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By Robbie's, January 29, 2010 3:09 pm

Now that the weather has finally warmed up and stabilized a bit the fishing has gotten back on track for us.  As expected in the winter time, the patch reefs are very productive for yellowtails, mutton snappers, mangrove snappers and porgies.  You will also find cero mackerels, groupers, ballyhoos and other popularly targeted species in the patches this time of year.

The term patch reef seems to confuse people from time to time.  It’s basically a local term that defines the small areas of reef that are inshore from the main body of the coral reef.  They are cut off from the reef by sand, making each one similar to an oasis in a dessert.  Every patch out there has it’s own micro-ecosystem with resident fish, corals, eels, etc. and they are constantly having migratory fish move in and spend time on them as well. This makes for a very diverse gathering of species.  Certain times of the year the patches are typically more productive than the main reef.  Winter is a prime example of this.  The ballyhoo and other baitfish move into the patches and everything else follows.

I have caught mutton snappers up to 21 pounds on the patches, groupers up to 30, yellowtails over 6, kingfish over 50 and sailfish up to 80 pounds in these patch reefs ranging from 10 to 30 feet of water.  People seem to have this notion that if the water is shallow the fish must be small.  Well, take a look at the tarpon at Robbie’s Marina. They are in 4 feet of water and they reach 180 pounds.  In my opinion that blows the whole shallow water theory out of the water.  Fish don’t care about depth, they care about temperature, salinity, clarity, cover, food  and mates.

Getting out off the edge of the reef, the kingfish are still pretty consistent.  Every day is a bit different, but most days you can count on catching a few if you hit the right areas.  Live baits such as ballyhoo, cigar minnows, speedos and shrimp are the top baits, but jigs, spoons, crank baits and flies will work as well.  The main thing to remember is you must use a wire leader to protect against their razor sharp teeth.

A key element to winter fishing is the shrimp run.  The shrimp run from the bay to the ocean at night on an outgoing tide.  Some nights the run is light and some nights millions of them migrate.  When you catch one of these busy nights and fish with live shrimp either that night or the next day the fishing is bound to be hot.

The Islamorada Lady with Capt. Jeff Norton has been consistently catching sailfish and kings.  I don’t think a day has gone by in the last month that they haven’t had a sailfish release flag flying after a charter.  9 out of 10 of these fish are coming on live ballyhoo that Capt. Jeff and his mate Joe Saba are netting on the way out to the fishing grounds in the morning.  Bi-catches have been mutton snappers, groupers, yellowtails and jacks.

I prefer the weather in the summer, but the fishing in the winter.  Come on down, jump on a boat and let us show you a fantastic day of rod bending action out of Robbie’s!

Capt. Brian

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By Robbie's, January 12, 2010 3:29 pm

Now that the Holidays have past and the chaos has ended I would like to take some time to update everyone on the fishing in Islamorada!  It’s gotten very cold (relatively speaking) which has all but shut down the yellowtails and mangrove snappers.  They are still out there on the reef, but they are very lethargic and passive.  The water temp is down into the 60’s now which is frigged for a snapper.  I am not saying you can’t catch them, but your time would be better spent targeting something a bit more active, such as king fish, cero mackerels, porgies, or groupers.

The word grouper brings tears to my eyes right now.  For those of you who haven’t heard… The “State” has closed the season on groupers from January 1st through the month of April.  This was a very controversial topic in South Florida for the last year or so, and now it has finally taken place.  Many, many fisherman are in an uproar!  It’s not my place to voice my opinion on the matter here in my report, but lets just say I am not very pleased about the situation.  It’s not that we catch all that many groupers on the party or charter boats, but it is always the big trophy that everyone hopes to catch, and now that hope has been taken away.  In the midst of a bunch of smaller reef fish you always have that chance of pulling up a big grouper, and now if you do you have to throw it back.  Sure, some people are happy catching and releasing, but most reef fisherman are looking to eat what they catch.  The folks who are more into catch and release tend to be bigger fans of back country, flats, and billfishing.  Not to mention, most of the time when you pull a grouper off a deep wreck it dies no matter what from the pressure change on the way up, so now the fish is going to die anyways, but we don’t get to take it home.

