SORD HILTON’S WEEKLY SYNOPSIS
Week 18
It’s on. The season is officially here. We kick off this weekend with the first billfish tournaments of the Gulf circuit, the Billfish Extravaganza and Louisiana Gulf Coast Billfish Classic. We will start getting routine reports from the top fishing teams in the Gulf of Mexico over the next few weeks.
We anticipate that this next week is going to be incredible fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a combination of incredible water that has been hanging around our area, with a backflow eddie that pushed warm water, bait, and pelagics closer to the shelf, and the SST temp is 72+ across the entire Gulf of Mexico.
Sea Surface Temperature
There was a great SST shot this morning and we have zoomed in on the screenshot below so we can start to highlight a few areas where we believe there could be rips forming. We scaled the shot from 72-78 degrees to get this higher resolution. You will see just north of the spur there is a great rip that has been sitting in this area for quite a while now. We would expect that there is a sargassum line formed up right around there.
To the east towards the squiggles there’s also a potential rip area, denoted by the red line drawn on the map. You can also see a backflow eddie shooting into the madison swanson, with another rip towards the west there.
Altimetry
The upwelling continues to sit over the MS Canyon, which we are hoping brings incredible fishing to the Billfish Extravaganza and the Louisiana Gulf Coast Billfish Classic. The backflow eddie that shot into the spur area has now rescinded south and is sitting over Lloyds Ridge right now. There is a nice pocket of water sitting over the eastern fads and towards the squiggles.
Currents
The most interesting thing about the current shot right now is the strong current line between the FADs headed straight north towards Oriskany. This line also circles back around the nipple and yellow gravel area. We would expect that this area is holding pelagics like wahoos and blackfins around the structure that the current intersects. This can be sunken wrecks, ledges, or natural bottom areas.
Chlorophyll
We did not get a clear shot the last 3 days, so we are working off of a 7 day image. The shot does give a great view of what the water looks like in the Gulf of Mexico though, so check it out below!
Week 15
This week’s synopsis will be short and sweet, mainly due to the amount of cloud covering all of the major shots as this front rolls in. We have been hearing mixed reports across the Gulf, with nothing being “on fire” just yet. There have been a few yellowfin tunas caught at the FADs, swordfish at the spur, and we had a report of some wahoo caught closer in.
We are unsure about how the fishing is going to be this week close to shore as no one has had a banner trip just yet, but we are anticipating that the fishing picks up any moment now.
Sea Surface Temperature
The shot this week is a bit covered by clouds, but later tonight and into tomorrow we should hopefully get some clear shots. Get your subscription to Hilton’s before the season starts so you can check it out on the days that we are not writing a synopsis.
We have seen a small push of warm water that has made it to the Oriskany and the Ozark off of Pcola/Destin, but we are not extremely excited about this just yet. If you are headed out this week, focus on trolling over steel structure, or well-defined ledges because that will be the first place that the bait starts to hang out and then the wahoo are not far behind.
Altimetry
A nice upwelling has pushed through the MS Canyon ending around the double nipple area. If we were headed out today with unlimited range, we would start fishing near the ghetto rigs and then work our way further south. There is a backflow eddy that is pushing warmer water into our area on the east side of the Gulf of Mexico and it reaches about 40 miles from the squiggles. We are hoping that this continues to push a lot of warm water into our area.
A downside right now is the giant downwelling sitting in the green canyon that we anticipate will move into our area at some point once the backflow eddie moves further offshore.
Currents
The backflow eddie that we talked about last week is still moving strong, but it is turning to the west just south of the FADs. We are watching this closely to see if it brings more warm water into our area. If you subscribe to Hilton’s go take a look at the currents chart in the green canyon, it is a textbook backflow and a very wild one sending lots of currents into the green canyon area and is what we are hoping will move across the eastern Gulf of Mexico into our area.
Chlorophyll
There is no chlorophyll report today as the cloud cover is too extensive. You can see a 7 day shot below.
WEEK 14
We feel like kids right before Christmas morning just about every day now. There is an eager anticipation of what is to come this fishing season. Our Where The Map Turns Blue podcast has been churning out some incredible guest and with each one that comes on the podcast we get more and more excited about the next few months.
This week the warm water has inched closer and closer to shore and we are showing the nipple now sitting in 71-72 degree water. We heard reports of a few wahoo being caught inshore of that, so the fish are definitely here, just not in numbers yet.
Sea Surface Temperature
We had a crystal clear SST shot today that shows a nice temperature break once you get past the double nipple and onto the W Florida Slope. Inshore of that near the FADs and Nipple, we are seeing 71-73 degree water. The FADs should start holding bait regularly once the temperature increases 1 or 2 degrees from where it is at right now.
The rest of the Gulf is still either holding in a below 70 degree pattern close to land, or is staying within the 70-73 degree pattern. This should be the start of what we hope to be a hot pelagic season.
Altimetry
The altimetry this week is showing great water out near the Blind Faith, Thunderhawk, Thunderhorse, and Appomattox. These areas and structure should hold a TON of bait, as it is being constantly replenished with microorganisms from the upwelling. Closer in, near the shelf rigs and the FADs there is no up or downwelling happening in this area. This is not anything to be concerned about, we are focused on water temperature this time of the year more than anything.
