of the reef for some mutton and grouper action until later in the day when the sails pick back up again. There have been some sprays from bait showers inside the reef from 20-40 feet of water and using your tower you will see if they are from mackerels or sails. There has been a great push of mackerels in the shallows.
The mackerel fishing has picked up considerably since last week. Hoards of Spanish and cero mackerel have been feasting on the abundant bait from inside of Hawks Channel out to the patches. Trolling spoons or medium size crank baits works really well to help locate a big school. Once you have located a big school you anchor up and chum. While you’re chumming you can use shrimp, which seems to be the best bait for them, small pilchards, chunks and strips to have fun with these guys on light tackle. You can even use your fly rod, which is pretty cool as the mackerel scream line off of your flimsy noodle of a rod. The current allotment is 15 per person, but you can’t freeze this fish, so only keep as many as your going to eat fresh or put in the smoker, because they do make some of the best smoked fish when done right. My buddy Chris Kilmas has probably the best smoke fish I have ever tried. I have been smoking fish for a long time and he blows past me with his smoked fish. He will be smoking some mackerel I gave him this past weekend, I can’t wait till it gets done.
This time of the year we get heavy north winds which tends to keep people from fishing. This isn’t always necessary if you knew about the great fishing we have in Hawks Channel and on the patches. You might have to move around a bit until you find a good spot when you do, man-o-man it can be some exciting fishing, never knowing what will swim by the boat next. Big sharks, cobia, grouper, kingfish, mackerel, all kinds of snappers, and some pretty big, use hawks channel as a super highway. Finding rock piles scattered through the channel the fish use these as feeding stations, kinda like our rest stops on the turnpike. You never want to fish on top of the rock pile but instead anchor along side of it. If you don’t produce anything after a half-hour move to another rock pile until you find one with fish on it. Sometimes the fish will come to you if you chum long enough.
We need everyone to get involved and band together, because we need to get lobbyists to fight for our cause. There is a two-part amendment, which is going to be devastating to our economy if passed. ‘If approved, the closure will affect federal waters in the South Atlantic region from approximately 240 feet deep seaward and prohibit fishing for or possession of speckled hind, and warsaw grouper, as well as snowy grouper, blueline tilefish, yellowedge grouper, misty grouper, queen snapper, and silk snapper. The deepwater closure excludes golden tilefish, a species generally found over mud bottom and not likely to co-occur over the hard bottom habitat preferred by speckled hind and warsaw grouper. The closure is based on the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee’s recommendation that an Allowable Biological Catch of zero (0) landings be implemented for both speckled hind and warsaw grouper. Currently, fishermen are allowed to keep 1 fish per vessel per trip and sale is prohibited for these two species. The amendment will prohibit all fishing for, possession, and retaining speckled hind and warsaw grouper.’ They are doing this to protect the deep-water reefs not because of over fishing. This is an outrage because they have no idea that there is even a problem, it is just another elaborate scheme that the tree huggers and their lobbyists are trying to do to keep us from making a living from a great renewable resource. Please help us by joining together so we too can get a lobbyist to fight for us. Email me at sweetenufcharter@aol.com and join the fight.
Tags: blueline tilefish fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, cobia fishing, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, golden tilefish fishing, grouper fishing, Hawks Channel, kingfish fishing, mackerel fishing, Marathon fishing, misty grouper fishing, mutton snapper fishing, queen snapper fishing, sail fish fishing, sailfish fishing, sharks, silk snapper fishing, snapper fishing, snowy grouper fishing, speckled hind fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, warsaw grouper fishing, yellowedge grouper 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, November 16th, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — It sure is good to be writing for the Weekly Fisherman again. This paper has been loved by all; it is back, thank you Elizabeth and Jessica.
