December 11, 2019
By Florida Sportsman
Recent offshore fishing reports from the East Central region.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: beachsideandy
We could only find one small scamp and lost two dolphin, but good times nonetheless. We ended up with two amberjack, two snake kings, the scamp, and all the endangered red snapper you wanted to catch. We struck out on high speed wahoo over the cones with zero strikes. It was fantastic ocean conditions and air temperatures almost all day.
Click here for the full forum report.
Sebastian Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: hobbscw79
We headed out due east out of Sebastian Inlet and trolled in 90'-150' along a promising weedline. We managed two dolphin and kingfish, and lost two other fish. It was kind of a tough day with all the scattered weed.
Click here for the full forum report.
Sebastian Inlet Mahi
Florida Sportsman member: hobbscw79
We cleared the inlet by sunrise and headed due east to 200 feet of water. We had our lines in by 7:30 and we had four nice ones on the boat by 9:30. We hit a couple bottom spots to feed the ever endangered red snapper and we hit the ramp by noon. We used blue/white, pink/white, and purple chartreuse Ilanders, coupled with a little blue/white feathered shotgun rig way back. We ended with three bulls and cow, up to 32 pounds. It was a great way to kickoff Father's Day weekend.
Click here for the full forum report.
Bottom Fishing Ponce
Florida Sportsman member: princess
We ran out of Ponce Inlet, anchored up and hooked into a handful of nice-sized red snapper. We caught two keeper mangrove snapper, a 21 inch and a 17 inch. I finally hooked up with my first cobia and fought it for about an hour and a half on 12 pound test. Finally, I got it on the boat. She measured in at 36”. It was a beautiful day to get out on the water with the family.
Click here for the full forum report.
Sebastian Sails and Mahi
Florida Sportsman member: bluewater_fever
Saturday was one of the better days this year. We had steady action until we pulled our lines. There were lots of small sailfish around. We had multiple sails in the spread more than once. They were little guys. I got down to one spare ballyhoo and I decided to switch to bottom fishing in hopes of catching a grouper. I lucked out with a small scamp and cranked up a nice amberjack too.
Click here for the full forum report.
Trolling Sebastian Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: bluewater_fever
On our way back, we found what seemed like an average sized cobia cursing the surface. We pitched him a jig and he immediately took the bait. We didn't realize how big he was until I stuck him with the gaff and struggled to hoist him over the rail. I'm guessing this fish was in the 50-60 pound range.
Click here for the full forum report.
Off Ponce Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: TheNSBkid
We headed out of the inlet around 7am and we made our out 20 miles. All our fish were caught in 65-80 feet of water. Two of the kings came in while trolling with magnums 30's and one of them was off a flat line. We also managed three cobia, although only one was a keeper. She was caught off the bottom with squid. There were lots of porgys and we also got a keeper black sea bass and a triggerfish. Schools of spanish mackerel were on a few of the wrecks. Tight lines!
Click here for the full forum report.
Feast of the Fish
Florida Sportsman member: HappyOurs
We found substantial weed patches right away in water temperatures around 77 degrees. I spotted multiple schoolies hanging out under and near the weed patches. We pulled in several on cut bait, along with a couple of tripletails. When that action cooled off, we trolled along the edge of the weeds and boated a few more. We stayed pretty much right along the 110 fathom curve while we worked the weed patch as it drifted north in the Gulf Stream. We ended the day with a total of seven mahi in the box, including one very respectable bull. It was an outstanding day on the water with good friends!
Click here for the full forum report.
Ponce Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: LoweTide1
We went out of Ponce and were greeted with no weed lines. We started trolling at eight miles per hour and made it out to 130'. This nice wahoo hit a blue/white Islander with a ballyhoo on the smallest reel. We weren't able to weigh it, but I would guess it was a minimum of 60 pounds.
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Canaveral Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: SkinnywaterDave
We made our way out and started bumping flyers around 60', but pushed to 80' and trolled south. The first fish was a nice gaffer that jumped and broke off the at the back swivel on a dolphin colored Marauder. Then two kings went in the box. A nice 12 pound blackfin came in on the daisy chain, followed by an 18 pound bull and a 12 pound cow. Then my buddy gets his first sail on a naked ballyhoo. It was a little bumpy, but not too bad. All the bites were between 90' and 115'.
Click here for full forum report.
Lots of 'Phins
Florida Sportsman member: bluewater_fever, AirForceVet & Marlinman
Better stock up on ballyhoo or some flashy arti's if you're planning to target some dolphin on your next offshore trip, which you should, considering all the recent reports of good dolphin fishing off the east central area. Pink and purple have been popular colors lately, but the fish don't seem to be too picky, as they have clearly been willing to bite a line. Check out the reports below for depths and details.
Click here for bluewater_fever's Sebastian Inlet report.
Click here for AirForceVet's Ponce Inlet report.
Click here for Marlinman's Sebastian Inlet report.
Dolphin and a Sail
Florida Sportsman member: bluewater_fever
We cleared the inlet around 7:00. Lines were in the water at 160'. We trolled to 350', with nothing to show for it. We trolled back in to 160', nothing. We picked up and ran. Sailfish were jumping in 275' so we stopped and trolled again. We didn't get our first bite until 10:30, when we got a double hook up on dolphin. My fish spits the hook. One fish goes in the box. Four of five lines were hit. We left one line in the water. Before we could regroup, fish on, another dolphin. The fish comes unhooked after just one minute. We trolled to 350', turned around, and five minutes later we've got a sailfish. It was a fun day on the water.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Pallet Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: JTFD
We went out of Sebastian last weekend and didn't see any cobia, but found some dolphin and a floating pallet with a bunch of tripletail and small dolphin on it.
