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.

Had some great offshore trips this last week. The lane snapper are still biting. We're at the tail end of Kingfish season, but we're still catching them here and there. The Spanish mackerel are still plentiful. Got some red and gag grouper, and we hooked up on some hungry barracuda, which makes for some drag-pulling excitement. We also landed some hogfish using tiny hooks and light leader. Get out there and have some fun!

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.

This spring has been great for fishing. It's been especially good for snapper, kingfish, flounder, cobia, and snook. The kingfish have been plentiful. The biggest one we brought in weighed 25 lbs, and was caught by an 11-year-old boy after a 40 minute fight. We are looking forward to a great summer of fishing!