The sailfish bite is hot now. Earlier in the week the bite was good, but not as good as it is now. We just went 5 for 8 on Wednesday, and caught a few each day earlier in the week. There has been some bait showers along the edge of the reef and up inside of 40 feet of water. I found packs of sails in 130-165 feet of water. I mainly have been slow trolling ballyhoo since there aren’t too many birds giving up the sailfish’s locations. I prefer to troll with four baits and sometime with one down for muttons and kings. Using enough weight to keep close to the bottom. If the current is too strong I will keep the down rod about 60 feet down for some king action. Using large blue runners or speedos, you can get some really big ones. You can also get lucky sometimes and catch a nice wahoo.
The reef has been red hot with plenty of yellowtail to be had. The really big yellowtails have been chewing, but the sharks have been just down right scary. I watched two sharks bite each other as they were fighting over a yellowtail. While your fishing on the reef the cero mackerel are showing up good as well. I have been doing a lot of diving lately and I have been seeing plenty of black grouper. I see as many as 10 small ones from 20 inches or so. It’s really tough to get an exact size on them while your down but I never shoot them unless they look really big. This free diving is a hoot, I just started and I am addicted. On the patches I have been shooting some hogfish and mangroves, and an occasional large grouper. So if your looking to have some fun on rough days, the patches have been loaded with fish. With the temps dropping the fish are on the move, and they have been moving to the reef and inside as well.
The sword fishing from what I hear has been good, with some really exceptional catches. I head today that there was a 500+ pounder caught on the Key Colony dock by one of the private boats. Don’t quote me; it’s just what I heard. The guys up the road who have been doing a lot of swording tell me there have been lots of action, but most of the fish from 100-150 pounds. The deep dropping has been a little slow, but the barrel fish are always biting it seems. The queen snapper never showed up this year. I only heard of the a few caught on different occasions. My buddy John Foster destroyed them over in the Bahamas but he only went over there once.
Just for you guys who fish the bay the cobia have been biting and showing up in small schools. We limited out the other day and also got our share of some nice mangroves too. The mackerel have showed up, but they are not really thick yet. If you work hard you can limit out with them too. Just remember to only take fish which you can use; let’s not waste our resources. Have a great week and I will see you out there.
Tags: ballyhoo fishing, barrel fish fishing, black grouper fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, cobia fishing, deep drop fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, grouper fishing, hogfish fishing, Key Colony fishing, kingfish fishing, mackerel fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, reef fishing, sail fish fishing, sailfish fishing, sharks, spearfishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, sword fish fishing, swordfish fishing, wahoo fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Monday, November 9th, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Windy days have kept just about everyone at the dock. Just before the wind started the sailfish bit really well, with multiple hook ups and as many as ten fish being released in a day. The sailfish have been just off the edge of the reef from 100-150 feet of water. While live baiting we have caught kingfish and a few cobia to my surprise. The cobia started to migrate through but most of them are being caught on the gulf wrecks. The bait has been easy to get from ballyhoo to pilchards. The bottom fishing has slowed down a bit but I am sure we will get them to push down as the water up north starts to cool down.
The reef has been hot, and yellowtails are chewing really well. The conditions have been close to perfect, with a nice current to the east and when the wind was light it had no effect on the boat in the current. Now we will start having stronger north and southeast winds which, will make us have to bridle the boat so that our chum flows out the back of the boat for optimal performance. When you have a cross wind from the current the boat will swing a lot and the yellowtails will chase the boat back and forth. This will separate the school a bit and cause them to be a little picky. So we want to make sure we bridle the boat and not only does this help to keep the chum flowing back behind the boat, but it also acts like a stabilizer to keep the boat from swinging. Sometimes there is just no stopping the boat from swinging on anchor.
The sword fishing has been good when we are able to get out there, but the deep dropping has slowed down a bit, only a few snowys and tilefish. When I do get out far the barrel fish are still biting, but they slowed down too. This is the time of the year when the swords have migrated south from the northern parts of the east coast and are spreading out all throughout the Caribbean.
