Snapper Stacking, Mahi Roaming, and Inshore Slam - Your Florida Keys Fishing Report

Artificial Lure here with your Saturday, August 16th fishing report from the heart of the Florida Keys. Sunrise splashed in at 7:02 AM and expect sunset right around 8:00 PM. We’ve got a lively new moon system moving in, with high tide rolling through Key West at 3:23 AM, a soft low at 10:30 AM, then a modest high again at 5:27 PM and closing with a 9:18 PM low. Tides are running strong, water’s clearing up, and with little recent rain, the bite should be reliable all day. Weather’s holding steady – warm, breezy, that classic salty air. Expect morning temps in the mid-80s pushing up through the low 90s by midday. With clear skies in play and light chop offshore, it’s a great day to work every corner: flats, bridges, and deep blue water. Offshore action is all about red snapper and red grouper right now. Hubbard’s Marina confirms we’re deep in red snapper season, and they’ve been hitting good numbers as anglers dial in on the last month of open harvest. Red grouper remains steady and should be available through the end of the year – strong catches reported on cut bait over deeper ledges. Scamp, hefty mangrove snapper, vermilion snapper, and yellowtail are mixing it up, with mutton snapper showing up hot on the drop. Slow-pitch jigs and dead bait are taking blackfin tuna, kingfish are biting the troll, and have a pitch rod ready – mahi are cruising in from 70 to 100 feet, especially on those color changes and weed lines. Flatlining is seeing a few sails slide through, so don’t sleep on a live pilchard. Nearshore lanes are strong, mangroves piling up good, and keep an eye for passing mahi as the edge lines stack up bait. Salt Strong reports the Wake Mullet lure is drawing strikes from sniffing snapper all the way up to curious jacks – perfect for tossing on grass flats and chumming potholes. Inshore, snook are crowding the docks and bridges with incoming tide during this new moon prime for ambush. Redfish are feeding over oyster bars on the upper bay and back bay, especially early when tide is building. Shrimp and pinfish work great, but soft plastics in root beer or chartreuse are deadly this time of year. Recent days saw anglers on INXS and other charters pulling their first deep sea catches, with big smiles and coolers loaded, as reported by local crews. Snapper tacos are on the menu thanks to a hot mangrove bite. Around Islamorada, the Gulf is lit up with Spanish mackerel, kingfish, cobia, big jacks, and sharks. Everglades waters are hot for speckled trout, snook, redfish, and more. Florida catches and limits are strictly enforced, especially on groupers and snappers, so check your regs and measure your fish before heading in, as emphasized by Key Largo Fisheries. For hot spots, Marathon’s Seven Mile Bridge is flush with snapper on the incoming tide and snook tight to the pilings. The reefs off Islamorada at Alligator Reef are loaded with yellowtail and mutton snapper. Drift a live pilchard or slow-pitch a jig on the up-current edge for This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.