Posts Tagged ‘sharks’

Offshore Fishing Report: Spring is Almost Here – Dolphin Run is Coming Fast!

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.

Offshore Fishing Report: Cold Weather Reaches the Keys, Sailfish Bite Still Good

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.

Offshore Fishing Report: Mackerel Biting During the Holidays

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.

Offshore Fishing Report: Hogfish, It’s What’s For Dinner

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.

Offshore Fishing Report: Sailfish, Yellowtail Bites are Hot

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.

Offshort Fishing Report: Lobster Season in Marathon!

Monday, August 10th, 2009

MARATHON, Florida Keys — With the opening of the lobster season Marathon has been very busy. A lot of people mixing it up with diving and fishing, this is what the Keys is all about. I haven’t been diving for lobsters yet, but I will soon because the season is starting to wind down and with this pause in business I will have the time to get a few bugs for dinner. I have noticed a few people not following the rules of safety and this is one of the reasons why people are dying while lobstering. When divers get to far away from their boat they become a statistic, which can be avoided by staying closer to the boat, or have someone on the boat keeping up with the diver.

The offshore bite was hit or miss at the beginning of the week with mainly small catches of decent size dolphin. As the week progressed the dolphin bite got red hot with some schoolie action and larger dolphin being caught in abundance. Most of the big dolphin have been averaging 20 pounds with some up to 40 pounds. The tuna bite has been consistently good with some really big ones in the 20-35 pound class. Most of the dolphin action has been from the 600-foot line out to the 650’s, which is 12-17 miles from shore.

Deep dropping has been hit or miss, but really the current has kept me from dropping. When the current exceeds 3 kts I will try it, but usually it is too fast and you have to venture in closer to try and get out of the main current. The optimal current for deep dropping is from 1-2 kts; you still need some current to cover the ground. Sword fishing was a little slow lately, but last week there was some great catches and some great stories of the one that got away. The daytime sword fishing has been where the best bite is. The nighttime bite was slow and plenty of sharks to keep things interesting.

The nighttime snapper bite slowed down recently due to the full moon, but as the moon gets smaller the bite should increase. I have been averaging 2-5 pound mangroves and really small yellowtails. During the daytime the yellowtails have been great and decent fish from 1-3 pounds. I have been doing much better on the reef further to the west, somewhere around the Bahia Honda area. I haven’t heard about the mutton bite around town, but I have been tearing up the amberjacks, kingfish, and got an African pompano. Wreck fishing has been hot, but the sharks have been eating their share. I don’t see things changing much out on the wrecks, except for maybe some muttons catches to rise a bit.

PS: Greg, Chris, and Robert, you guys rock I had such a great time fishing with you guys, can’t wait to get those photos and hope to see you guys real soon.

Offshore Fishing Report: Rainy Season Is Here, Yellowtail Is Swarming

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

MARATHON, Florida Keys — The rainy season has come with higher winds, which seems to have stirred up the dolphin bite. Most of the week the dolphin were not present except for a few sightings on debris. Towards the end of the week the winds have picked up to 15-20 kts and those willing to brave the eight-foot seas have prevailed. Unfortunately, I was not booked when the dolphin bite turned on but heard of some great catches. This time of the year most of us are wanting to go fishing, we just have to find some clients, and in this day and age people are hurting financially so clients have been hard to come by. The dolphin were found pouring through in 800-900 feet of water. Some of the guys got double digits slammers and some gaffers. The wahoo are still out there under weed lines and around large pieces of debris. So if you want big dolphin head on out, hold on it is going to be wild ride.

The muttons have been biting a bit, still a little slow for the moon phase and the time of the year. Marathon has a great mutton fishery but it is usually a month behind the rest of the Keys. I don’t know why, but it seems to be later spawn than the rest of the Keys. While you are mutton fishing you can catch numerous other species such as African Pompano, AJ’s, groupers, Yellow Jacks, Red Snapper, Mangrove Snapper, and even gigantic Yellow tail. The sharks have troubled a lot of us here in Marathon, but not to badly around the other islands. There is no depletion of sharks here in Marathon. As a matter of fact they do save some charters when people want to catch big fish. When the sharks are bad, I will fish for them, but when people want some good eating I will usually head further to the west out in front of Big Pine for some great mutton action.

The yellowtail is still swarming, with varying conditions. Using a bridle for your anchor line can help you catch more yellowtails. Setting up right for free lining for yellowtail can make a world of difference. When the yellowtails start to get finicky, I will limit the amount of lines in the water. Sometimes the yellowtail will dictate on how many lines they will tolerate while they are feeding. These fish can make you pull your hair out sometimes as they eat your chum and when you drift your line back it like Moses parting the Red Sea as your line parts the yellowtail. When this happens you will have to use lighter leader, longer leaders, and less lines in the water. Sometimes, when they are finicky like this, you can use really small baits, just big enough to stay on the tip of the hook. So small that if you try to push the bait passed the barb it will fall off. When yellowtail gets full they will still eat itty-bitty pieces of chum.

Nighttime reef fishing doesn’t get any better. Well, actually it will, as the moon gets smaller. These fish love the darkness as they feed ravenously on the bait found on the reef during the summertime. You can go almost anywhere from 25-45 feet of water and catch your limit. Try to fish away from anyone else. The worst thing you can do is fish next to someone who has already started a chum slick. My suggestion would be to find some good bottom with some fish on it a least a mile away from anyone. Now some nights it is tough to get away from people but the further away from the next fisherman the better because all the fish near your chum slick will be drawn to your boat. If you are close to another boat the fish will be split between the boats.

Good Luck, I will See You Out There!!