We finally had our first real cold front of the winter a few days ago. Temperatures have finally dropped into the 60s and looks to be cooling down a little again this weekend after slowly warming up some. Today we fished back in the everglades with my dad, his girlfriend, and friend Dave Peck. It looked to be the ‘ideal’ conditions for fishing some of the deeper canals and such this time of year. Usually after a good cold front in January when you have a nice slow incoming tide, you can get hordes of big snook and drum showing up in some areas back there. We ran back early and it was a foggy morning which is unusual here. Though this winter we’ve seen it a few times as it’s been super warm so any little temperature fluctuation with the moist air it can creep up. We fished a few areas using large shrimp on troll-rites. It was not a red hot bite and had I not had confidence in the conditions, I may have moved after not catching fish in the first 10 minutes. Though we waited it out and eventually we caught some nice snook, black drums, and couple straggling redfish. You would have to work the bait very slow and patiently, and only get a bite maybe every 10 or 15 minutes. But quality fish. Dave got a very big snook one of the largest I’ve ever had caught in light tackle of 15 lbs or so. It really ran like a beast all the way across the canal and was a good 5 minute battle. Later we moved deeper into the canal and tried a black drum hole. Same deal it wasn’t red hot action but eventually we got a double header of smaller black drums. Then Dave again caught a nice size black drum. Then a couple other smaller ones. Then before leaving I hooked a lunker 25 lber that we landed. What a fish he was a thumper! All good fun well now we tried some of the outside shorelines since the tide was getting high. We caught one little snook in one spot, then we tried another area and got into a load of redfish. Not huge ones but we probably caught a dozen or so plus a couple more snook. It was great to see the small reds as they have been a little scarce this year. Anyways it was a banner day with a total of 15 or so reds, 8 snook, and 8 black drums. We wrapped it up around 12:30 when we ran out of shrimp and made our way home. January is usually a very good month for this winter time fishery in the everglades, however this year it’s been a little more up and down with the lack of cold weather. Though as I said it looks to stay cool through into next week and hopefully we may got another front or two between now and the end of February. Otherwise the tarpon should be showing up early and there are plenty of other options too! I know the patch reef fishing has been very good we got into some nice hogfish, porgy, groupers, and variety of snappers out there the other day. And good spanish mackerel fishing in the gulf as well with some cobias and tripletail mixed in.
Fishing Reports
December Fishing in Islamorada
Well I’ve been out of town quite a bite the last couple months and have not been fishing frequently just a little here and there. Anyways we are getting back to busy time and I will be hard at it for a while here now. Fishing during the late fall/early winter has been up and down. We have yet to have any significant cold weather, most likely due to the ‘el nino’ in the pacific. It is keeping the warmer air to the south east. We’ve had some terrible rain the last month mixed in with high winds. Though today was gorgeous – it was nice to see the sun again after a wet week last week. Anyways we’ve been doing a little bit of everything and nothing has been great consistently. The mackerels in the gulf which are usually swarming now are there but you must have patience and work for them. Catching 15 in a day is a good day, not the muggings of 30-40 fish. In the backcountry there have been some drum, snook, and trout, though they haven’t been getting into the usual ‘winter time’ digs. The deeper holes where they are easy to catch on shrimp and such. A few here and there but there too you must work for them. Today we had a great day we were able to get live pilchards and pinfish and we worked some creeks and came away with double digit snook, a nice little tarpon and jumped a few more, and finished up with some small redfish to complete a SLAM. Now early this week after the hard rains fishing was very difficult back there. We fished some of the same areas and there was not much at all. We did catch 3 nice size snook which made the day, and then finished with a handful of trout and ladyfish in the bay. I would say the most consistent action is out on the patch reefs. We did well a few times out there with good numbers of porgy and mixed in are small mutton snappers, mangrove snapper, yellowtails, bar jacks, and a handful of hogfish. The hogfish haven’t been hot and heavy yet but once we get some cold (if we get some cold) that should turn on more too. Even a few cero mackerel have been out there too. Anyways if you are looking to get out there drop me a line, I would love to take you. If the weather stays warm just about anything is possible too!