Click here for full forum report.
Nearshore Cobia
Florida Sportsman member: cuetoster
I haven't done much fishing since the fall before the hurricane, but recently I was able to find a few cobia. One I found a few weeks ago before the last cold spell in 65 feet of 71 degree water southeast of Port Canaveral under a manta ray. It was barely a keeper, measuring 34 at the fork. Last Friday, I found a solo surface swimmer in 80 feet of 69 degree water out of Sebastian.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral: Round Two
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
Another long night targeting swordfish outside Port Canaveral. We started with the usual grouper spot and Ron puts the first fish in the box with a nice gag. Chris Delaney quickly follows this up with a scamp. As the sunlight is fading, we run to our designated spot and are joined by the crew on "It's Just Money" who we met after our last trip and wanted to follow us out for their first sword trip. We set up about a mile apart and started our drift. It's Only Money did very well, releasing three short swords, while we tangled with sharks all night.
Click here for full forum report.
Better Than Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: Wavewalker
After cancelling a few times, I tried one day for snapper out of the port. I knew it was going to be rough, but I had to try. It turns out it was way too rough to fish in my boat. We did one drift and caught this nice cobia on a wreck. He was about 50 pounds. After that, we figured we better not press our luck, so we headed in.
Click here for full forum report.
Cobia Off Sebastian
Florida Sportsman member: cuetoster
A couple miles east of the inlet, we found plenty of undersized tripletail under the debris. After throwing back several, we decided to head out further for something larger. The four foot waves weren't an issue and we found huge weed mats in 160 feet. We were able to find several 22-25 pounder cobia that we had a blast sight casting our oversized mullet to.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: cuetoster
Another line goes off and as I begin reeling this one. It jumps and I could see it was a nice mahi. Along with it comes several more friends. Of course mayhem ensues. Using small chunks of mullet were were able to hook up with two out of the three tag alongs. We boated three mahi in short time. We caught all fish on skirted ballyhoo. We also had few subsurface lures out in the event a wahoo swims by, but there was no action on those.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Cobia
Florida Sportsman member: rap123
We headed out to the cones without much success other than one kingfish. On the way back in late afternoon, we ran across two large manta rays doing flips for over an hour. We pulled three cobia off of them with live mullet, using spinning gear with circle hooks. All in all, a great day on a perfectly flat ocean!
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Offshore Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: jmsnookman
We caught a dozen and a half threadfins just outside the inlet and headed towards Bethel and the 70-90 ledge. We found acres of big threadfins in 50' of water about eight miles out and loaded the livewells. I came off a plane in 90' of water and spotted a dolphin in the prop wash before I could even get the first bait out. I hand fed it a live bait and had the first fish in the box in short order.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: Triple Threat 33T
A few more kingfish got released and then the bite slowed. It was about 2:45. I said let's give it another 20 minutes and then we'll head in. Three minutes to go and a cobia came up and inhaled the short bait. Eli's first ever cobia. The kid is hooked and wants to fish every day for the rest of his life he says.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Offshore Mahi
Florida Sportsman member: zak2006
The wife and I ran out in pretty flat conditions, with the seas getting flatter throughout the day. The water temperature was just shy of 77. We ended up running out to about 250' were we came up upon a thin, but long weed line. We put out the spread around 7:30 and wrapped up by 11:30 with 20 'phins in the boat. My wife caught the second and third largest fish, which ended up being a bull and cow. The big bull is my largest mahi to date.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Weekend
Florida Sportsman member: Wavewalker
Saturday was a little sporty, but we managed a nice mahi close in. We were pleasantly surprised when it hit a spoon on a wire leader in 50 feet of water. Next we bottom fished and had some fun. Sunday was calmer and we worked our way out to 280ft. We got several nice mahi and a blackfin. We also saw a sailfish and a cobia, but they were not hungry. On the radio it sounded like some others got on the mahi.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Inlet Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: beachside321
We made another circle and got another knockdown. This time it was a serious one. A big bull was dumping line and jumping everywhere. We knew we were in for a marathon. After an hour on the rod, we got the shock cord from the planer, wired the fish up and stuck the gaff in him.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Fool's Gold
Most fish were holding in around 250', there was a temperature change and some scattered weeds. If your going in the next couple days, there was a nice line forming in 230'.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: reeladdiction
Trolled east until about 210' and picked up a nice dolphin, followed by a thirteen pound blackfin, both into the ice box. We continued east into the bumpy seas until about 240' where we picked up another dolphin. He had some company.
Click here for full forum report.
Fin-tastic Fishing Sebastian Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Filets
We ended up boating about one fish every 45 minutes, with them getting progressively bigger throughout the day. Every dolphin hit naked hoos on the riggers.
Click here for full forum report.
