Author: Flying Fish Charters
August Lower Keys Fishing Report
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Key West fishing report. The weather has been beautiful down here in the lower keys. Offshore fishing has been decent; mahi mahi are still around, but not as thick as they were earlier in the summer. I’m sure we will get another good run of mahi fishing before the summer is over though. There have been some nice size blackfin tuna and mutton snappers on the offshore wrecks. In addition to the tunas, there have also been bonitas, amberjacks and a few african pompano on the offshore wrecks.
Fishing is the gulf has been steady. We ran out to some deeper wrecks last week and it paid off. The yellowtail snapper bite was consistent and the fish were good size. We also caught some african pomano and a cobia, those fish ate on pink jigs tipped with live bait. We also got to catch a few goliath grouper. We hooked a few more, but we lost them in the wreck. When I’m fishing for goliath grouper, I will use super heavy duty circle hooks and swivels. For my leaders, I use a few feet of 480lb cable from the hook to a swivel (with an appropriate size egg sinker on the cable) then 10 feet of 400lb Bullbuster Monofilament to another swivel, then connected to the main line. My reel is spooled with 100lb Bullbuster Braid. These fish will pretty much eat any sort of dead or dying fish you drop down. There is really no finesse in catching these things, you just need a lot drag and hopefully you can stop them.
The backcountry fishing has been excellent. Late summer is a great time to target bonefish and there have been a lot of them around. We have seen individual fish, but we have also been seeing them in large schools of up to 40 fish. Be aware the sharks have been active on the flats, keep an eye on your bonefish if you hook one, the sharks are looking for an easy meal. Also, make sure you revive them really well because the sharks can get them after the release. The schools of baby tarpon are still around too. I tend to find them around bait schools and close to the mangroves. Because these fish are chasing bait around, they have been taking flies and small soft plastics really well.
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