bonefish
Bonefishing in the Florida Keys can be very challenging. Some days
it just seems they're a lot smarter than we are. Other days they can
be dumb as rocks. I always hope for the latter! The Keys produce bonefish
year round. But the best times are when the temperatures are stable
throughout the day. So Spring and Fall can produce some of the most
consistent fishing. However. Winter and Summer should not be overlooked.
You just have to be flexible. In the summer you should be on your first
spot ready to fish as the sun is just coming up. Bonefish will feed
when it is comfortable enough. So there is a real premium on the first
few hours of the day. The last couple hours of visibility, can be equally
rewarding. It is common to get as many opportunities fishing only in
the morning or the evening as you would fishing all day in the Spring
or Fall. Winter can be the most difficult, if we are having a severe
cold front. But again, flexibility is the key to success. By fishing
when the sun is at its highest point, you get the warmest temps and
the best visibility.
Frequently, when I have an angler that only has bonefish on his or
her mind, I will start the day at around 10 am. We then fish until
the conditions tell us to stop. I feel this method gives us increased
odds of actually finding and getting realistic shots.
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tarpon
In the Florida Keys, you have a realistic chance of catching a Tarpon
year round. There are little tarpon in the backcountry and around the
bridges all the time. But again, the temperatures are key. Tarpon are
very sensitive to cold, but heat is much less of a factor. In fact,
I believe heat is what really drives the fishery. In the early spring,
Big Tarpon show up when it gets nice but they will disappear for several
days if we have a late season Cold front sneak through. You can catch
Tarpon many different ways. Most of my clients in the Spring are fly
fishermen. This requires focus and determination. You may see many
dozen Tarpon swim right by you and ignore every thing about you and
the fly. But you never know when the right fish is going to come by
and climb all over your next cast. Once you have seen this happen for
the first time, I believe you will feel as I do. That this is the most
fun specie of fish you can target with a fly rod!
permit
Permit, are the most predictably, unpredictable fish that we have.
You can be happily poling around, thinking about a totally different
fish, when all of a sudden, there is a permit floating right in front
of you.
I have had anglers catch permit virtually year round. In water as cold as 66 degrees and as hot as you can possibly imagine. Of course there are times when they are much more targetable. Spring and Fall stand out as they do for many fish, salt or fresh water.
There are also times when they are more prone to lay up on rock piles
and wrecks in ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. They require different
techniques than permit on the flats, but they can be very aggressive
eaters, especially if you find them in good moving current with sargasso
grass floating on the surface.
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snook
Snook
fishing in the Florida Keys can take on many forms. There are plenty
of snook that live around the many bridges throughout the Keys.
This type of snook fishing is usually done with live bait drifted
around bridge pilings. It can also be done with artificial's however.
Usually heavy jigs and large diving plugs will do the trick.
I believe the most fun is to fish them much the same way as redfish on the flats. We go into the backcountry, pole around on many of the same flats that we find reds. You can either speculative cast pot holes, drop offs, muds created by sting rays, or attempt to spot them first and then try your luck. Sight fishing snook is not for the week hearted. They are extremely aware fish! You must see them first and make an accurate cast. This is especially true in clear water. The best case scenario is, to have the water stirred up just enough to make them feel safe, but not too dirty, where they would be too difficult to see.
redfish
Redfishing
in Florida Bay has become quite good over the past several years. Techniques
vary with skill level and conditions. We can, at times find
them very close to home, or we may do a lot of traveling through the
scenic backcountry of Florida Bay.
Redfish make great targets for beginning fly-fishermen. In fact we often use them as stepping stones for bonefish. They have many of the same characteristics. They tail, cruise and mud just like bonefish. However, they typically move slower, and act more aggressively toward most well placed offerings. If conditions are not good for sight fishing, you can blind cast likely looking spots, such as pot holes, drop-offs and snags. We also “fish the bushes” for reds, especially in poor conditions. This method is pretty simple, you just stake out around a productive island and blind cast live or artificial baits around likely looking spots.
Barracuda
I believe that the Barracuda is the most under utilized fish that
swims on the flats. They don’t have the prestige of a bonefish
or permit. But what they lack in prestige is more than made for in
the form of super exciting and visual bites, ariel acrobatics and extreme
speed.
Cudas are not the bite everything, garbage eaters that most people think they are. They can be very selective, though a well placed artificial and a super fast retrieve usually works pretty well for spin fishermen.
For fly fishermen, long casts with, poppers, streamers and needlefish imitations are the rule.
Barracuda are in the Keys twelve months a year, but the numbers increase dramatically in the Winter as they flood toward shallow water, to take advantage of rapidly increasing water temperatures. Finding them in moving water helps a lot because the ones laying up in shallow, slow water are often just basking in the sun and can be difficult to entice.