Mahi Hunt Success
Florida Sportsman member: CAPTMOE
There was a nice weedline in 175ft and the water was around 74 degrees. Minimal flyers, but there were lots of other bait they were crushing. They hit everything, but the Bart's lures lit them up. Big lure of the day was a purple and black island lure on a planer.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: tryacc
About 220' we see some signs of life and drop the spread heading east. About 230' we have a strong take down and long run ensues.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: dudemanbubba
We came up on the edge which formed a nice thick weedline in 350 feet. The water temperature jumped to 78 degrees and we started working the line along with about a half dozen other boats. Nothing huge, but managed three not-quite-gaffers and two decent dolphin.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Trolling and Bottom Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Wavewalker
We left early and picked up two mahi right away in about 130'. Later we got a few bonitos and a shark on the troll, that was a first for me.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Trolling and Bottom Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Mako224
We headed back to the ledge we started at and wanted to work some bottom. This paid off. Lots of vermillion, stud mangos, triggers, porgies and jacks.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Schooling Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
We took the Ribcraft offshore Friday afternoon for its first bottom fishing trip. We got to bend the rod all afternoon, primarily with one species. Water was clean and seas where calm.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Mahi
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
My wife and I got a late start, but headed out of Bluepoints at about ten and headed out to the stream. We dropped lines in at about 180' and trolled out to the edge which was at about 360'. She picked up this ten lb mahi right at the line.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
The weather was perfect with nice temperatures, light winds and flat seas all day. We left Bluepoints at 7:30 and went to the edge of the gulfstream about 40 miles out at 350 ft. We picked up a 10 lb Mahi at about 320 ft and another pushing 20 lbs at about 145 ft. Worked into Pelican Flats and picked up four King Mackerel and a Bonito.
Click here for full forum report.
Rough Port Canaveral Mahi Trolling
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
There was a strong north breeze so seas were a little choppy. We put the spread out at Pelican and headed south, with no strikes for about an hour so we turned east. Got a strike at about 170' but came off so kept heading east. Went out to about 225' and turned around picked up this nice dolphin at about 180'.
Click here for full forum report.
Trolling Port Canaveral Mahi
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
Headed out of Bluepoints Marina about 8:30 and with flat seas, ran 30 knots out to 220'. Trolled out to 700'. Ran back to 230' and put back in headed west. Had a triple knock down at about 220' and got two of three, but it was slow the rest of the day.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Offshore Bite
Florida Sportsman member: Fishesman
After a quick stop for bait we headed offshore and spent the day bottom fishing and trolling. My main goal was to catch a good sized red snapper and that I did! Over on the west coast I catch plenty of trophy gags, but big red snapper are usually further out than I typically venture.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Phins
Florida Sportsman member: No_Cool_Name
Hooked two running the together at 124 feet. We hooked the cow and had Rodney reel her in slowly so I could get lines hoping for a tagalong. Once the fish was next to the boat saw the bull and pitched a ballyhoo on the spinning rod.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: chompchomp
We found a decent rip in 450' with decent weed and ended up catching 10. Several times we had to drop back five or six times to hook up, but every time we finally got the 30 plus pounders next to the boat, they had big friends tagging along.
Click here for full forum report.
First Phin
Florida Sportsman member: Kim Chi
With my son on the rod he fights it to the boat, which seemed like eternity and I stretched out to gaff this one to make sure he didn't get away, gaff hits the target and my son's first dolphin is in the box and I feel relief!
Click here for full forum report.
SLI Gaffers
Florida Sportsman member: Captain Dave
We worked the area for a half hour or so when Pete and I both saw a nice gaffer approaching the starboard rigger bait. Pete hooked her up and fought her like a champ and I put her to sleep with a stroke of the gaff.
Click here for full forum report.
Grocery Run
Florida Sportsman member: DeHaven
After 30 minutes we determined they were strong and healthy and switched from bottom rigs to trolling gear in 180 feet and headed East. We started picking fish off one at a time every thirty minutes or so blind trolling all the way to 400 feet.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Variety
Florida Sportsman member: Fool's Gold
We were moving south and into the 28th fathom when we came across a pallet. It had several keeper tripletail, which we caught four of. While trying to catch the tripletail a couple random dolphin swam by two different times and we caught them both.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
My wife and I decided to go out deep for mahi. We left around 8am and put lines in at 200 feet. Our first bite was a 30 pound mahi around 400 feet. We trolled out to 1000 feet and picked up six smaller phins along the way.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
My son and I left Bluepoints at 7:30, seas were big and a little confused so it was slow going out but put lines in at 120 and within 10 minutes had a nice mahi.
Click here for full forum report.
East Central Dolphin Bite
Florida Sportsman member: DolphinTailin
We leave the weed patch and head off to the Southeast and not too far off we find a big blue crate just under the surface, As we pass the crate we look behind the boat and see tons of dolphin greyhounding through our spread, three guys on the boat and all four rods go down.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Bull
Florida Sportsman member: TeamReelShady
We left the inlet at 5:30am and went out to 130 feet, with signs of life we put out lines trolled all the way to 240 feet, when we saw a massive weed line, dragged baits all over with no takers.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: TIGHTLINEZOFFSHORE
So then we decided to head through 8a to the buoy trolling and had several short strikes and 3 cuda knock downs. Then in 100 feet we landed our first phin. On the way back line a red and white islander gets smoked then goes slack, finally catch up to the line and reel in a nice wahoo.
Click here for full forum report.
New Personal Best
Florida Sportsman member: dtm
I slowed the boat and looked back and this fish was jumping about 300yds back. Alex went to work pumping and winding. After a while the fish came alongside we got a good look and seen he was a nice one.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Offshore Fun
Florida Sportsman member: Koifarmer
We then freelined some squid wrapped in chumdrop chum balls and it did not take long before we were hooked up . The fish were shy , 15 pound fluorocarbon and a small circle hook did the trick. We lost many many fish , but did manage to get 4 fish up to 9 pounds.
Click here for full forum report.
