Marathon Sailfish Bite Red Hot!
Capt. Bob Brown
March 22, 2010
Marathon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Spring can be hot or cold for Sailfish based on the conditions, and the past couple days the current, water color, and wind lined up in the proper fashion to jump start the sailfish bite here off of the middle Keys. Saturday and Sunday, the E/SE winds helped bring the fish up to the surface as the gulfstream whipped in closer to the reef off of American shoal on up to the 7 mile bridge. The wind against the current brings the fish to the top and they surf down the waves allowing anglers to sight fish for them. With live bait on hand, and traveling around until spotting a fish, boats were hooking up lots of sails over the weekend with some boats getting double digit releases with some approaching 20 releases in one day!! Look for the bite to be hot on days when there is a wind direction anywhere from NE to SE. Today, we have another cold front and the wind is around to the NW.. but by Wednesday it will be back to East so look for the bite to improve again later in the week. We have been catching a few sails on NW wind days by flying Kites or looking for free jumping fish. Susan Johnson of Virginia caught her first sailfish on the "Sundance" on Friday when first mate Anne Brown spotted a free jumper and we pitched out a bait where we thought it had jumped... 20 seconds later we had a huge 80-90lb fish on that made a fight that lasted well over a half hour on 20lb test.
Some Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi) are starting to show up on the offshore scene. Mostly smaller school fish have been showing up in the color change area from 250-650ft of water. Some larger fish have been coming in from further offshore, one boat caught a huge Bull the other day but was 40 miles from the dock at the time of the strike!! Also, boats venturing out that far to find the warmest water have been rewarded with some huge wahoo and Blue Marlin as well. Right now it looks like the edge of the warmest gulf stream water is about 35-40 miles from shore.
Reef fishing continues to be awesome for Mangrove Snapper, Yellowtail, Mackerel, throw back Grouper, and some other odd balls like pompano and permit have been showing up in the reef mix.
Spanish Mackerel have been red hot in Florida Bay still and they have been anywhere from 7-17 miles from shore north of Marathon.
Some larger Tarpon have been starting to show up in the world famous Tarpon grounds around the 7 mile bridge in Marathon. Look for this to get hot by early April. Evenings have been best and after dark when there is a moon present. Live pinfish have been the best bait for Tarpon with some plastics working well after dark. Permit are showing at the bridge also and out on some of the deeper wrecks on the ocean side of Marathon. If you would like more info on fishing in the middle Keys, check out our web site. Good luck in all your fishing adventures!
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