Fishing the Florida Keys Reef

Even on a cold day in the winter you can usually find some fish that want to bite.  The shallow water on the Gulf side of the islands will cool down quickly after a cold front making the fishing quite difficult to say the least.  During those times Reel Therapy Charters will go to the Atlantic side of the islands to fish the reef or go further offshore.  The water temperature on the reef can be 10 or more degrees warmer than in the gulf after a cold front and the fish will be more willing to eat.  Here the Jenks family, from left to right, Sue, Oksana, Mike and Alex with a sample of some of the fish they caught on the reef.  Most of the fish were caught using pinfish or shrimp on a knocker rig in 30 feet of water.  A knocker rig is where the sinker is allowed to slide right down to the hook and is most effective when you have little no current situations.

mid January fishing report

The weather has been very pleasant the last couple of weeks with temperatures near 80 degrees on some days.  Offshore we have been catching sailfish, king mackerel, tuna and a fair number of dolphin have also shown up this past week.  Most of these fish were  schoolies with a few gaffers thrown into the mix. These fish were caught just off the reef in 80' to 150',  while drifting with live pilchards.  If you like bottom fishing then the reef is the right place for you.  We've been fishing in 30' to 80' and catching yellowtail snapper, gray snapper, mutton snapper, king mackerel and cero mackerel, and a few hogfish.  We are also catching a lot of groupers which are out of season, so we keep his picture and let him go to fight another day.  In the back country there is plenty of snappers, ladyfish, bluefish, seatrout, spanish mackerel, cero mackerel and a few cobia.  Since we have gotten a lot of bright sunshine and warm air the flats have become active as well. The best fishing has been on the out going tide after the sun has warmed the water. There have been a lot of bonefish for this time of year, some permit and even a few tarpon.  Here's Mary from  Bel Air, Md. with her nice dolphin and the other picture is Po and Marlene enjoying a great day on the reef.

Dec. 18 Fishing report

     Last Sunday we got another cold front, which dropped our temperature to a record low for this date.  On Monday morning, with 42 degrees and gale winds, no one was going fishing today.  By Wednesday, we were back out on the water and it was still cold, but there was plenty of action on the reef.  Send a shrimp, pilchard, or pinfish, to the bottom and you got an immediate response.  The Groupers, Gray Snappers, Yellowtail Snappers, Hogfish, and some really nice Muttons were all fired up.  There were also plenty of Cero Mackerel, Spanish, and King Mackerel behind the boat as well.  Just put a small piece of wire on your line with no weight, add a whole shrimp to the hook, throw it out in the chum line, lock up the reel, and pop it every 30 or 40 seconds, and hang on.  The Mackerel could not ignore that shrimp darting around in the chum line. 

     Just off the edge of the reef, the Sailfish were looking for an easy meal too.  We drifted with live mullet in 130 feet to 75 feet and hooked up 5 Sailfish.  Brian and Eric, both from Pennsylvania, got 1 and here is Eric with his first Sailfish!!!  What a great Day on the water!!!

FL Keys Sailfishing - Happy New Year!

January bring some of the very best Sailfish fishing to the FL Keys. On Saturday we fished offshore Islamorada and hooked 8 sailfish and managed to bring 4 of them to the boat for photos. We caught them by trolling dead Ballyhoo on the edge of the reef in 80 to 90 feet of water.

After this cold front that's coming this evening the larger sails should be arriving any day now.