Recent Trips Aboard the 36′ Yellowfin “Pole Stripper”
The Florida Keys just like anywhere you fish has it’s good days and it’s slow days. This summer of 2022 fortunately has seen some of the best wreck fishing for Amberjacks and Mutton Snapper fishing we can remember in years. Starting in about March and is still going strong as I write this in July the bite has been very consistent for Amberjacks ranging from 30 lbs up to a whopping 70 lbs. They’ve been eating large live baits pretty much within 5-10 seconds of getting it near them. These fish are hard fighting and really put a whooping on the angler. If you’ve never experienced the fight of an Amberjack we invite you to come on down and take a beating.
This is the Sapp family posing with a nice Amberjack they released off of Marathon, FL. They come down every year all the way from Wyoming. This year we decided to start off with a little fishing and then ended up doing some snorkeling and chilling at the sandbar with the kiddos. We like to be flexible with all of our charters that way everyone onboard can get a true Florida Keys experience.
This happy couple got a little taste of everything on the reef and wrecks off of Marathon, Florida. We started out like usual on the reef to catch Ballyhoo’s for bait. While waiting for the Ballyhoo to show up we decided to drop down a large bait for Grouper. In just a few minutes our first Black Grouper was in the boat. They don’t always bite this quick but when you happen to be in the right place at the right time they just can’t turn down a nice live bait on the bottom rig. From there we headed to some wrecks in 150+ feet of water and dropped for some large Mutton Snapper. The wrecks didn’t disappoint. We landed 3 large Mutton Snapper up to 15 lbs, a few Amberjack up to 50 lbs, and a really nice Yellowjack!
Here’s the Gaston family from Pensacola, Florida. This family comes down to fish with us a few times every year. We always have a blast fishing together. That’s what makes our job so special is the relationships we build with our customers and helping make the family memories that none of us will forget. This picture is of one of the two days of fishing where we went offshore and found some really nice Mahi Mahi’s. These fish were very aggressive tearing into the baits and once we had one hooked up it didn’t take long for the whole school to show up and let us pick them off.
Here’s day two with the Gaston family. On this day we spent some time on the reef and wrecks. We were successful at catching some nice “Flag” sized Yellowtails Snapper, Bonitas, Yellowjacks, Amberjacks, and Mutton Snapper. Summertime fishing in the Florida Keys you really never know what’s going to happen. The great part about this area is the many different species options we have here so if one doesn’t work out you bet there’s something else to target.
Here’s our long time best customer Brian with his trophy sized Amberjack. The fish was so big we decided to have Grey’s Taxidermy mount it. Luckily with today’s awesome fiberglass replicas we didn’t have to kill the fish. We simply take the measurements and take a picture and send it to them and they do the rest. If you would like to have your trophy fish mounted just let us know and we can get you all setup.
On the reef off of Marathon, Florida some of the biggest Yellowtail Snapper in the keys can be found here. This July we’ve been fortunate enough to have good current on the reef. A strong current is essential to get these large fish to bite. Here you can see Travis, Wyatt, 1st mate Chris, and Captain Rich lined up with a great catch on the reef and offshore wrecks in the Florida Keys. This was a full day trip that started at our slips located in Marathon, Florida at the Island Fish Company Restaurant. After our trip we had a delicious meal of what we caught prepared by the restaurant. A perfect ending to a great trip.