May 30, 2008

Well, it has been a full month since I've updated and that's because we've been fishing, fishing, fishing. The bite has been great. The tarpon bite has been red hot and the dolphin are now in full force. We have also been doing very well catching mutton snapper on the deep wrecks.

On a bleaker note, diesel has hit five dollars a gallon in the keys forcing everyone to up their prices a bit. However, the good thing is that we can still fish for the inshore species such as snapper and tarpon for the same prices as before.

If you have any interest in fishing in the keys feel free to call Howard or Pete, even if you want an updated fishing report. Our phones are always open and we're always willing to give information and advice about anything.

April 30, 2008

We have tarpon fished six out the last ten days and have done very well in the morning. There have been plenty of fish up to 200 pounds landing sixteen fish in six trips. Call us now if you are interested in booking a trip. Tarpon trips are filling quick.

April 20, 2008

We have absolutely destroyed the dolphin here lately. There have been many nice fish out there and a few big fish. Also the tarpon are now showing up quite thick around the bridges so needless to say, the tarpon season is here. Even though fuel has increased in price so much we still have not raised our tarpon fishing prices so call now if you want to catch the silver king.

April 6, 2008

The dolphin have finally started to show up the past couple days. We have had a couple nice catches offshore and the trips we have ran in the bay have still produced some nice snapper and cobias. Hopefully these fuel prices will not have to much of a negative impact on our dolphin trips this year. We are still geared up and ready and now glad to see the fish are here.

March 23, 2008

The past couple weeks the wind has really blown hard out of the east giving perfect tailing conditions for sailfish and cobias. We have caught cobias up to fifty pounds still many nice snapper. There have been plenty of sails caught which should be the case for this time of the year.

March 5, 2008

We fished the last couple days for sharks and other nasty critters on the deep wrecks. We landed bull sharks up to 200 pounds, amberjacks up to 80 pounds and many yellowtails and blue runners. We also caught a nice 30 pound african pompano which is a good surprise to see.

March 2, 2008

The snapper bite has continued to be red hot. We have caught many nice mutton snapper and vermilion snapper on the deep wrecks. The bay wrecks are still loaded with nice mangrove snapper and now some cobias.

Feb. 24, 2008

We have done a lot of snapper fishing over the last couple weeks in water between 10 and 230 feet. The bite has been very good to say the least. We have caught our limit pretty much every day whether it is mangrove, mutton or yellowtail snapper. The bay wrecks have had many very nice sized mangroves with plenty of spanish and king mackerel too.

Feb. 9, 2008

Over the past week or so we caught many nice mutton snappers at the deep wrecks. The kingfish bite has been ferocious. In the bay we have found many nice mangrove snapper and a few cobia. There have been a few dolphin and sailfish caught just off the reef but the best fishing has definitely been bottom fishing.

Jan. 30, 2008

We fished today at wrecks between 110 and 400 feet. The weather was perfect with very little wind and current. The amberjacks and muttons were eating at the deeper wrecks and the yellowtails, barracudas, jacks, and sharks were hungry at the shallower wrecks. The conditions were perfect and the fish were hungry.

Jan. 23, 2008

We fished the bay and the ocean side this week with success on both sides. The snapper and mackerel bite on the bay side is still red hot. We're catching many nice mangroves at the 7 - 10 mile wrecks. The spanish and king mackerel are at most wrecks beyond 5 miles. There are some cobia around but not yet like years past.

As far as the ocean side goes, if the weather allows us, we are catching many snapper, kingfish, and amberjacks with some dolphin and sailfish. As long as the current is decent, we have been doing very well catching yellowtails on the reef and muttons and amberjacks on the wrecks. Yesterday was a full moon so the current should ease more every day. We look forward to taking you on a fishing adventure of a lifetime.

Jan. 14, 2008

We fished this weekend on the reef with the beautiful weather and the snapper bite was on fire. There have also been some nice sailfish caught by some of the other boats though we have been targeting eating fish. Today for example, we kept 24 large yellowtail snapper and had our shot at a couple grouper. The bite is very good now so come experience some great fishing.

Jan. 8, 2008

After one of the nastiest cold fronts we have had in a long time we were able to sneak out a couple times and fish in hawks channel which is about three miles offshore. The bite was pretty darn good though producing many nice mutton and lane snappers. We also caught a few nice groupers and a couple mackerel. Now the the wind is calming we should be back out to the reef this week.