Enough about groupers, the kingfish bite hasn’t quite turned on yet, but I am confident that it is right around the corner. I keep a detailed record of what we catch on the party boat every day and highlight the big changes and events.  The last three years in a row the king bite really turned on just after the new year.  In fact, according to my records last year we caught our limit of kings on January 1st in 120 feet of water with 24 people on the boat.  That’s 48 kings!

One less talked about fish that I love to catch is the porgy.  They aren’t very big, but they are great on the dinner table and put up a good fight for there size. These fish are more abundant in the winter time and prefer to eat squid and shrimp. We catch a lot of them on our “chicken rigs”, which are the basic bottom rig we use on the party boat.  When I can I see to it that everyone on the boat has a few of these guys for dinner.  We catch a few different types of porgies, including the jolthead, whitebone, saucer-eye and sheepshead porgy.  The sheepshead porgy is not a sheepshead, even though they look similar.  They are commonly confused.  The saucer-eye is the largest of these nifty fish we catch, I have had customers catch them over ten pounds!  We call these big guys “hub-caps”.

If you get a chance to break away from work come on down and thaw out with me and the rest of the guys on the Capt. Michael and Islamorada Lady II!!!

Capt. Brian

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By Capt. Brian McCadie, November 19, 2009 1:25 pm

The past week was full of excitement on the reef!  We had everything from sailfish, to snappers, to gail-force winds, all in one week!  Just before the winds picked up the snapper bite was unbelievable.  The yellowtails were chewing like crazy no matter where you went on the reef or wrecks near the reef.  Day and night the ‘tail bite was hot.  The best bait is always live shrimp, but they are by no means necessary to catch nice fish.  Ballyhoo cut into strips about an inch long is one of my favorite baits.  Squid can work well too, as do silversides (small bait fish available at most bait shops) and small pilchards.

The mutton snappers were biting like crazy too.  We did not get a chance to target them on any deep structure, but we picked a bunch of them up on the reef in 30 to 80 feet of water while yellowtailing.  We got them on ballyhoo, blue runner filets, pinfish, pilchards and squid.  In other words, they are biting on everything.  Along with muttons, we also pulled a few red groupers off the bottom on the same baits.

Sailfish have been quite plentiful on the reef as well.  Most people don’t think about catching sails on party boats, but this time of year through the spring we see and catch lots of them because they are up on the reef feeding on ballyhoo, houndfish, pilchards, cigar minnows, and so forth.  We caught three of them just before the winds picked up.  All three came on live ballyhoos.

After the winds slowed down the water was extremely dirty, making the fishing even better.  I haven’t been able to find the muttons yet, but yellowtailing has been great, the mangroves are biting ballyhoo on the bottom and schools of nice dolphin have been traveling down the edge of the reef.

Thanks for reading folks,

Capt. Brian McCadie

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By Capt. Brian McCadie, November 19, 2009 10:34 am

The big talk on the reef this time of year is the mangrove snappers.  I am happy to say that they are actually still biting fairly well!  Typically speaking the bite shuts of after the full moon in August.  Well, that was over a week ago and they are still comin’ in the boat pretty consistently.  It’s nothing like it was a month ago, but we are getting them quite well at night and in a few select spots in the daytime as well.  Capt. Ron said that this past Thursday night they caught the limit of mangroves with 22 people on board.  Also mixed in with them were lots of yellowtails and a couple of mutton snappers.  

Also hot on the reef right now are the barracudas!  We have been catching at least one a day, and big ones too!  Just last week two of our customers caught big ‘cudas and had them mounted by Gray’s Taxidermy.  The ‘cudas are a lot of fun to catch no matter who you are and how many fish you have caught in your life.  They usually fall victim to a live bait on a wire leader.  The best baits are what they are already there to eat… yellowtails, mangroves, blue runners, etc.  

