Recent offshore fishing reports from the Southeast region.
Team Bandit Saltwater Showdown
Florida Sportsman member: sam50
With the final leg of the Bluewater Tournaments on Saturday we needed to load the pen with bait. Headed out of Boynton early Friday and caught 8 dozen gogs in short order. I just happened to bring two rods so we could pre-fish a little before catching runners and speedos. Ran just south of the Martini in 260 feet where the water was nice and blue. I pitched out a goggle-eye on the TLD 15 with engine in gear and about 30 yards from the boat I get crushed. Fish is making a blistering run offshore and we chase it down. Get back on it and it blows up the reel inshore, start to chase it and it charges the boat quick and now I’m thinking wahoo for sure. It pops up near the boat and i see stripes, but the gaff is to short to nail it. Fish dumps me again straight down and it’s a stale mate for 5 minutes.
CLick Here for full forum report
Boca Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: sailfish-007
We were launching off by 6:30AM. Catching bait was not an option today. We loaded up on goggle eyes from teh bait man and headed offshore. We setup at 380′ of water with one on the down rigger and two surface lines. Within 10 minutes, the surface line screamed and we found that the goggle eye was cut in half. We reset and 30 minutes later, as we were about to pick up and go, another surface line screamed again. Mark fought the fish for 30 minutes and applied a lot of pressure but couldn’t gain any line. The mysterious fish ran slowly and finally was trying to surface but the hook straightened out and pulled. we never saw the fish. We just knew that it was very large
Five minutes later, top line screamed again, Scott picked up the rod and we are on once more. Keep in mind, this is his first trip for wahoo and is a greenie to offshore fishing. He fought the fish for about 5 minutes and we started to see the fish but way down. No, not another king. Wait! It’s blue and with stripes? Yes. Wahoo on!
Click Here for full forum report
Father Daughter Offshore Day
Florida Sportsman member:Alwaysforward
Taking my daughter Jamie out today. We arrive at the ramp a little after 5:30am to a small crowd at the ramp. We ran into the Undertaker (Chuck), my UPS man at the ramp this morning.We pick up 30 dollars worth of baits being that there is a outgoing tide this morning with Lake O water flooding all our favorite bait spots. We ran to the NE spot just to see if we can mark any baits. They were there but they were not chewing. We decided to point the bow Southeast into the rough seas and make our way as far south as we could to stay south of the inlet all day to make the ride in easier.
We arrived in 280 feet, straight out from the Loran Tower to a nice weedline. The water temp was 80 degree and a 4+ mph north current. Dropped in the greenies and started our drift. About 2 miles into the drift a 5 foot hammerhead swims up to the boat and was heading for our short spinner bait with no wire on the leader. I quickly pulled in the bait and tossed out another bait on wire but by then he was gone. Moments later Jamie’s long line went off no jumping but the fish was up on the surface 100 yards off the stern of the boat. I knew it was that hammerhead. Jamie did an awesome job fighting this 5 foot hammerhead to the boat. As she brings it up alongside the boat a 14 foot bullshark comes up out of nowhere and her hammerhead takes off once again…
Click Here for full forum report
2 Hour Trip Produces a Personal Record
Florida Sportsman member:Fi$h2nguyen
Windfinder was calling for 3.4 feet at 4sec on Saturday, so we decided not to go. Of course they were wrong, resulting in Paul and I missing out on a perfectly calm day offshore. We were not happy to get punk’D by Windfinder so between his daughters birthday and me having out of town visitors, we were briefly able to sneak out and fish from 11-1pm Sunday. Seas were sloppy 3-5 foot, and close together. Lots of mating turtles and flyers all over. While the weed lines were scattered we were able to find a concentration of scattered weeds in 140-180 feet just S/SE of SLI. First hit came at 60 feet heading east on mono ballyhoo, when we came tight, it was off. Reeled in and the line was clean cut, maybe a kingfish. Re-rigging with wire ballyhoo. Next hit was a bonita then a slinger dolphin that ate and spit; both on mono ballyhoo. Last hit of the day was a nice gaffer that ate a wire rigged ballyhoo on the tld25. Not a huge fish, but my personal record to date….
Click Here to read the full forum report
Mission Accomplished : Cobia & Snook
Florida Sportsman member: Bullshark
I started off by attending a fishing seminar at White’s Tackle in Stuart which was headed by the host of Reel Time Florida Sportsman George Gozdz. It got me pumped! It was a Cobia and Tarpon seminar.
