KEY WEST – Some may say we have been fortunate to have such warm weather in the Keys this January. They are undoubtedly the ones who are wincing at the thought of going outside their Colorado home.
 Our temperatures this week stretched well into the 80s and I overheard on one of our local radio stations that we even had a heat index forecast. These are not typical conditions for January at all and it has been affecting the fishing, good and bad.
 Captain Jay Weed on the Lucky Charm says he’d rather see what we call a normal season. By normal he means with cold fronts that move through the area on a regular basis.
 “I want to see cold weather, everybody loves it warm but we need to have a normal season,” Weed remarked.
 Colder weather in winter changes our fishing in many ways. The water temperatures in the near shore waters drop allowing species like grouper to move from deeper water into much shallower water.
 Some days this week were plagued with high winds leaving many boats at the dock. Weed managed to get out fishing on one of the nicer days and landed a great catch for his anglers from Port Charlotte.
 Their catch consisted of 2 wahoo weighing in at 28- and 18 pounds plus a 12- pound bull dolphin and one king mackerel. The couple also released one sailfish estimated at 50- pounds.
 Weed was fishing the Atlantic waters to the west of Key West near the Boca Grande Bar. These fish were caught while trolling dead ballyhoo in 160 to 240 feet of water. Weed noted that the water conditions were mainly clear and blue but there was one section of dirty water to the west.
 Captain Ken Harris on Finesse was nearby fishing from his light tackle Conch 27. Harris had several king mackerel up to 30- pounds and black fin tuna.
 For more information on Captain Jay Weed and the Lucky Charm please contact him at 305-304-0208 or visit him at the Historic Key West Seaport adjacent to Turtle Kraals restaurant.
 One wahoo was probably enough of a battle for David Andrews of Boca Raton. Andrews was fishing with Captain Rush Maltz on Odyssea when he landed a 66- pound wahoo.
 The Boca Raton couple had a great day of fishing. They landed a few large mutton snapper and a black fin tuna.
 While Maltz was targeting the Atlantic waters on this trip, the king mackerel, mutton snapper and cobia have been snapping in the Gulf waters to the west of Key West. Mackerel are migrating fish by nature so they will go where the temperature suits them, this week it was in the Gulf of Mexico.
 The shallow water flats have had some of the best action during this warm January. Water temperatures have been staying well above 70 and in some areas have hit 75 degrees.
 The action has stayed consistent with lots of action in the mullet muds for sea trout, ladyfish and jacks.
 Stalking the flats for permit was a good option for Paul Trabucco of Exeter, NH and Steve Pleau of Grey, ME. Their yearly trek to the Keys ended in tremendous victory when they both landed their first permit on fly within the same hour of fishing. Trabucco landed his fish first, a nice 10- pound permit. Pleau landed his fish just a short time later. They were fishing with Captain Justin Rea west of Key West on the flats adjacent to the Northwest Channel.  Both fish were caught using the same crab fly pattern that Rea ties himself.
 There have also been several reports of bonefish caught in the Marquesas Keys this week. Again, this warm weather pattern has blessed the flats anglers with some of the best fishing winter can offer in the Keys.