Anyone running offshore out of the Florida Keys this weekend has had the picture painted for them. In his May 22 episode of 'The Inside Scoop' on the Florida Sport Fishing TV channel, Captain Mike — based in the Middle Keys aboard a quad-powered 41-foot Sea Hunter — argued that the bite is genuinely strong, but that anglers will have to plan around a stretch of unsettled weather and historically heavy sargassum.
The weather forecast is the first reality check. "It's nasty outside. It's pouring out right now here in the Middle Florida Keys," Captain Mike said. "It's blowing a solid 15 from the east. It's going to increase to 15 to 20 tonight. Diminish a little bit over the weekend. Probably stay at 15, but by Sunday night, we're right back up there to 15 to 20." Fishable, in his words, but not glass.
Beyond the wind, the biggest day-to-day headache is sargassum. The captain has been running well offshore over recent weeks and described mats unlike anything he can remember.
"There has just been so much sargassum, certainly more than every other season," he said. "The stuff that you're seeing online, social media, the news, it's true. They're not kidding. There's a lot of grass offshore. Sometimes it's impossible to even go through some of these lines." His prescription: protect outboard intakes, drop the spread, and lean on live bait. "Now isn't the time to go out and troll with a spread of six or eight lines. You're going to be clearing grass all day long. I promise you that. So, lighten that load… try and get a live well full of live bait. That's going to make a big difference this time of the year in finding fish and keeping them around the boat."
Reef fishing, however, has been generous. Yellowtails are present in numbers and the black grouper bite continues to surprise. "It's not unusual for, you know, charter boats are coming back with their limit. Two black groupers, bunch of yellow tails. Who knows, maybe a mutton or two in the mix," the captain said.
The headline bite of the week, though, is in the deep.
"The deep drop bite has been excellent," he said. "It started, the season started slow for us. It was a little bit of a challenge that opening weekend, but then kind of found our rhythm, figured out where these fish are holding, you know, and really just kind of modified our approach just a little bit and really able to capitalize on some quality fish ranging from beautiful queen snapper all the way on up to nearly 20 pounds. Some of the biggest gray tilefish that we've seen yet. Certainly double digit fish. Snowy groupers mixed in."
The sweet spot, the captain said, is sitting around 700 feet, and the real edge is in spending time studying bottom structure rather than reusing a few proven numbers. "I'm finding fish and hearing from a lot of other guys that are deep dropping that the sweet spot is around 700 feet," he said. "That's what I love about deep dropping is so much opportunity… on every trip, I make it a point to fish new spots. Also, how else are you going to find new spots if you don't put in the time?"
The Keys mutton snapper run is also dialled in, but Captain Mike was emphatic that trophy fish on this fishery are a local-knowledge game. His prescription is an eight-foot conventional rod rated for 30 to 60 pounds, a two-speed Okuma Alihost 12, a 50-foot 60-pound fluorocarbon leader, and very fresh dead bait — half a goggle-eye, speedo, fresh bonita or kingfish steak on an 8/0 circle.
"Sometimes a dead bait will outfish a live bait for a mutton snapper any day of the week," he said. "Especially if you have a lot of current… don't be putting on a frozen, you know, ballyhoo from Publix or whatever. Come on, guys. Step it up. It's a mutton snapper. It's a trophy fish."
His closing summary on the mutton game applies to most of the offshore plan this week. "It's not about X marks the spot," Captain Mike said. "It's about tactics and techniques and putting in the time, patience, and persistence, and paying attention to the details."