To beat the wind a lot of us run out into the bay for some great mangrove snapper fishing. The gags, goliaths, and red are out in full force on those small wrecks in the bay too. Soon the mackerel will show up in full force to make mince meat of whatever you throw at them. Most guys use live pilchards, but shrimp, and most cut bait will work. Even small spoons can be deadly for those toothy critters.
Tags: ballyhoo fishing, barrel fish fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, cobia fishing, deep drop fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, mackerel fishing, mangrove snapper fishing, Marathon fishing, pichards, sail fish fishing, sailfish fishing, shrimp, snapper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, sword fish fishing, swordfish charter, swordfish fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Monday, August 24th, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Scattered showers has seemed to drive off some of the people off the water, but I have been getting out sporadically. The fishing offshore has been up and down with the dolphin. I have heard some people getting some fish in the weeds in about 600 feet. I sure haven’t seen too much though. The tuna have been biting well all week at the hump. One day the jigs work well, the other day only live bait works. You can always get a few small ones on the troll west of the hump itself.
There has been plenty of AJ action on the hump with some of the fish pushing 80 pounds. We caught a few and then my clients wanted to do something less physical. So we went deep dropping. The snowys are biting ok, but nothing over 20 pounds. The barrel fish bite is like clock work. I think they are one of the best tasting fish that you can get offshore. The trick is to get the small ones, ones that are less than 20 pounds, but for my friends, and me that is a challenge.
My Buddy John Foster has forgot about the way he used to fish, which has gotten him more and bigger dolphin, but he remembered catching more wahoo, and marlin before he started to run and gun. So he planned to blind troll this week and got himself a nice wahoo out off the continental shelf. Hey John, sometimes it is better to just do what comes natural.
The wrecks off of Marathon have been producing some nice muttons and amberjacks mostly, with an occasional African pompano or cobia. Yeah, cobia, it is a little unusual for this time of the year but there have been a few around. The kingfish have been really good in the mornings with deep baits either trolled or drifted, live or dead, it doesn’t seem to matter. I like to use live gogs on a dropper loop rig. They just can’t resist.
If you are unfamiliar with a dropper loop rig I will tell you. I prefer to use a light conventional reel, with at least 40-pound test. I use 50-pound braid, but you don’t have to use braid but it seems to not scope out as much. I attach a 30 foot wind-on leader of 60 pound mono which I tie a dropper loop just after my connection to the braid. I will use a swivel to attach my wire leader, which is #7 wire with a lead hook and a trailer. The lead hook is a 6/0 Mustad ultra point live bait hook and a #1 triple strength treble three inches away. I find that if you try to make your trailer too long you end up foul hooking most of your fish, which can lead to hooks pulling. I place my bait in the water and feed it back until I get to the dropper loop and attach one pound of lead with a snap swivel for easy disconnection. I will try to keep one down about 50 feet and the other all the way at the bottom. Of course I will run some live baits up on the surface. Once you hook a fish you will stop at the dropper loop and because you fish is still 30 feet away you can take off the weight and the fish wont get spooked by the boat and run. Once you get the lead off you will be able to wind the fish strait to the boat. If you have down riggers, well, then you don’t need this rig.
The reef fishing is awesome right now with plenty of yellowtails, mangroves and a few other off the wall species. Day or night the fishing is great, but if your going to fish at night the bite is late, so need to rush out there. There are plenty of gogs, and pilchards on the reef at night so bring some sabikis and a cast net.
Good luck and I will see you out there. If you were wondering about the free cruise to the Caribbean, you have to charter me out to receive the entry form. One lucky couple will get a nice getaway.
Tags: African pompano fishing, amberjack fishing, barrel fish fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, cobia fishing, dolphin fishing, dropper loop rig, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, mangrove snapper fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, reef fishing, snowy grouper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tuna fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Monday, August 17th, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — This time of year the dolphin should still be out there in great numbers, but it seems that this year the fish were here but just not as many as last year. For the most part this week the offshore bite was a bit slow with a few fish being caught in the 600-700 feet of water, which is about 12 miles to 18 miles. But as the week went on when the winds picked up there were 6-10 feet seas in 300 feet where I was told from a captain friend of mine who caught a nice catch of gaffers and some schoolies. Almost all the dolphin have been found under birds and large pieces of debris. You need to look for five birds or less, any more birds and you will most likely find skippies or bonitas.
The humps have slowed down, with mainly small tunas even with live bait. I was out there and we went through 300 pilchards and only got a few small tuna around 6-8 pounds. It was tough because of people not being courteous or just not knowing the ethics of a good fisherman. Basically what was happening was on every drift we had one of three other boats out there trolling right through our chum slick and so close one time actually sucked up one of our lines. We feed him all 300 yards of our braid to teach that jerk a lesson. Hopefully he got home, but I hope his seal on lower unit got breached. It was so frustrating that every time we sent up here comes one of these trollers right up the stern of my boat. There was a reason why these guys kept trolling up our slick, we had pilchards jumping out of the water and five frigates diving and tunas busting all behind the boat. We finally got fed up and left; it was the gross negligence of a fisherman with no concern about his fellow fisherman. I do believe that at least one of those guys just didn’t know what he was doing, but the other two were just blatantly disregarding any common sense.
Deep dropping has saved my offshore trips lately. It has been really great conditions for deep dropping. The snowys have been biting; as a matter of fact I just found a new spot, which is holding an enormous amount of snowy groupers. I found a ledge, which stretches about two miles and after catching two snowys we left. I will keep working the rest of that ledge when I have the right charter. I went to one of my usual spots where I get snowys, barrel fish, and tilefish. This time we only got barrel fish, but we got one that would have shattered the world record. It weighed 30 pounds, which is also the biggest one I have ever seen. I believe the record is 17 pounds and normally we get barrels weighing in at 15-25 pounds, I should try for the record one of these days. I still haven’t found any queens yet this year on my usual spots. I have a few spots where I catch queens but the Government has shut down two of the three spots where I catch queens, but I will find other spots where queens gather. We get queen snapper for about four months during the year on a regular basis.
The nighttime reef action has slowed down; the majorities of the fish have spawned already and are moving back where they came from. The snappers on the reef are still biting but not like they have been. It is still worth going nighttime snapper fishing, but your going to have to work a little harder that’s all. During the daytime the muttons have started biting a little better, it was tough year for us in Marathon on the muttons, but they are scattered along the outer part of the reef and on some of the wrecks, the smaller the wreck the better. The yellowtails are chewing and the size has started to get bigger. As we get closer to the Fall the yellowtails will be getting bigger, well it’s not that the fish are getting bigger it’s the fact that big fish will travel up and down the reef looking for food sources. It is very important to feed your yellowtails. People like to lean out the chum, but you really want to push as much chum as your pocket will allow you. The more chum the healthier and the faster your yellowtail will be. The wrecks have been loaded with amberjacks, and the kings are starting to show up in full force. Take advantage of the good kingfish bite, and you can release them if you have no use for them. I like to make sure I have a good de-hooker so not to harm the fish and to retrieve the hook.
Good luck guys. Oh yeah by the way, from this point on I will be giving away a chance to win a cruise for two to the Caribbean for a week. Every client from now on needs to ask for the application form. Thanks for reading my report and don’t forget about how great the bite will be in October. I only have 14 days left; sometimes November can be great too.
Tags: amberjack fishing, barrel fish fishing, bonita fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, deep drop fishing, dolphin fishing, florida humps fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, king fish fishing, kingfish fishing, live bait fishing, Marathon fishing, pilchards, queen snapper fishing, reef fishing, skippy fishing, snapper fishing, snowy grouper fishing, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tilefish fishing, tuna fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
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