Hello everyone from the Florida Keys. It is November and in Key West that means the start of our winter time fishery. Our full day trips are action packed for the next several months doing one of my favorite types of fishing live chumming with pilchards!!! For those of you that have not had the chance to experience this first hand I will give you a short breakdown of our typical day. First thing in the morning we will start our day by cast netting 1000s of 3-6 inch baitfish called pilchards. This can take a few hours some days but is key to our success for the rest of the day. Once are livewell are packed full we will head south either to the edge of the reef or one of hundreds of shipwrecks that surround the Florida Keys. Once there we will usually anchor up and start chumming with net fulls of live pilchards. This is irresistible to almost every gamefish in the area and will create a feeding frenzy that can last for hours. Species we typically encounter on the deeper wrecks and reefs are Blackfin Tuna, Sailfish, Kingfish, Wahoo. If we fish a little shallower on the “main Reef” Yellowtail Snappers, Cero Mackerels, and Bonitos are the target species but every now and then a Sailfish or Tuna will find its way on top of the reef. Whether we are on the reef or wrecks we will usually fish the bottom as well for Mutton Snapper and Grouper to mix things up a bit.
A trip to fish near the Dry Tortugas this time of year is a great way to fill some coolers with fillets. Grouper season is open till January first so I would recommend getting down there before the season ends.
If you have any questions regarding trips please reach out with any questions.