Here we are in the middle of winter in Miami and so far it’s been a mild one with crisp nights in the 60’s and highs in the high 70’s and low 80’s. So what’s on tap for this month? I’m glad you asked!
The most fun you can have this month is fishing the patch reefs in the 15-30 foot depths from outside Key Biscayne to the south end of Ceasar’s Creek. This is potluck fishing that is an absolute blast with plenty of keepers for the dinner table. The way to locate these patch reefs is to head out under good visibility and look for the dark patches of reef mixed in with the white sand bottom. Once you locate a patch reef make sure to treat it with care. What do I mean? Well, don’t run over the patch scaring all the fish and don’t anchor on it and ruin the reef. The goal here is to anchor over the sand and a long cast away from the actual patch. This allows you to avoid spooking the fish, damaging the reef and drawing fish away from the patch where you can fight them without losing them to the bottom. Once properly anchored on a patch I like to chum down current towards the patch and draw the fish out. A single block of chum at a time should be fine but take a couple of blocks with you in case you locate a good patch and stay longer than expected.
There are a number of species that inhabit these patch reefs this month and the list is a good one. Expect to catch mutton snapper, mangrove snapper, yellowtail snapper, grouper (closed season), hog fish (closed season), mackerel and big progies. The bait of choice here is live pilchards, live shrimp and ballyhoo plugs. Keep the ballyhoo plugs on the bottom for mutton snapper and grouper and freeline the live pilchards and shrimp back into the chum slick. Once you locate a good patch and the action starts it is non-stop rod bending fun.
As for tackle, I like to stick with permit and tarpon tackle which means medium heavy rods with 30 lb braid and heavy rods with 50 lb braid. I keep the larger rods for the grouper and the medium rods for everything else. If you want to get sporty then break out the bonefish rods and use those with the live shrimp. Once you go lighter you’ll have a blast but you’ll miss a few bruisers along the way.
So there you have it, my best bet for February fishing so get out there and have some fun!
Capt. Mo Estevez
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