| Things are really picking up out there for us! I had a chance to night fish twice this past week and I absolutely can't complain! The big yellowtails are biting very consistently on the wrecks near the edge of the reef and the mangroves are really starting to show up.
As for the yellowtails we are catching them every single night in the 1 to 4 pound range. The numbers of fish vary based on the conditions, but we get at least a handful every trip. Tuesday night for example they were very hard to catch because the current was going right underneath the boat. This makes it almost impossible to succeed at yellowtailing. The ones we caught were very nice, but not very numerous.
The main highlight of the summer is the mangrove snapper spawn, which is almost in full effect! We have been seeing them a bit more each and every night. A week ago we were only getting a few, and last night we got 30 or so of them. These numbers will continue to grow for the next few weeks, then stay steady for a couple weeks before declining. In about a week we will be catching or boat limit more often than not on the night trips.
The "grovers" are very active in the day time as well, so long as you get right on top of them. We caught about 50 of them on Monday in the daylight in 22 feet of water. I really enjoy targeting them on the party boat because in my opinion they are better eating than a yellowtail and more fun to fight.
Going back to the nights, Capt. Ron has been putting on quite a show with permit! Catching permit is something that most people would never, every think about doing on a night trip, but Capt. Ron has found one wreck that is holding them in huge numbers. They are biting on live crabs casted out of the lights of the boat. The average size is about 15 pounds but they have boated them up to 40 in the last few weeks. I don't believe these hard fighters will be around too much longer, so if you ever wanted to catch a permit at night right now is the time to do it!
Capt. Shannon on the Satisfaction out of Robbie's had a couple of really successful night charters this week. He is only charging $500 for 5 hours and catching really nice yellowtails, mangrove snappers and muttons. He likes to fish with a combination of fresh ballyhoo and live pilchards for the night snappers. If you are interested in getting out there with him you can call 305-393-2029.
On the couple of occasions we fished the deep wrecks lately we came up with mutton snappers up to 12 pounds and a gag grouper that tipped the scales at 25 pounds! Those deep water fish are out there in full force right now, don't miss it if you have the means to go after them!
I look forward to putting you on some fish,
Capt. Brian |
