Bonefish, Mahi and Wahoo: Your Florida Keys Fishing Report for August 30, 2025

Good morning anglers, this is Artificial Lure dropping your Saturday, August 30, 2025, Florida Keys Fishing Report—straight from the islands and ready to hit the water!

We kicked off the day with a 2:28am high tide and sunrise at 7:07am. Next low is around 9:41am, followed by a 3:36pm high and then sunset at 7:47pm. The tidal coefficient is lower today, so you’ll see moderate water movement that should keep things comfortable but may call for a little finesse, especially on the flats according to Tide-Forecast.com and Tides4Fishing.

Wind’s coming in light out of the east, about 5-10 knots, and expect seas between 1.2 to 1.7 feet. There’s about a 35% chance you’ll dodge a rain shower—pack a slicker just in case, but expect mostly fair skies for prime time fishing. Temps on the water are in the mid-80s, and humidity is up, so stay hydrated out there.

Offshore, this year continues the trend as the **year of the dolphin fish** (mahi)! The bite picked up big time this past week with larger gaffer mahi pouring in. Captain Mike Genoun recommends working depths between 600 and 700 feet from Marathon down, saying the fish right now are “a little bit bigger, which typically happens this time of year. You find those nice gaffers mixed in.” Keep your eyes peeled for birds and weedlines in this band and don’t be afraid to hunt a little wider than usual—schoolies and bigger fish alike have been thick.

Pro tip: If you’re trolling, toss out a spread of C&H Rattle Jet lures and Boone feather jigs, both are proven producers for mahi and blackfin tuna right now—just keep those drags set medium in case a wahoo comes calling. And speaking of wahoo, OneFish reports the best chance at a smoker is to troll bright high-speed lures between 12–18 knots early or late when that sun’s not directly overhead.

If you want more variety, the reef and nearshore wrecks are cranking out **snapper, lane snapper, a few mangros, and some feisty red and gag grouper**. Hubbard’s Marina notes amberjack are still open and in fine fighting form, plus the occasional hogfish starting to show up. For snapper on the reef, live ballyhoo, pilchards, and shrimp are getting bit.

On the flats, it’s been a numbers game with **bonefish** absolutely chewing, especially on the early and evening tides. Keys Weekly says start at dawn or slip out for that sunset bite. Permit are cruising and hungry—look for waking fish and tails in the shallows, from backcountry basins to oceanside flats. Juvenile tarpon are also more than willing on fly and live pilchard or crab.

Hot baits: For flats, you can’t go wrong with small live shrimp, Gulp! shrimp, or a classic MirrOlure if sight-casting. For permit and tarpon, nothing beats a live crab or a well-presented fly.

Suggested hotspots:
- Marathon hump for mahi, tuna, and the chance at a slammer.
- Channel 5 and 7 bridges for snapper, tarpon, and a late summer shot at grouper.
- Sugarloaf Key and the backcountry muds for bonefish and permit—less traffic and stellar sight-fishing right now.

Recent catches are great across the board: multiple boats reporting easy limits of dolphin offshore, lanes and flags on the reef, and catch-and-release silver kings in the backwater. Several 30+ pound wahoo reported south of Alligator Reef—don’t sleep on the early-morning bite!

That’s your Florida Keys angling update from Artificial Lure—thanks for tuning in and don’t forget to subscribe for the latest local reports, tips, and where to cast next. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, anglers, This is artificial lore dropping your Saturday
August thirtieth, twenty twenty five Florida Keys fishing report. Straight
from the islands and ready to hit the water. We
kicked off the day with a two twenty eight am
high tide and sunrise at seven zero seven am. Next
low is around nine forty one am, followed by a
three point thirty six pm high and then sunset at

(00:21):
seven forty seven pm. The tidal core fishing is lower today,
so you'll see moderate water movement that should keep things comfortable,
but may call for a little finesse, especially on the flats.
According to tight forecast dot Com and tides for fishing,
winds coming in light out of the east about five
to ten knots and expect seas between one point two

(00:43):
to one point seven feet. There's about a thirty five
percent chance you'll dodge a rain shower. Pack a slicker
just in case, but expect mostly fair skies for primetime fishing.
Temps on the water are in the mid eighties and
humidity is up, so stay hydrated out there offshore. This
year continues the trend as the year of the Dolphinfish
Mahai The bite picked up big time this past week

(01:05):
with larger gaffer Mahai pouring in. Captain Mike Janoon recommends
working depths between six hundred and seven hundred feet from
Marafon down, saying the fish right now are a little
bit bigger, which typically happens this time of year. You
find those nice gaffers mixed in. Keep your eyes peeled
for birds and weedlines in this band, and don't be
afraid to hunt a little wider than usual. Schoolies and

(01:26):
bigger fish alike have been thick. Pro tip if you're trolling,
toss out a spread of CNH rattlejet lures and boone
feather jigs. Both are proven producers for madi and black
fin tuna right now, just keep those drags set medium
in case of waho comes calling. And speaking of wahoo,
one fish reports the best chance at a smoker is
to troll bright, high speed lures between twelve to eighteen

(01:49):
knots early or late when that sun's not directly overhead.
If you want more variety, the reef and near shore
wrecks are cranking out snapper lane's snapper, a few mangroes,
and some feisty red and gag grouper Cupboard's marina notes
amberjack are still open and in fine fighting form, plus

(02:10):
the occasional hogfish starting to show up. For snapper on
the wreath, live ballyhoo, pilchards and shrimp are getting bit
on the flats. It's been a numbers game with bonefish
absolutely chewing, especially on the early and evening tides. Keys
weekly says start at dawn or slip out for that
sunset bite. Permit are cruising and hungry. Look for waking

(02:33):
fish and tails in the shallows from backcountry basins to
ocean side flats. Juvenile tarpin are also more than willing
on flyin live pilchered or crab hot baits. For flats,
you can't go wrong with small live shrimp, gulp shrimp
or a classic mirror llure. If sitecasting for permit and tarpin,

(02:53):
nothing beats a live crab or a well presented fly.
Suggested hotspots Marathon hump from Mahi tuna and the chance
at a slammer Channel five and seven bridges for snapper
tarpin and a late summer shot at grouper, sugarloaf key
and the backcountry MUDs for bonefish and permit less traffic

(03:13):
and stellar sitefishing right now. Recent catches are great across
the board. Multiple boats reporting easy limits of dolphin offshore
lanes and flags on the reef and catch and release
silver kings in the backwater. Several thirty plus pound wahoo
reported south of Alligator Reef. Don't sleep on the early
morning bite. That's your Florida keys angling update from Artificial Lore.

(03:37):
Thanks for tuning in and don't forget to subscribe for
the latest local reports, tips and where to cast next.
This has been a quiet please production. For more check
out Quiet Please dot ai