So after we got our bait we hit the beach for Tarpon. We found nothing. Cobia never crossed my mind until the class but since I had a idea now how to catch them in this area we set out. That was one of the first times in my life that on the first trip of targeting a certain fish we nailed it. We went 5 for 7 on Cobia. We lost a monster that hit the rig with smaller leader but got our limit of keepers.
At this point things got crazy! First cast snook then he doubled up for 2. Then he hooked into a very large fish which was landed. We were beaming at this point at our luck. I noticed as we were leaving some very big fish cruzing the bottom of a channel. I said lets try for those thinking they were Tarpon. The first cast with my Tarpon set-up and the rod bent like it never has before then the biggest snook I’ve ever seen breaks out of the water. This is by far the biggest snook I’ve ever caught…
Click here for the full forum report.
Blackfin Tuna Action & More
Florida Sportsman member: e-money
Ran all the way out to 1200 feet and there were no weedlines rips or anything to fish. This summer has proven to be TOUGH on catching bait and little to no sargassum. Started heading back to the ledge when we spotted a palm frond with 2 nice tripletail. Then we put out a trolling spread with E$ at helm and worked from 160 to 115 feet at the north end of Condos to Tiara. The current was smoking at 3.5 knots to the north and water was gin clear past 100 feet. First bite ripped some drag, pulled the hook?? Made another pass and had a decent fish that hit the long (blue /white lslander / bally.) Brand H was surprised how hard fish was pulling. In the clear water we could see it was a nice blackfin! We gaffed him, hooked another blackfin tuna and pulled the hooks.
Click here for the full forum report.
Ft. Pierce Bull and Cows
Florida Sportsman member: SmittysTeam
We headed out with waves any where from 2-4 feet. The wind blowing pretty good, which meant we were getting soaked on the way out. We finally got to the dolphin grounds and started trolling in 200 feet of water. We trolled both ballyhoo and artificials but didn’t get anything. We continued to troll for a few hours and then decided to drift with live bait in hopes of sailfish or dolphin. We started drifting in 200 feet of water for about 30 minutes. We didn’t get any hits, so we decided to go a little shallower. We got to 150 feet of water for about 30 mins, but still didn’t get anything.We then got to around 100 feet of water and drifted some baits. We had bought threadfin herring from the bait guy in the morning, and John and I caught two big blue runners the day before and penned them up over night. We continued to drift around 100 feet, but nothing yet. About 10 minutes into the drift, BOOM fish on! We see a nice cow Dolphin jumping and screaming line off the reel. We gaffed her and put her in the box.
Click here for the full forum report.
Jupiter Muttons, Yellowtail & Kings
Florida Sportsman member: nearshore1
Got a super late start after having a few adult beverages at the lighthouse sand bar. While there I caught a few grunt on bits of squid and out the inlet to calm 2 foot seas by 2:15. B lined it for the edge. Got out off the pier and it was non stop. Current was strange! Felt like no current on the bottom but there were rips going all directions out there. Any squid or sardine whole or chunk got inhaled within 30 seconds. Caught some decent yellowtails, muttons, porgies and a king (on squid). Put in 2 solid hours and kept enough for dinner. The biggest mutton was caught by a first timer! Nice way to start out huh?
Click here for the full forum report.
FPI Blackfin Tuna, Cobia & King
Florida Sportsman member: B.Wilmot
We left the inlet bout 6:30 after stoping to get bait from Dave. Headed northeast to bottom fish a ledge. I have several good bottom spots out of SLI but since I’ve moved north I’ve yet to find any good prouductive bottom numbers out if FPI. The seas were 3 ft but far enough apart to run the 16 miles fairly quickly. We anchor up in 80-90 feet just southeast of Bethel shoal. I was expecting a fast current but was surprised at the lack of it. We get our chum and lines set up and in no time the flat line gets hit. It’s a 10 pound cobia. After about an hr the flat line starts screaming and it’s a 34 pound smoker king. Another 2 hours later with very few bottom bites the flat line goes off again. This time it’s a 30 pound blackfin tuna! What a surprise! Called it a day after that and was back at the dock by 2:30.
Click here for the full forum report.
