Category: Miami Fishing Reports – What’s Biting in South Florida

The summer dolphin bite is in full effect.  Miami, and the Florida keys are alive with large schools of mahi-mahi.  All three boats in the fleet have been regularly catching fish from 3-10 lbs, schoolies, and “heavy lifters” are caught daily, with the occasional “slammer”, and lots of gaffers.

The colors on mahi-mahi are always spectacular, and it makes for a nice day for beginners or seasoned anglers a like.  Come catch a few nice mahi, and have Monty’s cook your catch lunch for you.  Nothing hits the spot quite like a cold drink and some fresh fish on these very hot days in south florida.

If you’re looking for the “big one”,  there have been some swordfish biting.  While it is a “higher risk/reward” type of trip, sword fishing can be extremely exciting when that bait gets bit.  Day-dropping has produced some large fish in Miami, and you’re always one trip away from a great fish story.

The great news, is while you’re out in pursuit of that swordfish, you’ll likely see lots of mahi trolling out and back.   There’s nothing like trolling up a mahi that is being followed by dozens, or hundreds of other nice fish.

Capt. Ray Rosher talks with Fly Navarro about trolling with Japanese feather trolling lures.  Mahi Magnet fishing lures are available at R&R Fishing Tackle.

The Miss Britt Sailfish Team and Stephanie Choate finished fourth place in the Quest for the Crest Sailfish Series and Top Lady Angler overall!  We’re still catching plenty of sailfish and big blackfin tuna while we’re waiting for the mahi to show up in big numbers.  There are some mahi around further offshore under weed lines and floating debris, however the best fishing is still over the reef.  Kite fishing continues to be the most effective form of fishing on the days when the wind allows for it.  We’re also catching grouper, amberjack and snapper while bottom fishing on the light wind days.

The past two weeks have been great for sailfish and tuna.  We’ve caught double digit sails in a full day and expect them to continue biting for the next month or so.  Those big blackfin tuna that we’ve been expecting have showed up, and we landed a 32lber today.  There are yellowfin tunas coming through sporadically, most are around 30 lb, but some boats have reported hooking into fish around 100lb.  Big king mackerel are being caught first thing in the morning in the 100-150 ft depths, along with the sails and tuna.  Additionally, the mahi are showing up and we’re catching lots of schoolie dolphin on the troll and kite fishing.  This is the time of year when you can catch a wide variety of species in a half day charter.  Plan of booking an early charter, as the morning bite has been red hot!

Captain Ray Rosher discusses the preferred method to bridle bait for offshore kite fishing.  To purchase the high quality bridle bands the Miss Britt uses click here. https://randrtackle.com/collections/rigging-bands-1

Team Miss Britt / Contender, led by Captain Ray Rosher and Matt Neber, the lead designer of the 39′ Fisharound Boat, built by Contender Boats, released 16 of 16 sailfish successfully in their win at the 3 inlet Sailfish Challenge put on by Bluewater Movements.  The team’s release total was double that of the nearest competitor among the 64 boats in the tournament’s fleet. The win was capped off by victories in the top male, female, master angler category resulting in a paycheck of $174,310.

The team successfully netted $174,310 in prize money after 13 sailfish releases on day 1 on of the tournament, and an additional 3 releases on a slow day 2.

Stephanie Choate, of WildOceans.org – caught 9 of the team’s sailfish, and  cleaned up in the angler category winning the Top Female Angler trophy as well as the Master Angler trophy for the top overall angler in the tournament. Even more impressive, Stephanie has on the top female angler category in all three legs of the Quest for the Crest series this year.  Matt Bierly caught 4 fish, and brought home the top male angler award for his efforts.

The 39′ FA boat has been heralded by those who have fished it, and exemplifies the finely tuned details that helped Contender Boats to win the boat builder challenge trophy for 2017.  Contender racked up the most boat builder points from Joe Neber’s Contender One – a 39ST co-sponsored by Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, and several other Contender boats that scored highly in the the tourney.

