October 10, 2020
By Florida Sportsman
Recent inshore fishing reports from the Florida Keys.
Latest from Bud 'n Mary's
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
Snook fishing has been great lately, including this pig caught in the Keys.
Bud 'n Mary's is well-known for being one of the best areas in Florida to book a charter. With reports like these, it's easy to see why.
In the most report from forum member syxx, he says, "Capt. Rick Stanczyk enjoys a day of fishing with his father Richard Stanczyk Sr. and their friend Russ. It's a prefrontal conditions- calm, light winds out of the north, and overcast. Perfect for some epic fishing. The boys get on to some monster snook. Richard Sr. also gets into a few reds and a tarpon. And Russ catches his first goliath grouper, a monster 100 pounder on light tackle! It was an awesome day out of Bud 'n Mary's."
https://youtu.be/YqwHdLiEvCQ
In his report from the week prior, he had another stellar trip. "Capt. Rick Stanczyk takes his father, Richard Stanczyk Sr., along with friends Brandon 'Bean' Storin and Astrid DeGruchy for a day of snook fishing. The four start out the day fishing some gulf structure for linesider snook. They get into some nice fish, but nothing super huge. Some great footage though and lots of fun action. They look for a few tripletail mid-day, as The Bean is obsessed with them! They finish up putting some tarpon baits out, in hopes of a tarpon, and low and behold a big snook eats a tarpon bait! Astrid lands the beastly fish and it's a great end to the day!"
Want more reports from Bud n Mary's? Subscribe to our
Action Spotter Podcast where we speak with Capt. Nick Stanczyk each week where he reports the latest in fishing in the Keys region.
Click here to see the 10/5 forum report.
Click here to see the 9/30 forum report.
Keys Backcountry Success
Florida Sportsman member: piner_wahoo1
Weather has been beautiful and the fish have taken notice. Backcountry fishing in the Keys has been on fire. And on top of that, fishing is a great way to socially distance!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Backcountry and the Reefs
Florida Sportsman member: islandhopper, syxx & piner_wahoo1
Tarpon have shown up strong the last week in the backcountry. Thousands of them! Fishing has been truly incredible. We've caught them every day back there and got four one day many around the 100 pound mark. Great to see! Looks like we have some cold weather coming through and that may slow things down a bit, but it's probably a good thing in the long run. Some feel you don't want it to be too good too early as it can hamper the later season. Big sharks have been around. We had four tarpon get grabbed in five days back there. Luckily, none were eaten and all got away, but it was still pretty scary. One even tried to grab a 100 pound tarpon out of my anglers hands as he held it for a photo. Watch your hands out there!
Click here to see islandhopper's forum report.
Click here to see syxx's forum report quoted above.
Click here to see piner_wahoo1's forum report.
Variety in Flamingo
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
Regular clients Jim & Gwen had a great day a couple days ago out of Flamingo after the cold snap. They get into a hot bite at the end of the day catching some very nice snook, black drum, and redfish. The redfish is Jim's biggest to date! Nice showcase of the excellent backcountry fishing you can find in the Everglades in January, and just another day in the Florida Keys.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Lots of Everglades Tarpon
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
We landed a big 130 pound tarpon in the Everglades out of Islamorada yesterday. A massive school showed up with the warm, calm weather finally. Although the big front that is coming in the few days will probably shut 'em down. I do think we'll have an early start to the season, so look out in February!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Monster Snook, Cobia and Redfish
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
We caught a small cobia, a few trout, and several catfish. We spent about two hours hitting a half dozen different spots. Finally, we got a decent black drum. We then rewound and tried some of the same things over again, just at a different stage of the tide. Sure enough, one spot we got a nice big redfish of about 18 pounds, then a 20 pound snook, and then a monster 40 pound cobia! Finally last stop of the day, we caught a few more trout and catfish and jacks. Then I got a big bite and a drag screamer of a snook! About a 25 pound snook, wow! Probably the biggest I've caught myself personally.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bridge Mix
Florida Sportsman member: dihrd
Sometimes it's nice to keep it simple. My cousin and I took the little boat to 7 mile. The first fish of the day was a 23” mutton. One of five we caught today. We caught several yellow jacks and kept one for sashimi. We also managed several red and black grouper, mangrove snapper, yellowtail snapper, spanish mackerel, a small goliath grouper, a 17” lane snapper and my cousins first pork fish. All fish were caught on cut fresh ballyhoo or live pilchard on light rods, 14 pound leader, and Carolina rigs. There is fun fishing and fresh fish dinners available, don't over look your local bridge.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Kayak Patch Reef Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest
I put my chum bag out and started trickling out cut up pieces of pilchards to get some bottom activity going. Ceros, yellow jacks, and a variety of snappers were all biting. My secret bait is mullet chunks, so I cut steaks out of them and used them on a knocker rig. Also, pulled a nice mutton as well doing the same thing.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Red Grouper Galore
Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest
I hit the jackpot when I spotted a school of Sandy Key pilchards schooling right at the launch. I was able to fill my bucket with a couple dozen nice big ones with just one throw of the net. Right away I started pulling in red grouper after red grouper after red grouper. They were spitting up the mullet pieces that I had thrown out, so I think that was the ticket to get these guys fired up. Also picked up some nice yellowtails and mangroves.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Permit On The Flats
Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest
I headed out back to work the flats on a negative tide day. I got there an hour and a half before low tide and picked up a couple of blue crabs. To do this yourself, find soft sand spots and drop a single crushed up shrimp and then scoop them up with a dip net. I cruised the channels a bit until the incoming and then spotted a school working their way up onto the flats. I missed the school, but found another one cruising up the same path. A well placed crab and fish on. Nice 34" to the tail 29.5" to the fork. It was a great fight on an Esky 7' light rod.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Back to Islamorada
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
We found a bunch of bait early on, which we got a few throws on and loaded the wells. Tarpon was on Trent's list. I told him we'd been catching a few, but we've had to put a little time in as they weren't pulling us out of the boat quite yet with the chillier water. But things have warmed up each day and today I think the water was close to 80 degrees back there. We didn't see a lot of tarpon at first, but I thought we were in a few of them. We set up and within ten minutes had a big shark on. Then about five minutes later, Trent had a nice tarpon on!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Islamorada Backcountry
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
Fishing has been absolutely nothing less than stellar most days. We've had insane numbers of redfish in the backcountry, more than I've ever seen. Just about every guide you talk to will tell you it's better than it has ever been! Snook fishing has been pretty good as well, though it's sometimes hard to get through the redfish to catch them in some areas! Black drum have been in and out. It was better a few weeks ago when it was a bit colder, though it's been warm for the last couple weeks, so they've thinned out. A few suprise cobia have also been landed on light tackle, which is always rewarding. Can't wait to see what January has in store.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Red Hot Patch Reef Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Captain Easy
The Patch reef fishing in the shallow water inside the edge of the reef has been red hot this past week. Mutton fishing has been especially good with plenty of fish as well as several large muttons on our last few trips aboard the Captain Easy. There's also been a mix of yellowtails, mangroves, and several red groupers we released with the red grouper closure coming early this year. Fishing has been best on the 15 to 20 foot patches especially with the right current and slightly dirty water.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Fishing and Diving Marathon
Florida Sportsman member: Klinger
My oldest daughter, youngest brother, his wife, his oldest son and his wife made up this weeks crew. The ladies mostly prefer fishing, so we only dropped on enough spots to pick up a couple of lobster meals for the week. It was a bit rough every day except for Friday, but were able to get out every day except for the two sightseeing and shopping days during the passing of the tropical storm.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Epic Tarpon Bite
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
I told the boys fishing was pretty good yesterday and we had ideal conditions today, so it likely would be again. We joked about possibly setting the season record again as I told them I broke it yesterday. Low and behold we went and did that and didn't jinx ourselves! We caught the start of the falling tide and found a huge school of tarpon that had moved in from the Gulf. Pretty, green water and I just knew they would be happy. Our first two baits that hit the water yielded a double header within a few minutes! A big 100 pound fish and a smaller 40 pounder. We had to chase the 100 pounder down and that was the biggest fish I've had landed in over a month or so. We ended up catching two more double headers after that – just ridiculous! After that we had a few singles, missed a few fish, including two more double headers, and Derek got a nice cobia that swam up by the boat. After that the tarpon seemed like they slowed down a hair, but we continued picking away at them. We got a big lemon shark too. Conrad had a big tarpon that we thought was a lemon and we cranked the drag down hard on him almost to try and break him off, but decided better of it. Turns out, it was a nice 90 pound tarpon that just didn't want to jump and was doing erratic, head-shaking runs like a shark! The tide eventually quit on us and we were about to call it quits, having beaten my record already. Then we ended up hooking another double header! Unfortunately, one of those fish came unbuttoned, but Andy got his for the final fish. The boys went 16 for 20 for just a magical day here in Islamorada, Florida fishing for tarpon.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Hot Inshore Keys Bites
Florida Sportsman member: Make It Happen, kayakerinkeywest & piner_wahoo
From a nice tangle with a tarpon on fly, to a very successful reef trip, the Keys inshore fishing is on fire right now! Check out the latest reports here to get on some fish of your own.
