Well it’s the middle of March, and we are definitely making the transition from winter fishing to spring and summer style fishing.
The water temperatures are steadily rising, and our favorite game fish are responding to the warmer water nicely. While it has been a bit windy this last week, the offshore fishing is heating up with catches of nicely sized dolphin being caught out in 300 to 500 feet of water.
Anglers aboard The Best Bet fleet have also landed a few nice wahoo this past week in the same area, so a short shot of wire on your trolled baits is a good Idea.
Sailfish are starting to tail with some cobia mixed in, but the sails had a slight case of lockjaw last week. So, it’s a good idea to have a variety of live baits in the well, as they can be finicky from time to time.
Our Marathon area wrecks continue to produce some nice size mutton snapper, grouper and amberjacks for those who want to test their strength and endurance. Grouper season is still closed until May 1, so even though the bite’s been pretty active, please release your grouper unharmed.
Snapper fishing on the deep reefs is also getting better by the day – a sure sign that spring is in the air. These fish are starting to group up in large numbers prior to their annual spawning session, so look for the yellowtail snapper fishing to steadily improve over the next several months.
Everything seems to be a bit early this year more than likely due to our mild winter. Tarpon are here on the area bridges, and we need just a slight increase in water temp to really get them going. However, the anglers willing to put in the time are catching a few of The Silver Kings. The morning bite seems to be the best right now. We have also had a few groups shark fishing this past week, and the shark fishing at The 7 Mile Bridge has been outstanding. Lemon sharks, bulls and black tips are the dominant species lately at the bridge. We’ve hooked up to a few sizeable jacks which make for an exciting half or three quarter day.
Best Bet for the week ahead: Head offshore for dolphin and sailfishing in the morning, and stop on the patch reefs for some yellowtail action in the afternoon.
