Miami, Florida - Offshore

You may have missed it! Two weeks ago every fisherman in Dade County was telling tales of incredible Dolphin fishing offshore. Anglers were boasting about the dozens of Dolphin they caught, and all of them were over five pounds, and many of them were over twenty and thirty pounds. Is it over? I’m not sure, but this week Dolphin fishing took a giant step backwards, because it has fallen off to almost non-existent Dolphin fishing. If you can find Dolphin, there is a good chance they may not be over two pounds. Could the last two weeks of fishing been the bulk of our Dolphin fishing season? I doubt it. I think we may just be in-between a wave of fish. Possibly in the next week or two, we will have another wave of fish come through and again have terrific action. But just because the action for Dolphin may have fallen off, doesn’t mean there is nothing to fish for offshore. While the Dolphin hunters were offshore finding empty pockets, a few live bait anglers resorted to wintertime tactics, and fished the edge of the Gulf Stream with kites and live baits, and did surprisingly well. To their surprise there are still a large number of Sailfish along the edge of the stream. Along with the Sails have been Blackfin Tuna, Kingfish, Cobia, Bonita, Dolphin, ‘Cudas, and Mutton Snapper on the bottom. Many captains found the action to be as good as a good winter bite. Night fishing should start picking up for Mangrove Snapper along the edge of the reef. Anglers fishing the drop off from forty feet to eighty feet of water should do well while anchoring and chumming for the Grey Snapper. You will typically find action better during the week of the full moon. The Cubera Snapper should also bite during the next full moon. North Key Largo will be the best action. Live Blue Crabs will be the bait of choice since lobster season will still be closed.