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S11:E8 - “Monster Mangroves in Key West” (2019) - Join Capt Scott Walker and Capt Steve Rodger as they fish the Keys for monster mangroves.
Heading out of Ocean’s Edge again with some fowl weather pressing down on us, but for Yellowtailing we didn’t have to go far. In the Keys there is no way you cannot go Yellowtail Snapper fishing, it is one of the most sought after fish in the area. There is a lot of commercial fishing that goes on for the Yellowtail Snapper and restaurants love them.
Often a lot of people will see all of the fish in the water and want to get a line in the water (like Scott). But you want to wait, you don’t want to jump into fishing for these fish, you want to let them rise up. You show them line too fast and they are going to go down and you will have to work a lot harder all day long. We waited a little longer than 10 minutes so they would come closer and we wouldn’t have to fight with sharks.
While we were looking we saw the Yellowtail were pretty small, but we saw a monster Mangrove Snappers, but the tide was not in our favor and we set out to reel in some Yellowtail. We ended up getting our limit of 10 Yellowtail per person.
We set up with our all-around outfit: Shimano Twin Power 800 with Power Pro 30 Pound Braid, about 10 feet of Fluorocarbon (15 or 20 pound) and a number 1 hook, it’s the size of your fingernail. Some people will say the hook is too small, but it will catch a fish up to 50 pounds, and then we match our bait to the size of chunks that come out of our chum bags. Yellowtails eat small stuff, so we put small meats on our small hooks. Then, when putting your hook in the water, try to match the speed of the current. Throw it in with a big chunk, follow it with your eyes, and keep pulling the line off at the same pace that the current is taking the bait away.
Go Into The Shop with tips on deep sea fishing with the Power Pro | Depth Hunter
As always, we had Jason Stemple with us to document this trip in ultra high quality still photos. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!
See you next time on Into The Blue
Capt. Scott Walker & Capt. Steve Rodger
S12:E10 - “Great Bait! I’m Hooked” (2020)
Capt Scott Walker and Capt Steve Rodger break down the best-kept secret bait spots in the Keys.