Slob Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: choppy
Went out yesterday looking for that big dolphin…I have yet to get a big boy this year! Ran out and found absolutely nothing. Made the decision to come in and fish the tide change on the edge and look for wahoo and it was a good decision! Picked up this slob mid-afternoon on the tide in 130 feet just north of the inlet. She ate a horse bally…naked ! Also picked up a couple small dolphin. Really enjoying the new contender! Gonna take the weekend off from the tournaments and enjoy a little peanut island!
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Blue Marlin
Florida Sportsman member: Off the Chain
Bait was hard to catch this morning, so I was glad that I bought a few dozen pilchards and some crabs. After hitting bottom spot after spot with little to no luck, we had made our way up past the peanut. 175 line. I was headed to another spot when we past a huge black mat, and what at first I thought was a sail under it. I spun the boat around and quickly tied a new leader and hook onto our spinner. As we made our way back to the fish I knew it was to big to be a sail, but didn’t want to say marlin and be wrong. I knew it was a billfish for sure though. I pulled the boat out of gear and killed the engines allowing us to slide right up to it. Standing on the bow deck I pitched the bait to the fish and handed the rod to Andrew. We all saw the fish follow our bait half way back to the boat before it ate. I told Andrew to close the bail and slowly reel. The fish just layed under the boat for a few seconds before making a slow run offshore. With only 16 lb test and a 50 lb. leader we played the fish way light. After getting the leader in about 20 minutes a couple of times we tightened up the drag a little to see if we could get him to jump.
It worked…
Click here for the full forum report.
Boca Mutton Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: ShinySide
Went out boozin on the Ocean yesterday with some lady friends and my buddies Cpt. Nick Morris and Cpt. Ryan Stang. We snagged a few baits from a friend out on the water just to have some lines out for the hell of it. Hooked up in 250 feet of water drifting a threadfin on a weight about 100 feet down. Low and behold it was a mutton. That son of b musta been hungry. Let the ladies take turns reeling it in. Summer time must be here…bikinis and snapper.
Click here for the full forum report.
Boynton Sails
Florida Sportsman member: Dominic74
I decided to go out last minute, considering next week is mothers day and I usually give that weekend to the wife. I met up with my buddy Kevin and hit the inlet around 7 a.m. We picked up a half dozen live sardines from Gary Jr. just in case trolling didn’t pan out. We started trolling north all the way to the pier with only one bonita to show for it. We then went off shore to around 900 feet and not much going on out there. Heading back was a little snotty with the wind blowing out of the west. We finally get back in to around 250 feet and there is a nice color change that we trolled around on and managed one more bonita before pulling in the lines and putting out the live bait. We saw a few sails jumping and the boat next to us was on but lost it, so we figured we had a good shot at hooking one[...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Swords and Phins
Florida Sportsman member: schmittyfish561
I hear the swords have been chewing so I loaded up the boat and made the run down south. The ocean was nice and the storms were staying on shore! Got 2 nice size dolphin on the weigh out around 20-25 pounds. I Made 3 drops; the first drop had a couple weak hits pulled up half a bait; the 2nd drop got tight with a nice fish pulled half way up. The 3rd drop was down 10 minutes 2 hits later, the rod started to load out my hooker on full speed and got a good hook in set. The fish didn’t fight much on the way up until I got the weight off. The fish started to surface behind the boat slashing its bill. I backed up on him and he started to come right to the boat so I stuck him with the gaff! I was running low on gas so we headed in. My buddy got a 450 pounder when we went in!
Click here for the full forum report.
Fort Pierce Wahoo & Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Pensacola
Crew was just me and Cody today (forum member sscanoe). Loaded up on pilchards from Dave the bait guy and headed out. Started early putting a few little gaffers in the box. We were avoiding the storms and the ocean was getting a little kicked up around the storms. Around 9am the outrigger clip pops and just screams line. No jumps or anything so I wasn’t thinking dolphin. After about a 10 minute fight, see those purple stripes, and I sink the gaff into him! Pretty decent hoo I would guess 25-30 pounds. We get a little gaffer to the boat and while retying I tell cody to pitch a live bait back. After rerigging I told him to reel it back in so we could troll again. As soon as he does, I see a nice 20# bull ALL lit up right by the boat. I throw a free pilchard out to keep him interested. Cody casts out to him on the spinning rod and he crushes the bait. After a fun fight on the spinner, I gaff him, and into the cooler he goes!
