It’s ‘Prime Time’ here in the Keys. All of our summer species are in place and hungry. From the flats with tons of bonefish, permit and big tarpon, to fishing around the bridges for tarpon & grouper to reef fishing for yellowtail, especially night reef fishing and the most popular of it all right now, dolphin! Everything is in now and if you haven’t been able to take advantage of it, I feel for you. (Really!)

This is the time of year when it is flat calm like it has been and your boat is broken down, you tend to stand right next to your mechanic and constantly ask him if there is anything that you can hand him to help speed him up. (As most of us have learned, this just tends to slow them down.) If the boat is in good working order and your fuel funds are not what you would like, you tend to take out a loan just to go. Let me tell you, if that is your case, do it! The fishing right now is worth it!

Let’s start in the shallows and work out deeper. The flats fishing is just about as good as it gets with cool enough water temperatures to hold fish up on the flats all day long and calm enough to spot them like the pros. (Far enough away to actually plan your cast to them.) The trick is to have the right gear in your hand for what is coming next. The permit, tarpon and bonefish have been so well mixed that it has been tough to have three different rigs ready. Problems like these are things that are fun to complain about. I talked with one wading fly-fisherman on Ohio Key that saw so many tarpon coming at him at one time, he ran from them! He thought that they were going to run right over him.

The bridge tarpon fishing has picked up dramatically in the past week. The late bite has been the best with more fish seeming to be feeding after dark. This is not a good time for getting pictures but a great time for action. Earlier in the day, try putting your bait near the bottom for the finicky ones. If nothing else, at least they will have to swim around the bait to get by. Live shrimp has been getting quite a bit of action near the slacking tide as well.

The reef has been alive with yellowtail action, especially at night. The daytime fishing on the reef has been fair with some good grouper action and scattered ‘tails but the heat with the light winds has been tough on anglers. The evenings with the dark of the moon have been best in a wide variety of water depths. From 45 to 110 feet, reports have been very good with some real nice sized flags being brought in. I’m not saying that just anywhere is going to be good; you still have to look for the schools on your fish finder. When you find them, they have been aggressive. Cut fresh mullet has been a very good bait tipped on a yellow ‘Cy Fly’ flat-lined back in the chum. If the current is strong, add a split shot.

Now to talk about the big one, the one arena that over 80% of the anglers that are going out are going for; Dolphin. For those of you that have been here for most of the month, you remember that the first couple of weeks, we could not even get to 300 feet without having several internal organs switching places. Since it has calmed down, so many people have been fishing offshore that the oil companies have had a several office parties. Yes, the fuel docks tell the story. The fish have been very accommodating as well. Some of the largest fish that I have heard of in years are coming through.

Now I do understand fishermen. I know that what a fish is estimated at when it is brought aboard and what it actually weighs when put on a scale are two very different figures. These fish are out there right now and the only thing keeping you from having a shot at them is the fact that you are sitting reading this instead of being out there. (The publisher is going to hate that line.) It is so hot now that it doesn’t seem to matter what you drag. I still prefer the artificial baits because I seem to pull the larger fish out of the school and I can cover so much more ground. What I can tell you is to go and you will be rewarded with fresh fish for dinner as well as a great time on the water.

Courtesy of Captain Dave Navarro from Florida Sport Fishing