Florida Keys Fishing Report
Find out where the fish are running with our weekly fishing reports from the Florida Keys, Miami Offshore and Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

By Islamorada Sport Fishing
Posted Monday, November 19, 2012

 
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<div> Offshore:

With ample current running on the offshore humps the Tuna were actively chasing baits and inhaling lures as the bait fish were pushed towards the surface. Captain Robert Mathias on the Restless Too was on the hump and
trolled up a dozen Blackfin Tuna from 6 to 11 pounds. Robert said he saw a Frigate Bird low on the water a half mile from the hump [a sign of some pelagic species of fish near the surface] and ran over to the area, but found no sign of life. Always checkout the bird life in the blue water as it can potentially make your day if you find some debris covered up with Dolphin.

Reefs:

The Sailfish are still on fire and being caught along the reef in depths of 90 to 140 feet. Slow trolled Ballyhoo is the prime method, but not the only way to do it. There have been bait balls seen with Sailfish busting into them, but it is believed they are Sardines and when the Sails are keyed on one specific bait it can be difficult if not impossible to feed them anything else. The King mackerel bite is getting better with more fish present and the average size going up too. Captain Paul Johnson on the Reef Runner had a limit of Kingfish within a couple of hours on Tuesday forcing him to change his game plan for the rest of the day. Innovative thinking he decided to slow troll small Squid on the deep side of the reef and caught a couple of large Yellowtail Snapper and one Mutton of 9 pounds to round out the day.

Gulf and Bay:

The weather remains cool with for the most part light breezes. The Spanish Mackerel are turned on real well. Skiff guides are anchoring in the Sprigger Bank area and chumming up the Mackerel. Along with the Spanish there are Trout and Snapper, so it is relatively easy to get a great dinner out of the effort. There have been good numbers of Tripletail on the crab buoys too. The Tripletail must be a minimum of 15 inches and the bag limit is two per person per day. Put the boat on a slow plane about 30 feet from the line of buoys and get a visual on the Tripletail as they idle under the Styrofoam float. Some guys put a "bobber" on the line and others just cast a hooked Shrimp and slowly wind it over to the fish. Set the hook several timed medium hard as the Tripletail have hard mouths.

Flats, Backcountry and Flamingo:

It is a "broken record" as far as the backcountry is concerned. Fishing is good to great with Redfish and Snook and Trout all in the mix. Live Shrimp is the ticket as far as bait. Fish the offering in channels, drains, potholes
and along the island edge. Drift the bait with a little lead or hang the bait under a float, it all works. There have been a few baby Tarpon caught too all on the cast Shrimp. The little guys are from 4 to 8 pounds and are "cute as a button"! It is best to not handle these little guys at all when releasing them. just leave them in the water and use a pliers to hold the hook and they come off OK.

Fishing Report Provided by: IslamoradaSportFishing.com</div>