Bonefish, Mahi and Wahoo: Your Florida Keys Fishing Report for August 30, 2025

Good morning anglers, this is Artificial Lure dropping your Saturday, August 30, 2025, Florida Keys Fishing Report—straight from the islands and ready to hit the water! We kicked off the day with a 2:28am high tide and sunrise at 7:07am. Next low is around 9:41am, followed by a 3:36pm high and then sunset at 7:47pm. The tidal coefficient is lower today, so you’ll see moderate water movement that should keep things comfortable but may call for a little finesse, especially on the flats according to Tide-Forecast.com and Tides4Fishing. Wind’s coming in light out of the east, about 5-10 knots, and expect seas between 1.2 to 1.7 feet. There’s about a 35% chance you’ll dodge a rain shower—pack a slicker just in case, but expect mostly fair skies for prime time fishing. Temps on the water are in the mid-80s, and humidity is up, so stay hydrated out there. Offshore, this year continues the trend as the **year of the dolphin fish** (mahi)! The bite picked up big time this past week with larger gaffer mahi pouring in. Captain Mike Genoun recommends working depths between 600 and 700 feet from Marathon down, saying the fish right now are “a little bit bigger, which typically happens this time of year. You find those nice gaffers mixed in.” Keep your eyes peeled for birds and weedlines in this band and don’t be afraid to hunt a little wider than usual—schoolies and bigger fish alike have been thick. Pro tip: If you’re trolling, toss out a spread of C&H Rattle Jet lures and Boone feather jigs, both are proven producers for mahi and blackfin tuna right now—just keep those drags set medium in case a wahoo comes calling. And speaking of wahoo, OneFish reports the best chance at a smoker is to troll bright high-speed lures between 12–18 knots early or late when that sun’s not directly overhead. If you want more variety, the reef and nearshore wrecks are cranking out **snapper, lane snapper, a few mangros, and some feisty red and gag grouper**. Hubbard’s Marina notes amberjack are still open and in fine fighting form, plus the occasional hogfish starting to show up. For snapper on the reef, live ballyhoo, pilchards, and shrimp are getting bit. On the flats, it’s been a numbers game with **bonefish** absolutely chewing, especially on the early and evening tides. Keys Weekly says start at dawn or slip out for that sunset bite. Permit are cruising and hungry—look for waking fish and tails in the shallows, from backcountry basins to oceanside flats. Juvenile tarpon are also more than willing on fly and live pilchard or crab. Hot baits: For flats, you can’t go wrong with small live shrimp, Gulp! shrimp, or a classic MirrOlure if sight-casting. For permit and tarpon, nothing beats a live crab or a well-presented fly. Suggested hotspots: - Marathon hump for mahi, tuna, and the chance at a slammer. - Channel 5 and 7 bridges for snapper, tarpon, and a late summer shot at grouper. - Sugarloaf Key and the backcountry muds for bonefish and permit—less traffic and st This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.