October 25, 2020
By Florida Sportsman
Recent offshore fishing reports from the South region.
Latest from Miami
Florida Sportsman member: various
The Parker only got two dolphin, but considering dolphin fishing has been difficult lately, it's not too much of a surprise.
The Parker: pushed off the dock and one motor not moving transmission oil empty found leak repaired back on the way got out 830 first mahi in boat 945 bigger than looks had really fat tail. Hooked another and phin around 11 then headed in biggest one below picture does no justice.
After dodging storms all day, Realdeep and friends were rewarded with a full box for their efforts.
Realdeep: We went out today after a wet pre-trip. There were no weeds anywhere, so we made our way to 1900 feet trying to find some life and dodging storms. We found a frigate and pulled in a few dolphin. In closer around 850, we found another bird on a lid of a 55 gallon drum with some throwback tripletails. Then close to that, we found another frigate that maxed us out on dolphin. All in all, it was a good way to spend a Friday.
One of the high points of catchemup's trip was one drop with a full stringer.
catchemup: We fished yesterday and it was a beautiful chamber of commerce day. As usual, we loaded up with live goggle eyes and pilchards from Pedro at Goverment Cut. We fished from the Miami Sea Buoy to south of the outfall from 150' into 90'. We fished gogs on top and pilchards top, middle, and bottom. There was a strong southerly current, despite always wanting northerly flow. We were still hopeful of getting some action, but after multiple drifts we had nothing, zero, nada bites, let alone catches. We decided to do a little deep dropping to get some groceries. We tried for some yellow eye snappers, but just managed two small- make that painfully small- blueline tilefish. We moved north and found a strong northerly current. And whereas we had one foot seas to the south, when we moved north and out to 900+ feet, we encountered strong waves. What a difference a few miles can make in conditions. Those tough twin conditions of a flying current and big waves made our deep dropping tough. We managed only eight black belly rosefish. The second high point was one drop with a full stringer. The first highpoint was one of our deeper drops at about 1000 feet. When we brought it, up we felt very heavy, so much so that the reel could not work at high speeds. We naturally backed it off and still from time to time the reel would still stop retrieving as the fish made a maximum effort to swim back down. After retrieving about half the line, the rod suddenly bounced up and then the line came flying in. Obviously, the fish and rig had broken off. However, when the end of the line was brought to the surface, this is what we found; the rig was chewed through after the first hook. And as an added surprise, there was one big rosie on the first hook weighing between two and three pounds, a large rosie by any standard . I do not think there was a shark on the second hook, but rather a fairly large grouper because the only fish action on the rig was to try and swim down with no change in direction. Anyway we'll never know what ate through the 150-pound leader, but it 's fun to imagine.
Realdeep decided to make a long trip out of the day, inshore, nearshore, offshore and rounded out his bag quite nicely. Luckily there were four guys to help at the filet table.
Realdeep: We went out Monday to flat seas and a blacked out livewell. I stopped by my shallow spot to make sure we had dinner covered before heading offshore. We caught a few barracuda's and a couple of snappers. I got rocked up by what looked to be a big mutton. I only got a quick glance of its tail when he took the bait at the surface. We found some weeds offshore around 900 feet and got some dolphin and a bunch of hungry almaco jacks. They are actually very tasty, in case any of you were wondering. Before heading in, we trolled a bit in front of Haulover around 80 feet and caught a couple spanish mackerel, so they are arriving early this year. Heading out tomorrow again before the bad weather arrives.
Click here to see The Parker's Port Everglades 'phins report.
Click here to see Realdeep's Haulover dolphin report.
Click here to see catchemup's Miami Beach rosie report.
Click here to see Realdeep's Miami to Haulover mixed bag report.
Dandy Dolphins and Deep Dropping
Florida Sportsman member: various
b1gdog83 got his limit in no time.
b1gdog83: We had optimal conditions today for deep dropping. There was a very light current and they were hungry. We got our two person limit on golden tilefish and snowy grouper pretty fast.
It wound up being a pretty amazing trip, but not with the targeted spices.
catchemup: We fished Sunday, a perfect chamber of commerce day: calm seas and blue bird skies. It wound up being a pretty amazing trip, but not with the targeted spices.
One of my anglers has wanted to target swordfish for some time. That's beyond my skill set, so we set out to find a quality guide and the name came back of Capt. Fred David who guides swordfish charters and also had great experience fishing them commercially. If the last name rings a bell, it's because he comes from the fabled fishing “David" family where his older brother Jimmy is the owner and captain of the L & H charter boat. Fred worked his tail off for a sword, but no bite. However we did get lucky, very lucky, on the way to the sword grounds (daytime 1500-1800 feet or about 15 to 18 miles offshore.) While on many trips we target dolphin, but that was not the target species yesterday. Still, we wanted to be prepared as we knew we'd be fishing swords in dolphin territory, so we had plenty of live bait from Pedro in Goverment Cut and plenty of gear rigged and ready to go if we encountered dolphin.
On the way, out we spotted two man-o-war circling that had a school of dolphin under them. What made the school unusual is something that you don't see often, as they were super super aggressive fish and they never got spooked during the whole time that we were catching them. They stayed super hungry and “lit-up" for over an hour until we called in another boat and voluntarily left the dolphin still hungry and biting. There were no peanuts or barely legal ones, all were five to eight pounds with a couple over that weight, which is another relatively rare occurrence marking this encounter. We had five souls onboard and took 37 nice fish, while allowed to take 50 (10 each) when we decided to stop harvesting.
After a hard year of dolphin fishing, the guys decided to keep a lot of fish, but stopped at 40, even though their limit would have been 50. Is it time to rethink dolphin regulations after a rough few years for the species?
While that's a lot to take, we all wanted plenty of fresh fish for ourselves and family as it's been a notoriously horrible year for catching dolphin. That provided for a couple of fresh dinners for all the anglers and their family with a little for some fresh frozen. We never want to horde fish for freezing a large quantity, as it degrades over time and is best enjoyed if used quickly. Bottom line, we left them biting without taking the limit that was available to us so we don't feel as if we “abused" the resource. We actually called in another boat and waited until they hooked up, as the fish were swimming around our boat as we continued chumming.
While continuing out to the sword grounds, we came across a free floating long line marker that we spotted and took three more dolphin of ten to twelve pounds, so we had 40 in total. Interesting to note, I kept chumming and chunking while swording looking for a big dolphin, but no dolphin of any size swam up to the boat, which is a frequent occurrence. Without those two circling birds and float sightings, we could have easily come in skunked as there were no weeds to speak of that normally hold dolphin had we wanted to fish for them for a while. We all were very lucky and thankful for the two fruitful encounters. I'm out again Thursday. We plan to fish snapper and grouper on the reef and deep drop for blackberry rosefish. I've vowed to cut off any dolphin we might hook as a by-catch.
After reading catchemup's report (above) I should have just followed them out.
Realdeep: We went out on Sunday after a month of being stuck on land. The forklift operator where I keep the boat bent the prop by mistake and took the shop almost three weeks to get it fixed. What can we do, it happens. After reading catchemup's report (above) I should have just followed them out. At the end we managed a good variety of fish and the prop job came out great, no vibrations and spun the correct RPM like before.
The bite was good on the in 800 feet rosefish.
plastered: With all the reports of slow dolphin fishing, we decide to hit the bottom. We started out in 800 feet with zero current to report. The bite was good on the rosefish. We were also chumming with some glass minnows I wanted to get rid of, trying to attract a dolphin. We could not believe all the bait around the boat. We marked a cloud on the screen and there are pilchards swimming around the boat. We tried some barrelfish numbers, but no luck. We did get sharked two times, but overall, it was a nice day with flat seas.
