The mahi-mahi bite is hot just outside the reef of Fort Lauderdale. For a few weeks in March, the mahi-mahi come in closer to shore than normal to do their annual spawn. It usually happens the last couple weeks of March. This week, we’re getting into some very nice mahi-mahi in 100-300ft of water, just a mile off our coast. Trolling and kite fishing work best for catching these dolphin fish, trolling for action and kite fishing for the biggest ones. Throughout the year, most of our dolphin are schoolie sized, 3-5 pounders. This time of year is when the big ones hit, 10-20 pounders are much more common and a few monster bulls will be caught also.
Tunas, wahoo and sailfish are also biting good and in the same area where we’re catching the dolphin. 100-300ft of water is the magic zone to catch just about anything this month. Blackfin tunas are schooling up and being caught on bug jigs and spoons. Bonitos are mixed in with the schools of blackfins. Wahoo usually stay deep, sometimes underneath schools of blackfins that are busting on the surface and sometimes just randomly on their own. Sailfish are still moving through our waters strong and are being caught with some regularity while kite fishing. You can’t go wrong no matter how you fish in March.
Amberjacks, groupers, snappers and more are showing up around the wrecks. Good action on the wrecks in 200-400ft of water. A couple days ago we caught a nice Cubera Snapper. We hardly ever catch those. Just goes to show you how much variety and unusual fish are biting out there. Amberjacks have been monsters, some of them over 50 pounds. They are stacking up around the shipwrecks in awesome numbers and biting anything we throw down to them. Andy, one of our regular sportfishing customers, went fishing the other day and said he wanted to go jack fishing. We did and we caught some monsters for him. The fishing is going great this March and it should last throughout April and May as well. Good luck to everyone fishing this week.