Key West Fishing Reports
Updated fishing reports from the Lower Florida Keys & Key West
Archive for May, 2005
May 26, 2005 at 11:00 am · Filed under Florida Keys Fishing
Well I finally got a day off in the midst of all this tarpon hoorah. It’s a good season to be here… winds are fairly light, and the clouds are not getting in the way too much of seening giant pods of tarpon.
These tarpon can be found anywhere from the Marquesas through the Florida Keys and all the way up the coast of Florida. They are migrating and they are eating. The name of the game now is tie the right fly to tantelize them and make them turn and eat it. I have personally ended up at the vise almost every night tying something new and slightly different to entice these prehistoric creatures to eat.
So many anglers visit the Keys during tarpon season with the quest to land one of these giant fish. Some are small, maybe 20 lbs. and they can get as large at 200lbs. Many anglers forget that we can’t just catch these creatures, we have to hunt and get the fish to eat. Particularly in fly fishing, the best advice to any one coming to the Keys to fly fish for tarpon is to practice. When you think you have the double haul down and you can punch it out there fifty feet in front of a fish, practice some more. It all changes when you are casting at a moving target and the wind is not in your favor and the boat is moving and… well you get the idea. Believe it or not, your guide really, really wants to catch fish too! I am a fisherman because I love it and I love to see my anglers year after year come back striving to do better at fly fishing.
So my day off is filled with tying flies, fixing anything on the boat that needs fixing, and holding down the couch.
May 18, 2005 at 9:16 am · Filed under Florida Keys Fishing
Key West Updated Fishing Report:
May 18, 2005
Tarpon Season 2005 Fishing this spring has been pretty great and compared to last season. Although tarpon have been not as strong as recent years for May, it’s been good and fly fishing for them is a great way to get them to eat when they are not feeding like crazy.
Tarpon can be found migrating from the Marquesas Keys all the way up the Florida Keys island chain. Typically the migrating fish travel along the oceanside flats but there will be layed up tarpon just about everywhere in the backcountry. Tarpon will hang around and move through the Keys for another month or so and then the rest will hang around in the shallower flats and channels throughout the summer.
Bonefishing and Permit fishing are still great. Lately my anglers have wanted to concintrate on tarpon fishing while they are here. I’ve seen permit on deeper flats while tarpon fishing this season but the majority of them are still offshore spawning for a few more weeks. The population on the flats has been stronger than I’ve seen in recent years.
The Palolo Worm Hatch is something tarpon anglers and guides look forward to during the Full or New Moon phases in May and June. This Atlantic Palolo Worm Hatch is one of the unexplained rituals in saltwater fishing and until you see it with your own eyes, you will not understand.
The Palolo Worm hatches from hard coral rock that mainly covers the bottom of the Atlantic side of the Keys. These tiny worms look like a red and white earth worm. They hatch and head for the surface of the water. The neatest thing is that they all travel in the same direction, towards the reef located offshore. Meanwhile the tarpon gather together and eat these worms. It seems to have an intoxicating effect on the tarpon and the only time I really hit a hard worm hatch, I could see tarpon rolling as far as I could see.
I’m sure there are more scientific articles about this worm hatch. I kept one in a glass of saltwater for two days. It just kept swimming in circles and eventually it’s red color faded. I have done some research on this ritual and the tarpon fishing that follows, but not many articles are written on it.
If you are fishing the flats this year in May or June and happen to stay out for the sunset, take a look off the beach and maybe you will see some tarpon shining in the water munching on worms.
September & October are spectacular for bonefish and permit. If you can’t make it down here in the summer, try our fall fishing. The winds are light and despite our hurricane season the weather is pretty nice.
Warm Regards from the Florida Keys Capt Justin
May 5, 2005 at 10:00 am · Filed under Florida Keys Fishing
Tarpon fishing is the name of the game from now through June as the migration continues. It’s a touchy time of year as there are so many guides competing for space on a flat with migrating tarpon. They mostly come across the ocean flats this time of year and the days of poling deeper flats in search of the silver king are far from over.
I got my anglers up early yesterday and headed out to the Marquesas. The wind and tide were with us on our 8 mile crossing of Boca Grande channel. It was still dark when we got there and it seemed as though I was the first boat out there at long last. We casted to rolling tarpon as the sun was coming up. Third cast and my angler was hooked up. Hooray! We fed a lot of fish early and then the wind was starting to howl. Tarpon fishing has been spotty this year. Great days and then okay days, the fish are here they are just being ultra picky. It brings be back to the vise every day to tie something new for them to look at.
We worked our way back from the Marquesas through the ocean side flats and into the backcountry before finding some giant tarpon that would eat. My angler casted out and had one giant fish follow the fly, eat it and spit it out all in one continuous motion. He just stood there in awe, not setting the hook. Ah well, tomorrow is another day…
May 2, 2005 at 2:04 pm · Filed under Florida Keys Fishing
Tarpon season is getting to be in full swing. The weather yesterday around Key West was a little bleak with a front bearing down on us and overcast skies. Still I decided our best shot at tarpon on fly was in the Marquesas. The Marquesas atoll is 22 miles from Key West harbor and can be the best place to fish for migrating and layed up tarpon during the season. It’s a long ride and the 8 mile stretch of Boca Grande Channel is no party when the wind and the tide are not agreeing. Most guides have at least one horror story from the crossing but when you get there you will see it is all worth it.
Don’t get me wrong though, the Marquesas is a great place to fish but so are the lakes, backcountry and oceanside flats of the Lower Keys. The Marquesas is very fragile and for it to be there to fish for years to come we need to be careful with the fishery now.
Lately there have been many articles written about the Keys and the Marquesas. Many can provide a mothership to spend a few days out there fishing in comfort. There is also great reef and wreck fishing a short trip away. It is no doubt a magical place and if you fish and if you fly fish, be sure to visit.
My angler ended up jumping 12 fish on fly yesterday and landed 3. It was a pretty good day of fly fishing if you ask me.
