This is Artificial Lure checking in with your South Florida fishing report for the Florida Keys and Miami.
We’ve got a classic late‑spring pattern setting up. Around Miami and the Upper Keys, winds are running light to moderate out of the east-southeast with warm, humid air and scattered clouds. Nearshore water temps are sitting in the upper 70s to low 80s. NOAA tide tables show an early morning high followed by a falling tide through mid‑day, then another push of water late afternoon into evening. That first light high and the late incoming are your money windows.
Sunrise is right around 6:30 a.m., sunset close to 8:00 p.m., giving you a long day to work those tide swings. The bite has been best the first two hours after sun‑up and again the last two hours before dark, especially when that moving water lines up.
Offshore of Key Largo and Islamorada, boats have been picking at schoolie mahi with a few nicer gaffers mixed in, plus blackfin tuna on the humps. Pilchards and small live runners slow‑trolled or drifted have been doing damage, with pink and blue feathers, small jet heads, and dolphin‑colored skirted ballyhoo getting steady bites. Keep a pitch rod ready with a live bait or a bright bucktail for fish that pop up in the chum line.
On the reefs and wrecks from Fowey Rocks down to Alligator Reef, mutton snapper and yellowtail have been solid. Anchored on the edge in 60–90 feet with a strong chum slick, folks are boxing respectable tails and a few bruiser muttons. Fresh ballyhoo plugs, bonita strips, and live pinfish on long leaders are the ticket. Use lighter fluorocarbon for yellowtail and step up the leader when you’re soaking a bait for muttons.
Inshore and around the bridges, tarpon are still the main event. The Seven Mile Bridge, Channel 2 and Channel 5, plus the bridges around Islamorada and the MacArthur and Rickenbacker causeways in Miami, have all seen silver kings rolling on the tides. The better action has been on the outgoing, especially at night. Live mullet, crabs, and big shrimp under a float are the go‑tos, but a well‑swum paddle tail or flare‑hawk jig will get crushed when they’re active.
On the bayside flats behind Islamorada and down toward Marathon, redfish and snook are nosing around the mangrove edges and potholes. The water’s warming, so hit that early morning high tide with topwaters like a bone‑colored Spook or a small walk‑the‑dog plug, then switch to soft plastics on 1/8–1/4 oz jigheads as the sun gets up. Live shrimp and small pilchards are still your most reliable baits if you’re fishing with kids or just looking for steady action.
Around Miami’s inshore haunts—Government Cut, Haulover, and the inlets—snook, jack crevalle, and a few tarpon have been working the edges on the moving tides. White bucktail jigs, DOA shrimp, and 3–4 inch paddle tails in natural bait colors are producing, especially where the current wraps around structure.
Best lures right now:
- For inshore: bone or chrome topwaters, white or pearl paddle tails, gold spoons, and 1/2 oz white bucktails.
- For reef and wreck: pink/white or chartreuse bucktails tipped with bait, small vertical jigs, and knocker rigs with fresh cut bait.
- Offshore: dolphin‑colored skirts, small feathers in pink, blue, or green, and rigged ballyhoo.
Live baits that are hot: pilchards, mullet, pinfish, live shrimp, and crabs for tarpon.
A couple of local hot spots to circle on the chart:
1. Alligator Reef off Islamorada – consistent yellowtail and mutton action with a shot at pelagics sliding in on the edge.
2. Government Cut and the nearby jetties in Miami – great zone for snook, tarpon, and jacks when the tide is pushing hard.
That’s the word on the water from your buddy Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report.
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