Looks like a tasty bag again for b1gdog83 and his son.
b1gdog83: The snapper were chewing good today and we got some lobster in the shallows.
Click here to see b1gdog83's snowy and golden tile report.
Click here to see catchemup's Miami beach dolphin report.
Click here to see Realdeep's Miami mixed bag report.
Click here to see plastered's Port Everglades rosefish report.
Click here to see b1gdog83's mixed bag plus bugs report.
Hillsboro Deep Dropping
Florida Sportsman member: b1gdog83
We went out Valentines Day, put the planners out for a bit and started our day off with a wahoo. We then headed offshore to my golden spot. When I got there, I took the boat out of gear to check the current. It was kicking at 6.5 knots! I have never seen the current that strong out there. The wind was light, so it was all current. However the golden tilefish didn't seem to mind and after two drops we had caught our limit.
Click here to see b1gdog83's report.
Click here to see xenia's snapper report from the same day off Ocean Reef.
Miami Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: catchemup
It's not unusual to catch muttons free lining live baits in relatively shallow water over patch reefs and other structure without any weight on the line….typically out to depths of 30' or a little more. But what makes this mutton catch very unusual is that we were free lining pilchards in 80'-85' looking for some king action when one angler caught this mutton on a lite spinner…again with zero weight on the line. Yes, the bait was hooked in he stomach to have him swim down…but despite that…a very unusual way to capture a mutton at that depth merely free lining.
Click here to see the 2/4 report.
Click here to see the 2/3 report.
Epic Deep Dropping
Florida Sportsman member: b1gdog83
We left out of Boca Inlet and started dropping off Hillsboro Inlet. Within two drops and we got our limit of golden tilefish. On the way in, I stopped at one of my snowy grouper spots. On the first drop I picked up a ten pound snowy. Next drop, up floats a big snowy that was 25 pounds.
Click here to see b1gdog83's report.
Catchemup's report from the same day was the polar opposite.
Keepers Out of Port Everglades
Florida Sportsman member: various
The dolphin are still very active down south, although a big bull might be a hard find among the many hungry schoolies and peanuts you'll have to pick through. You'll definitely find some keepers out there, if you can get on a nice weed patch. Check out the recent reports from Port Everglades below.
Click here to see the full bull report.
Click here to see the full PE report.
Click here to see the full PE report.
Mahi Dreamin'
Florida Sportsman member: bamahemi
Kicking off the third week since my twelve year old had cranial surgery, we decided to get out there. He's been itching to go! Today didn't disappoint. About ten miles out east/southeast of Port Everglades, we went three of four on dolphins. He got bragging rights over his big brother with the bigger fish. Life's a blessing! Good times!
For more reports from this region on 6/21, check out the forum posts below.
Click here to see the rest of this forum report.
Click here to see another Port Everglades report.
Click here to see a Hillsboro report.
Click here to see a Miami offshore report.
Click here to see a Boca Raton report.
Miami Offshore Action
Florida Sportsman member: Albertodz3
We headed out for some late afternoon drifts to fly the kite, hoping to get a big tuna. We had one gog in the well, so we decided to put him out first. I couldn't even let out the second kite bait and 20 pound king skyrockets on the gog. The king never came glued. We bring the kite in to reset it. We get the kite out and one minute goes by and there's a sail on the short. We caught that sail. Another sail starts free jumping 20 feet from the boat so I throw the flatline at him and hook up immediately. I caught that sail. We pick the kite up and reset again. Letting out the kite and the middle bait, a herring, gets eaten. Another sail that ended up pulling the hook. We get the kite out and only fish it with two baits, because we didn't have many more baits. Around 20 minutes go by with no hits then the long gets crushed. The fish takes a super long run. We fight the fish to the boat and it's a big tuna. We stick it and get it in the boat and I'd say it was about a 25-30 pound tuna. We got what we came for and headed in. Sushi for dinner.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Southern Mixed Bags
Florida Sportsman member: Plastered2850 & JW_YakAngler
We get the kites out and rig poles for live baiting. We pick up some gogs and pilchards and head out. We head out to 300 ft. and start our first drift. Six flat lines, one down deep and the kite up. It's not long before we get a bite on the kite bait in 144 feet. The sail is going nuts, jumping all over and throws the bait hook before it turned around to go back for the gog. On our next drift, we set up in 450 feet. We had a pack of rigged ballyhoo with us so we put one out. In no time the rod is doubled over, it's the ballyhoo rod. After a nice fight, we've got a wahoo in the box.
Click here to see Plastered2850's wahoo and sail report.
Click here to see JW_YakAngler's mackerel report.
Sails in the South
Florida Sportsman member: catchemup
Fished half day just south of the wrecks, set up in 140'. The seas were a solid three to four feet. We had gogs and small pilchards. I dropped a gog of the stern before we began out first drift and immediately hooked a sail. It resulted in a clean release for the angler. We returned to the same spot after the fight and set up the kite. Before we could set the third bait out, we had another sail. The fish was all heart and fought for 45 minutes giving the same angler his second clean release. We had to laugh when we released the sail, as he had drifted into 19 feet of water. We had two other hits on livies drifted from the windward side and a cut off. Each sail was held off the side with water running through their gills for a full five to seven minutes and each had their tail kicking before they were released. They both swam off in good condition.
Click here to see catchemup's 11/29 Key Biscayne report.
Click here to see catchemup's 11/17 Key Biscayne report.
Great Offshore Bites
Florida Sportsman member: Bnd063011, rnahim, & coachkriegel
Bnd063011: We went out with Captain Jared of getnspooled sportfishing the other day. Fantastic day. Calm winds and blue, crystal clear water all day! We loaded up on yellowtails, mahi and amberjack. It was a beautiful offshore day with a strong bite all day!
rnahim: We went to 800' to 1200'. There were large schools of porpoises all over. Then we hit a big grass patch got a little mahi. We headed back in to 120' to the 150' mark where we hit a wreck and got three nice kingfish back to back.
coachkriegel: Big patches were mixed in with scattered weeds and debris anywhere from the 57 line all the way out to the 48! We had constant action from 54 line out to the 48 picking up singles or doubles every few weed patches! There were still lots of babies out there! We had trouble keeping the baits on without little ones tearing them up! We caught fifteen and kept ten, plus one big blue runner and were back at the boat ramp within five hours.
Click here to see Bnd063011's forum report.
Click here to see rnahim's Haulover mahi and king report.
Click here to see coachkriegel's Hillsboro mahi report.
Southern Mixed Bags
Florida Sportsman member: Tomm & waterman419
A little bit of everything is being caught down south. Most reports have centered around dolphin, although other species like african pompano, grouper, amberjack, snapper and bonito have been reported. Your best bet? Find a weedline out deep and target some mahi. Keep some pitch baits on hand to target the big boys. On your way back in, if you still have the energy, hit the reefs to round out your cooler.
Click here to see Tomm's forum report.
Click here to see waterman419's forum report.
Gettin' on Mahi
Florida Sportsman member: LGT & waterman419
LGT: After a slow start, things picked up at the 46 line with a nice strike on the long line with a blue/white illander. My wife did a great job of clearing lines, keeping us on track, and a big gaff to close the deal. We turned to head back and found the rest. We could have limited, but didn't want to clean all those smaller ones. Let them live another week so they will grow! The bull was 30 pounds.
waterman419: I got off Fowey heading SE at about 6:45. I was a nice ride out especially through Stiltsville. We see some beautiful weed lines in 450'. 30 minutes later a nice one hits a skirted ballyhoo. A few minutes later he came unglued. 15 minutes later we literally see mahi jumping in the weeds. I say the worst thing you can say, “Get ready.” Lucky for me, I was right. I put this one in the box and a couple more smaller ones and call it at 11.
