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Weekly Florida Keys Fishing Update from Capt. Dave Schugar and Sweet E'Nuf Charters
Posts Tagged ‘reef fishing’
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, 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, January 4th, 2010
MARATHON, Florida Keys — Brrrrrrr, it is just down right cold outside. Global warming, what? Fishing this week was a bit off for the weather we have been having, but it might be caused by the Gulf Stream being so far offshore. Most of the week the Gulf Stream has been around 20-26 miles offshore which puts a big gap between it and the edge of the reef. The green water, which has had little to no current, has pushed all the way out to the beginning edge of the continental shelf. There has been bait all the way out to the blue water, but as soon as you enter the blue water the water temperature jumps up from 74 degrees to 77.5 degrees.
Sail fishing has suffered as did most of the offshore species, but I did find a couple fish each day while fishing in tight to the edge of the reef. The grass has made it hard to troll, but trying to find fish in the shallows is really tough because of the milky water conditions. We found some nice big kings while slow trolling for sails with a deep bait. The ballyhoo are hoarding around the shallow banks on the Oceanside. Catching plenty of bait has not been the problem. I have talked to many captains this week and it seems to be a consensus, the sail fishing is slow, and it won’t get better unless the current comes back.
I ventured out to the deep water this week once to deep drop some, and we did very well with the groceries. We got plenty of queen snappers, barrels, and got one snowy grouper. The tunas at the hump are abundant and small, but if you get way out in front of the hump and drop your jig down 90 seconds you have a better chance of getting a larger tuna from 10-20 pounds. Once you get closer to the hump the small tunas are to ferocious to even get a jig far enough down to where the bigger fish might be. The bait of choice for the queen snapper was tuna, but the barrels only eat squid. When dropping down for snowy grouper use big baits and squid to entice these numerous and tasty fish to bite. There is talk about the closure of these deepwater species, but they have no real data, if they talked to us charter fisherman and the commercial fisherman they would see that there is no need to shut down all of the fishing in the deep reefs from 300-out. They shut down a 25 square mile last year and we all had no problems with that, but I guess it wasn’t enough for them because now they are threatening to shut all the deep water off so that no one can use this resource which is not in any danger of being over fished. They shut the commercial fishing of snowy groupers to 150 pounds. These guys which fish for these fish have no problem catching there limit, and didn’t have a problem catching their limit when they could catch 600 pounds. Something is very fishy, no fishery is safe, someone is behind in ruining the Florida Keys and they are hurting us with all this talk about shutting down all fishing down here. Make limits, we will abide by them; don’t shut down a fishery especially when you don’t have the data. I recommend that everyone join the RFA; this is an organization, which is fighting for our fishing rights while preserving the fish we are so eager to catch and eat.
If the seas got you down, don’t let it. You don’t have to go far to have some fun and catch plenty of fish. This past week the mackerel and snappers have been everywhere just inside of hawks channel and you can make a whole day of catching. Putting a large bait on the bottom while your chumming in this area can produce great results from goliaths to sharks. Remember hawks channel is like a super highway for fish, it is like those guys trying to sell flowers at the off ramps, use the bumps and lumps like the flower sellers to catch your fish.
Good luck and be safe.
Tags: ballyhoo fishing, barrel fish fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, Florida Keys Fishing, hawks channel fishing, king fish fishing, mackerel fishing, Marathon fishing, queen snapper fishing, reef fishing, sailfish fishing, snapper fishing, snowy grouper fishing, squid, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, tuna fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
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
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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
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
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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Monday, September 21st, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — The season has been slow lately, but I did get out a couple of times this week. One day we went offshore for tuna and dolphin. The tuna fishing was so good we only fished for two hours and got ten fish from 20-30 pounds. Live baiting was the key, with only a couple of other boats out there the fish seemed to never go down. The current was only about one knot, which meant we could have some long drifts. Watching the tunas busting and sky rocketing on the freebies was absolutely awesome, it reminded me of a Guy Harvey T-shirt. Fresh sashimi was on my mind once we hit the dock.
After the tuna frenzy on the hump we shot out to the edge of the wall looking for some dolphin, and it didn’t take long to find the first of many schools of dolphin. They weren’t too picky. I have caught lots of sardines lately and they scarfed them up like Scooby snacks. There were lots of fish from 3-8 pounds and we did manage to get a few in the twenties too. There was scattered grass all over out there, just enough to keep an eye on the baits while we were trolling so that we weren’t dragging grass skirts on our naked ballyhoos.
