Live bait and sailfishing go hand and hand this week in the Lower Keys. We’ve got fish in 100 to 400 feet of water with some tailing conditions. The live bait wins the fish!

There are some cobia on the color change and blackfin tuna and king mackerel along the reef. Bottom fishing for snapper and grouper has improved tremendously with the change in current and fluctuation of the Gulf Stream.

For those tarpon gurus, it’s still tough fishing here in the Lower Keys for tarpon. The harbor has plenty of them, so many fish you could walk over them. But they have not made a big move to the flats yet. Several guides are doing fine with catching one or two each day but no great numbers of fish have been reported yet.

Permit and bonefish are still plentiful in the backcountry and west of Key West. While permit do spawn offshore this time of year there are some on the flats that range from 10 to 17- pounds.