9/20/15 September Islamorada Fishing Report
September is winding down though it has given me a welcomed break from fishing every day. It is always our slowest month of the year. Thankfully though as I mentioned it is a welcome one, a time to catch my breath and take care of all the things in life you can’t get to when you are so busy. Anyways fishing can still be good this time of year it is just slow on the business side of things – with kids going back to school, hunting seasons opening everywhere, the possibilities of hurricanes (though unlikely), and the heat – all seem to keep it quiet here for the month. Anyhow I have been getting out a couple days a week. I’m not currently running my SeaCraft as it is getting some repair work done, but I am running a smaller action craft skiff. I’ve still had the majority of my customers asking for tarpon and there have still been a few around. It hasn’t been red hot action every day, though we have caught them just about every day we fished for them I think with exception to one. A few days we had multiple shots and were able to land a couple fish, the others it was only a single shot but we got one. Bait was fairly plentiful on the incoming tides in the backcountry, the falling tides it was a little tougher though we had gotten lucky a couple times and found some big schools of mullet in the gulf. The sharks had been few and far between, though after the hard rains last week with the water cooling down about 10 degrees we did have some good shark action while tarpon fishing which was nice. It is always nice to have that filler in between while waiting for a tarpon bite. In the near-gulf bays the snapper fishing has been really good I’ve been chunking up mullet or ballyhoo and catching some big snappers. This has been the best bet for action/rod bending, and there are big ladyfish and a few trout mixed in too. This is not as tidal related and can be good into the Fall. Snook and redfish have been around though honestly I haven’t done much of it as the bugs have been horrendous with all the rain we had, plus it has been difficult to find any good size pilchards. My future forecast for October is… [sociallocker id=”692″] looking pretty good! October is one of my favorite months to fish down here in Islamorada with the start of cooler weather coming our way. We usually get a week or two of insane fishing with the ‘fall bait run.’ There is no way to tell when this will occur but when we start getting some northerly breezes it will push hordes of baitfish down the coast and the big predators follow right along. Big tarpon, sharks, snook, redfish, and everything… When the bait run occurs, sometimes you can see hundreds of tarpon in an area busting on all kinds of baitfish, it is pretty spectacular. Anyhow even if that is not occurring it can still be good fishing. Tarpon are definitely still a possibility then too but it may not be the insane show that the bait run brings. I will start to focus more on catching smaller whitebait (pilchards) and the snook/redfish fishing. With the cooler temperatures look for those fish to push out of the skinny water flats into the island moats, shorelines, and creeks where we fish in the Fall. Other options are the gulf as spanish mackerel can sometimes make an early arrival, plus there are tripletail out there and cobias on the deeper wrecks. Anyways the point is October ca be very good fishing, business is still fairly slow so you can often have the backcountry to yourself with very good fishing to boot. Drop me a line if you are looking to go out![/sociallocker]
8/20/15 August Islamorada Fishing Report
August is winding down and we are getting into our ‘slow’ season here. I’ve been lucky and still filling in many days with last minute bookings though as we get into September it will be time to relax. I have a trip to the Bahamas planned (hopefully) if hurricane Danny doesn’t have anything to say about it! As far as fishing goes things have been decent I’ve been mostly tarpon fishing still doing the early morning drill in the everglades. Bait has been a little tough to come by some days, on the incoming tides it has been much easier. Fishing has been OK overall we’ve had some big days with multiple fish landed, and some days with only a bite or two and lucky to catch one. In the last couple weeks we had a few 4 tarpon days, one day with 6 landed, and a couple others with 3. The last few days has been a lot tougher we only had 3 bites in the last 2 trips, but we did manage to catch one on each trip. The backcountry channels have been holding a handful of fish though they are moving around so it’s trial and error trying to hit them early in the mornings. Later on off the beaches to the west near the gulf had been a little more consistent finding schools of tarpon out there, however a couple days it has been a ghost town and the next day they will be all over the place. Though it is getting late in the year so it is not uncommon you just have to put your time in. Sharks have been mixed in including plenty of blacktips, some big lemons, and occasionally some others like hammerheads or bulls. I haven’t done a lot of snook fishing the last few weeks though the last few days I did earlier in the month we had some success. Not a lot of big pilchards around but pinfish did the trick and we had several good days with multiple snook caught each of those days. In the gulf bays there have been some good sized mangrove snappers and hanging the chum bag you can usually catch some ballyhoo or something to use for cut bait to get them. A few trout have been mixed in too. That’s my report as I said September is definitely our quietest month of the year as far as business goes, but that doesn’t mean the fishing isn’t good. Actually since not too many boats are out you can often feel like you have the entire backcountry to yourself and don’t have to worry about boats being ‘in your spot.’ If you are thinking of coming down drop me a line it usually won’t be a problem to set something up short notice. October is right around the corner and that is usually very good fishing as things cool off a little bit and we start to get the fall bait run. That can be some of the best tarpon fishing of the year and also really good for redfish, snook, trout, and other specimens.
7/21/15 July Islamorada Fishing Report for the backcountry
We are mid way through July and it is really feeling like summer with the heat. But luckily the fishing has been just as hot too! Actually it has not been too brutal we have had light breezes just about every day which makes a huge difference, plus I like to get our early before daybreak to beat the afternoon heat. I’ve been mostly tarpon fishing still and that has been really good. Consistent would be the best way to describe it and the bait and fish patterns have stayed that way with the relatively calm winds and stable conditions. Mullet have not been super easy to catch every day, but we’ve been finding them and some days you just have to work a little harder at it. The tarpon have been in the backcountry channels and hitting them early morning has worked well for me the last several weeks. In the afternoons I’ve been finding some off the beaches of the mainland and those fish can bite just about any time of day, on any tide. Some days have only yielded a bite or two, but on the good days we’ve landed multiple fish with up to a half dozen hookups. Other than tarpon I’ve been having good luck with snapper and trout in the bays of the near gulf. I’ve also been doing some snook fishing and that has been a lot of fun. Finding the right bait for them is key to get ‘hot snook action’ which means trying to catch pilchards. They aren’t always able to be found but pinfish will suffice and you can still pick away at the snook and redfish with those. Out in the gulf there have been a few tripletail floating around, though with the crab and lobster pots gone not much structure for them to hang on so you have to get lucky and see them floating, or have them drift by you while you are tarpon fishing. Permit are a definite possibility too I haven’t really tried the wrecks lately but I have seen a few randomly on some closer inshore spots in the everglades. Fishing is really good and it is one of my favorite times of year as the crowds are gone and you have the place to yourself. This will remain the next several months. August can be a very good time to fish and I’ve already started filling in some days with customers who have experienced this the last few years with me. Get in touch with me and lets go fishing!
