Well we’ve been super busy with spring break and been getting out a ton.  Double trips aren’t uncommon now and I’ve started going out in the evenings a little bit with the demand in business plus the fact that the tarpon are starting to run on the regular.  We had some great fishing this past week one day evening catching 5 tarpon on one trip!  Totally awesome!  I also had some trips with some juvenile fish that we caught (pictured here – under 40 inches so allowed to remove it from the water – we don’t remove large fish as it’s illegal).  We also were able to catch some snappers for dinner on this recent trip as well as some cero mackerel.  The patch reefs are still productive for those looking for action and tablefare.  April and May are typically considered the ‘peak’ prime months for tarpon fishing here in Islamorada, and we often fish the day trips but those evening trips as well.  Sunset is an awesome time to be out on the water as the bite often turns on near dark.

Got out today for a full day trip fishing in the florida bay and locally around Islamorada.  March is here and it’s spring break time – so it’s been super busy!  Lots of families down and we’ve been fortunate overall the weather has been pretty nice.  March is typically one of the windiest times of year, but overall it’s been light to moderate wind and mostly nicer east/southeasterly directions which is typical of the warming spring.  We had an awesome day today I just had to post.  We caught our pilchards early and we fished around some islands in the Bay.  We got some juvenile tarpon and nice snook which was very cool!  Then we caught our limit of nice mangrove snappers.  The big mangroves have been pretty steady lately which is cool. If you are looking for something for the dinner table, look no further than that!  Then we caught some good size goliath groupers around the bridges which were great fights.  It’s nice when everything just works out and that was what today was.

As mentioned it’s starting to get super busy.  I’m available for evening tarpon trips starting now though so if you want to get out more short notice, give me a shout or book direct on fishing booker.  The evening 4pm to 8pm trip is a great time to try for tarpon.  They often turn on when the sun gets near set, so your odds are often increasing as time goes on not getting worse.  They also don’t book up as far ahead of time as the day trips do, so you if the weather and conditions look nice and you get the itch, you can often book it with a days notice and sometimes even a few hours.

We had some awesome fishing today despite some tough conditions! A late cold front came in and often times that can hamper the bite especially in the shallow water which we often are fishing. Tarpon in particular are usually not fans of it getting cold. Though today we really just got the north wind but the water temperatures didn’t fluctuate much they stayed in the high 70 degree range. That proved to be good for us! We had a little bit of a slow morning but mid day we found a couple big schools of tarpon in some local spots and had great fishing. We ended up catching 5 of them it was really an unbelievable day! Just goes to show you, you don’t always know if it’s going to be good or bad with the fishing you just gotta try sometimes. Weather looks like it’s getting better starting tomorrow it’s back to light/moderate easterly winds for a while so that should mean the tarpon bite will stay hot! Come on down let’s go fishing, if you want to get out an evening 4pm to 8pm trip is a great option and I have availability shorter notice often too so you can somewhat cherry pick the weather with a few days notice.

Well it’s almost Valentines day and that is the start of busy season here in the Florida Keys!  The calendar is starting to fill up especially for the spring tarpon migration.  I still have some days open though if you are wanting to get out.  I’m also offering evening trips starting early so if you want to do a sunset trip for the silver king, we can do that it’s a great time to be on the water and often gets better the closer to sunset you get.  Lately it’s still been on the chilly side for tarpon but there have been a few around.  And the weather is going to be getting more favorable now as the cold fronts seem to be slowing down.  I had my mom out the other afternoon and we got into some nice snook after finding a bunch of pilchards we caught for live bait.  Half day fishing for snappers and snook is a good bet for now, though of course as mentioned we’ll soon be chasing the silver king.

Got out for a full day today and it was a prefrontal condition with a nicer warm day today and looking like the temps will start dropping tonight and tomorrow night.  We had some good tarpon action early, didn’t button up any but we jumped 3 and saw quite a few in several areas.  Later on we found some permit and floated a big old crab to one… had an epic battle a good 45 miuntes or so to boat this beast!  What a catch permit are very tough fish and one of the most prized to catch here in the florida keys.  After that we headed offshore and caught a keeper mutton which was requested by the customers so cool to make that happen, along with a bunch of nice lane snappers.  Never know what you are going to come across here fishing in Islamorada especially before these cold fronts.  It looks like after the front comes through it’s going to get calm again but stay on the cooler side.  Should be an excellent week here for fishing late January in Islamorada.