Cobia X7
Florida Sportsman member: Paragon1
"After about an hour or so we finally got to my first spot to try for some early morning cobia. We weren't disappointed. On the first drop we had two hits, with me getting the hookup."
Want to catch cobia like these? Click here for how-to videos, feature stories, and more.
Tripletail Fun
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
Some chunky bamboo we came across north of the Port last friday. After releasing a few shorts we motored up and filmed a variety of species co-mingling underneath. Two Tripletail stuck around for the video.
Click here for full forum report.
East Central Dolphin and Coia
Florida Sportsman member: Paragon1
My boat is too low to the water to sight fish them effectively, so instead I prefer jigging deep structure. So in 100 plus feet of water we started working. First one came aboard on about the third drift, when I spotted them on the finder and decided to drop one last time before resetting. Nice 35 pounder to start the day.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: Hotpursuit
With fish in the box, things slow for a bit as we continue east. We found scattered weeds and what appeared to be an upwelling or something with dirty green water on the edge of the stream. Start working the area when the close pink and white skirted hoo gets slammed for the second time.
Click here for full forum report.
December Dolphin Bite
Florida Sportsman member: cflcycleparts
The water temp was a bleak 70 degrees, our only hope was to make it into the warmer waters of the stream. We make our way out to the cones about 30 miles out and find 74.99 degree water. It'll do. We happen to run by some debris including a floating log with weeds around it, and then pandemonium.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: bighardey
We put the lines back out and slow trolled at 5 knots and about 11:15 on blue & green Islander skirted ballyhoo the hoo hits hard, heads deep. Yanked her back to the boat nice and easy, gaffed and put in the box. It was a super day and good to be back.
Click here for full forum report.
Record Breaker Out of Ponce
Florida Sportsman member: InLimbo
No further bite came after the first couple of hits. I said, "maybe you should drop down a little more and she interrupted and said "no, no, no, she'es still there I know it" so I shut up and watched as we both concentrated on the rod tip then the rod tip just bent straight down, her face turned red and all of her effort when into turning the reel and it was on. Hook up! She was right, she was still there. The 15 minute battle began.
Click here for full forum report.
Red Snapper and More out of Ponce Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: Fool's Gold
Made some stops early Friday way south and shallower to try and get away, we did get away from the crowd but also the snapper. Moved out to around 95 feet and caught our limit rather quickly up to 15 pounds. Picked up a few triggers, sea bass and a cobia both days.
Click here for full forum report.
Hitting the Nearshore Numbers
Florida Sportsman member: Davidson
Good day nearshore. We were on fish all day in about 50 feet of water. A lot of big jacks, Bonita, sharks, and a few cobia were still around. We were able to get a couple for the freezer. Water has definitely warmed up, showing 76 degrees all day.
Click here for full forum report.
Canaveral Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Canaveral Offshore
Forum member
Canaveral Offshore found the Dolphin in the east central section. Multiple trips producing great numbers of quality fish. Fishing in 120 to 240 feet of water.
Click here for full forum report.
First Hoo and A Good One at That
Florida Sportsman member: psless
Made it to about 165 feet and saw some weed lines so we began trolling. Fairly early in the morning we snagged this beast on a mono leader. Hook was barely in his mouth when we gaffed him! Not a bite the rest of the day. Had some sushi this past weekend, awesome! First time catching and eating wahoo.
Click here for full forum report.
Cobia Chaos
Florida Sportsman member: Keystroke
I soon realize that he is trying to save his other rod that has fallen in the water. You see the jig pole he had sat down in the heat of the moment had gotten caught in the prop and was yanked in the water. I watch the cobia disappear yet again as Dave splashes headfirst within 15 feet of her. So I'm standing there with my live sardine dangling, watching this spectacle. I pitch the sardine into the water, stick the rod in a holder, flip the bail open and go to assist my man overboard.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: captryan5878
First bait in was a large split tail mullet that got tagged in the prop wash as I was dropping it back. Got a 30 pound bull almost boat side and flipped a tipped jig to about a 15 pound cow that was trailing. Both came unglued 5 seconds later. Depressing, but it was a good sign. Got our 5 bait spread deployed with a variation of split tail mullet and skirted hoos. Every color produced strikes. Ended up with 5 quality fish in the boat up to 25 pounds.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Inlet Phins
Florida Sportsman member: beachsideandy
Checked out some stacked weed lines from 72 to 80 feet, but the water was still cold. Headed out to around 250 feet where we had a temperature change of 73.5 to 75.5 degrees with a good amount of weeds mixed in. Picked up four phins with this one being the largest. They seemed to be hitting small green and green and yellow lures with medium hoos, pretty close to the boat, clipped down off the transom.
Click here for full forum report.
Solo Trip Produces Dinner
Florida Sportsman member: ownleme
Found a great rip in 330 feet with a 3 degree temperature change 73 to 76 degrees, scattered weed line, and ripping current on the east side. First strike before 8am and kept coming. At one point I had just put one in the box, had one still pulling on another line, and tossed my alien head at its shadow to hook up with 20 plus pounder.
Click here for full forum report.
Plan B, for Bottom
Florida Sportsman member: Keystroke
Cobia sight fishing conditions were poor so we decided to work some bottom spots. We got on one spot that was loaded with big triggers. They showed nicely on the Furuno elevated above the reef. It was sweet hooking them on a 2 ounce jig with strip. Popping this on the bottom was fun and more productive than a typical trigger rig. But, when my fancy jigging rod doubled over, I said “that's no trigger boys”. I'd work her up a few pumps then she'd tear the 30 pound braid right back off.
