KEY WEST – Key West rolled into 2007 in style. If you missed the conch shell dropping atop Sloppy Joe’s on Duval, or the drag queen in the high heeled shoe, you missed a good Key West style party. The real action though was lurking just offshore, south of Key West in the Atlantic.
 The word of the week around Key West was wahoo. Still giving anglers a run for their money, these aggressive fish have been tearing up the waters off Key West between the Curb and Sand Key.
 Captain Bennett Taylor on the Outer Limits reported good results while trolling the waters near Sand Key. “We had 15 bites, got some and lost some,” Taylor remarked.
Taylor and several other boats in the offshore fleet were trolling dead baits and hooking these wahoo on the surface.
 The bite has been good but the weather proved to be a bit precarious with some higher winds.  Wahoo tend to bite better around the full moon phase. This can be attributed to the stronger tidal movement and currents. They may also be on the trail of bait that is on the move from the north.
 There have been more sailfish in the area this week as well. Corbett Davis of Pensacola reported that he had a few shots at sailfish with his trusty fly rod. Davis spent the day fly fishing in the offshore waters with Captain Rush Maltz on Odyssea. Maltz commented that the sailfish seemed to be more interested in the large school of ballyhoo they had corralled near the reef.
 Davis reported landing several very large bonito on fly.
 Captain Alex Canalejo on Showtime also had a nice catch of black fin tuna. His anglers landed four tuna up to 24- pounds, a few kingfish and released a sailfish.
 Maltz and Canalejo both run light tackle charters out of Murray Marina on Stock Island.
 Patch reefs and shoals throughout the Lower Keys have been teeming with good sized snapper and grouper. Yellowtail snapper fishing has been good just off the reefs south of Key West while mangrove snapper are holding in closer to shore and in the Gulf waters.
 Cobia are making the Gulf a more interesting place this week. Several boats reported catching cobia on the coveted spots in close to the Lower Keys. The one key to fishing in the Gulf is either knowing a spot or two or just putting the time in to stop and analyze any variation in the bottom. Whether it is a ledge that just drops a few feet or a discernible rock pile on the bottom, give it a chance to produce.
 Live pinfish are a sure bet for reef and wreck fishing. Pinfish are one of the easiest baits to catch without a cast net and keep alive in a live well. They are very hardy fish. Throwing out a live pinfish at any spot should get you an immediate bite if anyone is home. If not, give it a few tries and move on to the next spot.
 Inshore fishing has given flats anglers plenty of variety this week. There is no doubt that fishing the flats in higher winds can be tough but there are ways to get around it and still get plenty of action.
 This week the mullet muds were the spot to fish for just about anything. Ladyfish, jacks, sharks, sea trout and even tarpon were feeding on mullet in the backcountry basins of the Lower Keys.
 Captain Tim Carlisle offered some sound advice on tarpon fishing in January.  “The full moon brings the tarpon in, it’s the big push of the tide,” Carlisle said.  These fish can be found feeding in deeper channels and in the many deeper basins throughout the Lower Keys. Carlisle also has found that even with some of our fast moving cold fronts, the tarpon will not go far. They may move into the Gulf for a few days and when the weather improves they will be right back in the basins.
 January is not exactly the perfect time to fish for tarpon, but they are indeed a welcome sight on the flats on some of our warmer days.