January is rollin’ by and we’ve been getting out a bit catching some fish!  It’s not been super busy which often is the case… we always have a busy christmas week then sometimes a few days after New Years, and then season really starts rocking again in mid February.  But i’ve been getting out a few days a week and been having some fun.  I had my buddy Kyle out the other day.  Weather was a little iffy we’ve had some rain in between the cold fronts which is unusual for January but nothing surprises you with the weather these days.  Though not enough to keep us from having a good time most days.  The reef fishing was really good lots of snappers including keeper mutton snapper which is my favorite to eat!  We had some cero mackerels mixed in on the patch reefs which are always a winter time favorite on the atlantic side.  Got a nice goliath under one of the bridges which was fun, been catching those fairly consistently for anyone who wants to try there hand at it.  The mangrove snappers were nice and large too for us we had plenty for dinner. And can’t forget about the nice blacktip shark for something bigger to pull on to!  Tarpon fishing has been a little slower but that is to be expected in January, but the sharks are a good alternative for something large.  You can expect tarpon fishing to get better in February but anytime it gets warmer in the 80s they’ll start biting more.  Hope to get you out there soon give me a shout and let’s go fishing!

Got out for fun with my family to do a little patch reef fishing in Islamorada on the atlantic ocean side.  We had a really fun trip we ended up taking a deck boat out there not my usual 20 ft seacraft.  But it was fairly calm and nice.  We got into a ton of yellow jacks which was lots of fun and they are really great eating.  Especially if you like sashimi the meat is very nice uncooked.  On the bigger bottom rods the grouper bite was pretty good too we caught several even a couple keeper size ones, however grouper season is now closed so we had to throw them all back.  Grouper are fun to fight though and definitely give you a tussle trying to get them out of the rocks.  Patch reef fishing in Islamorada should remain a good option for the next few months especially when we have more northerly/northeasterly winds and my seacraft can get out there a lot of days you can’t make it with a smaller skiff.  Let’s get out fishing soon!

Got on to a good bite of goliath groupers fishing the bridges in Islamorada this morning.  We had our heavier tackle out that we normally use for tarpon but we were fishing near the bridge pilings.  Sure enough we got picked up and had some good tussles with goliath groupers!  A few got us rocked up but we landed some nice ones as well.  Great fight and such a cool fish… hard to believe they’ll grow to 800 lbs!  They are all catch and release so we handled them gently and did so.  We also were able to put together a small cooler full of mangrove snappers and some other various patch reef fish for a good lunch for the crew afterwards.  Christmas Week is here and it’s looking like it’ll be really nice.  We had some recent cold weather and its been slowly warming up the last few days but temperatures have been great and should stay that way for the holiday week coming up.  Tarpon may be a possibility too with water temperatures getting into the bottom range they start to like.  Let’s get something booked before it gets slammed here after Christmas, give me a shout!

Well after almost a week of not seeing the sun from some crazy late season tropical system that hit us we finally had a nice day again! Over the weekend we had torrential rain and wind at a steady 30 knots gusting to 50, and some rainy days for several days before that too. Just crazy weather this year as we had another similar system a little over a month ago too. Normally the winter is dry season but not this year though hopefully that is the last of it. We did have another cold front push in that switched things up once the last rain bands went through last night the winds swung northeast and temps dropped to 65… not freezing cold but definitely a difference. We weren’t sure what we’d find with the fishing as waters were very muddy in the bay and all that wind, weather, and rain surely switched things up. But it was good we had pretty good fishing on the patch reefs with various snappers, groupers, and more. Patch reefs are a good bet when the water gets stirred up as that is where you often have clean Atlantic water and when the dirty bay water mixes in, it brings lots of shrimp, crabs, and other things for fish to eat. We also got some nice local Islamorada snook which was really cool too. I’ve got some openings this week and some still for Christmas week so lets get something on the calendar!

Got out on the patches for a trip today.  The patches are sets of coral heads, sea fans, and lively hard bottom that are on the atlantic side of the Florida Keys.  So not exactly the same as the ‘backcountry’ gulf side, but it’s still fairly shallow 15-30 foot of water.  The seacraft boat is great for fishing out here because of it’s high gunwales and bow, so you can get out on these bits of reef even when the wind is blowing a little bit.  Moreso than you could on a skiff anyways.  And the fishing tends to be really good in the fall, winter, and spring when the water is cooler out here.  It’s a great option on half days you can get good table fare, and pull on a big variety of fish.  We had action with barracudas which was fun on light tackle.  Also some various groupers on the bottom including a juvenile goliath.  A huge nurse shark gave us a good battle as well look how big that sucker is!  Hogfish were on the scene too which unfortunately we can’t really keep much any longer due to regulations, but they are fun to catch and beautiful to see.  And of course a variety of snappers out there too that we were able to get a bucket of for a meal.  The phones starting to ring for christmas week and season next year, and we still have some openings around Thanksgiving.  If you want to get out on the water book a trip today call 305-664-2461 and ask for Capt. Trent, or you can use the link on the website to book now!