04 Feb Porgy Fishing in the Florida Keys

As the new year unfolds the reality of Grouper fishing season in Islamorada being closed kicks in. Of course now that we can’t keep them we have been seeing nice ones come up off the bottom.

While Grouper may be out of season, a great photo opt is not. If you’re lucky enough to catch one, topping off your fun fight with a photo helps make the catch and release procedure a bit easier. As one season closes another opens.

The Porgy fishing season opened up on January 1st and the Captain Michael is seeing a great haul on these tasty fish. People love our local yellow tail, but that’s probably because they haven’t feasted on our Porgies. They are some of the whitest fish fillets we get off our bottom bite. On a daily basis we have been catching Porgies in and around 3 lbs. The winds have been blowing steady this month, keeping some trips in nearshore waters. When this happens the water in Hawks Channel tends to get dirtier, making it a great area for a nice Mutton bite. If you have time before heading out on one of our trips, picking up some shrimp from our new Pro’s Choice Tackle shop should work well with the murkier waters produce by the wind. With fishing still being decent we are looking for the offshore bite to be steady once the winds lay down. We are expecting to find some quality fish once we start getting further offshore.

Our night trips have unfortunately been coming up short on enough anglers, meaning there are some nice yellow tails waiting to find a dinner plate. So come out and get in on our night bite. Aside from the fishing, our afternoon trips have been delivering some spectacular sunsets. Let us help you put some dinner on the table and we will even throw in a beautiful sunset with our afternoon trips. Tight lines and good fishing, hope to see everyone soon. Just remember…. you gotta hook `em to cook `em!

Capt. Edward Freeling III