Click here to see the Key Largo reef report.
Click here to see the Key West fly fishing tarpon report.
Click here to see the backcountry mixed bag report.
Keys Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: latitudeajustment, mikegoblue2002 & flyrodorbust
Latitudeajustment had luck with some spanish mackerel and seatrout in the gulf. Mikegoblue2002 vacationed in Marathon and reported snapper, grunt, bluefish, mackerel, porgies and even a few eels! Flyrodorbust convinced porgies, grunts, snapper, and red grouper to all bite. "Shrimp, squid, ballyhoo: the yellowtail hit everything with reckless abandon." To read more info on how and where these catches took place, check out the links below.
Click here to see latitudeajustment's forum report.
Click here to see mikegoblue2002's forum report.
Click here to see flyrodorbust's forum report.
Permit Surprise
Florida Sportsman member: NauticalWheeler
A nice surprise from today. The current was ripping, the wind was building to near 20 knots, and we were drifting with the trolling motor on level 10. We were doing what we could to hide from the wind and bend the rod, catching mangrove snappers in a 15-foot-deep channel with these little minnow-imitating 2-3" silver jigs. Then, something big hit. The usual list of suspects went through my mind. Shark? Big jack? Cobia? Tarpon? Ray? Grouper? Nope! If you asked me to explain why a permit would hit this minnow-looking thing, I don't have a clue. But over the past couple of Aprils, we've caught three permit and have jumped multiple tarpon on these silly little jigs, and lots of other species. It made a mess of the hooks though.
Click here to see the full 4/14 forum report.
Upper and Lower Keys Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: dodger31 & piner_wahoo
"We rented a boat in Key Largo and fished three days heading out around Rodriguez Key. We could never really troll comfortably due to E or NE winds, but the reef fishing kept us very busy. No real monsters, but lots of action on grunts and porgies as well as mangrove, mutton and yellowtail snapper. Each trip to the Keys I have gotten better at chumming up yellowtail and this trip we probably caught 40 or so, but very few keepers. The craziest and tastiest fish of the trip were two sand tilefish we caught in about 50 feet over a sand patch when the anchor wouldn't hold in six foot seas. Those things are ugly, but delicious! We cooked them up poor man's lobster style and everyone loved them. Most of our action was on the reefs in 20-50 feet of water with lots of chum!" Says dodger31.
Meanwhile, piner_wahoo reports nice mackerel fishing off Content Pass and showed off a 30" spanish that went home for some fish dip. He suggests hitting this pass when the reefs are not productive.
Click here to see dodger31's forum report.
Click here to see piner_wahoo's forum report.
