Fishing Report: Mahi-Mahi Bite Steady, Thunderstorms Rolling In - Florida Keys & Miami

Good morning, anglers—Artificial Lure here with your Friday, September 5th, 2025 fishing report live from the golden waters in and around the Florida Keys and Miami. We started the morning under partly cloudy skies with some humid air in the low 80s. According to the National Weather Service, expect southwest winds today at 10 to 15 knots over the Bays and nearshore—there’s a slight to moderate chop out there, and be ready for downpours and scattered thunderstorms throughout the day. Keep an eye on the radar and pack that rain shell, because the front in the Gulf is feeding in plenty of moisture right through the weekend. Sunrise hit us right at 7:02 a.m., and we’ll see sunset tonight at 7:35 p.m., giving us just over 12 and a half hours of daylight for those epic drifts in the flats or long soaks by the bridges. Now to the tides—Miami Beach had a high tide early, around 2:54 a.m., with the next low tide coming at 9:24 a.m., then a strong push to high again at 4:05 p.m. Tidal swing is on the low side today with a tidal coefficient rising gently from 28 to 35 by dark, meaning current will be lazy with only subtle moves on bait and fish. That’s got many anglers posting up near structure or deeper edges instead of working the open flats. The inshore bite’s lit up in the early morning and late evening hours. Local guides at Bud n’ Mary’s and Robbie’s have been putting folks on healthy seatrout, solid schools of mangrove snapper off the mainland channels, plus Spanish mackerel cutting up the outer edges of the patch reefs. There’s also action from resident tarpon in dock lights and creek mouths, especially where stormwater runoff is moving shrimp and baitfish. For you offshore folks, mahi-mahi catches continue steady—mainly schoolies with the odd slammer thrown in farther out, especially near floating debris on the color change between 800 and 1000 feet. Deep drop crews have been seeing plenty of tilefish and yellowedge grouper. And this week, strong reports of blackfin tuna busting on the oceanside near Fowey and Tennessee reefs, where the schools get hammered by birds and bonita. Hot baits this week: live pilchards are gold if you can net them before the storms hit. For artificials, anything with a shimmer or chartreuse skirt is drawing hard strikes, especially bucktail jigs tipped with Gulp! or live shrimp under popping corks. Trolling skirts and feathers in blue/white or pink have produced good numbers on mahi-mahi offshore, with the classic cedar plug still cracking the code on tuna. If you’re looking to slim down the search, two of the hottest local spots right now are Alligator Reef off Islamorada—anglers are pulling up serious numbers of yellowtail snapper and the occasional mutton in the sand—and the run along Government Cut in Miami Beach, where outgoing tide in the evening is a prime window for snook and tarpon feeding in the wash. Quick tip: with those scattered thunderstorms rolling in fast, you’ll want to keep an eye on the sky a This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.