Jan. 1, 2008

We have had a pretty busy Christmas week fishing six trips in as many days. The reef fishing has been great with many large yellowtails brought back to the dock. The There have been quite a few dolphin right off the reef in about 130 ft. of water with some sailfish around. The bay bite has been pretty hot as far as the mangrove snapper, grouper, and mackerel are concerned. The cobia haven't quite moved in yet but we have forecasted record lows coming with a cold front that should change that. If we get such low as temperatures as predicted, the sailfish should be thick just off the reef and the cobia should be moving closer in the bay. I'll let you know if the weather lets us get out the rest of this week and weekend.

Nov. 24, 2007

Native Sun fished six trips in the last five days of this Thanksgiving week of 2007. The weather was windy but the fishing was very good. We fished the reef on monday and the bay the rest of the week. On the reef we caught a lot of keeper yellowtails and smaller muttons, two being keepers.

The bay bite was very hot all week though. A sure sign of winter's arrival is lots of spanish mackerel in the bay, and they were there. I know most of you cringe when you here the word mackerel, but this fishery is probably the most exciting of any we have here in the keys. If you haven't experienced the thrill of this you do not know what you are missing. On 15 pound or less outfits these fish will give you all you can bargain with and not only that, you can catch one on almost every cast most days for the next couple months.

On top of that, a lot of those undersized groupers we were catching last year have grown into nice keepers. We caught legal gag groupers every trip. The big mangrove and lane snappers have moved to the wrecks and we also caught two cobias this week.

On the kite we had a lot of shark action throughout the week. The lemons and black tips showed up at most wrecks within an hour or so. If you haven't experienced kite fishing come by the marina, call or email me and find out about this exciting method of enticing the big predators.

Nov. 5, 2007

We fished this weekend with Brian and Ashley from Minnesota, one day in the bay and one day on the ocean side.

Our bay trip was very productive landing us many undersized groupers and and 5 jewfish in the 15-30 lb. range. We also caught some nice mangrove snapper, sharks, jacks, and mackerel giving proof that the winter season is upon us.

The next day we fished the ocean side. We caught one nice dolphin and missed a couple big fish and a Wahoo. Next we went to the reef and caught some yellowtail snapper up to 22 inches. The fishing is great, we are just waiting for the anglers to arrive for the season.

OCTOBER 24, 2007

HELLO AGAIN! This is Captain Pete. After eight months and eight days I have finally found the time and the computer program to allow me to update our fishing report. We have had an eventful year for sure. My wife gave birth to a beautiful girl named Maya on March 30th. She is absolutely the prize catch of the year.

As far as the fishing goes, we have fished 127 of the 250 days since I have last updated our site. We have had many nice catches of dolphin, wahoo, snapper, grouper, cobia, sailfish, and marlin. Our largest fish per species this year are:

Dolphin - 46 lbs

Wahoo - 52 lbs

Mutton Snapper - 22 lbs

Yellowtail Snapper- 24.5 inches

Jewfish - 50ish lbs

Black Grouper - 32 lbs

Red Grouper - 17 lbs

Cobia - 43 lbs

Sailfish - 65ish lbs

Blue Marlin - 100ish lbs

I will make sure our report is updated more often throughout the upcoming season.

Feb. 16, 2007

Today I fished with Ron, Nicol, Nick, Ginger, and Ron in the bay on a four hour trip. The weather was a little rough with winds around twenty knots. The fishing however was just fine. We caught many mangrove snapper up to five pounds giving more than enough for dinner for all of us. We also caught some nice mackerel and some jacks. I took a photo of the catch but for some reason my camera was messing up badly. You can still see what we caught here.

Feb. 15, 2007

Joe, Vern, and Ron joined us this morning for a half day trip in the bay. We absolutely hammered the mangrove snapper getting our limit of fifteen in just over an hour. These were really nice fish too because we were throwing back anything under fifteen inches. Then of course we caught all the other usual wintertime suspects: mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish, blue runners, and groupers. Definitely a nice catch and both Howard and I forgot to take a picture. I will start trying to take more pictures for the reports.

Feb. 14, 2007

Today we fished again with Lee and Bob from Maryland. We caught some nice mackerel again and some snapper. The bite was a little slow but we managed to keep the lines tight for most of the time. We are still waiting for the snapper bite to pick up a bit on the reef but when it does it should be on fire. Have a look at the results.