Click here to see LGT's forum report.
Click here to see waterman419's forum report.
South Florida Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: tank85, Plastered2850 & savemejebus
The fishing action has been on fire down in south Florida. From huge jacks out of Hillsboro on vertical jigs, to big mahi and skipjack tuna while trolling off Port Everglades. It's time to load up the truck and celebrate national fishing and boating week! Read all the details in the reports below.
Click here to see tank85's forum report.
Click here to see Plastered2850's forum report.
Click here to see savemejebus's forum report.
Swordfish off Miami
Florida Sportsman member: Kenny Rasberry
This 385-pound swordfish was hauled in by Kenny Rasberry. His team included Ryan McKay, Ryan Kalili and photographer Jack Shealy. The guys connected with the fish 22 miles off Government Cut off Miami aboard their 25-foot SeaVee. They used a dolphin belly with a pink skirt in 1700 feet of water. The swordfish was taken by Kenny on a RJ Boyle rod with a Hooker Electric Shimano Tiagra 80 wide with 65-pound J Braid.
Click here to check out more reports on our Facebook.
Latest from Port Everglades
Florida Sportsman member: Yammy & rivamunstasteve
The billfish are out and about and haven't been afraid to make an appearance to show off a bit. They weren't really interested in the baits, despite a few indicative blow-ups. On the other hand, the dolphin and tuna were hungry and more than willing to bite a hook. For more details on depths and baits, check out the reports below.
Click here to see Yammy's forum report.
Click here to see rivamunstasteve's forum report.
Hot Reef Bites
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
The reef fishing is on fire. The muttons are biting on live and dead ballyhoo in depths between 125' and 160'. There's mahi coming to the boat on most trips, so have those toss rods ready. We have been getting some real nice blackfins on the flatline. Kingfish and mahi also are on the reef. I haven't been targeting many yellowtails lately because the mutton bite is red hot, with multiple hook-ups being very common and most baits getting hit within a minute.
Click here to see the full forum report.
The Fish Almost as Hungry as the Sharks
Florida Sportsman member: xenia
We moved south and anchored on a spot and quickly got bites, but so did the sharks! We tried three spots in 130' with absolutely no current and each spot had fish, and sharks. The final tally: four black grouper caught, one nice yellow jack, one red hind, two red grouper and one black grouper released, three grouper lost on bottom and one that popped 80 pound line, six grouper lost to the sharks, but did manage one head, and ten sandbar sharks hooked and released at boatside. I heard a lot of talk on the radio of mahi out in 800', and one boat fought a 500 pound blue marlin for over five hours before losing it. Heartbreaker.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Hot Fishing in the South
Florida Sportsman member: dgould2, xenia, Plastered2850, waterman419 & CoastalCatch
Sailfish, kingfish, dolphin, wahoo, bonito, golden tilefish, and rose fish were all reported off Florida's southern coasts over the weekend. See the reports below for all the fishy details.
Click here to see dgould2's Port Everglades wahoo and dolphin report.
Click here to see xenia's trolling sailfish report.
Click here to see Plastered2850's mixed bag report.
Click here to see waterman419's Matheson dolphin report.
Click here to see CoastalCatch's Hillsboro bonito report.
Mahi, Wahoo, Snapper, Tuna and More
Florida Sportsman member: dgould2, bitshort, waterman419 & mikenav
Dgould2 reports, "I ran into a nice wahoo just south of Port Everglades. The bite was on a naked ballyhoo in about 200'."
Bitshort reports, "Ran offshore to 750', found someone scattered weeds and picked up a nice schoolie and a decent nine pound skippie. While trolling back in got a small blackfin. I hit the reef and had some nice action 14 pound red snapper and a seven pounder to boot. I also got a 15 pound king and another snake."
Waterman419 reports, "The plan was to look for mahi anywhere after 500ft. It was a beautiful day on the water. My buddy starts whining. I told him 'I don't know if we will catch them in the first hour or the fourth, but if you put your time and don't change the plan our chances are pretty good.' Hour 4, bingo! We find an old tree stump loaded."
Mikenav reports, "Headed out the Jupiter Inlet and decided to turn right and go south. We got down towards Lake Worth and threw out some skirted ballyhoo and began trolling that drop that goes from about 100 to 300 feet. First south, then north. We got six hits, caught four mahi and threw two of those back. It was beautiful out yesterday.
Click here to see dgould2's Port Everglades wahoo report.
Click here to see bitshort's 4/22 reef and trolling report.
Click here to see waterman419's 4/20 Haulover dolphin and tripletail report.
Click here to see mikenav's 4/19 PB dolphin report.
Homestead Bottom Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: SammyT
On Friday, we hit the reef and bounced around a few spots (65-80 feet). We got a few 20-25” mutton's early and a few yellowtail. Also a few smaller, but legal black grouper that went back into the water till next month. Hit another go-to drop in the same depth range and got a few more good mutton's up to eight pounds and finally got the yellowtail balled up. We ended up with seven mutton's and fifteen yellowtail up to 21” by lunch. Things got slow, but we added a couple small mack's to the box. Then, of course, we got the grouper of a lifetime. All three live ballyhoo on the bottom got whacked within ten seconds of each other. I broke off, and my dad and uncle fought their fish to the surface. Their fish was one in the same. 42 pounds on the nose. She had all three hooks in her mouth. We tried to release her and she was tired and bloated. We vented her and ended up spending two hours trying to revive her. Long story longer, we said one last prayer and let her go. Slowly but surely, she kicked and swam back to the bottom to fight another day.
Click here to see the full 3/30 report.
Southern Florida Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: various
Many reports flooded in over the weekend in the South region. Mahi, wahoo, snapper, amberjack, tuna, bonito, kingfish and triggers were all found. To find out where and how, read the featured reports below.
Click here to see the Port Everglades 3/25 report.
Click here to see the Black Point /25 report.
Click here to see the Hillsboro 3/25 report.
Click here to see the Haulover 3/24 report.
Click here to see the Hillsboro 3/23 report.
