It’s been another interesting week of fishing off Key Biscayne. The fishing has been as good as the weather. Changing every day.
This past week with cold temps, strong winds and choppy conditions, offshore fishermen needed to be creative and have lots of patience to have a productive day of fishing.
At times sailfish were the number one fish being caught. The sailfish were traveling south in small groups and as singles and were taking kite baits. Live goggle eye jacks were the top bait for the sails. Ten-to-15-pound blackfin tuna, mahi in the five-to-10-pound range, wahoo and a few kingfish were caught on baits intended for the sailfish. Depending on the direction of the wind, these fish were being caught near artificial reefs in 100-300 feet of water.
When the currents were not too strong, golden tilefish, up to 20 pounds, yelloweye and vermillion snapper were taking cut squid and whole squids fished on the bottom. The snappers were being caught over wrecks and hard bottoms in depths from 250-500 feet of water. The golden tilefish were taking baits over muddy bottoms in depths between 600-800 feet of water.
Over the reefs, in depths between 45-100 feet, yellowtail, lane and mutton snapper were being caught on cut bait. Anchoring and chumming worked well to get the fish behind the boat. Nighttime tarpon fishing on the outgoing tides had been good in the ocean inlets and in the Key Biscayne Channel. Use live shrimp or soft plastic imitation shrimp for these fish.
Capt. Alan Sherman, who operates “Get Em” Sportfishing Charters, has been leading fishing charters in South Florida for 30+ years. He can be reached here or by calling (786) 436-2064.