Winter Fishing Report

We’ve had a chilly winter by South Florida standards, with day time temperatures consistently in the 60’s. However, spring is right around the corner and we should start to see the first tarpon schools arrive in the Lower Keys this month. As for now, winter fishing remains in full swing and I’ve been staying busy with both inshore and offshore trips. Key West, is open to tourists and there are still mask and occupancy rules in most businesses. In November, Key West citizens voted in favor of 3 charter amendments, placing heavy restrictions on the types of cruise ships allowed to dock in Key West. If these amendments hold up against legislation in Tallahassee, there would be an enormous decrease in cruise ship traffic in Key West harbor; regardless of how Covid disrupts the industry. This should have a positive impact on the fishery around the Lower Keys

Anna with a Blackfin Tuna

Barracuda

The offshore bite has been hit or miss this winter. When the conditions get right, there’s been some of everything around, like blackfin tunas, sailfish, wahoo and mahis. I have been catching most of my fish with live pilchards or ballyhoos. On the good days, all the action has been under the frigate birds. When the offshore fishing slows up, the reef fishing has been producing its usual winter variety, like mutton snappers, cobia, kingfish and plenty of other species. I’ve brought the fly rod on some offshore trips this winter and we’ve caught a few nice fish on fly. We still use live baits to bring the fish to boat and cast the fly at your targeted species, once it’s in range.

Lower Keys Snook

On the really cold days, fishing in the backcountry has been challenging, when our water temperature gets into the low 60’s, we do not see much on flats. On the warmer days, there are still bonefish around and we’ve caught them in 67 degree water. As usual, Barracudas have been our main winter species and there have been some big fish on the flats. They are fun fish on a light spin gear and they eat a lot of different types of artificial lures. On our colder days, we have found a few redfish and snook around the mangroves. We do not have a large population down here, but it is a way to change it up from barracuda fishing on cold days.

Bonefish

Fall Fishing Report

Cobia

So far we have had a fairly mild fall down here in Key West, with the temperature in the mid to upper 70’s most days.  We have a few mild cold fronts, but the water temp inshore still hasn’t dipped under 72 degrees.  The island itself is slow right now, but we’re getting ready for the holiday rush.  The fishing has been solid all around, with plenty of options offshore and around the reef, as well as a lot of variety in the backcountry.  Typically, this time of year when I’m on the center console, I like fishing with live baits like pilchards, ballyhoo, herring and other baitfish.  Whether I’m offshore looking for sailfish and tunas or inshore fishing for muttons and red groupers, I like using live baits. 

Sailfish

Variety

Mahi fishing was spotty in the fall and we had a few sailfish and wahoo around in late October/early November. The offshore fishing dropped off for a couple weeks after that and just started picking up again this past weekend. The tunas started biting around the wrecks and a few sailfish showed up again. Besides the tunas, the offshore wrecks have been holding a variety of fish like cobia, mutton snappers, rainbow runners and other fish. Some of the fish have been caught on the bottom and others chummed in on the surface. On the breezy days we have been fishing on some of the inshore reefs and shallow rock piles. They can be good this time of year with muttons, red groupers, kings and a variety of other fish.

Bonefish

The fishing on the flats has been really good recently, the barracudas have started to show up and they have been aggressive the last couple weeks. The cuda fishing should stay pretty good as we head further into winter. The water temperature has been in the mid 70’s so we’re still seeing plenty of bonefish and permit on the flats. This time of year you can find some heavy bones around. We are even still seeing some schools of juvenile tarpon and they were eating pretty well the other day. Most likely the tarpon will be harder to come by as it gets colder, but you still have plenty of options down here in the winter.

Barracuda

Summer Fishing Report

So far the fishing this summer has been great, for the most part I have been fishing the backcountry and doing a lot of of tarpon fishing.  The past few months have been busy and the weather has been good overall.  The tarpon fishing has been decent since April and we had a lot more tarpon around this May, then last year.  The best time to fish them has been in the morning, but we’ve had some good afternoon and evening sessions too.  We actually had 2 palalo worm hatches this year, one on the backside of the full moon in May and one just after the new moon in June.  We found plenty of fish eating both times, but the bite was tough.       

If the tarpon bite slows up later on in the day, we have been moving in a little shallower and targeting bonefish and permit.  There have been a lot of bonefish around and the permit are starting to make their way back into the shallows.  The bonefish bite has been the most consistent thing going the past few months. We have seen big schools of fish on the ocean side and gulf side.  If you can get your fly or your jig out in front of these guys and move it the right way, they will usually eat it.  The permit have been more on the Gulf side, but just this past week I saw a few swimming on the the ocean side with the tarpon strings.  Hopefully we will start seeing a few more out front.

The offshore fishing has been slow so far this summer, there have been some dolphin around, but there’s been a lot of chickens and undersize fish. There have been a few skipjack tunas and small blakfins out in the deep too. The sargassum weeds have been super thick this year, and that has made it difficult to keep your lures clean while your trolling. The wrecks have been holding a variety of fish, like amberjacks, mutton snappers, groupers and other things. I like fishing the the bottom and middle of the water column with live baits, bonita strips and an assortment of jigs.