Deep Drop Saves the Day
Florida Sportsman member: Plastered2850
We hit the reef first, but only picked up one short king so we headed offshore. There were no weeds and no flyers. We rig for dropping Rosies, which were biting good in 796 feet. We filled the box and move on to our tiles. On our first drift, we get a 15 pound golden in the box. We go back and make another drop and get an 18 pound tile then we call it a day. Very slow out there, glad we brought deep drop reels.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Reef Fishing Winter Bite
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
The water is cool, finally, and we are getting the winter bite as expected. The mahi have moved into the reef after the ballyhoo. Grouper and muttons are also moving shallower and the macs are going crazy. The kings are joining the action. Get out there and catch-em up.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Off Port Everglades
Florida Sportsman member: rivamunstasteve
We were met with two to three foot seas and dirty water. We went trolling speed the entire time. There was dirty water out to the 00 line. We finally started to see some very thin lines of healthy weeds running from southwest to northeast. After a half mile, we had a double header. We lost the smaller one on the feather and landed a schoolie. At the 58 line, I see a turtle. Same thing, flat line get hits by cow (and lost it), but Garrett gets the bull- a nice gaffer sized fish. We worked south on the 58 line with only one frigate and no other birds all day, and then both flat lines get hammered. It's a nicer bull. Ten minutes later we got him. We also missed two other fish on the way in between the 00-58 line.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Hot Reef Bites
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
The bite continues to be hot on the reef. The ballyhoo are showering in the shallows and mahi, blackfin tuna and sailfish are under the bait. With baits spraying up as mahi sails and king and macks are on the chase. The macks are all over the reef. We had a colorful cooler today again. Mahi, kingfish, macks, yellowtail, mutton, and mangrove snapper made up our catch. We stayed shallow all day.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Fun Bottom Trip
Florida Sportsman member: miamimuttonman_jr
Once we got there, I was able to bring the ballyhoo right up to the bag for an easy shot with our hoop net. While trying to secure bait as quickly as possible to go hit the mutton and grouper grounds, the infamous yellowtail ball came right up and we managed to catch about 15 before catching enough bait for the day.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Mahi and Tuna
Florida Sportsman member: Plastered2850
The fish all came on the 50-51 line patches. Ballyhoo was hit the most. The 20 pounder hit a bubbler we had caught the cow on just five minutes before. We also had a triple header on the tuna. We ended up with a total of ten gaffers that were up to 21 pounds and five tuna on ice.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Port Everglades Run
Florida Sportsman member: NickNut
This patch was holding so much life it was ridiculous. Thousands of little jacks were crashing even more thousands of little minnows, and the sound of this miniature feeding frenzy was nuts. We knew it would draw in more fish, and within five minutes of saying as much, we were hooked into the school.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bonito Blast
Florida Sportsman member: remel1993
Forum member remel1993 put together an action packed video of vertical jigging out of Port Everglades.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Hillsboro Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: miamihurricane34
Around the 42 line, we found a weedline and trolled down it. We hooked two mahi almost immediately. One jumped off and we boated the other fish. We came up on an upside down wooden box with about a dozen and a half tripletail on it, one of which was really large. We couldn't get him to eat, but we caught a bunch of almacos. We trolled a little more and caught a few more mahi.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Haulover Mahi Madness
Florida Sportsman members: Alinares1111 & twelch2408
The dolphin bite is hot right now off of Haulover. Forum members Alinares1111 and twelch2408 both reported great fishing earlier this week. Both reported nice schoolie dolphins and a few bulls. Twelch2408 got out one day before Alinares1111 and reported ripping currents and no weeds, while Alinares1111 mentioned flat seas and lots of weeds. Ballyhoo is the ticket to getting on these fish.
Click here to see Alinares1111's full forum report.
Click here to see twelch2408's full forum report.
Solid Kingfish Bite
Florida Sportsman member: Plastered2850
The seas were flat and calm. Right away we found a piece of bamboo. We put one in the box and throw three shorts back. We ventured out, but saw nothing. We turned back in and tried deep dropping, but the current was running at 3.2 knots, plus. We pick up and hit the reef and the bite was on. We put six kings in the box up to 23 pounds and called it a day. The fish were from 130 to 155 feet.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Hot Mahi Bite
Florida Sportsman member: AlexNiles
After having no hits blind trolling, we see two frigates going nuts diving in about 750'. Bingo! We wore out the school for a while with chunked ballyhoo. We were about to head back in before this 32 pound bull decides he's hungry. He takes a whole ballyhoo we had drifting way behind the boat on a 7.5' medium Redbone with an old Penn 550 SSG on it. Undergunned to say the least, with only 20 pound Power Pro, 30 pound fluorocarbon, and a 5/0 circle hook between us and the fish. He dumped the spool a few times and we had to chase it around with the boat. Took about 45 minutes before we were able to finally sink the gaff in him and celebrate a banner day.
Click here for the full forum report.
Advertisement
Schooling Mahi
Florida Sportsman member: NickNut
We second guessed ourselves on a decent scattered weedline, about 17 miles southeast of the inlet. We pushed another 7-8 miles, before coming back to it. We saw some birds working and quickly made a pass, immediately hooked up, and then pandemonium ensued. Smallest three were 21" and the rest ranged up to 32". Nothing huge, but all were caught within 30-40 minutes. The school stayed with us, as we flung the chummers at them to keep them fired up. With our limit caught, we had to simply head in, leaving behind a huge school of very hungry dolphin.
Click here for the full forum report.
Advertisement
Excellent Mahi Bite
Florida Sportsman member: conquistador
We fished out of Fiesta Key around 300-500', competing in the 28th annual Dolphin Rodeo Tournament. There were flocks of birds everywhere, all those that were hovering had either dolphin or tuna under them. We used a combo of plugs, feathers, and naked ballyhoo in the spread. We caught 30-40, but we started throwing peanuts back after number 17. We ended up placing 4th with a 13.4 pound bull. The winner was 57lbs, 2nd 23.6, 3rd 16. 27 boats in total, every one of them caught at least a dozen peanuts. The bite is on fire!
Click here for the full forum report.
Bluefin Puts Up a Fight
Florida Sportsman member: Poseidon10/31
We were kite fishing when we saw the bluefin tailing about 50 yards north of our spread. We immediately started pushing south while I got out the Penn 130. It was only moving 5-7 knots, while the others are flying south at 10-15. I hooked on a whole five pound bonito and pitched it out 100' behind the boat. In 80' off Key Biscayne, the tuna made a hard turn offshore and aired out on my bait. I dropped back and we got tight. What we did capture doesn't do the fish justice. I've never caught anything this big, but I'd say it was certainly over 100" and 600 pounds.
Click here for the full forum report.
Groupers Go Home
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
After we traveled a little to find moving water, that's where we had a back to back grouper bite which ended up in the cooler. Muttons where hitting as well and we put some in to end up with a color full cooler.
Click here for the full forum report.
Reef Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
We have been catching plenty of yellowtail and releasing some very nice groupers and a few muttons. The bite is getting better each day. There's plenty of bait on the reef between 50 and 70 feet, speedo and ballyhoo have been getting chased by AJ's and mahi.
Click here for the full forum report.
Hillsboro Tuna and Sailfish
Florida Sportsman member: JVL
We saw an explosion on the long bait and it was game on. After 30 minutes of googan avoidance, digging, head shakes and death circles, the silhouette of a trophy blackfin tuna appeared.
Click here for the full forum report.
Pompano Beach Wreck Fishing Amberjacks
Florida Sportsman member: landshark
This AJ stripped 250 yards of locked down 80lb braid in under a minute. After a 15 minute fight, Brook landed her biggest AJ ever and on a jig too!
Click here for the full forum report.
Wreck Fishing Miami
Florida Sportsman member: Yeaaa_Chris
We had to work harder than usual for bait, but got enough for the day. The goal was to get my buddy on his first AJ, and after a few swing and misses, he got his wish. Not going to lie, it was pretty funny watching him get whooped. The jacks are starting to stack up on the wrecks and the bonito are moving in.
Click here for the full forum report.
Reef Fishing Variety
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
The reef bite is growing better each day as summer is approaching. The bait on the reef is abundant, drawing into shallow water the pelagics, including mahi and tuna. As soon as the chum goes in the water, we are having ballyhoo and speedo come up, followed by a big yellow ball of yellowtails.
Click here for the full forum report.
Boca Raton Tuna and More
Florida Sportsman member: trousertroutman
We continued this pattern of drifting from deep to shallow working the jigs and ended up with five blackfin, one skipjack, two triggers and plenty of arm wrecking ajs and bonito.
Click here for the full forum report.
Reef Fishing Improving
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
We started catching a fish on each bait put out. A few minutes into the steady catching, I set up to put one bottom rod down with live pilchards. It worked. We hooked up to a 20.5 inch mutton and another 19.5 incher, then came the one that almost pulled the lady angler over.
Click here for the full forum report.
Hillsboro to Boca Bites
Florida Sportsman member: holdemhook1
The bite wasn't as strong as last weekend, but there are fish around. It just depends on the conditions if they will bite. We caught kings and some dolphin. Weather was great.
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Everglades Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: gsweaver
My boy wanted to go "trigger fishing". We had one block of chum and two packs of silversides. We set up in 55 ft of water drifting and this king hit a silverside on a jighead. It was our first kingfish ever.