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Morning Gaffers
Florida Sportsman member: itsmine
Thought I would sneak offshore today before work. Me and a couple of friends left Sandsprit around 6:45 a.m. The sea was a little rough with a 3-5 foot swell and some chop, but not too bad. We started trolling in 80 feet and had a nice gaffer bull on within twenty minutes on a green stubby bubbler with a ballyhoo. We kept trolling and had 2 knock downs with nothing to show for it. Then around 9:30 we caught a gaffer cow in 140 feet on a blue and white skirted bait. The water was really warm today, about 78 degrees. Headed in around 10:30 and the inlet was definitely a little sketchy in my 18 foot pioneer.
Click here for the full forum report.
Busy Day off the St. Lucie Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: bullchaser
Instead of leaving at 4 we pushed it to 6 to check the stream out and if it was a go we would continue. Shoved off at 6 and made or way out SLI. Once in the stream we were hitting 5-6 feet on the chin so made the call to do it another day. Pointed west and came back into 200 feet off the powerplant. From there it was a steady flurry of action. We picked away at schoolie dolphin, cudas, and Bonita’s. I believe we were working the 160 foot area as I don’t think I had a free minute from 8-11 to even look where we were depth wise. By 11 we had blown through 3 packs of ballyhoo and I was digging through the tore up ballyhoo to see if I could mange salvaging any to put back out. Found 2 that I could somewhat make look decent. Slid those out with the artificals we were pulling now. One on the rigger and other on flatline. We were now out in 260 feet and the flat line gets wasted to a cuda and shortly after the rigger pops but not much of a pull so I free spool it and count to 10, engage and a sweet bull takes air.
Click here for the full forum report.
Fort Pierce Wahoo, Dolphin, Tripletail
Florida Sportsman member: Pensacola
We cleared the inlet to some absolutely beautiful conditions. Glassed over ocean, literally like a lake. Made for a beautiful ride out. We set up the spread in 100 and started to work our way out. I think the winds from the past week had pushed debris in, because there were all sorts of weedlines, buoys, buckets, and bamboo floating around. We pull up to a buoy with rope in 220. No dolphin on it, but LOADED with triple tail. We get our first ever triple tail in the boat! Had another one on but he got off the hook. At that point they all swam down so we moved on.
Very slow start to the morning with no hits until about 11. Around 11 the 30 international starts screaming. We look back and don’t see a splash or jump, so we are all thinking wahoo. Steven puts quick work on him and after a few minutes, he nears the boat we see those pretty purple stripes all lit up!
Click here for the full forum report.
Bull off Boynton Beach
Florida Sportsman member: twindude3
Headed out aboard The Jim n’ Tonic Monday about 6:45am. We set up to troll in 150 feet. About 20 minutes into it, a nice cow hits port inside rod. Into the box she went.About 730 feet we see a phin looking at the port rigger,he takes it, I grab the rod as he spits the hook. I throw it into free spool to see if he’ll hit again…he just doesn’t hit…he devours and bulldogs across top of water. From a distance we know its a big bull. Fighting him to the boat, 30 minutes later, he’s whipped as he’s gaffed and welcomed aboard the Jim n’ Tonic. High fives circulated the boat, coffee replaced by Miller Light. War birds flew from the Heavens as we were blessed with awesome weather and good company. All by 8:15am…….he weight in at 39 pounds.
Click here for the full forum report.
PBI Smoker and Sail
Florida Sportsman member: FromDawntoDusky
Picked up some Goggs and broke the inlet (PBI) to a confused sea around 7:45am on Sunday. Wind was nearly non-existant, but it was snottier then expected and waves were fairly tight together. Decided to break out the artificials and trolled south between 100-300 feet with a purple/orange yo-zuri, two skirted lures, and a feather way back. Saw a lot of birds working what must have been small tuna/bonies crashing tiny flyers, but no strikes.
Wind picked up and about an hour later decided to bump troll the kite into the wind, starting just south of the dodge wall. Kite was slow until a big king skyrocketed on the long, and finally got it on the second skyrocket attempt. Thought it was nice king, maybe 25-30 pounds, but the fish had some solid runs and did not tire easily. Finally got the fish close to the boat and saw it had some solid weight behind it. On the third pass, brought the rod tip up high to counter the 15 foot leader, and my Dad sunk the gaff and was able to muscle the fish over the side. Got the fish on the Boga grip and weighed in at a fat 45 pounds back at the dock, my largest king to date.
Click here for the full forum report.