The charter boat “Satisfaction” out of Robbie’s has been doing well on the reef too.  Capt. Shannon has been doing a lot of reef fishing in order to capitalize on the hot snapper bite. In addition to catching countless mangroves, yellowtails and muttons he has boated two king mackerels over 40 pounds in the last month.  While he is fishing for mutton snappers on deep wrecks he always throws out a king bait as well.  Lately it has certainly been paying off! 

Capt. Jeff Norton on the Islamorada Lady II put together a nice catch of flag yellowtails this past Friday while the offshore fishing was slow.  While most boats waisted their customer’s time running 30 miles offshore Capt. Jeff stuck close to home and sent his customers home with a fantastic cooler full of snappers and kings.  No groupers were found on that trip, but that’s to be expected in the hot summer months.  Our groupers in the Keys prefer colder water.  

That’s not to say that you can’t catch them right now, but you are far more likely to put a few in the box in the winter months.

I would expect the snapper bite to tail off (no pun intended) in the next few weeks, so if you get a chance to come to Robbie’s and do some fish in’ in the near future I definitely recommend it.

Thanks for reading,

Capt. Brian

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By Capt. Brian McCadie, July 13, 2009 10:46 am

Holy smokes, are the mangrove snappers ever biting!  We are catching them day and night, on the surface, on the bottom and every other way you can imagine.  Ten feet of water, 70 feet, coral bottom, wrecks, it just doesn’t matter. We are getting them everywhere.  It really doesn’t seem to matter what bait you use, but the one constant factor is that you need light line and a small hook.  15 pound test is almost too heavy.  12 or even 10 is best.  Most of the fish we are getting are in the 20 to 30 foot range, but it seems as though anywhere we go, we get them.

The yellowtails are still there as well.  We have been getting them mixed in with the mangroves both day and night.  I have been getting reports from charter boats who have been targeting the ‘tails and not searching for the mangroves that the yellowtail bite on the edge of the reef is red hot.  Anywhere from 70 to 90 feet has been producing I hear.  

We have also been seeing a few mutton snappers as well.  The size has been quite nice too.  We haven’t caught too many little ones. Most are in the 5 to 15 pound range.  We are getting them on ballyhoo plugs mainly, but a couple have fallen victim to live pilchards. 

I really can’t report a whole lot more. We basically have been targeting “grovers” for the last couple of weeks both day and night.   I have been seeing a few sailfish free-jumping out there. We haven’t caught one in a while but you could most likely find one or two if you really tried to. 

I expect the mangrove bite to sustain from now until the next full moon.  That means that you only have a few weeks left to get out there and put together a nice catch of mangrove snappers for the dinner table!

Thanks for readin’!

Capt. Brian

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By Capt. Brian McCadie, July 1, 2009 10:57 am

Things are really picking up out there for us!  I had a chance to night fish twice this past week and I absolutely can’t complain! The big yellowtails are biting very consistently on the wrecks near the edge of the reef and the mangroves are really starting to show up.
 
As for the yellowtails we are catching them every single night in the 1 to 4 pound range.  The numbers of fish vary based on the conditions, but we get at least a handful every trip. Tuesday night, for example, they were very hard to catch because the current was going right underneath the boat.  This makes it almost impossible to succeed at yellow tailing. The ones we caught were very nice, but not very numerous. 
 
The main highlight of the summer is the mangrove snapper spawn, which is almost in full effect!  We have been seeing them a bit more each and every night.  A week ago we were only getting a few, and last night we got 30 or so of them.  These numbers will continue to grow for the next few weeks, then stay steady for a couple weeks before declining.  In about a week we will be catching or boat limit more often than not on the night trips. 
 
The “grovers” are very active in the day time as well, so long as you get right on top of them.  We caught about 50 of them on Monday in the daylight in 22 feet of water.  I really enjoy targeting them on the party boat because in my opinion they are better eating than a yellowtail and more fun to fight. 
 
Going back to the nights, Capt. Ron has been putting on quite a show with permit!  Catching permit is something that most people would never, every think about doing on a night trip, but Capt. Ron has found one wreck that is holding them in huge numbers.  They are biting on live crabs casted out of the lights of the boat.  The average size is about 15 pounds but they have boated them up to 40 in the last few weeks.  I don’t believe these hard fighters will be around too much longer, so if you ever wanted to catch a permit at night right now is the time to do it!
 
