When is the best time to go?

Your crystal balls as good as ours but...

Everyone who hasn't been fishing a lot down in the Keys always asks, "when's the best time to go"? Well now that's a hard question to answer because everyone has their favorite time to go whether it's January or June.

Bottom fishing for Snappers, such as Mutton, Lane, Mangrove, and Yellowtail can be done year round. People who like to fish nights like to come in the Summer. Daytime bottom fishing is excellent in the Winter. Spring and Fall can produce both kinds of weather. Groupers are caught year round. So are Grunts, Porgies, Kingfish, Mackeral, Amberjack, and Sharks.

Trolling, where we drag baits behind the boat while underway, produces a different variety of fish. These types of fish are known as the migratory pelagics. These include Dolphin, (the fish, not flipper)!, Tuna, Wahoo, Barracuda, White Marlin, Sailfish, Cobia, and King Mackeral.

Winter time trolling produces Sailfish, Tuna, King Mackeral, Barracuda, Marlin, Bonito and Cobia.

Summer time trolling produces Dolphin, Wahoo, Barracuda, Sailfish and Bonito.

Spring and Fall can produce either or both Winter and Summer conditions. Usually the Winters are only six weeks or less, (January 7, 1998 was 85 degrees)! January & February temperatures range from 65 - 85. July, August and September usually see temperatures in the 90's. October through December sees temperatures between 75 - 85. The same is true for March through May with June being between 80 and 90 degrees.

In the Winter we get cold fronts that may bring strong winds for a day or two, followed by three to five days of average winds until the next front comes through. In the Spring, we get afternoon showers, and warm southeast breezes. In the Summer we get occasional tropical depressions that may affect our weather, otherwise it's very calm and winds are very light for weeks on end. In the Fall, we still may have tropical depressions come by, but otherwise, its like everywhere else in the Fall, nice.

So you see, the best time to go is whenever you can escape and get away! Something is always biting. We fish over 1500 square miles of ocean in many different conditions. No spot is over-fished. We may not come back to the same spot for a couple of years!

Trolling is usually done on the way out to the bottom fishing grounds. Upon arrival at the fishing grounds the boat is anchored and chum is put out to attract the bottom fish. Often times while bottom fishing, many migratory fish will school behind the boat. This can make for a huge variety of fish caught on a single spot.