Miami, Florida - Offshore

Advancing tropical waves have been hampering the fisherman but not the fish these past few weeks. Dolphin fishing has been an on again off again affair, but when they are on they have been plentiful and big! Captain Frank Godwin, captain of the “Sonny Boy” (305-361-2217) out of Key Biscayne, reported a fantastic day this week fishing offshore for Dolphin. His party reeled in a forty one, thirty five, and a twenty eight pound Dolphin while fishing seven miles offshore from the edge. He found most of the fish under diving birds. He also encountered plenty of smaller Dolphin mixed in with the brutes. The “Sonny Boy” also caught a few small Wahoo found under “floaters”(boards). And if that wasn’t enough they caught an eighteen pound tripletail, along with a few others found under boards. That was an exceptional day. Many anglers have been finding smaller fish that have been over fifteen miles offshore. Inside on the edge of the reef, Kingfishing has been excellent in the morning outside of Key Biscayne. The shallow wrecks have been holding the Kings and they have been hitting live bait. And that’s the problem. Live bait has been difficult to find. The “patch” has been very slow for catching bait as well as “bug Light”. Pilchards should start moving into Biscayne Bay in late August and September. There have been occasions when I have found them inside the bay earlier, but you can’t count on it. Lately I have been catching Pinfish which work well on Dolphin and bottom fish, but are not the bait of choice for Kings. Offshore north Key Largo one captain reported a short lived Sailfish bite along the edge. They were hitting live Ballyho slow trolled along the rip. They have also have been finding Dolphin six to eighteen miles offshore. Lobster fishing was hampered during both the mini-season and the opening day of the regular season with rough and cloudy weather. Divers that did their homework and looked for the spots before opening day had no trouble going back to them and catching a limit. If you waited to look for spots on opening day, visibility was poor and much of the day was spent hunting in vain. Fishing pressure has been light on the lobster and there should be plenty out there during the next few weeks