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Everglades Tuna
Florida Sportsman member: T - L U V
We put out a spread that consisted of one ballyhoo, one squid, and a black and purple islander with a bonito strip. The first fish hit around 3pm in 680', just north of Dania pier. Got him in the boat and set back up. We made another pass in the same area and got the second fish.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Snapper and Grouper
Florida Sportsman member: boneheadhunting
We managed to get a couple yellowtail with a super strong current. The bite on the bottom was great.
Click here for the full forum report.
Homestead Mixed Bites
Florida Sportsman member: Hooked4Reel
All-in-all, the day ended with one cero mackerel in the cooler along with twenty three yellowtails, ranging in size from 13" to 18".
Click here for the full forum report.
Winter Reef Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Miami mutton
These approaching cold fronts turn the bite on good. The yellowtails have been bigger and we will continue to catch bigger ones by next month. Here off Miami and upper to middle keys, the muttons are very shallow or very deep. Keep that in mind to target them in winter.
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Everglades Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: Jesse8410
The seas were flat and calm. We headed to the wreck and set out a few flat lines and some bottom baits. I had two cut offs on the flat lines, one short mutton, one keeper vermilion and an AJ down low. The wind picked up and set up the kite in another spot. Picked up a king.
Click here for the full forum report.
Reef Fishing Miami
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
The yellowtail bite was really good, we were targeting them shallower than usual. We also caught some keeper muttons and a nice grey, all in the same spot. We got there close to 9:am and by 10:30am we had close to a five man snapper limit, which we managed to complete, along with a few macks, bonito and a barracuda.
Click here for the full forum report.
Dania Beach Tuna and Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: gsweaver
We trolled black/ purple and black/red feathers south of Port Everglades. First fish in was a 22" schoolie in 220 ft just south of Dania Pier. Then three more blackfin all in the same area. I was surprised to find them in that close.
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Everglades Mahi Haul
Florida Sportsman member: ProfessorO
A few seconds later our second pilchard is hit and we have another nice fish on. We get another line in the water and another fish on. We slowly fight these fish and gaff both of them. 15 and 25 lb cows.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Reef Fishing Variety
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
Fishing has been good on the reef with a good mix catch, we have been getting yellowtails, muttons, grouper, reds and blacks and even the rare, dog snapper.
Click here for the full forum report.
Chasing Kings in Haulover
Florida Sportsman member: paulrxp
Winds were pretty light out of the E/SE less than 7mph with a very weak south current and high tide before 9am, as well as a Full Moon. Good pods of ballyhoo are out on the deeper reef and edge past 100ft and they were getting whacked by Kingfish, some of which were rocketing. We were able to catch our limit of Kings pretty quick with the live finger mullet, and numerous cutoffs on jigs/verticals, too many to count. It's near impossible to keep them away from the Kings.
Click here for the full forum report.
Pavilion Key Cobia
Florida Sportsman: Raquel Waxon
Raquel Waxon, from Pembroke Pines, FL caught her first, legal sized cobia on a 10 lb. spinning outfit, one mile off Pavilion Key.
Check out our Facebook and other catches.
Highland Beach Cobia
Florida Sportsman member: rhino2000
I got out about 7 am and anchored up at about 80 feet. I put out some chum and had very little current. Had some fresh dead gogs and used a knocker rig and tortuga bottom rig. This cobia bit the tail half of the gog. Shockingly he was caught on a Penn Spinfisher 5500 with 30lb braid and 30lb flobo leader.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Reef Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
The fish are moving shallower and the bait on the reef is being chased by Mahi and tuna and macs and kings, in the mix there are sailfish also, big sport fishing boat charters are running the reef line following birds and showering baits and hooking up to all the above. The bottom fishing has been good with limits of yellow tails happening on most trips.
Click here for the full forum report.
Hollywood King Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: T - L U V
We picked up and headed south and set up off Hollywood. Chatted with Neal from Plastered a bit and it was slow for them as well. After about an hour, we finally picked up a ten pound king near the tenneco. We Circled back around and we are tight with a good fish.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Reef Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Smokin_Reelz
We went out last Saturday from Miami to see if the Cero Mackerel were there. They are indeed. They are, along with about a billion ballyhoo. They weren't that aggressive that day, as we caught only a few. But we went to the edge for about 10 minutes and caught 1/1 on sails.
Click here for the full forum report.
Hillsboro Wreck Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: MH79
I picked off a couple decent mangroves on the bottom and tons of large blue runners on freelined jigs. My girl caught a decent bluefish on the bottom, which we threw back. I starting getting cut off a lot by what must have been bluefish or Spanish mackerel ... which was a reminder that winter is right around the corner.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Beach: A Trip To Remember
Florida Sportsman member: reelchaos27
We followed for a bit and slowly pulled up to this mammoth whale shark finning down sea. It was loaded with Cobia of all sizes. We sprung into action and started pitching baits. We all hooked up, had a few tangles, and a couple remoras to make things interesting.
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Everglades Sails
Florida Sportsman member:TLUV
Motored out through a sloppy inlet and headed south to do some slow trolling. Setup in 150 feet off of Hollywood. Within the first 10 minutes, we were 1 for 2 on sails and had a cutoff from a king.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Live Baiting
Florida Sportsman member: Ghostrider
In short order we managed to sabiki only a few threadfins and got a net full of ballyhoo.
made it to the edge and put the baits out, a few minutes later we missed a small dolphin that tried to eat a large ballyhoo.
Click here for the full forum report.
Catching Dinner
Florida Sportsman member: gdholbrook
A quick afternoon trip paid off, brought home some dinner. We went three for five on muttons, caught a nice black and red as well.
Click here for the full forum report.
Family Outing
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
Here is a day I wait for every year as both my boys, join me every year. my oldest Benny Jr. had a herniated disc last week so he was on the electric and got the feel for it and started catching mutton after mutton and had a very nice black grouper surprise as i had another black on the bottom rod on the other side.
Click here for the full forum report.
Mutton Madness
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
We have been catching some nice muttons out of Miami along with yellowtails and mangrove snapper. They continue to hit on ballyhoo. I was joined by my son, Miamimuttonman Jr. which helped me keep up with double hook ups and at one time, we had the flat line with a Mac, the boy with a yellowtail and the two bottom rods all with a fish at the same time.
Click here for the full forum report.
Tournament Winner
Florida Sportsman member: SmittysTeam
We ran out Saturday morning and fished the 700-800 feet for awhile but nada. Decided to run further out and picked up a couple nice fish on the 52 line. Blind trolling and off a pallet. Fishing was real slow but managed to get first place overall.
Click here for the full forum report.
Giant South Florida Swordfish
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
We made it out to the sword grounds at around 1:30PM and on the 2nd drop of the day ... we get a bite way high off the bottom. We play with the bait to try and come tight on the fish and after a few MONSTER bites we get a hook in the fish. Little did we know what we had just gotten ourselves into.
Click here for the full forum report.
North Largo Muttons
Florida Sportsman member: fulltime
Started the day with the plan to go dolphin fishing, talked with a few charter guys who said it stunk offshore. Switched gears and went bottom fishing, caught seven muttons and called it a day.
Click here for the full forum report.
MIami Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: Yeaaa_Chris
We had a few more mutton bites in 120, but we just didn't connect. As we were picking up to head in, another small cow swam up behind the boat. My buddy had rigged up a gotcha earlier, and I just tossed it, and it got slammed right behind the boat.
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Everglades Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: conquistador
We fished 300 to 340 feet and caught aj's, blackfins, grouper, bonito, and missed a monster that snapped my 40 pound spiderwire. I'm now a fan of vertical jigging and love it, can't wait to get back out there.
Click here for the full forum report.
Muttons off Miami
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
After we had a good looking yellowtail cooler, We headed out to catch the muttons, we anchored over a good mark of fish, where we also released a nice black grouper and caught a nice porgy.
