Offshore:
“Blue Moon of July” With the full moon this month comes the Blue Marlin to feed on the school Dolphin and everything else that swims! Capt. Paul on the “Skipper” released a Blue this week as did Capt. Ron on the “Fish tales” from Whale Harbor Marina. Dolphin catches overall have been off due to the fact that the fish are mostly under the 20″ minimum size. A few Wahoo are showing up, but the Tuna catches are reportedly slow.
Reefs:
Simple and to the point, the Yellowtail Snapper fishing is good one day and slow the next. This is due to changing current conditions on the reef for the most part. Look for the Yellowtail activity to continue for several weeks with good catches. Closer inshore, the Permit are on the shallow coral heads. With the calm water and clear skies, the fish will be visible to anglers who want to cast small Blue Crabs to them.
Gulf and Bay:
The Gulf water is still a little off color adjacent to Florida Bay. Catches include Cobia, Permit, Trout and lots of large Jack Crevalle. The Big Jacks are chasing a plethora of baitfish throughout the Gulf. Look for the Frigate Birds and the fish “busting” under the birds. Casting jigs into the activity will produce jacks over ten pounds. Look for the Bull Sharks shadowing this activity.
Flats, Backcountry and Flamingo:
The fishing of choice around Flamingo is to get up on the flats before the temperatures rise into the upper eighties and low nineties (thus, the shallow water temperature rises) in search of Redfish.
Farther west, the Snook and Tarpon action is fantastic. Take some live Pinfish or a well full of Razorbelly Pilchards out to East Cape Canal and stay the day. The Tarpon are from 20 to 90 pounds and the Snook are medium to large fish. Just remember, Snook season is closed! Laura Zeller, “with tears in her eyes” released Snook up to 12 pounds at the canal last week fishing with her son Rusty.
