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Updated November 27, 2002
Sailfish Bite Is ON!
The excitement of Sailfish season is upon us now here in Marathon and the middle Florida Keys! Megan Van Putten
of Highlands Ranch, Colorado caught her first Sail on Monday with a bit of help from fiance John Goutell. The 50lb.
fish was already tagged with a Billfish foundation tag, which is extremely exciting! The fish was released after
the tag number and fish data was recorded and swam away in good health. The Billfish Foundation uses the data collected
from the tagging program to learn more about the migration and growth of Sailfish and help to manage the species.
After catching the Sailfish, John, Megan, and 11yr old Mac opted for some Snapper fishing inshore near the 7 mile
bridge. The bite was on with the Snapper as well and we had a fun afternoon hooking up nice Mangroves in the 3-4lb.
class. Meanwhile other boats out on the reef edge were getting in on some more Sailfish action. Several boats caught
more than one Sail with most of the fish showing up on the reef edge in 40-100ft of water. Live baits have been
producing best, but some boats have been hooking up Sails on dead bait such as Ballyhoo also. My neighbor recently
had a double header of Sails as he trolled his Ballyhoo over the reef edge after a day of offshore Dolphin fishing.
Dolphin Slow
The offshore bite for Dolphin has slowed a bit lately with the onset of several cold fronts that we have experienced
in the past two weeks. Look for the bite to improve quickly as the next warming trend rolls around as the water
temperature on the reef edge is still around 78 degrees. Best bet after cool weather is to venture out to the edge
of the gulfstream and look for debris and weed lines. This may be a 20 mile run or so this time of year.
Reef On and Off
The reef fishing was red hot for Yellowtail Snapper last week as most local charter boats loaded up on the great
eating fish. This week a turn around of the current on the reef edge along with some gin clear water has slowed
the bite a bit on Yellowtail. Look for some fantastic King Mackerel action to be moving in soon as this cool weather
should have them on the move and headed to the Keys waters where they hang out on the reef edge all winter long!
Some Kings have already been coming to the docks but the big numbers are still a couple weeks away. For more information
on some fantastic fishing in the middle Florida Keys, check out our website. Good luck in all of your fishing adventures!
Capt. Bob Brown, Jr.
e-mail - fish@sundancesportfishing.com
www.sundancesportfishing.com
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