South Florida Fishing Report: Miami and Keys Charters, Reefs, and Bridges

This is Artificial Lure with your South Florida fishing report for the Miami and Florida Keys area.

Around Miami, tides4fishing’s Miami Beach table shows a pre-dawn low followed by a solid incoming, with a 3‑plus‑foot high tide rolling in mid‑morning and another push around late afternoon. That moving water has the fish chewing on the edges of the channels and reef lines.

Sunrise is right around 7:00 a.m. with sunset near 5:30 p.m., so your best window is first light through the late‑morning high, and again the last two hours of daylight as that evening tide starts to run. Solunarforecast for Miami rates today’s feeding activity as above average, with a stronger major period centered late morning into early afternoon.

Weatherwise, local marine forecasts are calling for mild winter conditions: temps in the low 70s early, warming into the upper 70s, with east to southeast winds in the 10–15 knot range and seas 2–3 feet nearshore. That’s very workable for the reef and the first line of offshore wrecks, but small skiffs will want to tuck in behind the islands if the breeze freshens.

Up off Miami, the last couple days have seen good mixed bags on the reef: yellowtail snapper, mangroves, muttons, plus a few keeper mackerel and the odd schoolie mahi when the color change pushes in tight. Offshore charters running out of Government Cut and Haulover are reporting blackfin tuna on the edge and sailfish showering baits whenever a cooler patch of blue water slides in.

Best bet near Miami:
- On the reef and wrecks, anchor up in 40–80 feet and chum hard. Use 1/8–1/4 oz jigheads or small hooks with **live pilchards**, **ballyhoo chunks**, or **shrimp** on 15–20 lb leaders. Keep one flatline out with a **live goggle-eye** or pilchard for sails and kings.
- For artificials, work **white or chartreuse bucktail jigs**, **3–5 inch paddletail swimbaits**, and **small metal spoons** around the bait schools and mackerel.

In the Keys, tides4fishing’s Key West and Key Largo charts show a predawn low, a mid‑morning high, then a gentle drop through mid‑afternoon. That morning flood is prime for working oceanside flats and patch reefs, with the falling tide setting up a good snapper bite around channels and bridges.

Recent Keys reports have boats loading up on **yellowtail and mangrove snapper**, plenty of **lane snapper**, plus steady **grunt** and **porgy** action on the patches. Backcountry guides are finding winter **speckled trout**, **jack crevalle**, and a few **redfish** around the mainland side, while the bridges are giving up **muttons, mangroves, and mackerel** at night.

Top Keys tactics today:
- On the patches, fish light leaders with **shrimp, squid strips, and cut ballyhoo**; add a small split shot just enough to get down in the chum slick.
- Under the bridges, drop **live pinfish or ballyhoo** on a sliding sinker rig for muttons and grouper, and toss small **silver spoons or glass‑minnow jigs** for Spanish mackerel.

A couple of hotspots to circle on your map:
- **Haulover Inlet Reef Line**, working 60–120 feet just outside the inlet, slow‑trolling live baits along the edge for sails, kings, and blackfin, then anchoring and chumming for snapper on the high current turns.
- **Islamorada Patch Reefs** in 15–30 feet on the oceanside, where that morning high tide stacks up bait and has snappers and mackerel firing; great place to bend rods all day with shrimp and small jigs.

That’s it from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report.

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