We were just looking for bites today.
Not targeting any specific fish. So we stayed inshore fishing for Barracuda, Mackerel, Bonito and whatever else wanted to bite on or near the reef.
The Bonitos had been biting very well
the last few days, but they were a little slower today. We got a few, but not the action I was hoping.
In the end,
we ended up releasing a couple of Barracudas. We also brought in a few small Bonitos, (for bait) and 3 nice sized Cero Mackerel. Cero is one of our favorite Mackerel. Most people, even in Florida, are not familiar with them. They are a close cousin to both the Spanish Mackerel and the King Mackerel, (also called a Kingfish). Cero Mackerel are the “Tropical” member of the Mackerel family. They are rarely found north of the Florida Keys. They are also, in my opinion, the best eating of the mackerel family. Kingfish are the largest mackerel and most fun to catch. Spanish tend to school and can be easy pickings when they do. But both King mackerel and Spanish Mackerel are a little stronger tasting fish when compared to the Cero Mackerel. Cero Mackerel meat is white, firm and delicious.
That’s one of the great advantages Key West
has over many other areas. We have so many different fisheries here. There is almost always some place or some fish to catch. Somedays Charter boats such as the Southbound fish offshore looking for Dolphin, Wahoo, Tuna, and Billfish. And other days, depending on what the customer wants, we are fishing inshore, looking for Barracuda, mackerel, Kingfish, Jacks, and Snapper. We can fish the patch reefs inside the reef or even fish the Gulf of Mexico if we need to.
There is also Flats fishing, but that doesn’t work well in a 40ft charter boat so I leave that to the guys with the skiffs