When a coast, a type of water, and a fish actually line up. If you elected Texas on the list, this page opens on Texas — Seychelles stays off the board until you ask for it. Filter by region, method or habitat, and species. The year bar is peak versus present. Limits cite TPWD and FWC — verify before you keep one.
Indian Ocean atolls. Modeled tide. Lodge water on the outer rims.
Alphonse and St François are the photograph — giant trevally on the edge, bones and Indo-Pacific permit on the sand. Farquhar is the southern atoll, same fish, farther. Mahé is the public door: reef, park water, blue water, not the St François flat. There is no NOAA gauge. Tide is a labeled model. SFA license. Roosterfish does not live here. Atlantic jack crevalle does not either. You came for a GT.
February. Still the atoll season. Farquhar and Alphonse both eat. Mahé is a reef day.
Type
Offshore
Trolling, the edge, and deep jigging. This is not the grass brief. Weedlines, humps, and named banks — Islamorada Hump, Flower Garden, Gordo, El Bajo, the Cancún sailfish current. Fly-and-teaser when the wind allows it. A heavy jig when it does not. Switch the method filter to Offshore or the engine will hide these marks on purpose. Roosterfish is Baja. Do not invent him on a Galveston morning.
No coast-wide harvest closure on the board. Still verify before you keep a fish.
Mahi-mahi
Coryphaena hippurus
Present FebruarySeychelles
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F
M
A
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J
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A
S
O
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Thermal window
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70–88°F · best 74–84°F
Dolphin. Keys and Bahamas summer bluewater — weedlines, FADs, the edge. Texas: offshore, not the bay. Absent from a Galveston grass headline.
Fly. 10–12 wt. Baitfish or a chugger on a weedline. This is a boat-in-blue-water game, not a skiff on the flat.
Spin. Ballyhoo or a heavy spoon on color changes, sargassum, and the humps. If you can see the bank, you are inshore of them.
Seychelles. Florida: typically 10/person, 60/vessel, 20 in fork. Texas: 3/day in federal waters under HMS/coastal rules — verify NOAA HMS and TPWD. Mexico: verify CONAPESCA. Bahamas: check current bag.
SE Florida and the Keys are the winter sail coast. Bahamas bluewater. Texas: possible way offshore, not Matagorda. Do not headline a flat with a billfish.
Fly. 12 wt. A shot on a teaser, then the fly. Not a wade. Not a poling skiff.
Spin. Kite, live bait, or a dredge off the reef edge. Islamorada and Stuart in winter. Texas sail are a rare offshore event, not the jetty.
Seychelles. Florida: catch-and-release for Atlantic sail except a rare harvest tag. Federal HMS permit in federal waters. Texas/Bahamas: treat as C&R.
Seychelles. Federal HMS rules. Yellowfin typically 27 in curved fork. Blackfin often more liberal — verify NOAA HMS and FWC/TPWD the morning you leave the inlet.
Eastern Pacific. East Cape and the mouth of the Cortez. Absent from Texas, Louisiana, the Keys, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Seychelles. Same rule as the rooster: this ocean only.
Fly. Teaser and fly. East Cape and Magdalena when the water is right. Pacific only.
Spin. Troll. Baja. Not the Gulf of Mexico. Not Texas.
Eastern Pacific — Baja East Cape and La Paz, Costa Rica, Panama. Absent from Texas, Louisiana, the Keys, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Seychelles. Lives on this atlas only on the Mexico Pacific desks.
Fly. 10–12 wt. A big baitfish in the surf. Baja and Central America Pacific, not the Gulf.
Spin. Live mullet in the wash. Same ocean as the rooster comb — the Pacific.
Indo-Pacific. Alphonse, St François, Farquhar — the reason the atoll week exists. Absent from the Atlantic and the Gulf. Do not print a GT on Galveston or Condado.
Fly. 12 wt. A big baitfish on the atoll edge. He will eat a popper. This is not a Texas jack.
Spin. Stickbait or a live bait on the pass. The eat is violent. Do not bring an 8-weight to a GT.