Click here for full forum report.
East Central Dolphin Days
Florida Sportsman member: captryan5878
Pulled skirted hoo's with a variety of colors including green, pink and blue. Also dragged a few large split tail mullet down deep. No certain color worked better than the other. Put 10 good dolphin on ice including 2 very nice cows! Lost a monster 40 pound class bull boat side. It was painful to watch him swim off, but at the same time, we ended up with more meat than we know what to do with. Great day on the water.
Click here for full forum report.
Light Tackle Red Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: Keystroke
But this time the light line held and after several sizzling runs Sam worked the fish ever so slowly to the surface. When I saw the sow snapper I couldn't believe its size and that Sam had landed it on such light gear. I became a little sad as I realized that I would never be able to bust his chops again for his use of baby fishing gear while bottom fishing.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Wahoo and King
Florida Sportsman member: dtm
Took out my Buddy John along with my boy Charlie. We got an early start and made some good bait. Seas were sloppy all day. We tried the bottom first which stayed sharked up. We mostly worked deeper at 140 feet, where we found red snapper and sharks. We then went to 180 and got away from most of the sharks. Had a couple AJs on. One came unbuttoned and put one in the boat. Decided to go on the troll for barracudas and bonitos and then we score with a Wahoo. There are some shrimpers out there in about 180 feet. We anchored up we worked our way toward one and got slammed again a smoker king[...]
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Red Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: Blue
Took a beating getting out - our original plan was to hit a couple of the deep spots at 35 miles or so. At 17 the pounding got so bad we called an audible. Right then we lost the DSM sounder - so now we got to fish blind....no fish finder makes it tough to catch bottom fish. Put the radar on and looked for other boats. Pulled out the paper charts and did a quick cross reference with spots loaded into the GPS plotter... off to a public site (11). Pretty much non stop action once we were able to mark where the first fish were hitting. A few break offs - probably shark or cuda. Bunch of small ARS as well got donated to the BIG cuda's hanging out under the boat - but we made it and turned in some decent numbers.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Inlet Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: Cabanaboy
Short n sweet... We headed out of Sebastian Inlet Saturday am around 5:45 am... We heard the bite has been hot around 120 feet, so with the seas a bit fussy we put it at 100 feet around 7 am. We used our typical spread with 2 trolling weights, 2 outriggers, 1 short line, and 1 shotgun. We landed a barracuda immediately. Ten minutes later the shotgun goes off with the horse ballyhoo purple and black islander with 8 ounce chin weight, yes 8 oz. We had our first wahoo of the season on the deck.
We loose our second engine during the fight.. bad prime bulb i believe...we end up tacking between 95 and 125..weeds everywhere but the winds did not allow any formation...ended up landing 2 peanut dolphin around 24-25" that got sent back to the ocean Gods...
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Red Snapper & Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Sea Hunt
Left the dock about 7:30 - did not see any readily available bait fish , so just went with frozen ballyhoos. Arrived at 8a with maybe a dozen other boats already there. For about an hour we trolled around without a strike, nor did we notice anybody else doing any better. As some other boats left - we headed to the weather buoy. Arriving near the buoy , put out the Ballyhoo with Sea Witches in front. Within 15 minutes we got this Dolphin which apparently was all by himself out there ! For the next hour - all we got was one shark after the other - all in the 2 to 3 feet size range. Decided to get away from the sharks - so set course for the inlet just before noontime. With 15 more miles to the inlet, we spotted a couple flying fish in some widely scattered weeds at about 85 feet deep. We put out the baits again and wound up getting this red snapper on the ballyhoo/sea witch rig ! As we got the snapper coming up near the surface, we saw over a dozen school mates following him up !
Click here for full forum report.
Seabastian Mangrove Snapper & More
Florida Sportsman member: Kapt.Hook
Dirty water! Stated out at bethal trolling with nothing to show for it. then headed up to the 90' bar drifting the NE current 1.5 knots live ballyhoo on the flat line got nailed but ended up pulling the hook. It seemed like it was a good size king but who knows.. We then anchored up on one of the county sites and got some nice hits at first but the hook couldn't find the sweet spot, then I finally was able to berry my hook into one of the biggest mangos Iv caught so I guess I could say its my personal best. Black sea bass are everywhere and of good size we didnt catch any under 12 inches. I was unsure of the season dates State vs Federal so they were all released. We were using pogy chunks. Water was green/dirty everywhere we went[...]
Click here for full forum report.
Phins Off Ponce Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: higmister
We left the dock at 6 and headed east. The ride out was bumpy but the seas laid down for us in the afternoon. Started seeing flyers and birds in the 200 feet range and lines out. First knock down on the first bait out before we could even put it in the outrigger. Stayed between 200-280 all day. We took 26 phins and a wahoo home. Released some peanuts and a ton of short strikes. Top skirts was blue/green and white/black.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Cobia
Florida Sportsman member: Off Shore Dude
Went out today looking for some tripletails and shaking down my brothers boat. To my delight, what I thought was a tripletail turned out to be a cobia. Not a giant fish but after such a lousy cobia season it made my day. Had fun catching him on light tackle. Was using a 1/4 ounce pink jig head with a large live shrimp w/tail fin removed (hooked backwards).
