Summer Bite Alert: Upper Keys and Miami Waters Heat Up at Dawn and Dusk

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your South Florida fishing report for the Upper Keys and Miami waters. We’ve got a classic summer pattern setting up. Light early-morning breeze out of the east-southeast, building into a choppy afternoon with that humid, stormy feel. Local marine forecasts are calling for scattered showers and a chance of boomers after lunch, so the sweet spot is sunrise through late morning when winds are down and the water’s manageable. Sunrise is right around 6:30 a.m. on the ocean side, with sunset close to 8:15 p.m., so you’ve got a nice wide window of low light at both ends of the day. Those first two hours after sunrise and last hour before dark are prime right now, especially on the patch reefs and the inshore flats. Tides are running a typical Keys summer cycle: a predawn high sliding into a falling tide through midmorning on the ocean side, with the backcountry a little delayed. That outgoing water has been the best bite, pushing bait off the flats and through the channels. Midday slack is slow and hot; use it to move spots or grab lunch. Offshore, local captains out of Key Largo and Islamorada have been reporting solid mahi action in 400–800 feet, with scattered schoolies and a few gaffers mixed in under birds and around weedlines. Trolling small skirted ballyhoo, dolphin-colored chuggers, and naked ballyhoo has been the ticket. Keep a spinning rod rigged with a chunk of cut bait or a small bucktail to pitch at followers. A few blackfin tuna have been taken near the humps early and late, mostly on live pilchards and small jigs. On the reefs from Key Biscayne down past Tavernier, the snapper bite has been steady. Yellowtail and mangroves are chewing on the edge in 40–80 feet when the current is just right. Chum heavy, scale down to 12–20 lb fluorocarbon and small circle hooks, and drift cut ballyhoo or squid. A few muttons have been coming off the deeper rubble and wrecks using live pinfish on the bottom. Inshore around Miami, Biscayne Bay has been giving up seatrout, mangrove snapper, and a few snook along the mangrove edges and around structure. Small paddle-tail plastics in natural bait colors, on 1/8–1/4 oz jig heads, have been producing, especially when worked along channel edges on the falling tide. Live shrimp under a popping cork has been a consistent producer for mixed bag action. Flats and backcountry in the Upper Keys are seeing good bonefish activity on the warmer afternoon high tides, with tails showing on calm days. Light shrimp or crab imitations on spinning gear, or small tan and olive flies, are working. A few tarpon are still hanging in the channels and bridge shadows at dawn and dusk, taking live mullet, crabs, and big soft plastics. Best lures right now: - For inshore and bridges: white or pearl soft jerkbaits, shrimp imitations, and gold spoons for snook and tarpon. - For reef snapper: small bucktail jigs tipped with cut bait. - For offshore: dolphin-colored trolling skirts, small jet heads, and naked ballyhoo. Best baits: - Live pilchards, threadfin, and pinfish offshore and on wrecks. - Live shrimp, small crabs, and cut ballyhoo inshore and on the reefs. Couple of hot spots to circle on the chart: - The patch reefs off Islamorada and Key Largo in 20–40 feet for mixed snapper and grouper action on that morning falling tide. - Government Cut and nearby structure off Miami for tarpon and snook at first light and into the evening, especially around the tide changes. That’s the word on the water from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn