Keys Fishing Report: Electric Bite, New Grouper Limits, and Backcountry Bananas

Good evening, anglers—Artificial Lure here with your Florida Keys fishing report for today, August 6th, 2025. We were blessed with a classic tropical Keys day—plenty of sun, brisk but manageable southeast breeze, and water temps hanging steady in the mid-80s. Sunrise hit at 6:58 a.m. and sunset will be at 8:07 p.m., leaving us with more than 13 hours of daylight to wet a line. Tidal reports for Key West showed moderate swing with a noon coefficient uptick to 53, and for the upper Keys, notably Key Largo, that coefficient held high at 87 all day—so if you were working patch reefs or the deeper edges, you got good moving water to help fire up the bite. As many of you already know, NOAA Fisheries just bumped up those Gulf red grouper catch limits and the new quotas take effect immediately, opening more opportunity through the remainder of the year—great news for those bottom-dropping offshore, especially from Marathon out toward the Gulf side. Fishing activity this week has been nothing short of electric. Offshore, folks trolling the Humps off Islamorada and Marathon reported steady mahi action, with football-sized schoolies and the occasional slammer making a showing. Deep droppers have had banner hauls on the sword grounds—rigged squid and bonito strips still the gold standard for broadbill, with some nice tilefish and snowy grouper filling the coolers alongside. On the reefs and nearshores, the yellowtail snapper bite remains consistent, particularly around Molasses Reef and Tennessee Reef. Start your drift in 60-80 feet, chum heavy, and free-line cut baits or small pilchards back into the slick. The deeper edges have coughed up healthy muttons, some over 10 pounds, especially on live pinfish and ballyhoo. Limit-outs on vermilion snapper were common this morning—just check out the local scene on social media, where anglers were celebrating triggerfish and even a few out-of-season red snapper caught and released. Speaking of baits, ballyhoo remains top choice for sailfish and mahi, though commercial netters are on seasonal closure through August—so if you’ve got them in the freezer, thaw ‘em and use ‘em. Otherwise, live pilchards, pinfish, and fresh squid are the most productive across the board. For artificials, those glow-tail bucktails and 4-inch paddle tail swimbaits in “Electric Chicken” or “Green Ghost” have been pulling in tarpon and snook around bridges and backcountry passes at dusk. Backcountry and inshore, anglers working the edges of the flats and mangrove channels early and late are reporting aggressive tarpon, scattered snook, and plenty of juvenile permit. Soft plastics, like Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ on 3/8-ounce jigheads, are getting solid eats, with topwater plugs producing some explosive strikes right at first light. If you’re looking for hotspots, it’s hard to beat the deeper ledges off Conch Reef for grouper and snapper, or the Seven Mile Bridge at dusk for a mixed bag—snook, tarpon, and jacks are prowling hard with the even This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.