Seeing Silver
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
We fished for tarpon most of the day. It was slow to start. The water was pretty chilly, with the wind still cranking, and it was overcast for most of the morning. The water temperatures were down in the high 60's, again, though it warmed up nicely throughout the day. We had good shark action early on with several bull sharks, some black tips and spinners, and couple big sting rays. Once the tide started coming in a few tarpon started to show. We moved around a bit and Billy hooked one up! About a 50 pounder, not super large, but fun size as I like to call them. He put on a good battle. Walter hooked one about the same size, but this one we got very good pictures of which was cool. After that things slowed down we had another shark bite that cut us off and then we were about out of bait so we went jigging with our artificials for the last 45 minutes. We found a handful of healthy looking trout and then headed on home.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Tarpon Time
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
I had figured with the warming spell the tarpon would probably show up big today. A few guides reported seeing some late yesterday starting to move through. We found them and though the water was still chilly to start at 69 degrees. They were happy and it warmed up fast throughout the day. Both the guys caught a tarpon and we hooked three more, but they didn't want to stay on the hooks for us! There was also good shark action and a monstrous sting ray too. We wrapped up around noon and headed home. Looks like tomorrow should be more of the same. The winds are supposed to kick up a little over the next few days as we get another cold front, but hopefully we will get some decent tarpon action for a couple more days before the temperatures drop again.
Click here to see the 3/18 forum report.
Quick Bite off the Beach
Florida Sportsman member: piner_wahoo
Forum member piner_wahoo reported good fishing two miles off the beach near Hawk's Cay. He had a well rounded mixed bag in short order that consisted of mangrove snapper, yellowtail snapper, spanish mackerel, and a nice king mackerel.
Click here to see the 3/15 forum report.
Backcountry Keys King
Florida Sportsman member: piner_wahoo
Check out this nice king the well-known Captain Harlan of American Allegiance Charters put his client on. The also managed some nice yellowtail, mangrove snapper and a spanish mackerel.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Monster Tarpon
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
We caught some fresh bait to start the day. We had to look around a little but got one good throw on 'em. We made a run into the backcountry in search of silver. We finally got into some clean water and found a big load of tarpon! Irv ended up getting two large fish of 150 pounds and 110 pounds to the boat. We also caught plenty of sharks, including a few bruiser black tips that were lots of fun. Around noon, we decided to look for tripletails and caught a couple, but then the wind really cranked up like crazy!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Islamorada Tarpon Action
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
Mackerel fishing was very good early on with lots of decent size fish. After an hour or so of that we had enough and then gave the tarpon a try. The water was still a little chilly but just getting in that range where you may get a shot or two. Well we were lucky and Larry got to catch two tarpon, one about 110 lbs and the other about 140 lbs! Big migraters that we often see in the early part of season. We stuck it out and tried to get Joe one but didn't have any more bites the last hour or so that we fished, but the tide had slowed down and things seem to quiet down.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Epic Islamorada Backcountry
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
Once we got set up and the tide started moving in, it was game on. Pam and Lars each landed well into the double digits on snook, and quite a few 'big girls' for us. The multiple double headers were a blast! We also had quite a few black drum and nice redfish too. Very good to see the reds, as they've been hard to find especially in the summertime, as much of their habitat has been beat up due to algae blooms and grass die off. But in the winter, they do show up in the 'winter time holes' along with their cousins the black drum, snook, and sheepshead. We also saw several small tarpon rolling about. I didn't have much hope that they would bite, but knew it was a possibility. We kept throwing in their direction, and soon Pam hooked and landed a nice 25 pound tarpon!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Key Largo Patch Reef Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: CaptainHeiko
"I think I need to be in 50-60 feet water to find the bigger yellowtails. I caught a ton of small ones, some keeper snapper and a short grouper among other things." Forum member CaptainHeiko lured them in with two bags of chum. It seemed the yellowtail were fired up for the frozen glass minnows he presented, while the mangrove snapper preferred fresh cut ballyhoo. He used a 1/16oz snapper jighead attached with a loop knot on a spinning rod. The short grouper that were caught went after a whole ballyhoo that had a 6/O circle hook through its tail. Some small grunts also went after the ballyhoo. He ended up going home with a few mangrove snapper to fry up.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Key West Inshore Report
Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest
The water is still a murky, dusty green, with that sort of rotting plant smell to it coming off the islands. It took a bit, but I was able to locate the big schools of pilchards I saw before the storm. They were not spread out along the flats, but huge schools were in the deep cuts along the channels. Both days only took one throw of my 6' net, which produced overflowing two buckets worth. I used these for chummers to get things started and freelined them back for lots of rod bending action. The first day was all jacks, and the second was all juvenile tarpon.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Reef Fishing Lower Keys
Florida Sportsman member: latitudeajustment
I headed southwest into some sloppy seas on a solo trip, hoping once again for the elusive mahi. There were no takers on the deep troll except for bonito. I headed back in to the reef and it was non-stop action. I was using a variety of cut bait, but once the bull sharks arrived, it was all over I lost a ton of fish and multiple rigs, but just great action every drop kind of day, with some very quality table fare.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Fishing Trip in Marathon
Florida Sportsman member: Soda Popinski
The water was still dead calm, so rather than waste a moment, we grabbed a box of chum and headed back out around 8:30 for a night raid on the reef. We started drifting in 60' with the chum bag out and cut pinfish as bait hoping for yellowtails and maybe mangos. We were using 1 1/2oz knocker rigs with 10'of 12 pound flouro. I'm reeling in grunts and my son is missing the bite for whatever reason, so I sabiki up some live bait in the chum slick and throw it out on a freeline with a circle hook and a wire leader. About 20 minutes in, sure enough the reel starts screaming and he's on. We get the gaff, get him in and get our first king on ice.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Big Pine Key Variety
Florida Sportsman member: Viking
On a recent trip to Bahia Honda State Park, I was able to find plenty of areas to catch tarpon, bonefish and plenty of other varieties of fish. This video covers how to identify productive areas and the baits used to catch fish.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Lower Keys Tarpon Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest
I had been smacking the tarpon pretty good before this wind started today. Hopefully this last week will be a great start to the tarpon season.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Key West Backcountry Meat Hunt
Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest
Had a couple of buddies who needed some eater fish for the weekend. We went out on Friday with Jose to the Gulf side backcountry for some cero's and snapper.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Big Pine Key Mackerel
Florida Sportsman member: piner_wahoo
There are some cero mackerel pushing ten+ pounds right now. Unfortunately, there's also lots of sharks out as well.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Keys Tarpon
Florida Sportsman member: kmagnuss
In three nights of fishing we jumped 37 tarpon, 14 were landed. Out of the 37, all but two were over 50 pounds. I would estimate that at least 25 of them were over 80 pounds.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Big Pine Key Mackerel
Florida Sportsman member: latitudeajustment
Mrs. LA and I made a crack of noon start today and headed out back to see what we could find. Thankfully, the macks came to play.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Lobster in the Keys
Florida Sportsman member: latitudeajustment
I made a late run yesterday and thankfully scored two for my wife's birthday. We got out today and found a few more. Great times and great eats!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Keys Backcountry Mackerel and Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: piner_wahoo
Get some macks, lite off the smoker, it's fish dip season! And tax time, too, but the tax man came to the boat this time. It was a 10' bull who was very bitey. Snapping and biting at boat, fingers, etc.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Keys Backcountry Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: piner_wahoo
Senior forum member
piner_wahoo and some friends have had two consecutive successful days out in the Florida Keys backcountry. They left with some nice lobster, trout, snapper and grouper- but not without a lot of work.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Cudjoe Key Permit
Florida Sportsman member: Bonecracker
After three solid days of poling her around all over the Keys from Marathon to Cudjoe all we had to show for our efforts but a sunburn and some empty beer bottles. Well all the stars lined up on Wednesday and we finally had a permit actually eat a live crab! The fish fought hard for 15 to 20 minutes and finally it turned over on its side near the boat and finally gave up!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Lower Keys Bonefish
Florida Sportsman member: torchkey
The flats were active with sharks, barracuda, and bonefish. Had some good shots at bones and ended up with a couple of nice fish. Ended the day catching some trout for the dinner table. It was a good day to be on the water!
Click here to see the full forum report.
