by Capt. Dallas Hopper
Its march again here in the upper keys and there are plenty of fish biting, but with it being a windy month you might have to put on your viking helmet and brave the choppy seas. However the fishing can be very rewarding.
March is possibly one the best months to live bait on the edge of the reef, with a wide variety of fish taking live bait fished from kites. The action starts to move a little bit further off the edge with fish moving through in the 120-250 foot range. As ballyhoo are becoming more difficult to catch we are using more goggleye, thread herring, pilchards and blue runners. Hanging these delicious live offerings produces vicious strikes from blackfin tuna, king mackerel, sailfish, wahoo, mahi and even catch the occasional cobia. When the edge is slow we tend to poke out further offshore with a trolling spread out that consists of small trolling lures and rigged ballyhoo on wire. With plenty of “football” sized blackfin tuna on the humps, the wahoo are usually not too far behind. Keep your eye out for frigate birds in the 200-400 ft range as there are even small packs of early migrating mahi mahi.
The deepwater wrecks and humps are alive with action this month and with amberjack season opening back up on march 1st we will definitely be fishing on these hot spots. Heavy tackle is key to pulling these “reef donkeys” up from the depths, heavy drag and leader is a must. Live blue runner and goggleye are sure to get bit, there are even mutton snapper, almaco jack, cobia and of course the throw back grouper in the mix. Dropping a multi hook chicken rig tipped with squid should also produce some tasty vermllion snapper and rose porgy.
If you’re looking for yellow tail, anchoring up in 60- 90 feet of water over rocky bottom will have you in the right area. Mixing up a bucket full of “slop” ( defrosted chum mixed with steam rolled oats) is an old school method to pulling the yellow tail to the back of the boat. Either scatter some behind the boat and drift your bait in the middle of the cloud or if the fish are deeper, making a ball of the mixture around your bait of choice and drifting it back into the chum slick should put some of these tasty fish on your dinner table.
There are so many different fish biting the options are endless, if you are in the area and wanting to get out on the water, give us a call.
Fantastic II Charters “guaranteed fish”
305-451-2890 • www.charterkeylargo.com