by Capt. Dallas Hopper
We’re back in the time of year where the cold fronts are rolling through every couple weeks and bringing with it more fish and people migrating south to escape the cold further north. With holiday season here things tend to get a little hectic, if you need to escape the madness look no further than the waters just offshore.
Live bait fishing on the edge of the reef has been great! With catches of sailfish, yellow jack, cero mackerel, mutton snapper, blackfin tuna, king mackerel and even a few yellowfin tuna, you never know what you might see when running in on a ballyhoo shower! You’ll find these bait showers up and down the reef line in 30-100 ft of water, just look for the frigate birds and large ballyhoo schools. Casting live ballyhoo on 20lb spinning gear into the melee will produce some instant action.
The patch reefs are starting to fire up again with the water temperatures cooling down, the patches in the 10-30 ft range seem to be producing the best. A simple knocker rig work great, a half ounce egg sinker and a 2/0 longshank j hook on 15lb mono gets the job done. Keep a live ballyhoo or pilchard with light wire on the surface out, there’s quite a few cero’s and yellowjacks prowling in the chumslick.
Trolling around out past the edge of the reef has been producing some wintertime wahoo and football blackfins but there’s still quite a few late season mahi swimming around. Skirted ballyhoo rigged up on wire with a long leader and trolling weight is the most popular way to target the wahoo.
The snapper and grouper bite on the edge is solid, with plenty of yellowtail, mutton, mangrove, black grouper, red grouper and strawberry grouper making an appearance on the dinner table. Grouper season closes beginning January 1st, so get your grouper fix while you can. The tails have been biting in the 65-85 ft range, but they can be a bit tricky in no-current situations though. Anchoring down in the 105-130 ft range is best for the grouper, soaking ballyhoo plugs, speedos or bonita chunks on the bottom will produce plenty of bites.
Coming off of slow season and out of the boat yard we’re stoked to be getting back to fishing. This year we gave our 27ft center console the “HopAlong” a complete makeover. Our larger boat the “Fantastic II” a 40ft sportfish is running strong as ever, with both of the boats docked at the Holiday Inn Marina in “downtown” Key Largo. Stop by and see us or check us out at www.charterkeylargo.com.
Fantastic II Charters “guaranteed fish”
305-451-2890 • www.charterkeylargo.com
Capt. Dallas Hopper
Fantastic II Charters “guaranteed fish”
305-451-2890 • www.charterkeylargo.com