August in Islamorada
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
Though my best days this week we landed 9 out of 12 tarpon in two trips, most in the 30 to 60 pound range. I've been fishing mostly fresh mullet that we catching first thing in the morning still in the backcountry. In the bays the trout and snapper fishing has been best out closer to the gulf. Here the water is cooler and also alive with various baitfish such as ballyhoo, pilchards, pinfish, mullet, and more.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Tarpon Time in the Keys
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
I've been fishing tarpon since the first week of February and we've had pretty good early season fishing but now the real big schools are showing up. Just a few days ago we had a 5 fish day with most fish in the 60-100 pound range.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Upper Keys Bonefish
Florida Sportsman member: Tailinreds05
We caught the last two hours of the falling tide and that's when I picked up this chubby tailer with a well placed live shrimp. Had two other shots on the falling tide but couldn't get them to eat. After the mid morning slack wore off and the tide started pushing in, the fish started showing themselves again.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Fall Fishing in Islamorada
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
If you put your time in you can usually produce a bite or two, though not a guaranteed thing. Mullet is still the go-to bait, you just have to find them usually early in the morning. We've also been having some luck with big goliath groupers in the gulf plus plenty of big sharks such as bulls and lemons [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bahia Honda Slam
Florida Sportsman member: DogDoc
After a late night trip yesterday, we thought the best way to catch the midday outgoing tide while the winds allowed was to run up to Bahia Honda again. David and I bucked the east wind to reach the protection of the bridge, but found little relief from the wind and waves when we got there. The wind direction quartered the current, augmenting the waves and making it hard to keep baits where they needed to be. Weeds were also a bigger problem than last week.
We had several hits and drag pulls before the first hookup, but that ended up being a nice 75-pound tarpon. A few minutes later another hit but no hookup, then a bait down deep was taken. The fish ran long but stayed deep, and when we caught up with it we were pleasantly surprised that it was a 40-pound permit.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Biscayne Bonefish
Florida Sportsman member: Tailinreds05
Decided to take a break from the back country out of islamorada and fish Biscayne with a buddy of mine. We left islamorada at 6 and drove up to card sound to get the skiff wet. We cruised the 25 miles or so out to the flats of Biscayne and I finally connected to the infamous grey ghosts. All it took was a trip out of Florida bay and the flats that I have come to love since moving to the keys over a year ago. We were throwing fly most of the day but this guy took a live shrimp. The fight was awesome 150 yards of line taken in 10 seconds.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Lower Keys Permit
Florida Sportsman member: swordslayer71
Had a very short window of opportunity today due to time constraints, but definitely not due to weather. It was absolutely gorgeous. Flat calm and clear water, which is perfect for sight fishing Permit on the reef line. We took 3 crabs with us for 3 people. It took us about 5 minutes to start seeing a few small wads here and there and then we started seeing bigger packs. Once we found the larger groups it was game on and we traded in those crabs for 3 Permit.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Lower Keys Cobia
Florida Sportsman member: swordslayer71
Today I had some time off and decided to go into the backcountry and hide from the wind. We were fishing one of my favorite summertime grouper spots in about 7 feet of water when the man in the brown suit decided to start inhaling the chum. I quickly plopped a pinfish in his face and after a good fight he was in the boat. We played around for a little while longer with some more mackerel and snapper then picked up and headed in. Tight lines.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Islamorada Backcountry
Florida Sportsman member: action88
This cool weather is stirring things up a bit and the bite has been good-excellent, we had a few days in a row where we were catching 40 to 80 redfish in a day with some small snook and black drum mixed in. The permit showed up yesterday in a spot and we hooked 8 landing. We fought one for an hour and lost her right next to the boat. I estimate it at around 55-pounds, but we will never really know ( but makes a good story). Mixed in with the permit in the area were gag grouper, jewfish, and cobia.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Life is Good in Flamingo
Florida Sportsman member: scottbrown
With weather finally cooling off slightly in The Everglades, fishing patterns are going through a transition period which has been resulting in some unbelievable action some days and other days are leaving anglers wondering what happened. Game fish like redfish, snook and trout have yet to take their winter refuge in the deeper canals and channels of Florida bay but are still very aggressive during higher tidal stages around mangrove shorelines and points north of the cape [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
Windy Days in Islamorada
Florida Sportsman member: action88
