I took a trip down to Key Colony Beach in the Florida Keys this week for a Mission Fishin’ kids fishing trip. I was not expecting to catch and see the biggest yellowtail snappers of my life. I have fished for years for yellowtail snappers and the biggest ones I’ve ever caught were around 3 pounds in weight. Right off our coast we catch a pretty decent class of snapper but nothing like this. We were hosted by the fleet of the “Main Attraction” which consists of four boats with fantastic Captains and crews. They donated the entire fleet of boats and crews for this kids trip. What a first class operation!

Captain Alex Hernandez (pictured here left) took us to a spot not more than 3 miles from the inlet and anchored the boat in 90 feet of water. After about 15 minutes of heavy chumming, a school of giant yellowtails came to the surface. Usually when this happens the fish are easy to catch by drifting a bait back into the school but that was not the case here. These fish did not get this big without being smart!  Captain Alex had to make several changes to the tackle and the presentation of the bait to get a bite. We caught some fabulous life changing fish up to 5 pounds and had a wonderful time. I would highly suggest chartering the Main Attraction to experience this for yourself.

As for local fishing the wahoo and mahi bite this week was excellent again. The best of the bite was between 600 and 800 feet of water on seaweed patches and floating debris. Many of the boats farther offshore caught bigger class mahi while fishing for swordfish which was also decent all week. With the front side of the moon phase we may see the swordfish bites slow a bit this week but pick up again on the backside of the moon.

Call us for an up-to-date fishing report!
RJ Boyle