Light Tackle Backcountry Fishing in Key West, Florida since 1997

Welcome to Key West, a truly year-round and world class fishing destination. Whether you came here for the party on Duval Street or to relax with friends and family, one thing is for sure: A trip to the Back Country of Key West to catch some of the most sought after fish the ocean has to offer should not be missed.

This is an area to the North of Great White Heron Island and Key West National Wildlife Refuge. Many visitors to Key West never get to experience this area that still looks today like it did hundreds of years ago. in the Back Country you are surrounded by living mangrove islands, beautiful white sand flats only inches deep and calm, narrow channels all filled with amazing wildlife.

Upon graduating from the University of Georgia, Captain John settled in Key West and has been guiding his customers to trophy fish since 1997. As the owner and operator of the Shadow Caster he insists on delivering a personalized fishing adventure. With Captain John you can expect Professionalism, Preparation and Performance, qualities that Capt. John has learned from the best in the business and keys to his continued success.

On the Shadow Caster you can rest assured that Captain John will always have a well-thought-out fishing plan and the appropriate bait and tackle to handle any situation. Whether you are the seasoned angler or the beginning fisherman, Shadow Caster is about catching fish and enjoying what makes the Florida Keys such a great place.

The summer months are here!! Light winds, clear skies and hot temps are the norm. August is a great time to fish in the backcountry. Being the “slow” season means great rates and light boat traffic. You can fish all day and see very few other boats.
The bonefishing continues to be great in the early morning hours and following an afternoon rain shower. This will be a target species for the next few months.
Permit fishing has been very good, with fish showing themselves throughout the day. Even midday, with the water temperature high Permit are scouring the flats in search of a meal. A well presented crab has been the ticket to hooking up with one of these trophies.
Small tarpon are around in some of their usual spots and eager to eat an artificial. These fish are great fun to catch on light tackle, as their aerial show is very impressive.
The deeper channels that meander through the backcountry have been holding BIG sharks, barracudas, and the occasional goliath grouper. If you are looking to hook up with something big and bad on light tackle these fish will test you.
Looks like we have beautiful weather in the future and I have some open dates in September so drop me an email or call 305.587.7669.

Tarpon continue to be our most sought after fish here in the backcountry. During the new moon at the beginning of the month, we had two nights of the Palolo worm hatch. For those who love to fish for Tarpon and have never experienced this phenomena, it is quite a sight. If you time it just right you will see more Tarpon than you can shake a stick at. The fish are gorging themselves on these small worms. This is a great time to target a Tarpon with the fly rod. After the “hatch” it took a couple days for the Tarpon to get back into a routine, but they did and we are now catching them in good numbers again. Another species that is great right now is the Permit. They are making thier way back to the flats after their springtime spawn. I love fishing for them, but you have to be alert and ready at all times. You are not going to catch one sitting on the cooler. Above are a couple nice fish we have caught recently. It is a great time to fish in the backcountry and we still have some dates open so I hope to hear from you soon.

The Tarpon fishing continues to be great. I had the pleasure of having David Weaver, a wildlife artist, onboard today. He is an outstanding artist and his work can be seen on his website http://rodandbrush.com/. He released two tarpon, two barracudas, and his first ever permit. That is what is so great about the spring and summer months in Key West, there are just so many different species to target. His first tarpon was caught in a deep channel and what a stubborn fish this one turned out to be. After close to an hour we finally got the release. We found his second Tarpon “laying up” on a shallow flat. These fish in the shallows can be very finicky, but this Tarpon slurped up that jumbo crab as soon as it hit the water. After realeasing two cudas we found a large school of permit. After several perfect casts by David we finally got one to eat our offering. That rounded out a great day for both the angler and guide.

The Tarpon are HERE. There is no doubt that this is what alot of anglers have been waiting for. Here are a few of the tarpon we have been catching aboard the Shadow Caster this past week. The fish have been all sizes from the scrappy 30 pounders to the brutes, 100+ pounds. Whether it is your 1st or 101st, these fish always impress. So if you want to tangle with the strongest, most acrobatic fish in the shallow waters of Key West, there is no better time than May. June and July.