Hurricane Season Fishing Report

Tarpon

The fishing over the past few months has been great here in the Lower Florida Keys.  Overall, the weather has been mild and so far this year we have dodged the hurricanes.  The offshore fishing has been decent recently, we had a good mahi bite through July, but it died out as the dog days of summer set in.  The blackfin tunas started showing up around the last full moon, there were a lot of small fish, but some bigger ones were mixed in.  The pilchards have also started to show up along the south side of the Keys.  Both the pilchards and the tunas are promising signs for the upcoming fall and winter live bait season.

Red Grouper

During the summer months, the full day trips were the most successful.  Having the ability to run way to the west and fish the deeper reefs really paid off.  The mutton Snapper bite on the bottom was excellent and there were plenty of nice black groupers, red groupers, big porgies, amberjacks and other fish.  Blackfin tunas, kingfish, mahi mahi and bonitas were also caught on the surface or in the middle of the water column.  Usually on these trips, we’re using a combinations of live baits, dead baits and different artificial jigs and lures. 

Mutton Snapper

Fishing in the backcountry has been awesome the past few months.  We have had a lot of small tarpon hanging around the mangroves and in the bait schools. Targeting them with a 9wt fly rod or light spinning gear has been really fun.  Those fish should be staying put until the cold fronts start and then they become harder to find.  This is also a great time of year to target bonefish and there have been plenty of them around.  Not only do we have good numbers of bonefish down here, but late summer and early fall offer great conditions for targeting them with typically sunny skies and light winds.  It’s awesome to see big schools of bonefish waking across the flats during the low tides.

Bonefish

Spring Fishing Report

Mutton Snapper

Sailfish

Tarpon

Bonefish

       Well we have had a super wet spring here in the Lower Keys and we just encountered our first named storm of the Hurricane Season.  Weather aside, the offshore fishing has been excellent, with some of the best Sailfishing the Keys have ever seen.  We had a good push of sailfish in March and now again in May.  May is usually late in the sailfish season, but this year all the conditions were right and it turned on.  We have been looking for them around the color change and throwing live baits at them.  There have been plenty of big blackfin tunas around as well.  The dolphin fishing has been decent, we’ve found fish every time we went out, but we haven’t been able to put a big catch together this year.  The mahi fishing should just be getting better over the next couple months.

       Reef and wreck fishing has been consistent. The mutton snapper bite has been excellent this winter and spring.  We have caught them on the shallow reefs when the weather has been snotty and there have also been some big ones on the wrecks offshore.  There have been blackfin tunas, amberjacks and some rainbow runners on the offshore wrecks as well.  The yellowtail snapper fishing on the reef has been decent, usually you can find good action and nice size fish out there.

       The tarpon fishing in the backcountry has been inconsistent.  When we have the right weather the fishing has been good, but when the weather doesn’t cooperate, it makes it harder finding fish.  As it is, we have still had plenty of good days, especially with the fly rod.  We have hooked a few tarpon on fly this year that have been well over 100lbs.  The bite has been the best early and later in the day.  The bonefishing around Key West has been excellent, the days when the tarpon are not eating well, we’ve been going bonefishing.

December Fishing Report

Dolphin in December

Tuna

Mutton Snapper

     Winter fishing is in full affect around Key West.  For the last month we have been doing a lot of live bait fishing offshore and around the reef.  Pilchards and ballyhoo have been the bait of choice for the most part and they have been pretty easy to come by so far this year.  The tuna bite on the offshore wrecks has been excellent the past couple weeks now.  We have been able to catch them anytime during the day, but the bite around the evening has been the best.  Mixed in with the tunas have been bonitas, rainbow runners, kingfish and amberjacks.  Also, when we had nice, clean blue water, the dolphin and wahoo were around.  The mutton snappers have been on the bottom around the wrecks too.  The sailfishing has not been great, there have been a few fish around, but we haven’t seen any large numbers of fish yet this season.  The conditions are right for the sailfish to show up though.      

     Kingfish and cero mackerels are thick around on the reef.  We have been catching a lot of them as were yellowtailing, especially when the ballyhoo show up in the chum slick.  The yellowtail snapper bite has been consistent and the fish have been nice size.  Chunks of bonita and live pilchards have been working best bait for them.  There have also been some big mutton snappers on the shallow patch reefs.  This is the time of year to catch big muttons in shallow, as they move into the cooler water in the winter.  Pilchards and bonita strips will work on the muttons, but live ballyhoo are the preferred bait.

     For the most part, Barracudas are the main fish we target in the backcountry in the winter.  They prefer the cooler temperatures and they actually get more aggressive when it gets colder.  They are an awesome fish to target on light tackle or with a fly rod.  They will attack the lure or fly violently and they fight incredibly well.  It is no easy task catching a barracuda in shallow water.  Days when its super windy and hard to get out on the flats, we drift the basins for trout, snapper, ladyfish and jacks.  We have also been fishing the backcountry channels with live pilchards and you catch a variety of fish on live bait, from snappers and jacks to barracudas and mackerel.  Shark fishing in the backcountry is another fun activity when the wind is blowing.   

Barracuda

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