By: Capt. Joel Brandenburg
This springs mahi bite has been exceptional. Great quantity and good quality mahi are being caught closer in offshore than usual. The winds are blowing the Sargasso weeds closer to shore and lining up just outside the reef and 200 to 400 foot of water. In years past we were mostly finding dolphin in 650 foot and deeper. Now we have only been traveling 12 to 15 miles out to find the mahi where normally we have to travel 18 to 30 miles out. Having the mahi in closer this year makes it more exciting because of the variety of fish that were able to catch closer to shore with the mahi such as sailfish, black fin tuna and wahoo.
The weeds blowing in closer to shore, brings in all the bait fish that travel with the weeds, such as flying fish, goggle eyes, baby trigger fish, and a bunch of baby crabs, all of which we are finding in the mahi’s belly when cleaning the Mahi. When the weed lines are further out and less weeds than usual, the mahi seem to be more easily fooled with plastic baits and trolling lures and can be just as effective as using ballyhoo. That is the weed lines are further in and thicker, it’s tougher to trick the Mahi with plastic baits and trolling lures. They’ve got so much food to feed on that most of our bites have been on trolling Ballyhoo. In the shallower or water situations I like to use naked ballyhoo rather than skirted ballyhoo. Because the ballyhoo look more natural naked than with a skirt, and when there’s so many weeds and so much food for the mahi to feed on, it’s harder to trick them and it’s easier to trick them with a naked ballyhoo who than a skirted ballyhoo.
But this year’s wind, pushing the weed line closer to the reef also comes floaters closer to the reef. I just finished the largest bull and cow tournament in this area with 70 boats filled with some of the best offshore anglers and Captain’s in the world. During that two-day tournament we found a 20-foot floating tree in 400 foot of water, a giant wooden pallet in 450 foot of water and several other things like buckets, helmets, coolers, and several other miscellaneous floaters. My son, Capt. Jojo Fishing for Bravo ACR (automatic clip release) placed 6th overall and team Ana Banana placed 11th over 4th in the wahoo division, 6th in the tuna division and 6th in the Lady’s Division. We didn’t win any prize money like we have in the past, but we made a decent showing.
My boat had six clients in it during the tournament. During the two-day tournament we caught over 200 Mahi and kept almost half. We are allowed to keep up to 10 mahi per person per day measuring 20 inches or more to the fork of the tail with a boat aggregate of no more than 54 mahi per boat per day. There is a lot of skill to my fishing, knowing what to look for and what not to look for in the way of birds and floaters and weed lines and such, but there’s a lot of luck to mahi fishing too. Most of the time the difference between the guy who catches the giant bull and the guy who doesn’t or the guy who catches 100 versus the guy who caught one fish is one guy took a right and another guy took a left.
The best advice I can give you when Fishing closer to the reef on big weed lines take that skirt off of your ballyhoo and troll your ballyhoo naked. Also follow the frigatebirds. Following the frigatebirds is no new advice, I’m just going to add by saying don’t give up on them quickly. Follow them as long as you can. Bird is the word in the bigger and black or the better.
Frigatebirds can’t land in the water because their wings water router than shed water. God gave them a hook bill on a serrated beak, so they can catch their food in the air which of course is flying fish and when you were trolling your ballyhoo the way he thinks your ballyhoo is a flying fish. Frigates have been known to stay up in the air for 100 or 200 days in a row, but all living things must sleep so they close their eyes, set their wings and fall an inch at the time and that’s the way they sleep. When they wake up in the morning, they are hungry for breakfast like we are and they start searching for flying fish. They are specifically looking for a big bull and cow hunting together, which would be likely to push up the most amount of flying fish. When a bull and cow mahi gets 30 inches they are mates for life and they feed and breed together the rest of their lives. 90 out of the last 100 big bulls we’ve caught have been under frigatebirds.
— For a charter with Captain Joel Brandenburg of Ana Banana Fishing Company Marathon Florida Keys call 305– 395–4212 office# or 813–267–4401 Cell #. Or visit us in person at ponchos fuel dock a half block away from Cast Away restaurant at 1280 Oceanview Ave. Marathon Florida Keys.