Artificial Lure here with your boots-on-the-ground fishing report for October 28, 2025, covering the Florida Keys and Miami. Let’s get into what’s biting, when, and where to point your rod for the best chance at bending it today.

First, the weather: Miami mornings are mild with a light east breeze, temps in the low 70s at sunrise, heading to the mid-80s by midafternoon. Skies are mostly clear with just a slight chance of a stray shower—ideal conditions for both inshore and offshore action. Sunrise hits at 7:31 AM, sunset at 6:49 PM, giving you plenty of daylight to chase that trophy.

Tidewise, Miami and the Upper Keys are working with a high at around 11:59 AM (2.95 ft) and a low just after daybreak before 6 AM, plus another lower tide at 6:04 PM—a solid swing for baitfish movement and predator activity (details from Fishing Reminder and Tide-Forecast.com). That mid-morning push should spark the bite along the beaches and bridges.

With cooling weather finally settling in, fish activity’s been on the upswing. Captains like those featured on Florida Insider Fishing Report and local guides have all noted quality catches. Inshore, expect plenty of schoolie snook and redfish staging up along mangrove edges and dock lines, especially toward first light. Live pilchards and finger mullet have been the go-to, but artificials like topwater plugs, paddle-tail soft plastics, and gold spoons are putting in work as well. Jigs tipped with shrimp are reliable, especially for trout and snapper.

If you’re working the bay or channels, mangrove snapper and sheepshead are grouping up on deeper structure. Shrimp, fiddler crabs, or small jigs dropped on light tackle will get them biting. Tarpon are scattered but dawn and dusk have produced some roller action under the lights—try a live mullet or drift a DOA baitbuster through the shadow lines.

Offshore, the fall mahi run’s kicking with good numbers of schoolies to gaffers reported just beyond the reef line, about 10–15 miles out. Trolling small feathers, strip baits, or chuggers in green-blue water edges has been productive, especially after 10 AM as current picks up. There’s also been a smattering of blackfin tuna and some wahoo on planer rigs. Boats chunking near the Hump have even seen a few sailfish show up, so don’t stow those wire leaders yet.

Stone crab season also opened up on the 15th, so keep an eye for trap buoys and maybe swap a few claws at the fish house after your trip—local news like AOL and Keys Weekly are talking a strong early harvest.

Hot Spots today:
- **South Beach Pier** for inshore snook and snapper, especially on the outgoing tide around dusk.
- **Miami Beach Marina and Government Cut**—sheepshead and snapper tight to structure, and schools of jacks running the dropoffs.
- **Channel edges off Islamorada and Long Key Bridge** are classic fall spots for everything from pompano to big mangrove snapper—work live shrimp or jigs with the falling tide this afternoon.

Best Baits and Lures:
- **Inshore:** Live pilchards, finger mullet, paddletails in new penny or electric chicken, MirrOlure topwaters at dawn.
- **Offshore:** Ballyhoo, bonita strips, blue/white feathers, cedar plugs, and chrome spoons for speedsters like tuna and wahoo.

It’s been a strong week for numbers—anglers have racked up good catches of mutton snapper, yellow jacks, mixed-size dolphin, snook, sea trout, and some early flounder. Don’t be surprised if you tie into a surprise permit or bonefish on the flats; this time of year, cooler water keeps blinds and channels alive.

Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure’s Florida Keys & Miami fishing report. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss the bite, and tight lines out there!

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