By noon on Day 1, Miss Britt Contender had already released 11 sailfish between Lake Worth Pier and Palm Beach Inlet. They released two more fish in the afternoon to win the daily with 13 releases; six better than the next closest team. As it turns out, they could have stayed home on Day 2 and still finished with enough releases to win the whole tournament, however, they added three more on Day 2 for the 16 fish total.

Capt. Ray Rosher brought his team one step closer to wearing burgundy jackets in the quest for the crest 4 tournament sailfish championship series.

Another interesting twist is the Father / Son tie in the overall standings with one tournament left in the 4 tournament Quest for the Crest Series.  Joe Neber’s Contender One is in a tie for 3^rd place with his son Matt Neber’s Miss Britt Contender.

Capt. Ray would also like to thank his sponsors:

• Contender Fishing Boats
• PENN fishing
• Berkley Fishing Line
• Esky Coolers
• Raymarine
• Mustad Hooks
• Costa Del Mar Sunglasses
• Taco Marine
• Yamaha
• AFTCO
• Roffs Fishing Forecasts
• IGFA
• R & R Tackle

If you’re looking to catch some tuna, now’s a great time.  We’re catching tons of small blackfin tuna in the 5 pound range, perfect for a fresh sushi dinner!  We had two half day charters that produced up to 15 tunas in a few short hours.  To add to the tuna, we have great water conditions over the reef and the sailfish, wahoo and mackerel are biting.  We even caught a 40 pound yellowfin tuna kite fishing in 110′.  Most of the tuna are being caught trolling small R&R Tackle Mahi Magnets, but we’re also catching a few kite fishing.  Check out these photos from the past week.

The winter shrimp run is in full swing, and the nighttime bite in the passes is red hot! Capt Ryan has been getting great results tarpon fishing with live shrimp in the evenings, and he’s catching some nice snook and permit too!  On the offshore side, we still have some less than ideal water conditions for sailfish, but that doesn’t mean they’re not around.  We’re getting a couple shots at sails each day, but we’re yet to see double digit days.  Days when kite fishing isn’t all that productive, we switch gears to trolling and bottom fishing.  Mahi and tunas can be caught trolling, while grouper and various snapper species are biting over the deep water rocky ledges.  Here’s a few photos snagged by our customers over the last week.

Blue water and north current have been a pleasant change to the fishing conditions.  We like it just as much as the sailfish, and they really seem to like it!  We’re getting great action kite fishing close to home, and are catching sailfish, kingfish, mahi and snapper.  The cold fronts and north wind often make for choppy waters, but the fish don’t mind that at all.  In fact, it triggers them to feed.  There have even been reports of white marlin and yellowfin tuna being hooked and caught recently, so it’s a great time to get on the water!

The fishing conditions for the last two weeks have been less than ideal, leading to some hit of miss days on the water. There have been many days with green water and little to no current, far beyond where they’re normally found. Despite the tough conditions, we’ve been able to change our tactics in order to find a fishery that’s cooperating. Kite fishing has been slow, and the numbers of sailfish we were catching in November and December has dwindled. On the other hand, we’ve had some good days mahi fishing, or working the bottom for vermillion and other snapper species. Additionally, good numbers of spanish, cero, and king mackerel are present in the bay and out to 150′. We’ll make every attempt to change tactics to bend some rods if our “plan A” isn’t working out. We’re hoping the approaching cold front this weekend brings in the blue water and some sailfish. Tight lines!

We’re almost half way through December, and the sailfishing continues to improve as water temps drop into the 70’s.  The most productive days have been when the wind is coming out of the north or northeast and there is good north current.  Some days have been great for mackerel fishing in the 60-150′ range with big spanish, cero, and king mackerel chewing ferociously.  We’re catching them on the kites live-baiting and trolling planers.  Mahi-mahi are still coming through, with some upwards of 40 lbs.  We haven’t been targeting them exclusively, but still manage to catch a few as bycatch while targeting sailfish with the kites.  The early morning bite has been the best.  Tight lines.