This month is turning out to be a Tarpon fisherman’s dream. With the southerly winds and the warm water temps the fish have been all over in the early morning hours. This is the first push of the migratory fish that call Key West home during the spring and early summer months. Just like all the two legged visitors that flock to the Conch Republic this time of year, the Tarpon are happy to be back. Nothing beats an early morning sunrise with Tarpon rolling around the boat.
Tarpon fishing is all about the water temperature. When it is cold, say anything below 70 degree water, these fish seem to get lockjaw. Tarpon don’t have a calendar to follow and they don’t really care what month it is, they just know where to go when the water temp is right for them. And this March is proving to be the time. This is going to be a targeted species from here until the summer months, barring we aren’t hit with any more major cold fronts. I say “major” because that is what it is going to take to drop the thermometer.
Another warm water visitor to Key West is the Shark. There have been a good number of Lemon and Blacktip sharks around and they are a blast on light spinning tackle. Blacktips are the fasted running shark that the flats offer. They are so fast that your drag washers often get burned up after catching a few.
So I hope to see you down here to catch some BIG fish from a small boat on light tackle, the way fishing should be done.

By Gordon Lewis from Fosters.com
Article Date: Sunday, February 17, 2008

As first it appeared as an apparition, a ghostly shadow drifting across the edge of the tropical flats, moving slowly alongside the safety of the deep channel beyond.

Not really recognizable as a fish, more like the blurred outline of something sleek yet formidable in the way it moves so deliberately. Now it’s stops and becomes motionless, stock-still and very hard to see beneath the wind blown ripples distorting the waters’ surface. Patient and deadly it waits in anticipated ambush for some unwary prey to swim within range of its swift and decisive attack.

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What a beautiful month we have been having. The weather has been outstanding, with the average high hovering around 80 degrees. The fishing has been great as well. Tarpon have been making a strong showing in some of their usual spots around Key West. We have been catching really nice fish in the 40-70 pond range. The channels and basins in the backcountry have been holding the most Silverkings and the bait of choice has been a live fresh pinfish. With Spring approaching this fishery should only get better every day.

The flats have been producing a lot of Barracuda, and I have said it before, if you have never caught a big Cuda in a foot of water you are missing out. They just have it all-crazy fast attacks, high greyhounding leaps, long blistering runs, and a set of teeth that you have to respect.

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Another cold front is coming through here in Key West. What that really means down here is higher winds, as it rarely gets below 70 degrees during the day. I sure am gald I have the 17’ Maverick Master Angler during these times. This boat just cuts right through the chop. We are able to go fishing when other flats boats have to stay at the dock. The great thing about fishing in Key West is that no matter what the wind is doing there are places to go and get into some fish.

Christi and Delphi came all the way from upstate Florida to do some Backcountry fishing. With the Cold Front also came some rain, so after postponing a little to let the rain pass we headed out. With a 20 plus knot North wind we decided to fish some of the channels around Key West. They were both first timers, but by the end of the trip they had it down and were catching fish hand over fist. They both caught Jacks, Ladyfish, Snappers, Trout, and Christi caught her first shark. All but a couple trout were released to fight again. I am sure they enjoyed a fresh Trout dinner.

We had a group of 8 guys down from Pennsylvania today, so I arranged for three other boats to pick up all at the same location. I often get requests from larger groups and I have a great group of friends/flats guides that I work with to accommodate larger groups. We can even fish near each other so that you can trash talk your buddies.

A little bit of a late start (9AM), this time of year that is not really a bad thing. It gives the sun some time to warm up the water and with the sun up higher the angler can see in the water much better. Heading West out of the marina we were in search of the Permit. I knew we were going the get our shots today on some of the ocean side flats.

Every time I fish these flats I am impressed by how beautiful they are. With one angler armed with a crab and the other a tube lure, and as always I keep a crab on the platform with me, we were ready to see some fish. About 15 minutes into our fishing we see a couple permit coming right at us. Well these two fish must have seen us at the same time, because they spooked and were off to places unknown. Feeling confident about the area we pressed on.

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Bonefish (Albula vulpes)
AKA: Grey Ghost

Bonefish represents one of the most sought-after gamefish species in the Florida Keys. They blend so well to their background that spotting them on the sandy flats can be very challenging. Smaller fish (4-7 pounders) often travel in larger schools sucking up everything in their path as they speed across the shallow bottom. Larger fish (7-12 pounds) will usually be loners or in small schools. On light tackle or fly rod bonefish provide lighting fast runs and can turn on a dime. Sight fishing for bonefish in super shallow water is what backcountry fishing is all about. So remember, once you are hooked up keep your rod tip high and your line tight.