August was pretty slow down here in the Lower Keys and some of the restaurants have started to close for a few weeks, during our slow season. We had some tourists around early in the month for the start lobster season and there were some people around last weekend for the holiday, but overall it’s been quiet. Although, it may feel like the fall in some parts of the country, it still feels very much like summer down here and it will for at least another month. The flats fishing last month was consistently good for tarpon and bonefish and it should stay that way well into October. If you can deal with the heat, this is a great time of year to visit the keys for a few different reasons; you can find better deals on flights and hotels, the fishing is still good and there is not a lot pressure on the fish right now.
March Fishing Report
Blackfin Tuna
Overall, the fishing in Key West was good in March, the tuna fishing was awesome offshore, but we did not have the sailfish bite we were hoping for. We did catch a few sails, but not in any great numbers. The afternoon tuna trips have been really popular with my clients and the bite was consistent. Besides tunas, the wrecks offshore have been productive with amberjacks, mutton snappers, rainbow runners and a few african pompano. There has also been a lot of action with kingfish and bonitas as well. The water offshore has looked beautiful and hopefully in April, we will start to see some mahi show up out there.
In the backcountry we kept busy catching barracudas on the flats, they have been biting really well. We had a good speckled trout bite in the basins. That was really nice on windy days when working the flats was tough, you can drift the basins and catch trout and other species. When the water has been warm enough, we have seen some permit and bonefish, but March was probably the coldest month this winter. The tarpon have finally started to show up around Key West, we haven't seen any big schools yet, but the fish we have found have been eating.
Rainbow Runner
February Fishing Report
Sailfish Release
We have had a great month of fishing here in Key West and the winter weather has been cooperative too. The tuna bite offshore has been awesome, typically we have been doing afternoon/evening trips to target the tunas with live pilchards around the offshore wrecks. We have caught plenty of other fish on the pilchards as well, such as bonitos, amberjacks, jack crevalles and mutton snappers. The sailfish bite has been consistent over the last month; we have had a few days with multiple hook ups, including one day when we caught 5 fish out of 5 bites. All the sailfish have been caught on live baits like, goggle eyes, pilchards, and ballyhoo. There has been a lot of action on the reef with some nice mutton snappers and kingfish.
We have being seeing a lot fish in the backcountry this past month too. The typical winter species like barracudas, sharks, and jacks have been around, but there has been a good amount of bonefish and permit. The Tarpon haven't really showed up yet around Key West, but any day now we should start to see some big schools of fish popping up.
Blackfin Tuna