Well the wind is blowing and the weekend fishing report was SLOW for us, we managed a few fish for the "Casting for Cats" tournament on Saturday, but did manage the largest catfish award (winch my wife is extremely proud of). Sunday we managed 12 snook and that was it. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week was a different story, on Wednesday we fished skinny in the HPX and caught 20 or so so reds to 27 inches and some BIG snook all on jerkbaits close to home in Islamorada [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
Islamorada Backcountry
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
Well we had a gentle breeze out of the north this morning on 10/16/12, which had swung out shoreside of the cape area. Tides were extremely low back there this morning, lots of bird life including tons of roseattes showing up for the winter time. October fishing in Islamorada is great! We ran back to the cape today and hit some snook spots early on the low water, however not much action on the pinfish did catch a couple and miss a couple but the fish were funny [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
Solid Inshore Bite In Islamorada
Florida Sportsman member: action88
Well, I have definitly not been fishing as much, but the days we are going out the bite has been good to excellent. The flats of Florida Bay and the Flamingo area are holding lots of redfish to 33 inches, they are taking jerkbaits and flies, having a 30-plus fish day is not uncommon if you can get the bait to them. The snook are biting good, some days catching 20-plus fish with some big ones mixed in [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
October Fishing in Islamorada
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
October fishing in Islamorada is upon us! We've had some very low tides as of late, almost spring-like tides very unusual! Took my dad, Richard Stanczyk Sr., girlfriend Elizabeth Baxter, and one of the new main men at Bud n' Mary's Steven Byrd out for a day of fun fishing. Left early again out at 6:00 AM and made the run partially in the dark to the cape for some everglades snook fishing, deep into the everglades up around the bend of the mainland! [...]
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Key West Flats Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: Capt. Gregg McKee
I've been lucky enough to spend two long weekends in Key West over the last month and even luckier to spend them on the bow of Capt. Mike Bartlett's skiff. Mike is the kind of guide who will pull up to a flat and say "We should start seeing some bones here in about 15 minutes," and 20 minutes later we'll be landing our first fish [...]
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Islamorada Catch Report
Florida Sportsman member: action88
Hey y'all, well most of my days still are being spent in ENP chasing snook and reds and the fishing has been HOT, literally! The snook bite has tapered down some but we had some days catching 50 plus fish to 20 pounds. The redfishing is as good as it gets with most days catching 20 plus slot sized fish, with the rare exception of that 22 pounder we caught in a creek [...
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Islamorada Redfish
Florida Sportsman member: Lostmen Dan
Went down on Tuesday early to beat the mini season traffic. Turned out to be a good call. Launched at the public ramp on the Indian Key Spoil and ran a few miles into the back. First stop to check out tide and wind direction and we spot a group of 6 to 8 sheepshead working in 6 inches of water [...]
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Long Key Bay Trout
Florida Sportsman member: Tipbone
I headed down to Long key for the annual grownups vacation. We fished in the bay all week. The weather was good, but a bit windy. There were lots of weed lines everywhere, which would have been good had we been off shore and not in 4' of water. This made the top water bite too difficult and made running out there tricky with the engine weeding up on both boats [...]
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Last Cast in Paradise
Florida Sportsman member: DogDoc
We're finishing up our annual family trip to the Keys, and it's time to head back home. We've enjoyed seeing some dear friends and making friends with a few each of over 30 species of fish during the trip. Several previous posts have shared the difficult fishing this year, from the almost non-existand dolphin bite to the spread-out tarpon season.
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Bahia Honda Tarpon
Florida Sportsman member: DogDoc
We've had three shark encounters there this week, two at the boat at the end of the fight, and one early on. The line was immediately cut on the first, and we didn't have time to do anything on the second. I blame myself for yesterday: we had seen a shark earlier, but he had disappeared for 10-15 minutes, and I was wrong to assume he had left [...]
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May So Far
Florida Sportsman member: action88
Well, May has been busy, I think everyone in Islamorada has been fishing hard and the fishing has been good. On the offshore side of things, I haven't been doing to much due to the weather, but on the days we have gone out the dolphin have been good, no big fish yet for us, but lots of lifters, the gulf wrecks have been good with lots of 8 to 12 pound cobia, big trout, Jewish, and the usual gulf suspects [...]
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Team Teke Permit
Florida Sportsman member: TeamTeke
Well...my wife as usual showed me who was boss on the boat today. Tania caught a super-duper permit while I caught a little one. It was a grand fight for her. I hooked up first but that fish I think was eaten by a goliath as the leader was ripped to shreds. I'm sure that this fish would have been bigger than her's [...]