Also, we were out in the Banana river Sunday afternoon and the trout bite was great. I think we caught about 10 trout (upper slot) and some huge ladyfish. Basically fished the biggest mullet schools we could find. Caught them on live mullet and 1/8 ounce jig heads w/soft baits. Released everything.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Full Throttle
We started out late, with no intentions of fishing all day.Just wanted to check things out before the tournament was called on Saturday. Ran out and found a sweet rip and weedline at 140 and 190 feet, but water didn't look great. I tossed two baits out and trolled for about 20-30 minutes just to see. With no luck, we pulled up and ran out deeper until I finally found some clean water finally at 850 feet and 38 miles out found a sweet rip and weedline. I put the full spread out and within 5 minutes we had our first knockdown. We re-rigged and 20 minutes later a big dolphin comes storming the spread from the line. We watched her get behind 2 lures before finally crushing the dolphin colored islander! The fish goes crazy and it is an awesome sight to see! My wife grabs the rod and 20 minutes later we put the 32 pound cow in the boat. Biggest cow I have seen
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphin & Tripletail
Florida Sportsman member: InLimbo
The "gettin-her-wet" fishing trip turned into a
camping trip with the RV to Jetty Park and a trolling trip for 5 teenagers for my sons 19th bday. I was happy to ablige. Headed out first light even with the weather questionable but were greeted with decent seas. Hit the edge of the stream wet the first line and was hit with the rod in my hand before I could get into the rod holder. No jumping equaled a bonita but quickly picked up the first small dolphin. After a slow troll and a weakening rip decided to head deeper only to find a great rip, color change and weeds where we had more than 15 knock downs, including a tripletail and 10 dolphin in the box. Nothing huge but the boys loved it and we had some restocking material for the freezer.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphin & Amberjacks
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
Clearing conditions Tuesday allowed us to find some nice color changes and weedlines that though not teaming with fish did produce. We picked up some Mahi before fighting AJ's. A lot of Cuda's and Sharks at the wrecks, but we still filled up on AJ's. The AJ's Tuesday were mostly just over the min size, but with hardly a worm in them were great for the icebox. With a couple youngsters onboard not big enough to tackle the AJ's, we finished the day on shallower structure so they could have some fun. We got Cobia this way, not huge but big enough to take home! Wednesday was much less productive. While we did battle a lot of fish, more short AJ's, Cuda and Shark that anything.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Surprise
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
Not a great weekend for fishing but we managed to get out for a few hours Saturday morning and again Sunday afternoon.
Saturday we ran out of Sebastian on the Head Hunter to troll for dolphin and found it to be slow due to the cold water. The temps were less than 72 degrees all the way out to 180' and there we released a few peanuts before landing an nice 18 pounder. We put him on ice and headed in to look for cobia but the 66 degree water inside was not conducive to hold fish so we made and early day of. Back at the ramp the FWC guy checked our fish box and found another peanut on ice with our catch. Seeing no skin on this one he gave us a pass as this fish was regurgitated from the stomach of the bigger dolphin. Just goes to show that everything eats a dolphin, even other dolphin.
Sunday looked like real nice cobia weather until we decided to go at 1 pm. After getting on the water around 2pm the wind shifted and started to increase. We chased some free swimmers around until the clouds moved in. As the afternoon advanced, the winds increased and it began to get sporty and wet for a flats boat. Tough conditions for sight fishing so we made an early afternoon of it and came home for cobia St Patty dinner.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Surprise
Florida Sportsman member: Davidson
Me and my buddy Carlos went out of Ponce inlet Tuesday looking for some of those brown bombers. We headed up and down the beach with nothing to show for it until we came up on a school of what looked like red fish. We motored in front of the school and casted choice live baits at the school and got snubbed over and over. I switched up to a jig with squid and bam! Hooked up I finally wrestled it to the boat and to our surprise it was the biggest black drum I have ever seen, let alone caught.
Click here for full forum report.
First Fish on New Boat
Florida Sportsman member: Final Point
een looking to upgrade my bayboat and after 5 months of searching I finally came accross my new baby....a 2007 Triton 240 LTS! Had to go to Tx to get her but now she's mine. So after getting her here, I decided to go out and see if the Triton could catch fish or not.
We made quick work of a livewell full of threadfins and hit the inlet. On the first drift we had a double hook-up on jumbo redfish. Mine came unglued but my wife whipped hers into submission[...]
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: Reel Finatic
Put lines in at 160 feet and trolled out to 300 feet with only one wahoo. Which was lost at the boat. Neighbors father was down from Boston, So I wanted to show him what a red snapper looked like. We caught Numerous red snapper and we were rewarded with a nice gag grouper. All fish were vented and swam back to the bottom. Sure wish we could have brought the grouper home with us While bottom fishing we had a school of dolphin come to the boat, we were able to boat 3 of them. Trolled awhile longer and boated one more schoolie dolphin. Then called it a day In by 2:00.
Click here for full forum report.
More Trips at the Port
Florida Sportsman member: codered13
Had a great day out on the water last week with by brother. We were using live shrimp under some floating grass. Caught our limit fairly quick and left them biting before we got locked up. They were everywhere!
Click here for full forum report.
http://youtu.be/HUMg5eKcP9g
Port Canaveral Tripletail
Florida Sportsman member: QuiksilverIHB
Went out of the port again and caught some nice tripletail. Some on buoys, some on seaweed, and some free swimming/sitting. Got them from 30 feet all the way to 50 feet It's cool, because I kill the motor as I get close and they hide under my boat. It's like they think it is floating garbage. The biggest one weighed in at 21lbs.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Offshore Marlin
Florida Sportsman member: togators
A very quite day, only 1 hit. Then in 400 feet at 1:00 port rigger pops and line begins to scream out of a Penn 330 with 30 pound mono with a red/white skirted rigged ballyhoo. Did not want to horse it in because of the light tackle, 2 hours 45 minutes later we finally get it in. Line was wrapped on bill pretty well and the double hooks were set deep in the bottom jaw so we pulled in to clear, photo then released.
