We worked all the way out to the wall, over 1000 feet of water yesterday and nary a sign of big dolphin. I noticed that a few charter boats found one or two in close while fishing for other things but I didn't see enough weeds and floaters offshore to really target the big fish quite yet.
We hit the Marathon hump again with two boats pulling darts and combined for about 20 tuna. The Blackfin are mixed in with the Skippies. There were around 30 boats fishing the Hump and yesterday most were hooking up. I worked the top of the Hump for a while since the boats out there yesterday were a bit more organized and the other boat worked the outside. We did a little better but not enough to write home about. We also found tuna a few miles west of the Hump under birds so if you don't want to fight the crowd you can do your own thing and save a little fuel.
I noticed that all the tuna caught were filled with krill so it might be fun to drift some shrimp on light spinning gear if you want some exercise. If you are really looking for a workout, yesterday you could have hooked up with a fly rod without too much trouble. For bigger fish though, live white bait in 200 to 300 foot of water is probably your best bet. I am a fan of easy so unless I can get bait quick, dragging lures works just fine.
Since we have an iffy weather forecast and the gang will be here all week, I probably won't fish today. A number of the crew have tarpon on their bucket lists and right now the tarpon bite is pretty spectacular, so they are likely to give that a shot this evening. Pinfish have hooked most of the tarpon from what I hear but there are mullet around which are never a bad thing to have tarpon fishing.
As usual, I managed to not get any good photos and as usual I have been promised plenty, but time will tell.
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
I was really hoping to find a nice big Dolphin aka mahi, but I must have zigged when I should have zagged. In any case, the tuna bite was pretty good and we lost a couple of bragging size fish to either sharks or tail wrap.
Most of the bite was at or near the hump and we put a baker's dozen in the box mainly, skippies with black fin and a few were most likely skippies but had very faded markings. A bit different and I should have taken a few photos, but forgot.
Tomorrow is supposed to be another calm day so we may do another hump trip or play around closer in looking for sails etc.
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
Yesterday may have been the last two trips for the Lady Catherine 30 foot Island Hopper in the Florida Keys. She done good if if was with a nice mess of Hogfish, Mangroves, Yellowtail, one nice mutton, a load of Yellowjacks, a Goliath Grouper (Jewfish) and Gag Grouper release plus a few others.
It seems that thanks to regulation it is easier for a dive operator in Hawaii to by a certified boat in the Keys, build a trailer to haul it to California then ship it to Hawaii than it is to find a boat locally. Once there, the Lady Catherine should be a shark cage dive boat.