Capt. Shannon on the “Satisfaction” out of Robbie’s had a couple of really successful night charters this week.  He is only charging $500 for 5 hours and catching really nice yellowtails, mangrove snappers and muttons.  He likes to fish with a combination of fresh ballyhoo and live pilchards for the night snappers.  If you are interested in getting out there with him you can call 305-664-8070.
 
On the couple of occasions we fished the deep wrecks lately we came up with mutton snappers up to 12 pounds and a gag grouper that tipped the scales at 25 pounds!  Those deep water fish are out there in full force right now; don’t miss it if you have the means to go after them! 
 
I look forward to putting you on some fish,

Capt. Brian

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By Capt. Brian McCadie, June 10, 2009 10:59 am

We found ourselves fishing in deep water more than shallow for the most part this week.  I can’t say that we had any huge numbers of fish that we brought in from these areas, but we did catch some real quality fish.

We found king mackerels up to 10 pounds, mutton snappers up to about the same (at night), red groupers up to about 8 pounds, blackfin tuna up to 20 pounds and dolphin ranging from “schoolies” to a 25 pound “slammer”.  The slammer was caught in 127 feet of water while we were catching porgies and red groupers.  A smaller fish about 4 pounds came right up near the boat and ate a live grunt thrown from the upper deck.  While we were fighting that fish the big boy came right up within 10 feet of the boat before eating a whole ballyhoo on a kingfish rig.  The fight took about a half hour, but it would have been much longer if we hadn’t pulled the anchor and chased the fish down. Normally you don’t really have to chase dolphin, they tend to come to the path of least resistance, but the current was very strong that day and the fish was about 150 feet away from the boat using his big body as a planing board in the current making it almost impossible to gain any line.  The options were to tighten the angler’s drag and put more pressure on the fish, all the while hoping not to break the line, or to pull the anchor and chase the fish.  We chose to go after him and it paid off.

We have been catching those big blackfin tunas for a few weeks now.  We only get one or two a week but they sure are nice to put in the box when we get a chance.  A friend of mine who fishes outside of Conch Reef and Pickles Reef has been catching the heck out of these same big tunas using live bait in a similar fashion to how many Key’s fisherman target sailfish. 

Back on the reef the yellowtail bite has been very good when the current is moving to the Northeast but pretty slow when it’s headed Southwest.  Also it seems as though the bite is much better in the morning than the afternoon right now.  60 to 80 feet has been the hot depths.  The patch reefs have been very unproductive due to very clear water. Patches are fantastic fisheries when you can’t see the bottom.  But if you can, it can get pretty tough. 

The barracudas are all over the place right now too.  If you find yellowtails schooled up most likely there is a cuda nearby waiting for a meal.  We had two lucky anglers catch big cudas this week and elect to have them mounted by Gray’s Taxidermy.  Since we are a registered Gray’s agent at Robbie’s we can make the process of getting your trophy mounted very easy.

Capt. Ron has been absolutely slaying the yellowtails at night!  He hasn’t had a chance to go see if the mangroves are biting yet because the ‘tail bite has been so good he can’t leave the wrecks he fishes for them.  In my opinion the mangroves aren’t really there yet anyway.  It’s another few weeks before they really start spawning hard. 

We would like to welcome a new charter boat into the marina! The vessel’s name is “Satisfaction”.  It’s a 32 foot SeaCraft center console.  It cruises at about 30 knots and is licensed to fish up to 6 people.  It happens to be owned by the author of this report and captained by one of our Robbie’s alumni.  However, anytime requested I will love to hop on board and show someone the reef/wreck fishing trip of their lives! The rates of the boat are comparable to the other center console offshore boats in the marina: $700 for half day, $800 for 3/4 day and $900 for all day trips.  As a summer special, however, night snapper trips will be $500 for five hours.  We will be targeting FLAG yellowtails, mangroves, and BIG mutton snappers.  The contact number for the boat and business is 305-393-2029.  Feel free to call anytime. 

Thanks again for readin’,
Capt. Brian