Key Largo to Key West
Includes Islamorada and Marathon
November 21-23
Backcountry
Hello everyone! It’s still summer in the Florida Keys backcountry. We are still waiting on a cold front to cool things down and it looks like the next one might do it. Fishing this week was kind of tuff with the weather conditions but every one that got out put together a decent bite. Few redfish and snook can be found around island flats throughout the bay. The Flamingo area has been slow but if you work hard it might pay off. The best bite seems to be on the mainland shoreline west of Flammingo, east cape, lake Ingram and up around the coast. Pilchards and finger mullet have been the baits of choice. Anglers working the tides with live bait have been catching snook, tarpon and few redfish.
The wind is forecasted to come down for the weekend. Look for the wreck fishing in the gulf to keep getting more productive with cobia, mackerel and many more. Look around the trap lines for floating tripletail west of Sandy Key.
The park boundaries around Schooner and Spriger banks have good with Spanish mackerel, bluefish, snappers and many more keeping anglers busy. Good current, chum and a shrimp on a jig with a couple inches of light wire is all you need.
Back around town the bite has been pretty decent. Captain Andy Putteti has been getting in to some great bonefishing with his anglers. Fishing the channels with live baits has been good with tarpon, snook, groupers and snapper available. With the calmer condition forecasted for the weekend fishing should be better. Once the temperatures come down get ready for some great Fishing in the Florida keys backcountry. Good luck on the water!
www.letsgofishing.us {305-297-0438} info@beatslandcharters.com
Upper Keys
Hello everyone, and welcome back to this week’s report! This week has been a blustery mess as the winds have been blowing 20 knots or better since Saturday night. The good news is that the winds are forecast to come down on Thursday and should be 10 to 15 knots over the weekend. With a little luck this hard east/southeast wind will blow the current in close to the reef and give us some northeast/east current. We have been stuck for the past week with southwest current, which isn’t as desirable for our winter time fishery. In addition, if the east current moves in, the fishing should be fantastic! I would predict there will be some mahi in shallow crushing bait on the reef, and this should ignite the sailfishing for the season. The temperatures have been a bit cooler, but we would definitely like to see get a bit more of a temperature drop. I think this will at least bring in some additional fish to play with for the next week or so. The offshore scene will have some mahi in it I am sure, and if the weeds are able to come together or any edges get built, you can rest assured there will be some fish in/on it. This should also push more tunas in on the deep ledge so the kite fishing should be really good as well with a good variety of fish. The last day we fished was Sunday and it was rough. However, there was an extreme amount of bait stacking up between 160 feet all the way in to about 40 feet of water and the king mackerel were ferocious. These guys should be everywhere over the weekend, so if you are on the hunt for these guys it should be a no brainer. Speedos and cigar minnows will be the bait of choice, with pilchards coming in right behind. The wrecks and rock piles on the reef will surely be the ticket to finding these guys, so twist up some #3 or #4 wire and hang on!
The reef and wrecks should remain productive as these areas haven’t been fished really since the past weekend. With the wind out of the southeast and the current going up the road (we hope), this should create and ideal condition for the snapper fishing over the weekend. There have been a ton of cero mackerel in the chum slicks as of late too, so the reef should be on fire. Live bait should be abundant on the deeper patches, as they have been pretty strong for the past couple months. If you are looking for pilchards, check out the shoreline as this wind would have pushed the bait in close. The pelicans and yellowbeak terns will surely give them away so keep your eyes peeled for divebombing and swooping action along the beaches.
That pretty much sums up what you can expect for the weekend! Remember, if you need a charter please feel free to give me a call at 305-803-1321 or contact me through my website at www.catchalottafish.com. You can also stop by World Wide Sportsman’s Bayside Marina and check us out, as I will be glad to help you out with whatever you need. If you are new to the sport and have checked out the magazine and forum, you can also check out www.Islamoradafishingsource.com for some in depth information on what charter boats we have in our area, and what kind of fishing we all do. It is becoming a great resource and directory for people looking to fish in our area! I hope everyone has a great weekend, and remember to boat responsibly!
Lower Keys
These past few days I have been fishing the Gulf of Mexico due to a strong southeasterly breeze that has been making the Atlantic ocean quite rough. We refer to that as fishing the leeward side of the island, the protected side of the island. It makes for much more pleasant conditions.
I have been fishing some reefs in 40 feet of water with a lot of success! Lots of red grouper along with some large grey snappers and juvenile amberjacks.
Combine that with some 30-pound cobia on the wrecks and you got something to work with. Live baits where the choice baits and we had a little bit of everything: pinfish, ballyhoo and pilchards. Most catches were on tipped jigs with 20 to 30-pound spinning outfits. Remember don’t fish hard, fish smart!
www.pepescharters.com { (305) 304-0983 } captpepegonzalez@gmail.com
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