Flyfishing in the Keys

Fished with Mike in Islamorada. Mike wanted to flyfish exclusively. He also wanted to focus on larger fish. As a result we sacrificed numbers looking for better fish. We saw a many tarpon on the flats but we couldn't get them to bite. We did catch specks, jacks, and cudas. The fish of the weekend was a fifty plus pound lemon shark Mike convinced to bite the fly. It was a great take but unfortunately the shark broke off after being hooked.

Sharks and Reds

Fished with John and Steve on the flats. We released six or seven nice bonnet head sharks sight fishing. We also had a lemon shark or two. We switch spots and changed gears to catch redfish and cudas along the mangroves. It was a fun day.

Sunset Tarpon

Last Saturday we finished up close to home for sunset. We hooked three tarpon on jigs that we either jumped off or broke off. We had one on for ten minutes or so. I rerigged with some heavier gear and we caught and released a nice tarpon boat side. The daylight pictures are of the first fish and the dark picture is of the one that made it to the boat. John was a happy guy!

Windy Day

Fished with John and Steve on a windy day. One of the best parts of fishing Islamorada is that you can catch fish even on lousy weather days. That makes it a great place to plan a fishing trip. We hung close and caught a bunch of nice jacks, lady fish, snappers, and pompano. At sunset, we had a nice tarpon surprise. More on that later....

Snook and Redfish

Fished with John and Steve. We headed back to the Everglades. We caught snook, redfish, sheepshead, speckled trout, jacks, and snappers. The big snook parade continued with one snook well over fifteen pounds. It was a really good time.

Islamorada 2013 Video

Here is a video of highlights of a recent Islamorada trip with Dusty.

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/Xsbnfk6MxBQ


Joe Hughes

On the Flats

Next, Dusty and I hit the flats behind Islamorada. We stopped at a redfish spot and quickly caught four or five redfish, plus barracudas and jacks. We moved to a nearby flat to sight fish some more redfish and sharks. The redfish were plentiful but proved finicky. The bonnet head sharks were more cooperative and we released two. I also hooked a lemon shark and fought it until it finally wore through the flouro leader.

Sunset Tarpon

After our day in the Everglades Dusty and I hit my sunset tarpon spot. I a little over an hour we released two tarpon and I missed another. The tarpon fishing has been very consistent this winter. We see tarpon almost every evening and we are averaging one release per evening. Not a bad average considering they only bite around sunset.

Islamorada

The following day Dusty and I headed back to the Everglades. We caught and released a bunch of snook, redfish, black drum, jacks, snappers, and more. The biggest snook was over ten pounds. It was a beautiful day with lots of fish.

Jacks and Snappers

Dusty and I started off catching jacks and snappers the first day. It was super windy so we decided to stay close to home. We pounded on jacks to 9 pounds on spinning rods and I caught a few on the fly. We kept a bunch of nice snappers for dinner to round out the day.