Still Breezy

Have been neglecting my photograph duties.  I have been fishing, mainly half days because of the winds which limit the catching to a tide most of the time.  If you can find some clean water the Seven Mile Bridge has been pretty productive.  Decent mangroves, a few Hogfish, porgies, yellow jacks and of course sharks.  The bay water temperatures have warmed up enough that Spanish Mackeral are getting hard to find, but there are some nice Sea Trout and Ceros to take up the slack.  I haven't been doing any reef or ocean side stuff because of the winds and timing of my trips.  There is a calm day or two every week but I haven't hooked up with an offshore group on those days.

In general, fishing reports are getting a bit more normal.  There was a short stretch there when it seemed everyone sucked.  In fact I haven't heard so many poor reports on the radio in some time.  that changed when the bait situation got a bit more normal.  I have been seeing more mullet in the canals and actually getting the cast net wet on balleyhoo for a change.  Pilchards are easier to find but they still can be a PITA at times.

There have been reports of Wahoo from some of the bigger boats that are getting offshore along with decent size schoolie dolphin and tuna, mainly skippies.  I don't have a problem with skippies myself and I doubt most would if they gave them a fair taste test.  Bleeding the bigger ones definitely helps out on the flavor.  The slammer dolphin will likely start moving through the end of this month to the middle of the next if they stay true to form.  I generally have to run pretty far to get into the big ones early in the season but if the Gulf Stream pushes in close that will save some fuel money.

Most of the tarpon guides are getting booked pretty regular and are catching fish but it doesn't look like the migration is in full swing just yet.  That is normally more an April start thing but with the warmer water temperatures could be any time now.

I have another half day tomorrow which will probably be a combination shark and mixed bag.  Some of the mixed bag on the shark trips are Mutton Snapper that are legal 16 to 20 inches.  Not huge fish by any means but tasty.  It also looks like this may be the year of the Porgie since they have been showing up just about everywhere.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.


 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas