I’m happy to report that the fishing is pretty darn good right now.
Within the last week or so the mangrove snapper have started to bite in the daytime on the reef, where they are gathered to spawn. Tuna at the humps has been consistent to say the least, good numbers of nice-size mahi are pouring through, and the super strong three- to four-knot current that has made it difficult to deep drop has slowed to a more reasonable and fishable 1.5 to 2.5. What’s not to love?
Masses of mangrove snapper are ganged up on certain locations on the reef right now in 30 to 70 feet of water to spawn. Usually a crowd of boats will give away one of these locations, but that doesn’t mean they’re not anywhere else. Do some searching with that bottom machine and pull that anchor a few times looking for them. Chum heavy, and you’ll know within 15 minutes if they’re there.
Use enough weight to reach bottom with just about any reasonably-sized live bait or cut bait and you should get a bite. They’re feeding aggressively.
Please be reasonable in the amount of fish you take. It’s not an unlimited resource. We abide by the state five-fish-per-person limit. A jig head, knocker or fish finder rig with 30-pound leader should do it.
As far as the mahi, there are LOTS of little chickens out there, so just keep looking. The nicer fish have been a little further, about 15 to 25 miles out. The birds are on them. Even some masses of birds that would initially seem like they were on skipjacks turned out to be circling bunches of dolphin.
Troll through the school and hook one up, then slow down and leave that fish about 50 feet from the boat. More will come. With the fishing as good as it is, don’t measure any fish. If it’s even close to not being legal, shake it loose with your de-hooker. Again, here we like to abide by the five-fish-per-person state limit.
The current was perfect out there on Sunday for deep dropping, so give those mahi a break, grab a sandwich, and send a rig down. When scouting I like to make long drifts if possible – there have been plenty of times where I’ve hooked a fish on what seemed like nothing on the bottom machine. You just never know!
