The first cold fronts of the season have brought the Sailfish and Dolphin down to Key Largo the last couple of weeks. Gaffer sized Dolphin up to 20 lbs. have been very consistent this week in depths from 50 ft out to 200 ft. We have been drifting with two kites out with three baits from each kite and averaging 10 dolphin each day. The Sailfish action has been good also with an average of five bites each day catching 2 to four. We ran out on Saturday towards conch reef off Key Largo to do some Sailfishing. As soon as we put the kite out and set our baits we instantly hooked a Sailfish. While we were doing battle 2 big dolphin ate our live google-eyes and then things got really exciting. 1 sailfish and 2 dolphin at the same time kept us scrambling around the boat trying not to get our lines tangled. We managed to release the sailfish unharmed and then put both dolphin in the fish box for dinner. The day was pretty active with us catching more dolphin till 11:00 a.m. We then decided to do some wreck fishing in 300 ft. The first spot we ended up catching 4 mutton snapper up to 12 lbs. We then stopped at another wreck and got into some heavy amberjack action. My anglers caught three of them to 40lbs. They were a little worn out after that so we decided to run back inshore and put the kites back out. After a 20 minute drift we spotted a sailfish swimming around our bait on the right kite. After a few seconds The sailfish finally took the bait. This fish was big( I estimated its weight at 65lbs.) and it looked like we were in for a long fight. After an hour long battle we finally managed to bring the fish alongside the boat to measure and release it. From tip to tip the fish measured 92 inches about 65 to 70 lbs. Fishing off of Key Largo in November can be very productive for Sailfish and Dolphin. The cooler weather starts the migration of bait from north Florida all the way down to the Florida keys where the water stays warmer than to the North. You can sometimes see the Sailfish chasing ballyhoo (a common baitfish) around the reef. If you time it right and get to the feeding Sailfish you have a good chance of hooking one of these beautiful fish.
The wreck fishing has also been very good with good catches of mutton snapper, amberjack, and african pompano. Most of the spots we fish are in 250 ft to 300 ft and the action is usually consistent. If one wreck is not producing we just go to the next one until we find the right one that holds the fish. It is quite common to fish 6 or more wrecks in a day. Our winter time fishing is here and it should just keep getting better as the months go by.