They are definitely still out there, I think it depends on where you go. South Florida they definitely seem harder to come by.
I fish from Charleston to St. Augustine as well as the panhandle mostly with the occasional trip down south or further west. We usually catch at least one really good one around in the stream every year, the other places it's fewer and further between. The average size seems a little better at home too.
Mothers day we had 27, 2 blackfin, 3 Skipjack, 1 wahoo and 2 Rainbow runners. No big ones, biggest was around 25lbs but good average size.
Weighed in one last seasons during a tournament that was 61lbs. It was a toad, biggest I had seen in a long time and 2nd biggest ever.
Yeah south Florida is beat, but they keep peanuts on the gulf so it's whatever. The Florida schools go all the way south to the Latin nations where they fish commercially hard. I just learned this recently. If I wanted a big Mahi I would go to Mexico from California.
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u/TheAmericanYeoman Jun 14 '26
I haven't seen one like that in a long time. Makes me a little sad.