Click here for the full forum report.
First Sword
Florida Sportsman member: wahoowillie754
So about 9:30pm we get the first hit and my cousin gets the fish boat side and see that it's a nice fish over a 100 pounds and then the hook pulls! Get set back up on the second drift and at 11:00pm we get the second bite.
Click here for the full forum report.
Haulover Swordfish
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
Fourth drop, tap tap, drop it down, fish on! We fought the fish for about 30 minutes and had her by the boat in short order. She was all lit up and was a beautiful sight to see.
Click here for the full forum report.
Day Trip to Bimini
Florida Sportsman member: Tomm
We did not start fishing until around 11:00am. Unfortunately we missed the best tide (outgoing) and also the moon phase was not the best, but we took a stab anyway and landed a wahoo about 30 minutes into the troll.
Click here for the full forum report.
Haulover Deep Dropping
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
We started the day fishing State waters for blueline tilefish and got a few really nice ones, including my personal best. We then proceeded to try and find the yelloweye snapper but they are thinning out and it was a bit of a challenge.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Flags
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
After three times missing the spot I wanted to hit, we hit it right on the fourth try and it worked out great. We started the chum, after anchoring in 95 feet, minutes later the tails started showing up and after a few technique demos and instructions, these guys were ready to start the catching.
Click here for the full forum report.
Muttons and More
Florida Sportsman member: gdholbrook
Forum member gdholbrook had some luck off of Miami recently. Drifting and fishing live pilchards over productive bottom was the ticket.
Click here for the full forum report.
Wahoo Success
Florida Sportsman member: CatchDog
We had a fantastic trip over in Bimini last weekend with multiple double headers and quality fish coming over the rail. Weather wasn't too bad so was able to make a video of our trip, turned out pretty well.
Click here for the full forum report.
Hillsboro Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: FLATS BROKE
We started slowing trolling at sunrise and did not get a bite. Decided to set a drift starting in 100 feet of water. South current was strong, so we set out a couple flats and a couple down baits. Ended up hitting a school of kings and boated three fish pretty fast.
Click here for the full forum report.
Catch and Release Snappers
Florida Sportsman member: Reef Bandit
Joe grabbed his fly rod and did a short cast. He was using mono core which pulled the fly down slowly. 20 seconds passed and Joe was holding on to a red snapper that was screaming drag.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: gdholbrook
We setup over some wrecks and lost more fish then we landed but ended up with a decent mixed bag of kings, muttons, fat yellow jack, a bonus yellow tail on a bottom rod and a nice african pompano.
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Everglades Phins
Florida Sportsman member: NightOwler
We picked up some blue runners at the sea buoy and ran out to 850 feet. Saw a free jumper and trolled the area but could not raise him. Stopped the boat by two weed patches pitched a livie, spro jig, and ballyhoo plug.
Click here for the full forum report.
South Florida Variety
Florida Sportsman member: skully1968
Put out new baits a little time passed and we were in 120 feet of water and we got the bite we were looking for. A sail ate the long bait, after a short chase we had the leader touch and the release. At the time we were the fourth boat to catch a fish.
Click here for the full forum report.
One and Done
Florida Sportsman member: BigTime
We decided to push off a bit further and it paid off. Just finished getting a third flat out when one rod lights up like there is no tomorrow. Wouldn't you know it, it's the only setup with a 2/0 hook on mono. Worked the fish for quite a while and finally got the chance to put a gaff in its head.
Click here for the full forum report.
Solo Action
Florida Sportsman member: Tomm
As I was moving to another spot saw frigate birds working, plus tons of bait skipping the surface and trying to get away from predators. Trolled and picked up a nice lifter Mahi only about three miles off the beach. I noticed a few bigger brothers swimming along and pitched cut Bonita to one of them. Bam, hook up!
Click here for the full forum report.
Swords and More
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
We left the inlet on Saturday in hopes of getting a keeper fish and what happened next was truly epic. We made it out to the sword grounds and within 5 minutes of our first drop, tap! no need to play with this fish, he was ON and we were TIGHT!
Click here for the full forum report.
Taking Veterans Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: rhino2000
Shortly after leaving the 4x4 heading east ran into a school of Mahi that just hammered our spread from both sides. We had six rods out and six mahi on, got tangled like crazy and ended up with two in the boat.
Click here for the full forum report.
Day Timing Down South
Florida Sportsman member: type1F-team
About 30 minutes into the drift I decided to try and entice one to bite by bring the bait up a few hundred feet and dropping it back down. After bringing it up about 100 feet the rod doubled over and we were on.
Click here for the full forum report.
South Snapper Bite
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
The mangrove bite has been great from Fowey rocks to carrysfort light. We did catch some real nice size ones. The current was perfect to the north both trips, one trip we caught a bunch of nice ones and a couple of muttons. On the next trip, We caught two huge ones, before I noticed the boat was filled with water and we were about to sink.
Click here for the full forum report.
Solo Trip Success
Florida Sportsman member: Tomm
The plan was to go to the Islamorada Humps. Unfortunately, however, my buddy backed out so it ended up being a solo trip. The blackfin and skipjack tuna were everywhere. I trolled up a bunch then decided to deploy some live bait close to six diving frigate birds, unfortunately this also happened to be roughest part of the hump.
Click here for the full forum report.
Find the Birds, Find the Fish
Florida Sportsman member: SmittysTeam
Cleared the inlet around 8 and Sabiki'd about 2-3 dozen pilchards in the morning. Ran out to about 13 to 15 miles and found two frigates working hard. We slow trolled live pilchards into them and got into a huge school.
Click here for the full forum report.
Getting Revenge
Florida Sportsman member: on deck
Turned north into it and immediately got a 15 pound bull on a blue and white islander over a 'hoo. Switched out to the live 'hoo spread and it was game on. Couple schools of 18 to 25 inch fish. Put two in the box and followed the line north.
Click here for the full forum report.
Family Fun in Marathon
Florida Sportsman member: ReelObsession
The rest of the school comes up and we can see 4 or 5 other fish and 1 big bull. My dad pitches a whole ballyhoo to him and he takes it. The fight is on my dad works him closer and closer to the boat. After about 20 minutes we get him next to the boat and he is still pretty green. I sink a gaff into him and flip him over the rail.
Click here for the full forum report.
Hot Reef Bite
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
It's been non stop action on the reef, I've been fishing lately out of Miami, but here are some trips out of the upper keys also. The current has been decent moving north, which is my favorite.
Click here for the full forum report.
Making it Happen
Florida Sportsman member: snookyj
My oldest daughter told me the other night she wanted to catch her first mahi and then cook it and eat it. So me and grandpa loaded up the boat on Wednesday night and we were off at the crack of 8am on Thursday morning. The trip started out slow, but we found a floating chair about an hour into the trip and pulled some really nice fish off of it.
Click here for the full forum report.
South Florida Swords
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
We made it to the swordfish grounds and within 2 minutes of being down we get a tap. It was so subtle that I was second guessing it to be a fish or the lead bouncing but as always I reeled anyways. Second Tap, definitely a fish.
Click here for the full forum report.
Down South Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: followotherboats
Not long after we found them, the first dolphin was coming over the side. Nice little lifter for my buddy's wife. She was happy as the last time we took her out, she only caught a barracuda. No followers once again so back on troll we went.
Click here for the full forum report.
Saved by the Storm
Florida Sportsman member: flybycrb21
All of that changed on the way in when we noticed a single storm formation hovering right over port Everglades and decided to put out a trolling spread to pass time and let the storm pass. First hit came 5 minutes later, barely legal peanut in the boat. 5 minutes later we have a 10 pounds cow and get her in the boat too. Turn around and reset the spread to retrace our path and 10 minutes later we get crushed by a big bull.
