Got out with good friends Frank and Helen Cone today on a backcountry fishing charter in Islamorada. It was flat calm again so we ventured out into the gulf to do some fishing out there. The first wreck we hit was loaded with fish and we caught tons of jacks, snappers, and some spanish mackerel. Eventually the cobias showed up too and joined the party. We landed 4 of them, with one of them being a nice keeper size of 25 lbs! After the tide quit things slowed down and we ran up towards the mainland. We saw a handful of tripletails but not many, landed 1 nice keeper and another one we released. Saw a few more but no luck they were very skittish. We tried a few areas of structure for more cobias or possibly big redfish that show up on nice calm days in the gulf on days like this, but no luck. We finished the day inside cape sable, and caught a couple nice snook to finish the day. So all in all it was about quality over quantity today but we still had a good bit of both! Tomorrow looks fairly nice a little more wind out of the south, but likely try the gulf again. Then Sunday night we are getting another cold front so may have a nasty day or two early next week, but I think the cool down will make the everglades/backcountry fishing better again for a little bit.
Backcountry Fishing Reports
1/18/17 January Half Day Fishing in the Florida Keys
Got out today in the near gulf of mexico fishing out of Islamorada, FL. We went fishing for spanish mackerel out there. Conditions looked pretty good the wind laid down nicely from what it has been the last week, a nice 5-10 mph and once we got a ways out there it laid down to almost nothing. Felt like a warm summer day almost in the middle of January! Once we arrive at the ‘fishing hole’ – a few white holes in the bay grass with some scattered debris and structure – we hung the chum bag and waited for fish to come. The current was just starting out… tide is important when mackerel fishing and usually the falling tide is best in the gulf and you want the current moving. It wasn’t moving very hard today but got going a little bit eventually. We were using jigs tipped with shrimp with heavier mono leader as the mackerel have sharp teeth. Anyways after 15 or 20 minutes we started catching a few, and eventually we got into a steady bite. Mackerel will come in waves and you’ll catch them seemingly every cast for a spell, then you’ll go 10 or 15 minutes with nothing and think they’ve disappeared, then suddenly you’ll start catching them again! This went on for the couple hours we were out there and we also caught a few bluefish and blue runners. We put a shark rod out for the last hour but no luck with that… I think with the lack of current it was tough to get a scent trail going. Anyways the macks kept us busy enough and we got back home by 11 to call it a day. I’m off tomorrow so far and the weekend looks fairly nice too, then Monday we are getting another cold front… I think that’ll be a good thing especially for our deeper everglades fishing for drum, snook, reds, etc… If you want to get out there, gimme a ring! Season is coming up fast and it’s about to be very busy.
1/17/17 Islamorada Backcountry Fishing Trip in January
Got out into the backcountry again today it was kind of a slow pick throughout the day, never got into any big schools of fish. But we worked around in the AM and eventually found a spot holding some decent sized sheepshead. We caught maybe 8 or 10 of those and then fished around a bit. Picked about half a dozen snook off a few spots, mostly little guys but did get one decent one, and lost two or three nice ones that broke us off or pulled the hook. Also got a handful of black drums while doing this. After that we hit a few other spots without much luck, but got a couple nice fish to end the day a black drum, a nice redfish, and a sheepshead. Had falling tide most of the day, the fish seem to be pretty spread out and just takes patience to work areas and pick and move. If you are a good caster it helps tremendously! Anyways have a half day tomorrow probably do the patch reefs or maybe mackerels in the bay.
1/16/17 Florida Keys Backcountry Fishing in January
Well unfortunately we had a mix up on dates so I ended up being open today and tomorrow. Luckily I caught it yesterday and was able to rebook tomorrow and decided to take my dad, Steven and sportswriter Al Ristori from NJ out for fun. We headed back to cape sable with some shrimp and got out early. I didn’t really think about it being a holiday weekend, but there were lots of boats back there today so that kind of put a damper on things straight away… We even left early but there were already half a dozen boats in the general area when we got there. Anyways we got to the spot we wanted to luckily, but not much happening there. We did catch one black drum and a few nice trout, though we did lose 3 big fish which were likely large black drums. One got eaten by a shark, one broke us off in some underwater brush, and another just went through the leader. One of those unlucky starts! After that boats started to crowd the area so we decided to run further back and try some other creeks that aren’t fished as much. We caught plenty of little things – snapper, jacks, and a few more big trout – but no snook, reds, or drum. We then worked our way back towards home and tried some other areas. No luck in the first few stops and was almost going to consider the day a wash. But we kept at it and finally when the tide turned and we got in a different area, we started to pick a few fish. Out of 3 spots we got about a half dozen reds and three snook, and missed a couple other bites. Not red hot but it was nice to put some quality fish in the boat. Had several boats go by us in the area where we normally rarely see people, so we could tell it was still busy. Wrapped up the day after that. I did hear a buddy of mine had a very good day fishing one of the areas we tried later in the morning but he was there first thing… unfortunately you can’t be everywhere at once, but at least I have a good idea of where to start tomorrow!
1/14/17 Mid January Backcountry Islamorada Fishing Report
Had some fun today and mixed things up a little bit with Tony and Rob down from Miami. We hit the gulf first as I didn’t want the pressure of trying to catch fish at the cape with the weekend crowds back there. It proved a good bet, we had to wait a half hour or so for mackerels to show up, but when they did it was game on. We probably caught about 2 dozen or so in an hour and a half. The falling tide and northeast wind made it fairly nice out there too in the gulf. After that we headed towards the mainland cape sable area. There were quite a few boats fishing the areas that have been crowded throughout the week, but not as bad as I thought it’d be. We got in their on the end of the falling tide and caught the start of the rise – an ideal time to be there. We tried a couple areas that were good the last few days, and not much luck there. So we tried a different stretch of creek that sometimes gets good when the water is cooler. It paid off and we caught about 8 snook, 1 red, and 1 black drum. A few nice size snook for the boys too was a real treat. After that we tried to catch a shark at the canal mouth, but no luck with that the water is still a little chilly and the sharks are usually not too happy then. After that it was time to go home, all in all another fantastic day fishing in the everglades and gulf of mexico out of islamorada!
