The weather has been very consistent over the past week and it looks good for the next week. By good I mean a little more wind than we have had, bringing down the temperature a little. It sure is hot out there on the water when the wind is not blowing. We finally are seeing that 10-15 from the south that will help the reef fishing quite a bit and hopefully bring Dolphin in closer. Water temps are running 87-88.

 Offshore is still mostly small Dolphin. There was a spectacular color change in 220 feet running from the Sambos all the way out to the end of the bar.  It produced tons of small Dolphin and I found a pair of 25 pound + fish in the late afternoon. Sailfish were also cruising the change as it was trapping weed and holding more flying fish than I have ever seen.

Most of the flyers were small. I watched a big sail ball up a school up for a little while before I had my charter throw a dead Ballyhoo in front of him. He ate it, and we were on for 4 or 5 jumps. 

Wahoo have been increasing in numbers and if you are one of the lucky boats to find debris forget trolling by….just reel up your spread and work dead Ballyhoo on a spinning rod and butterfly jigs down deep. I have only found debris a couple of times this season and I have been out there a lot.

 The reef fishing has been improving with the wind. Grouper, Yellowtail, Mutton Snapper and some decent Mangroves were biting along a drop outside Western Dry Rocks. 95 feet was working but the current was moving pretty good and plenty of weight and chum were both necessary.  Chum does not last long in a swift current so plan accordingly.  I was finding almost 2 mph of current to the east. Live Pinfish and strips of Bonito were hit the best along with strips of Blue Runner and Ballyhoo plugs.

 I fished the Gulf a few days and found Kingfish, Cobia and Goliath Grouper on 3 different rock piles. The bait is thick to the east of Smith Shoal and Mackerel and Sharks were feeding on the surface. A dead drifted Ballyhoo lasted maybe 3 minutes before the Kingfish hit it.

 Not much going on with Tarpon as the heat has slowed things down a little. Windy conditions may turn that around a little but I am not planning on doing any Tarpon fishing for a while. If the wind does blow a day out I would try Shark fishing in one of the channels that drain into the Gulf.

Tight Lines,