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Updated February 25, 2002
Reef Report - Fish are Biting!
The reef fishing has been excellent lately with a variety of species showing up in the 40-90ft. range. Large Yellowtail
Snappers have been biting good in several locations from Duck Key to Big Pine Key. Nice sized King Mackerel have
been around in good numbers along with some Cero and Spanish Mackerel. Some large Black Grouper have been hanging
around the reef edge and we have caught some up to 25lb. recently. Some large Mutton Snappers have been caught
lately also off of the wrecks and reef edge.
Sailfishing has been HOT!!!
A few Sailfish have been showing up on the reef muching on the Kite baits in 50-90ft, but most of the action lately
has been deeper. Sailfishing has been excellent in the past couple weeks with the hottest area being around Tennessee
light in 140-240ft. of water. Wednesday, our anglers of Mark Bildsten, Bill Luft, and Steve Keller of Columbus,
OH. caught 5 out of 7 Sail hookups and missed several more as the action was hot that day. Several boats caught
as many as 25 Sails the day before when they found the schools of Sardines that groups of Sailfish have been "balling"
up and feeding on. Lots of birds have been giving away the locations of these happenings and the action can be
fast and furious! Look for the bite to start swinging further south off of Sombrero Light and west toward Big Pine
and American Shoal in the next few weeks.
Return of the Goliath Grouper!
The largest of all the Grouper species, the Goliath Grouper, (formerly known as the Jewfish...and still is really)
has been making a comeback in recent years here in the Keys and most wrecks are now sporting some resident Goliaths
up to 400lb.+. On a recent trip on the "Sundance", we stopped at a small wreck to catch some bait in
about 25ft of water and found to be some large preditors there eating our baitfish before we could land them to
put in the live well. Turned out in the next hour or so we hooked a large Bull Shark about 250lb., a large spinner
Shark about 150lb. and 2 large Goliath Groupers up to 200lb. Not a bad baitfish stop!! If you'd like to know more
about fishing in the Marathon and middle Keys area, 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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