Click here for the full forum report.
Day Trip Success
Florida Sportsman member: OneFastt997
On Friday I got a call with an opportunity to cross to the Bahamas to target yellowfins with a friend of a friend. After my trip two weeks ago where we saw them but didn't hook up I knew I had to go back over and redeem myself.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Bottom Bite
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
As for yellowtail, they have been really hungry we have caught plenty on all trips and the kids and women have had a blast catching them one after another. The reef fishing will get better each day as summer is setting in and the day time mangrove bite will be coming soon.
Click here for the full forum report.
First Sail for the Boat
Florida Sportsman member: jtnole02
My buddy and I went out on Sunday afternoon to fly the kite for a few hours on my 18 seacraft. Picked up this sail which was my first on my boat and a few kings for the grill. We had 12 pilchards and landed 5 fish and were only out from 12 to 4pm.
Click here for the full forum report.
Down South Deep Dropping
Florida Sportsman member: copout@castaways
I fished with Angelo who holds the world record golden tile (65lbs), he manually dropped at most of the spots from 800 to 1000 feet, while I ran the T1000. We managed 2 tiles, one barrelfish, 8 rosies, 4 green eyed sharks and two throwback fins all off of Port Everglades.
Click here for the full forum report.
Sails Down South
Florida Sportsman member: andy5757
We headed north to the Steeple area and set lines out for a drift. Super calm with just a slight west wind and soft north current. Not 15 minutes into drift at 8:00am we hooked up to a sail. Erin fought the sail, admirably, and in short order the first sail was released.
Click here for the full forum report.
Haulover Swords
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
We made it to the grounds and within 1 hour we had our first bite. Fought the fish for about 15 minutes and got the harpoon in her. We dropped again and pulled a fish off down deep. Dropped again and hooked into a monster shark, probably a thresher, for about 25 minutes before he ate the hook.
Click here for the full forum report.
Leaving Them Biting
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
I started chumming in 65 feet and slowly brought the fish to visual distance and after a few test I did, to determine the best way to catch them, we started slowly picking at these nice size yellowtails. The current got better, after the wind dropped and the fish, turned on real good, letting us reach our limit and we left the big ball hungry for next time.
Click here for the full forum report.
Deep Dropping Out of Haulover
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
Got to the first spot and after a nice tangle on the first drop, we reset and BOOM, nice golden tilefish in the box. We got another golden, and then moved on to try to get other species. We managed 2 golden tilefish, 1 gray tilefish, 1 snowy grouper, and 1 yellowedge grouper before calling it a day.
Click here for the full forum report.
Wahoo on the Other Side
Florida Sportsman member: snookyj
We started trolling right out front of bimini, we decided to head south. Made it down around Cat and only had one sniff at our baits but it came unglued. Just south of Cat we had a good bite and new it was good fish. It was ripping line and after about a 20 minute tug of war we had him behind the boat. We leadered him in and I stuck him with the gaff.
Click here for the full forum report.
Barrel Bonanza
Florida Sportsman member: flybycrb21
We dropped the rig over some proven territory and pulled up 6 barrelfish and 2 rosies on 5 drifts. At this point I had more than my fair share of barrels and plenty of slime in the fish box so we decided to try dropping over a new spot a little bit shallower for some new species. Sent the rig down two more times and pulled up 4 more barrels.
Click here for the full forum report.
Limits out of Miami
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
We have been getting limits of yellow tails each day and today we did get grouper and a nice cobia to ad to the 4 man snapper limit. The current is stronger to the North as of today. bottom bite picked up or should I say, we didn't miss the bottom fish, because yesterday we lost 8 bottom fish.
Click here for the full forum report.
Day Timing Before the Front
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
I went out with my friend Jesse to try and get a sword before this cold front pushed through. We got to the spot and within 7 minutes of our bait being down we got a bite and we were on!
Click here for the full forum report.
Swords out of Haulover
Florida Sportsman member: farinco
Went out with forum member johnnywizman to try and get tight on a few swordfish. He guaranteed me a fish on this trip. We had an epic bite, landing 4 out of 5 fish, with 2 rat's released, and two 52" lower jaw to fork swords in the box.
Click here for the full forum report.
Bringing Home Dinner
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
I got the chum going and we got the tails to come real close and started the kill. While catching the tails, we saw mahi show up and I quickly grabbed the toss rod, put a ballyhoo chunk and tossed it out, as I passed the rod to Carlos which had the fish on instantly.
Click here for the full forum report.
Dolphin off of Miami
Florida Sportsman member: ReelObsession
The pallet had all kinds of life under it and as soon as we trolled by it was game on. We caught 22 dolphins up to about 12 pounds. We threw back another 10 or so that were borderline keepers. After we caught enough dolphin we decided to jump in a spear a couple.
Click here for the full forum report.
Tearing up the Tortugas
Florida Sportsman member: Reef Bandit
Motoring a few hundred yards, we all readied. It didn't take long to find out that the next spot was loaded with big red snappers. We caught them one after another. The only problem was that they were out of season so we had to vent them and let them go.
Click here for the full forum report.
Down South Yellowtails
Florida Sportsman member: wahito
I don't know if it was the chum or just plain luck but we couldn't keep the yellowtail away. They were biting everything we would throw at them live bait, frozen, artificials, everything! We almost had our limit and we ran out of bait. So we pulled anchor and decided to head back.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Jig Bite
Florida Sportsman member: angryangler
Ray shrilled “it's a warsaw!” already dreaming of how many different ways he would prepare and eat the fish, my kids will eat for days! High fives all around and the boat was rocking, group pics and all.
Click here for the full forum report.
Big Fish on the Bottom
Florida Sportsman member: The BEAST
We did another fun trip with family and friends down in Key Largo. They had fun swim fishing for hog fish and schoolmasters. We went after some muttons with the only 3 live ballyhoo we managed to catch. We got 3 nice muttons, 8, 9½, and 17 pounds.
Click here for the full forum report.
Mangroves and More Off of Miami
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
We have been having a strong current most days, making fishing very hard to the unexperienced, in some trips it has defeated the ability to hook the fish that bite. Not everyone can pick up this technique proven to work day after day and brake their own habits, they have had for years, all in one trip.
Click here for the full forum report.
South Florida Spearfish
Florida Sportsman member: Poseidon10/31
Today I put my hands on my first shortbill spearfish, which is super rare for these waters. I fish on the Miss Britt out of Coconut Grove with the legendary Ray Rosher. In his decades of commercial and charter fishing this is only the second one he's landed.
Click here for the full forum report.
Key Biscayne Bull
Florida Sportsman member: GameTimeFT
15 minutes into trolling, the rod takes off! A cow jumped and we immediately saw that she was a nice size fish. As we bring her in, directly behind her we see the bull jumping. Once we get the cow in the cooler the other rod takes off!
Click here for the full forum report.
Port Everglades Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: flybycrb21
Since we weren't catching fish we decided to give the potential spot a drop. On the first drop the bait hit the bottom and the rod immediately bent over. We ended up pulling up a 23 pound barrel fish from 1200 feet. We dropped three more times after that and got a 15 to 25 pound barrel fish on each drop.
Click here for the full forum report.
Summer Sails
Florida Sportsman member: snookyj
Headed in to the reef and saw sailfish free jumping everywhere, i think we must have seen at least 7 fish free jumping. We set up a drift in 200 feet and almost immediately the mid depth rod gets hammered and we have a sail in the air. Wound up only catching one, but it was one that counted. It was Monica's first sailfish!
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Mutton Madness
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
It's been non stop action, weather has been great and it's supposed to continue good.The currents have been strong. The groupers are biting good and the yellowtails are also biting great. groupers have been more on the shallower reefs just below the tails.
