Over Under Weekly Fishing Update

ISLAMORADA FISHING REPORT

All's well down here in sunny Florida. The weather is starting to get back to some kind of normal pattern for us as the winds have been up and down all week. One day its blow’n 20 to 25, then drops right out in the evening time. The first of the week I was unable to go swordfishing day or night, however the rest of the week was pretty good.

The snapper fishing has been outstanding with our limits just about every day this week. As a matter of fact today was the hardest as it was quite the struggle for both side’s...ocean and gulf. The fish just didn’t want to eat had green water with lots of bait in it and the sailfish were free jumping most of the day but no takers. There were just a few of us out and we all encountered the same thing, really nothing was biting very well.

Anyhow the rest of the week was great. We also had some real nice Black groupers up to 18lbs. We caught them by means of live bait. Andrew was drifting back small yellowtails with about 4oz of lead, deadly! And the way grouper fishing has been of late we were very happy catching several keepers this week.

The yellowtail are getting ready to spawn so they are eating very well, been only having to use chum and dead shrimp on small jig head have been the ticket.

The kids have been having a blast, as well as the adults as it’s hard not to enjoy this kind of catching because we all know these types of days are what keep the little ones wanting more!! We have also started seeing the Permit’s on the larger wrecks. Ranging from 15 to 40lbs, these fish are amazing. We like to use live crabs about the size of a silver dollar, with straight 20lb line. Just to give you an idea of the power behind these fish a 30lb can sometimes take over an hour!

We were able to get in a few more night sword trips but unfortunately we were unable to put some more in the boat. The 411 on the swords this month have been the same from Key West to Miami...sorta slow on this moon. The current was very strong as we drifted at about 3 knots every night...this doesn’t help. However we did have at least one quality bite every night we went so I can’t complain...everybody was happy. Well Happy Easter and be safe.

Capt.John Oughton

- THAT'S RIGHT
cell 305-481-6527

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Bahamas Fishing - Abacos Fishing Report

The Changeover has Occurred...or has it?

Saturday's Report...

Well we have officially put the wire and cable away and are now strictly trolling mono. We thought were going to have one last good haul of wahoo this week, but the strong front that ripped through the states packed little punch once it got here. We fished right after the front and only found a water temp drop from 77 to 76.5 , barely what we needed . We did manage a couple of hoos this week but working the edge produced few bites.

It seems signs of the spring summer fishery is now here as there are blackfin tuna littered all over the edge . If you put out a cedar plug they can get annoying as 30 or 40 bites can be expected. However we are seeing some yellowfin start to mix in as we had a couple this week near 30 lbs. Although not a lot of yellowfins it seems they are starting to show. All this adds up to the start of dolphin, tuna and billfish season. We did manage some of our nicer dolphin this season closing in on the 40 lb range. Finding the frigates has been key for finding these fish.

Inshore fishing remains very constant as we are easily catching the yellowtails to 4 lbs. On some days we nearly limit out in 10 to 15 minutes. It has been great but the feisty yellowtails are not allowing us to catch anything else as they are eating live ballyhoo, speedos and everything else we put down there. . I am not complaining though!

We have gotten some reports from around the Bahamas this week . First off in Chub it seems the billfish bite has been pretty good for over a month now with blues, sails and whites. It seems putting your time in on a daily basis will get you at least one shot a day if not many more. The dolphin bite also remains very good in Chub. Congrats to Out of Bounds, a friend of ours in Chub this week getting a double header blue just a few days ago. Nice job guys!!!

We also got word in Cat that the dolphin are also there . They are seeing some nice fish over the 50 lb mark hit the scales. They are expecting the dolphin bite to continue and billfish are just right around the corner.

This week I am expecting fishing to drastically improve as we are finally on the backside of the moon…..Thank God!!!! We have had some slow fishing as usual around the full. I expect the dolphin bite to start getting pretty good as well as starting to get some billfish shots. We are done pounding the edge for the year as the water is now over 77 degrees and the wahoo bite is finally tapering off. Overall , we were very happy with the wahoo fishing in the Abacos this year , although no monster fish there was plenty of 20 to 50’s around. Tight lines and should be a great week here in the Bahamas!!!

Captain Joe Trainor
LOW PROFILE
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Sunday's Report...

Man fishing has been tough over here lately as it usually is around the full moon. We have managed a couple fish every day but it has been a struggle for the past week or so. There has been a nice mix of yellowfin , wahoo, and dolphin. It is around this time that we begin our annual transition from cable and wire to mono. . Well , with the last cold front we decided it was about that time to make the change.

We started this morning fishing off the edge looking for dolphin, tuna and a early season bill. After pounded it out offshore , I decided to head back in to the edge . Shortly after getting back inside we had a nice bite on our long rigger. We have been working with Joe Schute and he sent us a care package of lures to try out here in the Bahamas. Well that’s what he ate 3 oz. red head with silver . Joes lures have been working great for us over here and this monster late season hoo fell for it. We have been using Joes lures with a ballyhoo which can be fished from either your riggers or on the deep rod . I love the lures because they are heavy enough to use on rough days such as today. We had a great junior angler fighting the monster hoo today as he was only 10 years old. The hoo weighed in at 91 lbs. We were hoping for 100 but still a lunker . Our biggest of the season!!!!