The spring and summer months (April – September) bring plenty of Florida Dolphin Fishing throughout the keys. Dolphin are also known as Florida Mahi Mahi. Typically the summer time is the most consistent for these bad boys!There is usually a mix of smaller ‘schoolie’ fish along with bigger ‘bulls.’ Bull dolphin are the male fish with a more square head, and the ‘cows’ are their female counter parts. Nothing compares to getting into a good school of dolphin with every rod on the boat screaming drag at once!
Dolphin in the Keys are often caught trolling baits and lures. While blind trolling in deeper water your always ‘in the game’ when trying to catch a big dolphin. However often times captains will run around and look for birds which are following schools of fish and bait, and are a good indicator of where to fish. This style of fishing can often put you on the fish faster than just blind trolling. Our captains know what to look for to find them.
When throwing baits to a school of dolphin, often times dead bait is used, though occasionally fish are picky and it helps to have some live pilchards or the like. The boats at Bud n Marys are always keeping up with where the live bait is to give you the best shot at getting nice fish!
One rule when in a big pack of dolphin is always leave one in the water (usually a schoolie, smaller fish) in order to keep the rest of the school following you. You often will see dolphin jumping when they know they are hooked, which is very impressive!
The captains at Bud N’ Mary’s are true professionals when it comes to catching big Islamorada Dolphin!
My boyfriend and I went on an all day fishing trip on the Early Bird with Captain Ross and Justin. We had a fantastic time! Water was a little choppy but Captain Ross made it feel like it was calm. Justin kicked ass at setting us up to catch fish, very quick and efficient! They knew were the spots were! Very friendly and fun. On the ride back to the doc, we both fell asleep. What a great day! Thank you to Bud and Mary and Ross and Justin for making a great memory for us!
Incredible Fishing Trip We had three couples who wanted to get out on the water and fish. Capt John Johansen and Capt Ted Wilson were kind enough to take us out and we had ourselves a boys vs girls fishing trip. I have to say, both captains outdid themselves as everybody had a wonderful experience. Capt Ted took excellent care of the ladies and they caught some giant grouper, shark, and jacks. Capt John kept us on big game all day. At one point, we were tripled up with two grouper and one cobia. Somehow, Capt John managed to help us land all 3 at the same time. Cannot thank these gentlemen enough for great day of fishing. Would absolutely recommend them to anybody of any skill level looking to get on some FL Keys fishing.
Great, fun experience. Highly recommend Took my two sons (17 and 21 years) and my brother there. We stayed in the Ocean Front House and went deep sea fishing for one day and backcountry fishing for one day. We had a great time. It was a great experience. It was kind of slow days for fishing but we caught fish and had a fun time. The boat captains did everything they could to put us on the fish 