Click here for full forum report.
Tripletail Out of the Port
Florida Sportsman member: QuiksilverIHB
Went out of Port Canaveral and we got some nice Tripletail on jigheads with live shrimp. Didn't see any cobia, but it was still well worth it. The biggest one went for 18 pounds.
Click here for full forum report.
End of the Year Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: fltekdiver
Had my buddy cancelle this last night due to Christmas Eve family get together.Left Port Canaveral by myself at 8:00am Christmas Eve in my 21 foot Proline WA. Started out at Reef 8A, catching some bonitas, in Hopes of a big king! After the bonitas stripped half a dozen of my ballyhoo, I headed out to the 20 mile weather Buoy. By the time I got out there, wind had picked up ad it was overcast. The seas were about 3 to 4 feet.I switched all the skirts over to Black & Red, Black/Purple/Red etc for Wahoo [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Epic Day Out of the Port
Florida Sportsman member: Cabanaboy
What a beautiful day to fish! Loaded up the 19 footer and headed east. We left the port around 530 am and had the throttle wide open the whole way. We headed east and found some weed at 160'...3 dolphin in the boat,no misses. We kept moving east. We had 4 lines down and 4 dolphin doing arial acrobatics. Landed 2 and lost 2. headed east to 400' where oh me oh my the debris was everywhere and fields of weed..[...]
Click here for full forum report.
Clean Water, Steady Action
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
...Water was clear and blue on the east side. There was debri on the edge but it was pretty scattered and did not appear to be holding anything in particular. Action was steady and we caught a few more baracudas, three sharks (triple header), and boated five phins (10-15 lbs). [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Dolphin and Blackfin off of Sebastian Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: inxanth
Started off setting lines and was surprised to hook up with a blackfin. Within an hour and a half went four for six on blackfin, which is a rare treat, especially not that far from Bethel Shoals. Stumbled across a weedline that was about three miles long. Trolled it up and back four times and boated four dolphin out of six [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Three Days off Ponce
Florida Sportsman member: InLimbo
Docked boat at
Down The Hatch Thursday night for her three day stay. Out of the inlet at 7 with a net full all three days. Calm seas Friday and Saturday and a little heavy on Sunday. Most fish caught in 100 to 120 and 140. Warmer water in 80 feet then cooled down a bit further out. Lots of bait and activity on the water all weekend. The guests on Friday and Saturday limited on red snapper within about an hour. Several big ones came off so we changed the tackle for Saturday and the overall size increased [...]
Click here for full forum report.
PC Snapper Limit
Florida Sportsman member: donh
Well, I got an itch to get a few snapper Sunday morning after looking at the bouy report so I called my neighbors (Bill and Denise) and they said they were in. Loaded boat and on our way at 10 a.m we stopped got a few gallons of gas, hit sunrise, grabbed a couple dozen pinfish (didn't want to spend any time catching bait, it was already late), hit the ramp and off we went [...]
Snapper Biting out of Ponce
Florida Sportsman member: InLimbo
Started with a really nice fun trip out of Ponce with the snotty seas that took us over an hour and a half just to get to 80 feet for the first stop. Did I say fun? Very much a roller coaster ride. We new we would see the this and then thought we would probably find that the bottom was all stirred up. It was. Dirty water and a strong current kept the sharks happy when we came off. Winds laid down and following seas for the ride in were nice [...]
Click here for full forum report.
East Central Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: capt mike mann
The sight casting for reds and trout in mosquito lagoon has been pretty good in extremely shallow water. They both have been tailing in the grass and are eating fly, live shrimp and gulp shrimp. There is still some water clean enough to find cruising reds the secret is to move very slow. Offshore the mangrove and red snapper have been eating well [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Solid Offshore Bite off PC
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
Another week fishing, with greatly varied seas and fishing. The fishing has been much like the water temps, hot and cold. The cold water has moved the fish around, and had them biting one day, and tight lipped the next. The fish are also on the move, with big bottom fish often in close and shallow waters [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral: Hot Bottom Bite
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
Another day of fair weather and fishing. Winds were forecast to pick up, and that usually means the seas will follow. We have a nice breeze all day, and the sea's stayed fairly nice all day. Fishing is still a question mark however, with pockets of cool bottom and dirty water creating issues [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Kingfish at 8A
Florida Sportsman member: Sea Hunt
Had more time to fish today but my early start was a bit delayed by a submarine heading out to sea. We had to go all the way down to the Church steeple to find any Pogeys. They were so close up on the beach - it seemed one wrong wave and we would be near aground ! - Reading a scant 4 foot on the sounder - one lucky toss of the net gave us plenty to fill the baitwell.
Click here for full forum report.
Nice Bull Off Sebastian
Florida Sportsman member: Cabanaboy
Headed out around 5:30 a.m., shot straight out to the west edge where there was a nice rip, but no weeds. Ran out to 500 feet and didn't see much so we headed back to our rip and found some weeds further north. Trolled it and landed a big bull on a 24oz. trolling weight with a blue and white islander [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
With a guest from China and a fishing T=tackle manufactuer on board, we were hoping to find some nice catches this trip. It turned out just fine! We still have fish being found in places that you don't typically find them [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Holy Pompano!
