The Sailfishing has gotten red hot in the last several days. The fish are showering Ballyhoo around the patches just inshore of the reef edge. We fished at CB buoy today and one angler caught 9 sails, all sight casting. We had 21 or 22 Sails on and saw twice that many from the Tuna Tower. Two days ago we caught 5 in only 3 hours by sight casting to fish showering bait.
Pretty weather today. Spent a couple of hours Wahoo fishing along a current line in 200′-250′, no bites however. Ran in on the reef edge and anchored down in 108′. We caught 4 or 5 Kingfish and 2 Mutton’s, one over 10lbs. We had 3or 4 other Mutton’s on but chaffed leaders or pulled hooks. Finished the day slow trolling the Kings and ended up with a limit of 16.
We caught live Ballyhoo this morning and spent most of the day slow trolling along a color change in 200′ of water. Early on I spotted a Sailfish chasing flying fish just inside the change, when we got in the area we immediately had a doubleheader bite and caught both Sails. There were plenty of Schoolie Dolphin along the color change, we ended up with a dozen while we waited on more Sailfish bites.We had one more Sailfish bite around 2:00PM but he stole the live Ballyhoo without getting hooked. We finished the day chumming a patch reef with live pilchards and caught some throwback Grouper.
Jack Marks and his family enjoyed one of those days where everything goes according to plan. Start with beautiful weather and then add fish which cooperate. We spent the morning kite fishing in 180′ of water and in rapid succession caught a double header of Sailfish followed by a single Sailfish. The down rigger also produced an Amberjack and several Kingfish. For a change of pace, we anchored on the edge of the reef at noontime and had a good bite of Yellowtail Snapper, boating 15 – 18 fish up to 3 lbs. We also caught numerous Cero’s and had the big bite from a King which would have weighed 40 plus pounds had a shark not mutilated him. With so much action, the Marks family had had enough by 2:00 and we were back at the dock before 3:00.
In general the fishing continues to disappoint. There has been a run of small fall Sailfish, we caught 1 out of 3 bites on Tues 11/13 along with 4 or 5 schoolie Dolphin. The Blackfin Tuna have not arrived in appreciable numbers and the kingfish action is spotty, we did catch a 20lber the other day which was the largest of the week. Yellowtailing has been inconsistent, decent one day then unresponsive the next. With a cold front passing this weekend, we expect a big improvement in fishing any day.
Offshore trip to the Marquesas Trench. Found the big Skipjacks on top and caught a couple 20lb fish. Dropped for Swords but got no bites. We ran back east just inshore of the âwall” and found 2 pieces of debris both holding nice Dolphin. We ended up with 20 fish, most were 8-10lbs, the largest weighed 24lbs.
Offshore yesterday, had a 16-LB and a 26-LB dolphin. Also several 20lb class Skipjack Tuna. Made one daylight Swordfish drop, no bite
Night Snapper trip yesterday. It is so much cooler at night this time of year, that it beats trying to handle the heat during the day. We had a good current condition and the Grey Snapper have been spawning on this moon but our action was only so so. Plenty of Yellowtail and some Greys but most of the fish were small.
Night Swordfishing last night. Caught one small fish, our only bite. The daytime fishing the last week has been disappointing, small Dolphin offshore, a few decent Muttons on the wrecks.
Took a group of the Head chefs and owners of popular Key West eatery, Rooftop Café today. Found a sheet of plywood on the â19 line? that was loaded with fish. Caught 2 wahoos out of 6 bites and 20 odd nice Dolphin, gaffers up to 22lbs. Lots of wind and rain and electricity in the area so we came in early with everyone well satisfied with the action