Click here for the full forum report.
Down South Bottom Bite
Florida Sportsman member: Lucky Hook II
The bottom bite has been outstanding with good catches of grouper up to 30 pounds some nice muttons and a lot of yellowtails. Also, the mangrove snappers have started showing up on the reef in good numbers.
Click here for the full forum report.
Filling the Coolers Down South
Florida Sportsman member: GIT-R-DUnn
I put the rod in a holder to get a drink and not a minute went by she was buckled over. I grabbed the rod and knew it was big. But the reel with 50 pound braid put a whoopin on this fish and up came to be my best mutton.
Click here for the full forum report.
A Little Bit of Everything
Florida Sportsman member: cudaman
As the boat turned the engines on and started to move I let out the trolling rig and as I snapped the release clip on, I looked to the right I heard a scream and saw my rod bending, I picked it up and let the fish run a bit. I tightened the drag and started to fight the fish, I saw a big wide flash and screamed BIG DOLPHIN!
Click here for the full forum report.
Deep Dropping Down South
Florida Sportsman member: copout@castaways
Forum member copout@castaways got into some nice fish while deep dropping. Catching 7 barrel fish and 2 tile fish.
Click here for the full forum report.
Terrific Tortugas Trip Florida Sportsman member: Reef Bandit
"We ended up catching over 100 groupers, a dozen muttons and limited out our snapper bag with yellowtails. I'd been down two days before this trip on a big boat and literally had to run away from all the red snappers, they're everywhere! We even caught 10 of them on fly!"
Want to catch huge grouper like these guys? Click here for how-to videos, feature stories, and more.
Port Everglades Sail
Florida Sportsman member: 23T
Forum member 23T caught this nice sail out of port everglades, While trolling for dolphin.
Click here for the full forum report.
Fishing on the Edge
Florida Sportsman member: Double Threat
Amberjack are biting pretty well on the wrecks (deep and even some shallower wrecks). We have had some king bites but it has been inconsistent. Lost some decent ones at the leader and a few other charter boats have caught them to 40 pounds. Blackfin tuna to 30 pounds are starting to show as well. Be careful live chumming though because the bonito have been insanely thick.
Click here for the full forum report.
Miami Muttons
Florida Sportsman member: Miami mutton
the screen was marking a load of fish so I gave it a couple minutes and brought up the first fish, that weighed on the Boga grip 13 pounds, after I bring this fish in, Al gets hit and is fighting another.Then Cal is on another fish on the other side, these fish were all big, I had a flash back and remembered, Captain Greg, from times on the Yankee Capts when we would get to a sunset spot and he would be marking a lot of fish and no one was catching for a few minutes while people would take the time to eat and he would sit there a few minutes longer and then , The bite started and the floor all around the boat would be pink and the mates would not have time to take each fish off the hook as they had to gaff another.
Click here for the full forum report.
King Cuda and Friends
Florida Sportsman member: The BEAST
This time the line got very heavy and for over an hour I watched Steve, then Rjon and even Devon, take turns on the rod. All 3 were grunting and working up a lather of sweat. The fish would give up a yard or two of line and then take back 3. Sometimes it would let them feel like they had it beat, allowing them to take in 25 or 30 yards of line, only to have the fish make a good run that stripped all that and more. This fish was doing whatever it wanted.
Click here for the full forum report.
South Florida Sails and More
Florida Sportsman member: The BEAST
The short rigger popped off and Devon put Jesse on the rod. He did the drop back and hook up perfectly. Sailfish on! Yeah Buddy! This fish went nuts for about 30 seconds and then dropped into the depths taking Jesse “down & dirty” for the remainder of the fight. It wasn't a pretty fight, but it was a pretty long fight.
Click here for the full forum report.
Making It Happen in the Rough
Florida Sportsman member: danmanswag
Spent the day kite fishing with a few additional flat lines. We would catch 2 mahi and then reset, catch another 2 and then reset, pretty much the entire day minus 1 or 2 drifts. Was another grinder but made the best of it and finished with 9 mahi. Nothing big, but plenty of food on the plate. Our last drift produced a nice sail in about 150 feet just north of Triumph that hit the flat line.
Click here for the full forum report.
Swordfish on Soft Plastics
Florida Sportsman member: Captain Ross
The fish made two passes at the bait before getting hooked. Unfortunately the hook pulled just a minute or two in the the fight. With our adrenaline back up, we repositioned our boat and made another drop. This time using a Black 18 inch Hogy Soft Bait, just over the nose, we threaded a small pink octopus style skirt and added a squirt of pro cure scent.
Click here for the full forum report.
Hot Bottom Bite Down South
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
We hit the first spot in 60 feet and the current was just perfect, after chumming a little while, We had the yellow tail eating good behind the boat and the catching began. We fished this spot until the current got too strong and the big sharks showed up. After, we went deep for the mutton's and King fish, but the kings did not want to eat dead bait today. We did get two nice muttons and lost a few big fish in the deep water.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Droppin' Deep for Big Fish
Florida Sportsman member: copout@castaways
Forum member copout@castaways Got into a mess of fish deep dropping with some buddy's including this beautiful tile fish and many other species. This is a great way to fill the cooler with some of the best fish there is.
Click here to read the full forum report.
A Full Day of Fun
Florida Sportsman member: The BEAST
We worked the area a bit longer and then I headed for a good mackerel spot I know. Within minutes of arriving in that area the down rod pops off and the reel is screaming. Brian jumped on it and we were thinking "smoker" king. Brian begins whipping up on the fish and soon we see color. Dang! It's an extremely large Caribbean Spotted Mackerel, but darn impressive!
Click here to read the full forum report.
Rough and Tough Sailfish in the South Florida Sportsman member: The BEAST
"As the day moved along we caught several skipjacks. This seemed to be the predominate catch rolling down the corridor we were fishing. The day dragged on and the seas built up with each minute. As the time was running low we had a taker on the short rigger and here we go, sailfish! The guys were happy to see that fish as it did its acrobatics out of the water..."
Want to tune in on the winter sailfish bite? Click here for how-to videos, feature stories, and more.
Florida Bay Cobia
Florida Sportsman member: Miami mutton
also hooked up with a Goliath, that was so big my friend could not lift it to the surface as it stopped where we could see it but could not lift it with his current rod, the fish looked around 400 pounds. We also caught and released a cuda and a few sharks, Then, we headed to the rivers and anchored in my favorite Gag spot. The first bait down got slammed by this 27 inch gag, we also got a snapper and lost three more gags to the bottom structure.
Click here to read the full forum report.
On The Fish, Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: e-money
Left LWI at 8 a.m. with west/southwest winds at about 12 to 15 miles per hour. John found some “pretty water” in 160 feet off Lost Tree and birds working. Set out a seven rod trolling spread and as I put last bait in the 'rigger the pink Moldcraft/bally combo gets crushed! Cool, nice gaffer in box.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Deep Dropping Daylight Swords
Florida Sportsman member: ultraplayer26
From 1600-1700 feet it came right up. Once we got to the lead sinker the fish finally decided to take a dive back down to 400 feet. When the fish was brought back up to around 60 feet from the boat we see a big head splash above the water with a long bill. After 2 long hours we finally bring the fish boat side. It weighed 375 pounds at the scale.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Solid Reef Fishing Down South
Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton
I put out my new hoop net and ended up catching a load of ballyhoo for the well, with the bait secured, I rigged a butterflied ballyhoo and sent it down for my customer. Two minutes later he got his first mutton of the day. We caught a few yellowtail here and put down a few baits, one of which got inhaled by a big grouper, that took drag to the bottom for the second time as he was able to find his hole.
Click here to read the full forum report.