Morning Dolphin Action
Florida Sportsman member: Off the Chain
The wind dropped off to less than 20 so off we went. The morning started off a little rough with a bad throttle cable causing a 1 hour delay. We set our baits out at 8:30 in 130 feet of water on a color change with scattered grass and lots of flying fish being shoved around by dolphin ranging from 20 inches to 20 pounds.
Before we even got the last bait in the water we hooked a 15 pounder. After that it was pretty steady action till around 11:00 then it slowed down. Im guessing that the bite picked back up again in the afternoon and the reason it slowed down mid day was because of the full moon. Best action was from 135 to 165 for us but I did hear of a boat that was doing well in 200 feet.
Click here for the full forum report.
Boynton Sailfish
Florida Sportsman member: pa28r200
Put two more people on their first sails yesterday! My buddy asked me at the dock if the sails where still biting and I said, think its just about over. First fish came at 8:20am in 85 feet of water off Lake Worth Pier. Second fish was in 160 feet off the Breakers. The conditions where less than comfortable (seas where not bad, wind was HOWLING). First time I used my high wind kite and it was struggling to stay in the air[...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Jupiter Sail, Wahoo, and Bullshark
Florida Sportsman member: dscherz
Only got around dozen mixed gogs and runnners. Decided to high speed down to Singer Island. No luck. Set up drift in around 125 feet and drifted in to 100 feet. No action. Next we set up in 150ft with live baits on the freeline and a few down as well. Now we are drifting out. At around 200 feet off Juno we get a real mild hit on the goggle eye on the flatline. Gets hit again but really didn’t eat it, or so I thought. Decide to check the bait only to realize we have a sail on the line! He goes bananas and puts on a good show.
Click here for the full forum report.
Fort Pierce Wahoo & Kingfish
Florida Sportsman member: JohnnyPlant
Hit the inlet in the dark, bought bait and headed out. Five line spread in before sunrise in 120 feet of water due east of the inlet. Less the 15 minutes in the troll, we see something crash the short bait and miss. Two seconds later both long lines get hit. My buddy Dan on the starboard line fights the fish to the boat as I fight the port fish/ clear lines. He gets fish to boat and its wahoo. I gaff fish after my other buddy misses with gaff twice. My fish is now in rod holder for second time. Box his fish and mine before 8 am[...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Sneaking Out on the “Nice” Day
Florida Sportsman member: Off the Chain
I fished a ¾ day, and because of the big swell and the turned up bottom, live bait was not to be had. I pretty much knew that would be the case, so I already had the dredge and trolling baits ready to go. We ran out to the NE and set out in 75 feet of water. I nice down sea tack while we set out brought us to an edge in 100 feet of water about 3 miles north of the inlet. We fished it for a bit with only bonita bites to show for it. I decide to push offshore to a couple hundred feet and check it out. There was another rip in 160 feet with some grass and bait in it.
We fished there for the rest of the trip and caught 2-4 sails, another bonita, lost a dolphin, and had numerous bird attacks. We wrapped it up at 1:00 a few miles south of the inlet because the guys had a flight to catch.I figureg that the dolphin fishing would have beena lot better, I know it was good up North the day before.
Click here for the full forum report.
Stuart Sails & Phins
Florida Sportsman member: DayMaker
Today was a great day of Stuart Fl charter fishing. We started our day trolling on the 110 line in 90ft on an edge and before I got the dredge in the water we had hooked 4 gaffer dolphin on the troll. We ended up catching 3 of them. We picked away at the Mahi’s all day and ended the day with over 30 bites and boxing 22 of them from 7-14lbs. We also managed to have 6 sail bites on the troll with our guys hooking and landing their own sails.
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Dolphin & Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: itsmine
Left SLI at 6:30 Sunday to do some trolling with my soon to be father and brother in law. We headed south out the inlet, and caught a 15 pound wahoo on mono rigged ballyhoo at 7:30 in 90 feet. After that my father in law made me aware that he brought bananas with him, and laughing knowing how I feel about having them on my boat.We were headed for push button after that and found scattered weeds and birds in 170 feet doubled up with two schoolies at 10. Around 11:30 we saw a fish going after the short line, and we are sure its a sail behind the bait. We drop it back to him, and it ended up being a 20 pound bull.
Click here for the full forum report.
