As summer winds down and the kids head back to school, the Florida Keys have seen the usual late-season dip in visitors. There is a bit less traffic on the roads, and the marina has quieted down a bit. We are still fishing, but we don’t have three or four boats going out every morning as we do in the summer. The good news is our crews have still been putting together solid trips for our clients. That kind of consistency doesn’t just happen. It’s exactly what we covered a couple of weeks ago in our Secrets to Success entry on staying versatile no matter what the season throws at you.
That being said, the late-season mahi bite has turned on recently, which is great news in September. After a summer of stop-and-go mahi fishing, it’s always great to be out there putting great numbers in the box. Here’s a late-season summer report on what we’ve been catching recently.
On August 20th, our crew had the pleasure of fishing with Matthew Malpass and his son aboard the Reel One. They got into some gaffer-sized mahi early in the trip and had a blast.
They also dropped chicken rigs (multi-hook rigs) near some wrecks for delicious vermilion snapper. They had a fun time, along with some great eats to bring to a local restaurant and a good care package to send back home.
We also fished with a gentleman named Jeff. Jeff rented a house in the Keys for August and September and wanted to try all types of fishing. Jeff’s bucket list fish was a swordfish, and boy did he get lucky. On one of his offshore trips with Captain Marty on the Main One, they decided to drop for swordfish. They started their drift, and sure enough, they had a fish on. They fought the fish for a while, and it breached at the surface and jumped into the air. When it got close enough, they were able to harpoon it and get a gaff in.
Jeff not only had his meat preserved with vacuum sealing, but he’s also getting a replica mount with Gray Taxidermy. We still have many trips to come with Jeff, but so far he has almost filled an entire freezer with reef and offshore species. Jeff has a bunch more trips planned this month, and we plan to help him scratch a few more species off his bucket list. We’ll update you on how they go!
We also had the pleasure of meeting and fishing with the Beam brothers. They had a great day on the water with Captain Alex and first mate Alex, and while here in the Keys, they again preserved their catch and cooked some as well.
The group caught blackfin tuna offshore and some delicious yellowtail snapper on the reef. These guys visited us from Kentucky and could not have been nicer. We absolutely love relationship building and hope to see them again next time they are in the Keys.
Speaking of relationships, The Main Attraction crew have been fishing with the Ferguson Waterworks family for over twenty years. Six guys all came down to Marathon to team build and fish with us. They went offshore with the Main One and absolutely crushed it! Mahi and blackfin tuna were plentiful in September 1st, and kept all the guys very busy.
On Saturday, September 5, Captain Alex was headed offshore when he saw a frigate bird working the surface like crazy. As he got closer, he saw something floating, and it was big: an entire tree, floating and covered in mahi! He radioed Dad (Captain Marty) and told him to get to his position. Captain Marty was eight miles away and asked Alex if it was worth the run. Alex assured him it would be.
As we’ve mentioned in previous articles, with multiple boats on the water, we all look after one another and want each charter to have a great catch. Captain Marty pointed his vessel toward Captain Alex, and the rest was history. Both boats caught plenty of fish that day, and the charters were thrilled. The Storey family, who were celebrating their son’s 16th birthday, and the Vazquez group both went home with plenty of fish and delicious meat.
We’re still fishing through these “slower months,” and have no intention of stopping! The weather should start to cool off soon as we transition into the fall pattern with lots of other exciting opportunities on the water.
If you’d like to get in on the action, whether it’s offshore, reef fishing, or a bullynetting trip for lobster, give us a call at (305) 289-0071 or visit our contact page. We’d love to fish with you and your family!
