About florida keys fishing aboard the Captain Easy

   Sailfishing is one of the most exciting types of Florida keys fishing. We generally catch most of our sailfish on light 20# tackle. Fishing techniques include kite fishing, live bait trolling, and sight casting. Although sailfish are caught in the Florida keys year round, the season is best between November and April with the most consistent fishing in December and January, and a chance for big days in April. On the Capt. Easy we hold the record for the most sailfish ever caught in a single day out of the entire existence of the Holiday Isle Charter boat fleet with 18 sailfish released on April 13th, 2009. 

     Dolphin fishing is one of the most popular types of sport fishing in the Florida keys. They’re great eating, fun to catch and a beautiful trophy fish. Mahi fishing peaks from May through September, but can be a part of the catch any time of year when fishing in Islamorada. Dolphin fishing usually consists of lure and dead bait trolling with conventional stand up tackle coupled with sight casting live baits with light spinning tackle. Wahoo, tuna, tripletail, and billfish are also a common part of the catch when dolphin fishing in the Florida Keys. 

   Blackfin tuna are found mostly on the Islamorada Hump or on some of our other Florida Keys sea mounts offshore of Islamorada. Fishing for Blackfins is one of my favorite types of sport fishing and can be very exciting. The tuna fishing can be good any time of year and changes daily or weekly depending on the sea conditions. The most consistent time of year to charter a fishing boat in the keys and see a hot bite of blackfin tuna is September and October, but any time of year can be good in spurts. Techniques include live bait chumming, live bait trolling, lure trolling, and vertical jigging. The Capt. Easy is one of the few charter boats in Islamorada fully equipped for vertical jigging with the correct tackle including high speed jigging reels, fast action jigging rods, braided line and the correct butterfly style jigs. 

   Wahoo are one of Capt. Bruce's favorite fish to catch on our charter fishing trips in the Florida keys. We catch wahoo year round in Islamorada, but the best wahoo fishing for fish over 30# and sometimes up to 70# takes place from November through march (especially around the full moons). Techniques used to catch wahoo include kite fishing or slow trolling large live baits called "speedoes", as well as high speed trolling and vertical jigging. Wahoo are also caught as a by catch of dolphin fishing in the late spring and summer offshore of Islamorada. 

  Kingfish or king mackerel are part of the catch in Islamorada especially from October through April. The kingfish on our charter fishing trips in the Florida keys can be anywhere from school size fish in th 6-12# range to "smoker kings" up to 70#. On the Capt. Easy we catch most of our king fish with live bait such as cigar minnows or pilchards on light spinning tackle in the 12 to 20 pound test range. We often employ a technique called "live bait chumming" in which the king fish are chummed into a flurry. This can result in a wide open red hot bite with multiple fish hooked up at once and baits lasting only seconds before being eaten. 

   We offer daytime sword fishing charters aboard the Captain Easy and have one of the highest success rates in the Islamorada area on swordfish trips. Islamorada has great fishing for swords year round, but weather conditions must be right for sword fishing with relatively light winds and calm seas in order to fish effectively on these trips.  Daytime fishing consists of dropping baits in deep water (1,200 to 1,800 feet of water) to the bottom. We are fully equipped with both Shimano tiagra hand cranking equipment as well as a brand new Daiwa mp 3000 electric power assist reel for this type of fishing and you have the option of manually cranking, using the electric reel, or both. Swordfish trips must be arranged in advance and weather conditions have to be ideal for sword fishing. If conditions are not right we can reschedule your trip or switch to our normal offshore target species for that time of year. 

 In the Florida keys we fish for yellow tail snapper on the reefs offshore of Islamorada year round. Yellow tail fishing is usually fast paced once we get them chummed up behind the boat and this kind of fishing usually makes for plenty of fun light tackle action. Yellow tailing also produces some excellent eating fish, with a very delicate, white flaky meat that is a favorite in the local restaurants in Islamorada. 

 We catch Mutton snapper in depths anywhere from 12 to 250 feet offshore of the Florida Keys On our fishing charters. Many types of reef or wreck fishing around Islamorada can produce trophy Mutton snapper and we catch them patch reef fishing in the shallow waters, bottom fishing on the reef while yellow tail snapper fishing or dropping on wrecks in deeper water with live or dead baits. Fishing for mutton snapper in the Florida Keys can be great year round. Mutton snapper are an awesome fish to fish for offshore of the Keys. They’re great eating fish, they put up a great fight and are some of the smarter, more challenging snappers to trick into eating a bait. 

 Offshore of Islamorada in the Florida keys we catch grouper such as black grouper, red grouper, and gag grouper reef and wreck fishing. Grouper are closed in the south atlantic waters offshore of Islamorada from January through April, but we have outstanding fishing especially for big black grouper in the months of May and then again from October through December. We catch Most of our grouper dropping live baits on wrecks with medium to heavy stand up tackle. 

African Pompano can be caught while bottomfishig or wreck fishing offshore of Islamorada. They can be a very exciting part of the csatch and can be caught year round with your best chance being winter and spring.

   The amberjack fishing in Islamorada is excellent from mid January through may and peaks in march and April. These fish average between 25 and 80# and we even caught one that tipped the scales at 130# On a recent fishing charter. Amberjack are caught dropping live baits or vertical jigs to the bottom on either deep wrecks or on our local Florida Keys sea mounts. 

   Deep drop fishing In the Florida Keys is a lot of fun and produces some of the best eating fish you'll ever taste. Deep dropping consists of dropping baits to depths of anywhere from 300 to 750 feet deep. We are equipped with either electric reels or high speed hand crank reels depending on our charter customers preference. Besides being some of the best eating fish, The variety of species caught deep dropping makes it very interesting. Species we catch include tile fish (blue line and golden), snowy grouper, warsaw grouper, yellowedge grouper, scamp grouper, yelloweye snapper, queen snapper, vermilion snapper, porgy, rose fish, barrel fish, and many others. Deep drop fishing is excellent year round in the Florida keys. This fishing is great for people on fishing charters who are interested in meat fish and while lots of fun is not for people looking for light tackle sport fishing action. 

In the Florida Keys we catch cobia both on the oceanside and back in the gulf, but much more consistently back in the gulf. they're great eating and a fun, challenging fish to catch!

The Spanish mackerel bite back in the gulf of Mexico can be fast and furious, especially from November through March.

Sea Trout are another common part of the catch when fishing in the gulf in the Florida Keys.

Tasty Mangrove snapper are yet another part of the catch when fishing the gulf wrecks off of Islamorada.

Rounding out the long list of fish we catch back in the Gulf is the Florida pompano. This rare catch can be a great eating addition to the catch.