Jupiter Mahi & Tuna
Florida Sportsman member: 1974Donzi
We went offshore at 7:00 a.m. Caught a nice tuna at 200 feet, east of Jupiter around 8:30. Noticed a little slick and continued zig zagging north on it. At 9:15 planer pops in 240′ and 10 pound mahi is in the boat. 9:30 planer pops in 280 feet and line is screaming off and then spits the hook. Thinking maybe a wahoo. Get back to trolling my new spreader bars/daisy chains and at 10:00 4 miles south of Push Button Hill my buddy Matt sees a big fish free jumping with 2 birds circling above. I position my spread in front of it. We see a blue flash then noticed its a big mahi crashing on my bird teasers and squids on the port spreader bar. After about 4 hits he eats my trailer bait.
Click here for the full forum report.
Jupiter Porgy & More
Florida Sportsman member: RockNReeler
Wanted to get out on the water before the winds started howling again. After calling everyone on my phone, finally asked my 73 year-old neighbor if he wanted to go fishing. He said “Sure”, so we headed out this morning around 7:15AM. Trolled for about 1.5 hours, no luck. Winds started picking up from the North, so we headed in to the 70 feet reef off of Juno. Got a couple of small yellowtail, then some of nice size. So we move about 1/4 mile north and pull in a Rainbow Runner. Then Fuzzy’s rod bends over and he is tugging and pulling away. Low and behold a big Fat Porgy comes to the boat. Very nice size fish
Click here for the full forum report.
Jupiter Inlet Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: zzzzzzsplash
Got out for a minute Saturday and caught a snapper limit. Beautiful start to the day cruising through Jupiter, but the wind and waves picked up by noon and we had a salty ride home.
Click here for the full forum report.
Vero Tripletail
Florida Sportsman member: sebastianshine
Wanted to share/brag on my first triple tails. One was 18 pounds and the other was 12 pounds. The picture is of the 18 pounder. Got them pretty far offshore, and that’s about all I have to say about that.
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Variety
Florida Sportsman member: DayMaker
Started our day on the 4th catching a well full of bait. After the previous days fishing we had big expectations for some dolphin and sail action. Conditions changed We started where we had good action the previous 3 days for sails and mahi’s. We caught a 12 pound king and had a few others cut us off. We pushed offshore and caught some boneheads. Back inshore and we jumped a sail off and had another scissor lip us. Decided to do a little meat fishing to break up the monotony. We caught 4 amberjacks to 25 pounds, and an 18 pound Gag Grouper. Decided to try to find some cobia and we were successful catching 6 in an hr. 3 were keepers to 35 pounds and 3 we let go.
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: bullchaser
Went out Saturday to try and bag a few phins for Superbowl Sunday! Started out north of SLI in 130/’ and worked our way out to 250 feet. Pretty blue water out in 250 feet with scattered weed and missed on a few phins. Then finally connected on a solid cow in 150 feet. Missed on double of sails. Naked ballyhoo and pink skirt/bally combo were the ticket. Sounds like we’re going out in the am so hoping for some more dinner.
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Dolphin & Sails
Florida Sportsman member: DayMaker
We had a fun day and enjoyed great conditions. Plenty of bites from Kings and other critters. We caught 1 out of 2 sails today on the troll. We missed one in the dirty green water in 80 feet this morning straight out and caught 1 in the pretty blue water in 115 ft a little NE.
The highlight of the day was the dolphin action. We ended up having plenty of bites with a couple fish around 25 pounds and a bull that tipped the scales at 49 pounds. Took us for ever to catch that sucker (ironically the fight was exactly 49 minutes on the old GPS) The bull came with a 25 pound cow the second of those for the day. All fish ate trolled circle hook ballyhoo and the best mahi fishing was in the blended water between 80-120 feet. Lots of flyers and scattered grass.
Click here for the full forum report.
King for the Smoker
Florida Sportsman member: dscherz
Went out Friday morning with a bunch of runners and a few gogs but got beat up as seas built quickly so headed back in around 10am. Noticed the seas seems to be laying down yesterday while I was on a booze cruise up and down the ditch so decided to go out this am early. Inlet was smooth at 6 am and seas were manageable all day long, 2-3 feet. Today we cleaned up on goggle eyes at North rocks and actually had more goggles than runners! We thought we would slay it today.
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Action
Florida Sportsman member: Off the Chain
Today I fished with Capt. Jimmy (Ace), Brad, Stan, and Scott for the third day in a row targeting sails. Yesterday was way slow and we only did a ¾ day with the last hour focusing on the bottom and reefs for Amber Jacks and Cobia. We caught a few AJs but no cobia that day. Today we had sails on the mind again, but after spending pretty much all day with the kites up and only jumping one sailfish off, catching a dolphin, losing a dolphin, and having a ton of kingfish and shark bites we went back to the bottom. Even though we didn’t catch the sail, we did get a few pictures of it. And we did manage to land a few of the kings even though we were using mono leaders.
