Hearing about the cold weather up north never seems to get old. Last week parts of the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest were hit with cold temperatures, heavy snow falls and high winds. Parts of Pennsylvania got buried under 17 inches of snow, and in Cape May, New Jersey a nor’easter slammed the town with 66 mph winds. Even parts of northern Florida experienced temperatures dropping below freezing.

It really makes you appreciate the year-round nice weather we get down here in the Keys- even when one of our “cold fronts” rolls through and we have to dig out the long pants for a few days. It’s much better than digging our cars out of the snow.

Last week I fished with Jack Kaska and Steve Bell from Chicago, who weren’t complaining a bit about temperatures dropping into the 60s. They were too busy making phone calls back home to their buddies asking them how they were enjoying Chicago’s first snow fall. They were rubbing it in pretty thick.

Kaska and Bell fished with me three straight days on the Best Bet. We began the first day by fishing the deep reef for yellowtail snapper and were having good success until the bull sharks and porpoises showed up. After we lost four or five fish to the toothy nuisances, flipper and his boys moved in and the schools of yellowtails vanished. We pulled the anchor and relocated.

Next we headed to the patch reefs and were able to load the box full of nice mangrove snapper. In the afternoon we headed back out in search of dolphin and found decent numbers of scattered fish. We landed a couple nice gaffers in the 15 pound class and jumped several more.

On day two we again started off fishing for yellowtails at the deep reef. This time Kaska and Bell knew they had to horse the fish in before the sharks could eat them and we were able to limit out on quality yellowtails, with some big flags thrown into the mix.

Later that day we decided to try our luck sailfishing. We slow trolled live baits in 130 feet of water and after ten minutes Bell was fighting his first ever sail. 25-minutes later we released the healthy fish back into the water and Bell was thrilled. He was pretty drenched already from backing down the boat on the fish so I spared him the dock toss back at the marina.

We finished day two deep dropping some wrecks and caught several nice mutton snapper up to 16 pounds, as well as a few amberjacks.

Day three greeted us with colder temperatures and 25-knot winds blowing from the North- Northeast. With rough conditions and a 28-hour drive still ahead of Kaska and Bell we decided to fish only a half-day. We headed back to the patch reefs and limited out on mangroves, with many nice fish near five pounds.

After three days of successful fishing Kaska and Bell loaded up the 92’ Chevy Camaro convertible and headed back up north. I can only imagine the conversation they were having at two in the morning when they left - “it’s 1,500 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, 75 pounds of fish fillets, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.”

Hopefully they had a safe drive back.

The fishing reports that I’ve been hearing around the docks have been pretty consistent over the past few weeks. Offshore the blackfin tuna action continues to be hot on the humps, while the dolphin have been scarce and far and few between. Daytime swordfish remains excellent and provides a unique opportunity to catch a once-in-a-lifetime fish. The best dolphin fishing continues to be in close and above the reef, and the sailfish numbers continue to grow every day.

Over in Florida Bay there have been good reports of large mangrove snappers being caught in the tall grass. The speckled trout bite has also been heating as up of late, but unfortunately the season is now closed and you’ll need to release all the specs you catch. Around the bridges and mangrove islands snook fishing has been incredible. Live baits continue to produce the best results.

Your BEST BET for the week ahead: Celebrate Veteran’s Day on November 11

Honor the men and women who have served, and who continue to serve in our Armed Forces. They’re the reason we can spend our days fishing the wonderful waters of the Florida Keys.

Be sure to visit TryCharterFishing.com to read next week's Florida Keys fishing report.