Currents
We are watching a backflow eddie that is to the east of the W Florida Slope and that will hopefully bring the warmer water closer in. This is the current that is spinning off into the upwelling that we see in the Altimetry chart. You can see where the current hits the stagnant water as that rip line that is highlighted on this chart. This would be a phenomenal area to start fishing if you are headed that far out.
Chlorophyll
The bluewater has pushed into the FADs right now and there is a mass of blended blue-green water that is near the nipple/131 hole area. There is nothing specific to note about the Chlorophyll right now, but we will continue to watch it.
WEEK 13
Is it about to be the weekend of the year?
- It’s a Good Friday and Easter Sunday
- With a great weather window on Saturday
- And warm water inching closer to the shelf
We have been intensely watching the warm water that moved through the fads and pushed towards the southwest ledge from Destin. The reason that we are so hyper focused on this is because this time of the year we are looking for pockets of warmer water that have intersected with great bottom structure to start targeting wahoos. Once the warm water passes through the Nipple, Southwest Ledge, and gets within 20 miles of land we usually have incredible pelagic fishing until the beginning of November.
This week we are forecasting above average pelagic fishing as long as you can reach where the warmer water has pushed in. I would also expect a few boats that commit to live baiting for blue marlin to come in with incidental bluefin tuna bycatch.
Sea Surface Temperature
As mentioned above, we are looking at this chart very closely. You will see the warm water that we talked about above moved into the Nipple area with a few pockets of colder water still hanging around. Where the temperature breaks are along this warm water push, we would start looking for floatsam forming little rip lines. Even if you find a rip line thats only a few hundred yards long, it is worth putting baits in and trolling it. We have had success catching 40+ pound mahi off smaller rip lines.
The natural bottom area on the shallow side of the steps would also be a great area to start targeting wahoos this time of the year as the water has warmed up to 72-73 degrees in that area. All of the rigs in the MS Canyon are fair game right now for small schoolie yellowfins and there are probably a handful of bigger ones mixed in.
Altimetry
There is not much to write home about in the altimetry shot this week. Most of our area is covered in water that does not have an upwelling or a downwelling. There is an upwelling that is further south around the Ocean Blackhornet/Thunderhawk/Thunderhorse.
Currents
There also is not much to write about the current this week. The giant backflow eddie that had moved into our area a month ago has now completely moved out and back south of Lloyd’s Ridge. There is a small current line running north to the W Florida Slope, throwing currents to both the east and west. The current from the Double Nipple all the way north back to land is stagnant and not moving much.
Chlorophyll
We had a funky shot of the Chlorophyll last night, so I would check back into your Hilton’s subscription tonight to see if we get a clear shot. Sometimes the satellite does not get perfectly clear shots when it passes over the Gulf of Mexico and in turn it can create shots like this. I would expect that the warm water on the SST shot should mirror closely to where you will find clearer, more blue water.
Week 12 - March 21st
Yesterday could be summed up in a single sentence: A wrong weatherman with a hot bite. The forecasted seas were calling for less than 10mph winds out of the north and seas less than a foot for the whole day. It ended up being 2-3’s with a few 4s mixed into there not even a few miles out of the pass. The people who stuck through the snotty inshore conditions were rewarded with blue marlins, dolphins, and a few nice sized blackfins.
We are looking forward to the fishing picking up these next few weeks and it definitely feels like fishing season has officially arrived. This week we are forecasting another HOT bite around floating structure and for swordfishing as the moon phase is just right for the next 4 days.
Sea Surface Temperature
The SST shot from today had a ton of cloud cover, but still enough visibility to gain some insights from it. There is a push of warm 74+ degree water hanging around both the eastern and western FADS as well as at the Double Nipple and south of there in the MS Canyon. It looks like some warmer water is moving towards the shelf right now near the Oriskany and Ozark, with the bait most likely not far behind. It could be any week now that we start to see wahoos, tunas, and king mackerel start to show up inshore around the ledges.
Altimetry
There is an area of upwelling that has consistently stayed a bit further south of the MS Canyon. This area should be holding everything from tunas to billfish right now and it should be any day that someone comes home flying a nice stringer of flags. There is an area of no movement or 0 water hanging out around the FADS and the Double Nipple right now, which we do not see any negative or positive effect of this 0 water. We would look for areas that have warmer water and stronger current lines within the 0 water area to then find the fish.
Currents
We had been watching a backflow eddie for the last 4 weeks move into our area and then subsequently move out of our area. It looks like that same eddie has stayed put over the W Florida Slope and could be making a move back to the north. This is the eddie that brought with it tons of warm water and the great fishing that we had this past week. We are hoping that it continues to move north and make a final push of the warm water into shore.
Chlorophyll
The blue water continues its push into the shelf. If you guys remember last year around April we saw that the blue water pushed almost 6 miles away from the Destin pass and it was the prettiest water we have seen in our 12+ years living in Destin. We are hoping for a repeat of that and right now that water is lingering near the Ozark, Oriskany, and Maritimer. It looks like it has stopped right near the southwest ledge from Destin. The blue water is very much linked with the SST chart right now, so if you see pockets of warm water pushed in close, you can assume the water will be a bit prettier there than the surrounding water.
There is blue water sitting over the spur right now, which should lead to a hot swordfish bite as we approach the full moon and the few days following the full moon. The MS Canyon is completely covered in blue water if you are making the run out to the rigs.