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Gaffer & Tripletail
Florida Sportsman member: Pairadox
We cleared the inlet to FLAT seas, picked up a handful of blue runners just outside the inlet and headed on our way. We had read the bite south was slow for the past few days, so NE we went. Attempted to bottom bounce the sandpile on the way out and sunk a few liveys to no avail. We pointed the bow NE to find some “fishy” conditions. I Decided to double back against the stream and came across about a 30 foot tree floating with its own ecosystem. Squirt some mild and drop out some runners and gaffer on! This was my friend son’s first phin!
Click here for the full forum report.
Jupiter Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: 1974Donzi
Went out with some friends this morning to go catch wahoo, mahi, and tuna. With only a 2 hour trip off Jupiter inlet we landed a tuna and a wahoo, and lost a dolphin at the transom. Fishing was great. I caught the wahoo deep off a planer with a white over blue flasher series islander with a horse ballyhoo. The tuna was caught on a naked ballyhoo. All fish were caught between 120-280 feet. Good day with good friends.
Click here for the full forum report.
Dolphin, Kings, & Snapper Off Fort Pierce
Florida Sportsman member: Pensacola
Finally got a break in the weather and we jumped on the opportunity to dust off the old grady and fish. Cleared the inlet around 7 and the seas were absolutely beautiful. We started off the powerplant in 100 and worked our way out. There was a huge fleet of sportfish boats working this area, so we joined in the mix. We troll by a big matt of weeds and outrigger pops, dolphin on. While fighting him, i see another dolphin jumping and he had the shotgun bait in his mouth. My friend got tight on him. Dad gaffs number one, then gaffs number two, and we have dinner.
Click here for the full forum report.
Wahoo South of Hillsboro
Florida Sportsman member: Team Tuppens
Once again it seems when least prepared, We get a nice one!! Left Boynton inlet 8 A.M. enroute to Ft. Lauderdale for a Garmin electronics seminar and training class. Before turning to the South, we do a high speed troll for a couple circles in front of Boynton inlet, Nice fish on for about 4 seconds in 180 then gone! After a couple more passes we turned South and didn’t get anything until Boca. A quick hit and gone! 280 feet just south of Hillsboro we have nice fish on and soon after it’s in the boat!
Click here for the full forum report.
Rough Conditions, Tight Lines
Florida Sportsman member: Lori Jo Fishing
“Cleared the inlet the around 7am with Chris and Billy. Was greeted with 3-5 footer’s at the inlet and got though them with no problems. We set up the spread and head north. Get a bonita on a strip to start the morning off. Then the planer pops and nothing. Right after that the rigger gets hit and loose that one. Later on we get a double-header. Two phins in the box. Get up to the ritz and work that for a while and then head back south. We check the baits and the mullet that was down deep was cut clean behind the trailor hook. Now we have some new baits out. The another knockdown and Chris gets one. This one was hard to gaff cause he was hooked in the head. Keep on moving south and another good knockdown and Billy gets another phin. About 20 mins later the rigger pops out of the clip again and a nice phin comes aboard. ”
Click here for the full forum report.
Bucket List: Catch a Sailfish, Check!
Mate Chris Watkins (left) and angler Paul Duwyne (right).
Kelly Johnson sent this recent fishing success in to share with the FS community. It’s a good sign of what’s to come this season as the temperatures continue to cool. Sailfish are here!
“On his personal bucket list, Paul Duwyne wanted to enjoy a day of offshore fishing in Florida and catch his very first sailfish. Well, the conditions were not ideal, but his wish became a reality aboard Reel Candy Sportfishing Charters, out of Jupiter, Florida this past weekend. In sloppy 4 to 6 foot seas, Captain Marvin Steining and mate Chris Watkins were able to grant Paul his wish by catching not only his first sailfish, but another as well! Both of the sailfish were caught and released off a kite, using goggle eyes for bait.”