Feb. 13, 2007

Don and Chris joined us today for a day in the bay. We had a great bite of king mackerel, spanish mackerel, snapper, shark, and jacks. Don landed one really nice king of about 25 pounds. The weather really turned out beautiful making this another fun day on the Native Sun with our new friends.

Feb. 10, 2007

We fished today with Jack and Joyce from West Virginia. It was a beautiful day so we decided to go the the reef and see what we could get. Unfortunately the bite was slow we went hawks channel and there we found a lot of action. There were plenty of mackerel to keep our lines tight and some snapper and porgies on the bottom. Jack landed a 20 pound king mackerel on ten pound test. We had a wonderful day on the water and caught some nice fish.

Feb. 8, 2007

Today we fished with Chad and Linda from North Carolina. We fished the bay and had a nice catch of mangrove snapper up to seven pounds. The other typical critters were biting also such as mackerel and jacks. There were a few cobias in our chum slick but we didn't get any to eat. It was definitely a fun day on the water.

Feb. 4, 2007

We fished a half day charter this morning. The weather was pretty bad, rain and wind all day, so we decided to go to the gulf side. The bite was really good in the rough conditions. We ended up with eighteen really nice mangrove snapper up to five pounds. Also we caught mackerel, yellowtails, grouper, and a shark. The biggest fish of the day was about a fifty pound cobia we lost after a few minutes. It was disappointing to lose but it was nice to see. We didn't get any pictures because the rain would just not let up.

Jan. 21, 2007

Today we fished again with Rick, Nick, and Scott from Texas. We went snapper and grouper fishing in depths between 30 and 200 feet of water. The current was absolutely ripping so it made it very difficult to effectively hit our deeper spots so we came in shallow to the reef. It paid off for us because we ended up catching some very nice mangrove snappers and a red grouper in a short time. Have a look at the catch.

Jan. 18, 2007

Today we fished again with Rick, Nick, and Scott from Texas. We went snapper and grouper fishing in depths between 30 and 200 feet of water. The current was absolutely ripping so it made it very difficult to effectively hit our deeper spots so we came in shallow to the reef. It paid off for us because we ended up catching some very nice mangrove snappers and a red grouper in a short time. Have a look at the catch.

Jan. 17, 2007

Today we fished with Rick, Nick, and Scott from Texas. We went offshore and had a great day catching dolphin and wahoo. The weather was beautiful with winds out of the east at about 10 knots and sunshine all day. We brought back 21 dolphin and two wahoo. None of the fish were monsters but all reasonable fish. Have a look at the picture.

Jan. 7, 2007

We fished today with George, Dave, and Phil again but this time we went back in the bay. The conditions were really tough because the wind was blowing 15-20 knot directly against the current. This makes it extremely difficult when the chum is going up the anchor line. We did manage to catch quite a few fish such as a 15 lb. cobia, many jacks, many undersized grouper, and a few mackerel. Other than the tough conditions it was definitely a fun weekend on the water with our new friends.

Jan. 6, 2007

Today we fished with George, Dave, and Phil from Connecticut. We started the day sailfishing with little luck. The water temperature is just a bit too warm for sails right now but should cool down by the middle of next week. Then we went out and trolled offshore and caught some dolphin one being a real nice fish at 34 pounds. Have a look at the picture of this great day on the water.

Jan. 4, 2007

Today we fished with Jack from New Jersey. The wind was howling out of the Southeast 15-20 knots but we still decided to try a bit of offshore fishing. The seas were pushing 8-10 feet so we basically trolled down sea all morning. We found some nice fish ending up with six dolphin in the 10-15 pound range and a couple other bonitos. After a couple hours of getting pounded we decided to take it back to the dock. It would be nice to control the weather because there were some nice fish out there but it was still a fun day on the water.

Dec. 31, 2006

We fished today with Bill and Tony from Florida. We went back in the bay about ten miles for a half day trip that ended up being a 3/4 day because the bite was so hot. We did really well catching our limit of mangrove snapper in the 3-6 lb. range. We also caught a 50 lb. jewfish, many jacks, mackerel, bluefish, juvenile groupers, yellowtails, and ladyfish. It was definitely non-stop action from start to finish and I think we all had a great time. Have a look.