Doug Gabbert sent in this report of an offshore fishing treat, a monster African pompano, nice catch!
Fischer and I fished the mullet schools all day Saturday for trout, reds and snook. Fischer said he wanted to catch a “big” fish offshore on Sunday, so, we loaded the boat with four 20 pound Shimano Baitrunners and headed out the Sebastian Inlet early Sunday morning. We found several nice pods of greenies off Disney Vero, filled up the live well and headed towards Bethel Shoal to see what we could find. We pulled up on the #10 buoy on the shoal – there were four other boats fishing around it. Fischer tossed a greenie off the bow and almost instantly a school of large African pompano blew the greenie out of the water. The greenie made a mad dash for the boat, but the fish in the picture was faster and ate the bait right beside the boat. The fish literally hit the side of the boat while eating the greenie!
The fight was on. We chased the fish around for a half hour, it gave us some really smoking runs but Fischer was finally able to get it to the side of the boat. I did not want to gaff it, we did not want to kill it, so I put on gloves and was able to get it in the boat after a couple tries. The fish was gassed, so it did not put up much fight at the boat. We snapped a quick picture, then Fischer revived the fish and watched it swim away. Not a bad first cast and Fischer got his wish for a big fish!
PC Offshore Report
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
So, were used to NOAA's forecast being off quite a bit, but this is one trip I'm glad they were off. The forecast was fro seas at 3-4 feet and winds around 10 knots. We barely had a breeze all day, and sea's never got above 2 feet! It was probably one of the nicer days on the water of the year. Fishing however was somewhat slow, but with great weather we did not mind [...]
Click here for full forum report.
PC Dolphin Catching
Florida Sportsman member: Slacktide
I took a couple that has fished with me a few times in the past and one of my main fishing buddies offshore yesterday. We had 2 dolphin in the box at 1230. I was getting bummed. I had 3 dozen hoo's prepped with not much to show this late in the game. It turned on in the 4th quarter and we were cleaning dolphin until 11 pm. With a slow morning behind us we decided to pull lines n run out a little further [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
Ponce Offshore Gold
Florida Sportsman member: Fool's Gold
Ran out to 100 feet and found some scattered weeds and a small rip, put the baits in and was pretty busy for about an hour, went 4 for 7 on fins, 3 bailers and a peanut. Also caught a shark trolling, haven't seen that one. Slowed down so went out deeper and trolled for awhile, no luck so dropped a bait down on the 28 ledge and picked up the AJ. Went back to trolling to have a triple hook up and not land one of them, 2 short strikes and one shook the hook when it jumped, overall nice day on the water.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Team Bloodstream Trip to Venice
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
This is not a local report but the anglers are. The crew of the F/V Bloodstream loaded up and dragged a new 2011 35 ST Contender on a long haul to Venice LA. The crew making the long haul by vehicle consisted of boat owner and Captain Brian Rimer with Scott Lerhman, Chris Hudson, Billy Fazio and myself [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
Sebastian Inlet Offshore Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: jetpilot
Another slow day of fishing. Still no fish being caught most boats gave up and went bottom fishing. There was also the option to go king fishing outside the inlet with the fleet but opted not to.0I decided to look for wahoo back in at 130' where we caught our last one on Friday. Started out in 170' worked out to 350' and then picked up and ran into 130'. Trolled around there for a few hours and Michelle our mate picked up this wahoo. Any wahoo is a good wahoo in my book!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
Today was a reef trip, anchored up for the day at 8. Seas were choppy, but not too bad, so despite a wet ride out, it was fast and we were soon fishing. Once there, we set a bait on the planer making a pass down the reef until we got to our target bottom site. It didn't take long to find a fish.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphins and Hoo's
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
This was a little personal fishing time Saturday. With nice seas, I fish with a friend on his boat and got to both fish, enjoy the ride, rather than the norm, which though fun, is WORK! At 130' we found a very well formed rip which proved to be a fish highway. Most boats were in shallower looking for Cobia, so we had a lot of space to fish [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
A Couple Firsts
Florida Sportsman member: TheCollegeKid
Boat in the water at 6:15 a.m. at Canaveral, this was my first trip on a "real" fishing boat. (I've only been offshore on party charters until yesterday) We got some pogies and headed out. 1st line in the water, we had a fish within 1 minute. I then fought the largest King of the day for 45 minutes. I also have a cast (broken wrist) on my right hand, so this proved to be difficult. I asked my Doc if I could fish, and he said yes. I'm assuming he thought I was going bass fishing, not fighting 35 lb Kings. We ended up maxing out fairly quickly (8) all over 30lbs [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
120 Mile Buoy
Florida Sportsman member: TrophyRoomApp
120 Mile Buoy - Bear Trap - Capt Ed Dwyer. Report from March 1st, 2012. Departed at 8am from Port Canaveral, FL. Aboard - Ed & Candy, Jen & Troy, Garret and Kristin & Scott Wilson. Seas - 4-5 x 5 sec.. Winds 15 knots - Cruising Speed Out 34 knots...
Click here to see the full forum report.
February Fillets
Florida Sportsman member: Whitner
Headed out of the port at day light and headed East to clean, warm water. Finally found it at the Stream edge in 400 ft. Sitting there was a nice rip with weeds on it. Weather report called for winds to kick up in the afternoon but they gave us a nice window until 3 or so. We also got stopped by "the man" out 34 miles. We have never seen them out that far before, but they wanted to see what we were up to. They never boarded but just asked us some questions and wanted to see our fish [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