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Islamorada Backcountry Report
Florida Sportsman member: action88
Well guys, spring is officially here, the weather has calmed down some and the fishing is EXCELLENT, most of my trips have been in the Triton Bay boat (new 24' coming soon), with everyone from beginners to experienced anglers, the redfishing has been HOT, we are catching 40-100 per trip in the 22-33" range all on pinfish, the snook have bit good when the tide and the water color have been matched perfectly, with most fish being slot sized and some little guys mixed in [...]
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Flamingo Snook and Redfish...and Permit!
Florida Sportsman member: scottbrown
Flamingo's snook population has been on the rebound since the freeze a few years back and it is becoming evident that the snook are making a strong comeback. In the last few weeks I have consistently caught and released over 15 juvenile snooklets and they are very feeding aggressive. You need some extra knowledge of where they snook are holding up but once you find them its on. The juvenile fish are mixed in with respectable 24-28 inchers they have been deep in sweet water creeks and have been feeding aggressively on the higher stages of the tide along mangrove gulf shorelines. I have had a lot of success using Gulp and DOA jerkbaits.
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Cudjoe Backcountry
Florida Sportsman member: sparse grey
Was able to get out again today. Middle of outgoing 10-12 NE moderate chop, good drift across current near Kemp channel. Bunches of different kinds of fish. Many trout all upper slot, decent mangroves, lanes & yellow tail snappers. The YT have been a little scarce in the back lately. Also one of the largest porgies I have seen around here. Reminded me of the Party Boats in Wildwood Crest in the 50s & 60s. Best part was we didn't need any fish so all were released in good condition. Bert with a couple before releasing.
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Shark Fly Tourney/Backcountry
Florida Sportsman member: action88
Well guys, the Keys are hopping with people and the wind has been strong (maybe the windiest March I've ever seen), with the average being 20 MPH and a week of 25-30.. well we had to do some comprimising and trailer over the flamingo to fish in WW bay because of the wind, its been a few years since i fished that part of the glades, but some of the ol bushes still held some reds and snook , nothing big but still good fishing for 30 outta the east [...]
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March Merkin'
Florida Sportsman member: Capt Mike Bartlett
Day 3 of the 2012 March Merkin yielded no permit on fly. The day started out with rain showers, lots of clouds and wind. We did get a few hours of sun on the oceanside to the west of Key West, unfortunately it was filled with acres and acres of nothing. We saw/scared a total of four permit on day 3, three of which three were together and not a shot. We also watched an airboat come from Key West burned down the flats, with very little water from the tower flats to Boca Grande Key and back. I heard the guy went between a few flats skiffs poling. This has got to stop [...]
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Back-country Fishing in Islamorada
Florida Sportsman member: syxx
Fishing this month in Islamorada, Florida Keys has been fantastic. The mild winter has kept our waters very warm and as far as the fish are concerned, spring is here. Tarpon have started to show up pretty good back in the cape area, all around flamingo and the everglades, and even in the bays in the local fly fishing holes on flat calm days. We had some good nights bridge fishing, catching several fish in the 80-100 lb range fishing early in the morning.
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Key West Flats in February
Florida Sportsman member: Capt Mike Bartlett
February brought us some unbelievable weather this year in the Keys. Plenty of warm days made for great days on the flats around Key West and the Marquesas. A few of the highlights include a three permit day, redfish on fly, tarpon at night and on the flats and plenty of barracudas, sharks and jacks [...]
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Winter Wonderland
Florida Sportsman member: scottbrown
The recent fishing adventures I have experienced in the past two months in Flamingo have been absolutely amazing to say the least. The fishing has been excellent with countless inshore slams and the beautiful cool mornings and warm afternoons have been an added bonus to the action [...]
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Key West Flats Permit and Tarpon
Florida Sportsman member: Capt Mike Bartlett
With mostly exceptional weather last week and a new moon, we had some great days on the flats of Key West last week. Tarpon made an appearance in some of the channels and I found some laid up tarpon in shallow water about mid week. Permit fishing was really good, though the catching part was a little tricky. We got one on a crab, but I witnessed and heard from other guides of permit not eating live crabs. It does happen every great once in a while [...]
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