Yes, it’s winter and we all know what fish are caught this time of year, namely all types in South Florida. We are so lucky to have such a wide variety of fish being caught along our coast. For the past 50+ years we called it sailfish alley. So, from about 90 feet of water on out to 150 feet at the edge of the Gulfstream, which travels north at 2-3 knots, the sailfish tend to school up and head south. This happens every year for the next few months. You can see the private boats as well as the charter boats strung out along our coast all trolling or live baiting for these migrating sailfish.
Yes, we have a lot of small boat and larger boat tournaments, all trying to catch these sailfish and release them so as not to hurt them. It is amazing to think that one of these tournaments can pay the winner $10,000 – $25,000, and some of the bigger ones might pay into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Okay, you can fish mostly the same way you have in the past for dolphin or kingfish, a nice fat wahoo, or a big fat kingfish. They all bite the same baits. This is just a great time of the year for fishing in South Florida. One of my friends caught a 247 lb. swordfish recently and, over the past twenty years, people from all over the world travel to our backyards 10-15 miles offshore in search of that one fish. We have the greatest billfish in the world, and we have thousands of them every year caught right here in our backyards. So, welcome your friends on a fantastic fishing vacation to sunny South Florida, enjoy the weather, and catch a few fish.
Great eating fish are avail-able 365 days a year and, again, catch and release the extra fish.
Tight lines and good catching.