Epic Bloody Sunday
Florida Sportsman member: e-money
Had a half-day lined up on my boat Sunday AM for trip with kids. Wind was HOWLING 20 plus at dawn and I did not feel comfortable so i called them to re-schedule. I heard MD20/20 was rolling out, and they were kind enough to pick me up for the day! Man I was stoked for “work” as the recent weather has put a hurting on guides, captains, dive boats. Total last minute, I literally RAN to the dock [...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Tuna, Dolphin, and Sails off Stuart
Florida Sportsman member: Capt George Gozdz
I’ve been crazy busy filming “Reel Time” and I’ve been slacking on my reports. The bite offshore has been great so no better time to report then now. After loading the wells full of mullet and pilchards we headed out. Set up both days in the same exact spot. 110′ was the magic number for me. Chummed while we fished 2 kite baits and 3 flatlines.[...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Picture Perfect Day off Stuart
Florida Sportsman member: Stetson Law
Florida Sportsman member Stetson Law captured some fantastic images off Stuart this past weekend. Greyhounding sailfish and frisky dolphin made for the perfect subjects. “Started off sailfish season off Stuart this morning on the Three Buoys. Non-stop action all day long. Hooked 8 sailfish, 10 dolphin, 1 cobia, and 1 big mutton on live bait.”
Click here for the full forum report.
Offshore with the Kids
Florida Sportsman member: Lori Jo Fishing
Went out Saturday morning with Chris and Cayden. Plan was to fish ’till noon, then go anchor up at the island to let the kids play. Set up the spread around 6:40 a.m. and start working around the inlet from 140 to 380. Around 7 a.m. the down rod goes off and half way to the boat a ‘phin goes airborne. As Chris gets it closer to the boat, I was thinking maybe a gaffer, then the line in the rigger pops out and the rod doubles-over. Grab the rod and a few minutes later a nice blackfin comes up to the boat [...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Crushing the Hoo’s
Florida Sportsman member: e-money
Was blessed to get the call from CNTDR about a Bahamas trip! We had an awesome crew with CNTDR (aka “Jiffy” Jeff), Clarke, Jim and E$. Cleared and put em’ in right away, 15 minutes in ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! STUD hoo’ pushing 50 pounds in the box. Set em’ back and it got quiet so we bottom fished, catching a variety of muttons, yellowtails, strawberries, porgies, and rocked up by at least 4 BIG groupers [...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Bull Dolphin on the Fly
Florida Sportsman member: Capt. Scott
Well, the water went to total crap everywhere inside of 400 feet today. Brown and nasty. Tried the spots the tuna had been, but there was no love there. Plenty of small false albacore, but that was it. So, after the sun cleared out enough to have decent visibility, wandered out to about 800 feet and poked around some loosly formed mats of weeds. Was at it for a while without seeing anything remarkable when this thing swam up!
Click here for the full forum report.
SLI Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: FISHHUNTR
Got an early start with Zach (FLDXT) and was at Bull Shark at sunrise, not much happening in the way of bait. Managed a few small dines & gogs not worth hanging around for. Shot out to the Shrimper and that was an improvement, managed some decent dines and cigar minnows. While bringing in a stringer full, Zach has a cobe come up and commence to help himself to the struggling baits on the sabiki, turns out 3 more were with em’.
Click here for the full forum report.
Blue Marlin off St. Lucie Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: unhooked
The coffee colored water got us pretty far offshore today. The water turned from green to blue in 370 feet. Tucker (from West Marine in Jupiter) and I were talking on the way out about blues, I have been wanting to finish the SLI Billfish Grand Slam (sword, sail, white and blue marlin) all I needed was to land a blue, long odds! [...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Boynton Beach Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: Lori Jo Fishing
Headed out this morning with Chris and Billy, cleared the inlet with seas about 2-to 4-feet. We headed north and put the spread out in 80 feet. Tons of turtle grass and weeds everywhere. Kept getting weeded up from 150-to 400-feet. After a couple hours of that and getting pushed way north of the Lake Worth peir, we head back south. We go into shallower water to get away from the weeds. Going straight south into the waves was a bumpy troll but worth it [...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Stud Wahoo of Jupiter
Florida Sportsman member: Net 30
Spent the day fishing with our buddy Charlie Stuve out of Jupiter Inlet. Loaded the well with 200 sardines just outside the inlet and headed out in search of muttons. Charlie had a 12 pound and 17 pound mutton this week, so we had high expectations. Had my 14-year old son and his buddy on board for a trip before school begins on Monday [....]
Click here for the full forum report.
Dolphin and Kings off Boynton
Florida Sportsman member: Dominic74
Called my buddy Chris and Alan on