Offshore Report—Dolphin, dolphin, and more dolphin.  It still isn’t a full-blown dolphin bite, but there are days, which you can be proud of.  It seems to be good one day and slow the next.  I fished every day this week, but only one day was devoted to dolphin, and it was a little slow on that day.  There were some fish caught around 12-15 miles from the beach, with a few big fish in the 30-50 pound range.  I even heard of someone getting a 70 pounder, now that is a fish of a lifetime.  Most of what I had seen and heard, schoolies have been scattered just about anywhere.  Any day now we will see lots of large fish pouring through somewhere, I hope it is tomorrow.

            While you’re out offshore, you might as well drop a few times for some snowys and other bottom fish.  The bite has been great, but I wouldn’t know personally, I have been stuck on the reef catching my share of the yellowtails and groupers.  The spots, which I have been fishing, range from 75-98 feet of water.  Finding a good big yellowtail spot isn’t hard to do right now, it’s their time to the wild thing so they are very aggressive and hungry.  I have been fishing this one spot where three bull sharks have taken up residence and occasionally a hammerhead or a tiger shark will show to get their fill of these yellow delights. 

            The grouper bite has been great ever since it opened back up on May 1st.  Hitting the wrecks, and fishing the reef has produced a bunch of nice blacks from 15-30 pounds.  I have landed many goliaths from 30-150 pounds this week.  We hooked many fish that I didn’t even slow down.  I use a simple leader rig with 80-pound main line with 100-pound leader.  Even with the drag locked down, I still can’t stop some of the fish before they get into the structure.  I am thinking about going up in test, there are some slobby groupers out there.  I am still looking to beat my 63-pound black I got a few years back, one of these days, I can feel it.  To fish for these dinosaurs I like to use large yellowtails, up to 2 pounds, and grunts bigger than your hand.  Even small, but legal grouper can eat either of these baits; they have a voracious appetite and a mouth to match. 

            The swordfish bite was red hot from what I heard from the boys.  Summer time isn’t the best time to get a lunker, but there are lots of them out there.  Even though you still might get lucky and get a 500 pounder, most of the big fish are on their way back up to the North, to be harvested by long liners up off of New York and Boston.  Strip baits still seem to be the best baits as with squid.  When you use squid you can sometimes end up with an oilfish, escolar, or even a pompfret.  You just never know what you’re going to get when you drop a bait down 2,000 feet.