Summer fishing great so far

We've had great fishing so far this summer. The Red Snapper season has been fantastic. We've been catching a lot of nice Red Snapper. The sharks have made it challenging, but thankfully there have been plenty of fish to get some nice ones through the gauntlet of sharks. Also, catches have included Red Grouper; Mahi; Cobia; Lane, Vermillion, and Mangrove Snappers; Porgy; Scamp; and many other species. Speaking of Mahi, this has been the best year for Mahi I've ever seen in our area. This year we have an extended Red Snapper season, so there is plenty of time to get out there and catch some nice fish with us!

The red grouper have been on fire. We've been catching a lot of large, meaty reds on our 6- and 8-hour trips. The lane and vermilion snappers have been very active closer in, with the occasional mangrove snapper, but it seems like the mangroves aren't in full swing yet. Although there are plenty of catch-and-release amberjacks, I've noticed an above average catch of almaco jacks, which are the smaller cousin of the amberjack, and don't go out of season.

Last week was off the chain with Kingfish. Tuesday, we caught another smoker King at 25 lbs. Amberjack are still easy to catch, although they're out of season. We've been catching a lot of snapper of all different types. Throughout the week, we caught some big lanes, yellowtail, mangrove, even a few nice vermillions. The blue water has brought the deeper water fish closer to shore, so it's been fun catching fish that aren't always available at shallower depths.