A few days later we went sword fishing and on the first drop we landed a 150-pound pumpkin. We made three other drifts only to get our baits all beat up, but since we got one on the first drop we were satisfied with what we got. The fish were a little shallower than usual, we kept getting bites around 1500 feet. Usually we get bites as soon as we get down there at 1890 to 1780 feet. The new rig I am using has two hooks on it like a chicken rig with long leaders. It seems to be working well for all the captains who are using it. When we got back to the dock we took some photos and when I cut into it, there were two dozen freshly eaten squids in it’s stomach. The squids were in such great shape we bagged them up for later use. Once I cut into the fish we realized that this fish was a pumpkin. What we mean “pumpkin” is that the meat has an orangeish color and it is far superior to the ones, which have white meat. I believe it is the result of lots of food and the fish have been fattening up. Fish don’t really have fat around their bodies like we do, they have a fat sack in their gut which will swell as they store energy as fat for their long trips up and down the east coast of North and South America. They also store fat in the form of oil in their meat as well. This high concentration of oil in the meat will cause the meat to turn orange in color. Thus, someone named it after a pumpkin’s color.
From what I here the reef has been very productive, many guys who did get out didn’t have any trouble catching, yellowtail, mutton, AJ’s, and a few grouper. There has been some great current and it has caused the big yellowtails to turn on. One of my friends got his limit of four to five pound fish, which if you didn’t know, that is absolutely as good as yellow tailing can get. We really don’t get fish in any numbers bigger than that, so excellent job Don.
So if you are looking to visit during the next couple of months, take advantage of the fishing as you are with the hotel rates for this time of year. You will almost cut your hotel accommodations in half during this time of the year. Click on over to the helpful links page and get hooked up with some of the best facilities down here for the money. You can stay at one of our big resorts and get pampered as well, but it will cost you a bunch more, and in these troubled times I am sure everyone could use a discount. Good luck and if you don’t charter me out, I will see you out there.
Tags: amberjack fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, grouper fishing, live bait fishing, Marathon fishing, mutton snapper fishing, reef fishing, sardine fishing, sashimi, squid, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, sword fish fishing, swordfish charter, swordfish fishing, tuna fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
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Monday, September 14th, 2009
MARATHON, Florida Keys — The statement that I hear all the time that confirms the notion that fishing can lead to great enjoyment is, “A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work” Just imagine coming back from a fishing trip with a cooler full of fish. The people who have been fishing have indeed been filling their coolers.
The dolphin bite has been great, with many fish in the 20-pound class and bigger. There haven’t been very many small dolphins, which isn’t a bad thing, but this concerns me though. This time of year we should have seen thousands of schoolies all summer long. From what I have seen and what I have been told by other captains is that this year there has been a shortage of schoolies. You see the problem is that the schoolies that we see this year will become the 20-40 pound slammers that we will catch next dolphin season. It just might be that they may have migrated closer to the other side of the Gulf stream, we will just never know, or maybe if we have a bad dolphin season next year then maybe we have some concerns about our future stock of migratory fish.
This week the dolphin were scattered under birds from 900-1100 feet of water which would put them from 22-30 miles from shore. There were some reports of some dolphin activity inside of 700 feet, but too much. There were very few small fish with some reaching fifty pounds. The tuna bite has been hot when the current was running, but in the middle of the week the current just died to nothing.
With the current slowing down, deep dropping has been really easy with lighter weights being able to hold the bottom. This would be the time to hand crank for a chance to break an IGFA record. The deep dropping has been good. Snowys, tilefish and many more deep species are the common catch out in the deep. While you are out there deep dropping, keep a bait ready to pitch to a dolphin that might just swim right up to your boat.
Sword fishing has been really good with many fish being caught up in the 200-pound class. With the light current, dropping down 2000 feet has not been a challenge. The favorite baits for sword fishing has been fresh tuna and dolphin plugs. Although the universal bait “squid” always works too. The new gimmick has been adding a squid skirt over the bait, and depending who you talk to the color of the squid changes. The most common colors have been, glow-in-the-dark green, and dark colors, such as black and red or purple and pink. Looks like sword fishing has continued to evolve, as this is the one reason why people love to fish. Changing times, fish getting smarter, or it may just all be in the complex mind of all of us fisherman.
The reef has been ok, with yellowtails and a few mangroves thrown into the mix. Muttons have been around as with plenty of AJ’s. The better mutton bite has been in the 145-180 foot wrecks and live bottom. Searching the edge of the reef can lead to a few muttons and as well as some grouper too. Get your grouper now before they shut it down. Well actually, it will not affect recreational fisherman, except for the fact that you will only be able to keep one black or gag grouper and two of any other species. But for us charter boats, we will not be allowed to keep any grouper from January 1st through April. Unfortunately, they have made this new law for all of the states in the southeastern region. This will include South Carolina down to Florida. This new law has a few flaws, because they wanted to protect the grouper spawn, but here in Florida the spawn doesn’t occur until April through all of May and some late bloomers in June.
Come on down, the weather is great, a few showers, but what’s with a shower here or there, got to get the fish blood off of you somehow.
Tags: amberjack fishing, Capt. Dave Schugar, deep drop fishing, dolphin fishing, Florida Keys Fishing, florida keys fishing charter, grouper fishing, mangrove snapper fishing, mutton snapper fishing, reef fishing, snowy grouper fishing, squid, Sweet E'Nuf Charters, sword fish fishing, swordfish charter, swordfish fishing, tilefish fishing, yellowtail snapper fishing
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
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
Posted in Offshore Fishing Report | No Comments »
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