All things considered, September was a great month for fishing in the Lower Keys. We ended the month with a close call from Hurricane Helene, but we got lucky and it just missed us. The weather was still bad enough to keep us off the water for a few days, but we were back out catching fish shortly after it passed. The bonefish and tarpon fishing continue to be great and the permit fishing continues to be slow. Most of the tarpon are smaller, like 10-30lbs, but we still have a few big fish around. The flats fishing should be good for another month or so, until the cold fronts start and then it will get harder and less consistent. It has started to feel like fall the last few weeks, as a lot of different baitfish schools began showing up in the backcountry and the water is also starting to cool off after these last two storms brushed past us. Also, the birds of prey began their migration south and we spotted a few Kestrels, Cooper’s Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks and a few others.
July Fishing Report
Overall, July was a great month down here in the Lower Keys. Fishing for bonefish has been awesome, there are a lot of them on the flats right now. We’ve been seeing everything from single fish, to schools of 20 or more fish. Even days when we have tough lighting, we can wait for the the lower tides and target them when they’re tailing or pushing a wake. We were able to give 15 bonefish DNA samples to the Bonefish Tarpon Trust for research. Thank you, to all my clients who helped with that. Tarpon fishing has been good too, we have a bunch of smaller fish on the flats right now and few of the big ones are still hanging around. Permit fishing has still been a little slower than it should be, but were getting a few shots at them.
June Fishing Report
Although mother nature hasn’t been kind to us the last few days, overall the weather this past month has been awesome and the fishing has been great. Big tarpon are usually the goal this time of year, so that is what we’ve been focusing on. There have been a lot of tarpon in the Lower Keys right now and the fish have been eating most days. When we do go look for bonefish, that has been great too and you can get a lot of shots when the tide gets right out back. The fishing should remain excellent for the next couple months too. The big tarpon may start moving on soon, but there are always some fish hang around all summer and the bonefish and permit fishing should be just heating up.
