Hit The Reef

By: Capt. Bruce Andersen

Oh boy, here we go. When you live down here year-round, it seems like summer never ends, but the first cold fronts of the season are here, and things are changing quickly! Finally, a cool breeze! And with the weather patterns shifting, the fishing is changing as well and the reef fishing and live bait opportunities just offshore of the Reef are heating up!
I love my job! I love taking people fishing here in the Florida Keys and I especially love doing it this time of year. Some of my favorite types of fishing are just starting to get really hot and I love heading out there, doing some different stuff than we’ve been doing all summer and enjoying the cool weather and the great fishing.
A couple of the different types of fishing that will really start to heat up with the changing weather patterns are reef fishing on the patches for a variety of mutton snapper as well as other snapper and grouper in the shallow water just inside the main edge of the reef and live bait fishing for sailfish, kingfish, wahoo, and tuna just outside the edge of the reef in the 90 to 200 foot depths. I really enjoy both of these types of fishing and on a longer charter, it’s very possible to combine them. Sometimes we start out on the patch reefs and catch live bait like ballyhoo and cigar minnows while we’re fishing for the mutton snapper and yellowtail. Then we’ll head outside the edge of the reef and put out the live baits in search of the pelagics. It’s a great combination that gives you a taste of a few of the many different types of fishing available here in the Keys. Of course, you don’t always have to combine these types of fishing. Sometimes an action-packed patch reef fishing trip is just better for families with kids or people that just want to get a lot of action. Other times the excitement of catching bigger fish like sailfish or big wahoo is more appealing for the customers and we’ll just head out and do that most of the day.
Either way, your likelihood of having a great time fishing down here in the Keys is very high. We’ve always got plenty of different types of fishing available and there are several others in addition to the ones I’ve mentioned here so far. It’s a great time of year to get out for a fishing charter in our area, and I hope I see you out there soon!

— www.captaineasycharters.com
You can reach Captain Bruce Andersen at Capt. Easy Charters,
MM 85, call 305.360.2120 or email at: captbrucekey@comcast.net