July 4th 2016 – Happy Independence day everyone. I thought with such a pretty day here in Key West I would drop a fishing report and let everyone know how good the reef bite is here before I head out to the reef with some friends for some tasty Yellowtail and mutton snapper filets. Southerly winds today making a nice light chop on the reef with a few tropical thunderstorms moving through the area making for a perfect summer day reef fishing.

The yellowtail snapper bite is off the hook with nice size but not huge fish. The other day my angler and I were able to put together a 2 person limit of 20 snappers all over 17″ in less than 2 hours. Thats a 2+ lb yellowtail snapper. Very good eating fish if you ask anyone that has ever had one one.

Along with yellowtail snappers we get into a couple nice sized mutton snappers as a bonus reward for our efforts. One fish took me to the mat and into the rocks making short work of the light leader I use when casting artificial lures at those guys. Kirk, my angler however was luckier than I using some great rod techniques boating a nice solid 10lb Mutton Snapper on 12lb test Samurai Braided line on a Daiwa Saltiga rod set up.

Along with the tasty fish came the fun fish that just pull hard but we release them. On our reef fishing charters you never know if you will catch a tasty mutton or yellowtail or get housed by a cero mackerel. Cero Mackerel run like hell and burn line, like its free especially on light tackle. Another bruiser on the reef is the yellow jack a real ground pounder and never fails to bring a smile to anglers faces.. Which will you be best at catching? Ya don’t know unless you go. We have a bunch of ways to get our anglers out to the reef for some fishing and they are all easy.

Summer is a great time to save some money not only on hotel rooms but also on reef fishing charters. We are able to use our bay boats that are single engine and perfect for how we fish the reef to let you try and catch a limit of hard fighting and tasty eating snappers. Our bay boats are less expensive to operate than our big reef fishing center console and we pass the savings to you.  Two person trips start at 450.00 for 4 hours, and generally speaking 4 hours is plenty of time for us to help you put together a nice box of fish and have a really fun day of reef fishing. Our reef fishing center consoles start at 700.00 for the half day for 4 persons (just a comparison).

On our longer range trips with our center console boats we are getting into some awesome grouper fishing out West of Key West. Using jigs and live bait drifting techniques we can get you into some healthy red, black and scamp groupers. We recommend at least a 6 hour day for this reef and wreck fishing charter. Grouper season is open in the South Atlantic till January 1st.

Booking a Reef Fishing Charter with us is really Easy.
Call our office and speak to us directly. We are happy to personally help you decide what Key West fishing charter is best for you.
1-305-292-7212

We eat fish allot here at Dream Catcher Charters. Its healthy and very tasty. Shown here is a filet of mutton snapper. A dish I call “Mutton To It”.
Heat up a pan, put some Olive Oil in it, slap the filet of Mutton snapper in the pan, put a slab of butter on top, put lid on till edges turn white.. Flip it.. Season it with your favorite ( I use salt and pepper) and serve it.
Takes about 7 minutes – Mutton To It!

For mor recipe ideas check out Island Genns blog www.thekeywester.com