By: Capt. Bruce Andersen
Spring is in full bloom, the temperatures are getting hot, and summer is right around the corner. The beautiful royal Poinciana trees along US1 are turning fiery red, and for me that always signals the beginning of dolphin season in the Florida Keys. The month of May brings a lot of changes to fishing on the offshore side of the keys.
For one thing, several fisheries open up including shallow water grouper fishing for black, gag, and red grouper. On May 1st, deep drop fishing for snowy grouper and blue line tilefish all open and will remain open for the next several months. The season will remain open until the end of August for snowy grouper and tilefish. The shallow water grouper will stay open until the new year. After releasing these fish all winter and spring, I’m looking forward to putting a few in the fish box now that they are open. As great as it will be to start keeping some grouper and getting in on the deep drop fishing, the biggest change for most boats heading offshore will be the increase in the quantity of dolphin or mahi mahi offshore.
Although we’ve been catching mahi offshore sporadically for the last few months, the fishing should get much more consistent in the next few weeks and by mid-May most of the offshore boats will be headed straight offshore to dolphin fish for the next several months. The offshore fishing in May traditionally consists of a higher concentration of bigger “slammer” dolphin in our area than the rest of the season so, it’s a great time to head offshore looking for that trophy mahi to put on the wall!
It can definitely be argued that mahi are the most popular species to target offshore of the Florida Keys. They’re great eating and fun to catch and with their beautiful tropical colors, it’s no wonder how popular they are. People come from all over the country and in some cases all over the world to get in on this fishery. We’ve got entire fleets of professional experienced charter boat crews ready to take you out for the fishing experience of a lifetime. Watch out for those trees blooming along the highway and head offshore to get in on the action!
— You can reach Captain Bruce Andersen at Capt. Easy Charters, MM 85, call 305.360.2120 or email at: captbrucekey@comcast.net