Back Country and Light Tackle Fishing with Captain John
Here are a few photos of the guys from North Carolina. We had a great time catching all kinds of fish on light tackle. Will caught his first ever bonefish, while his bro Griffin was battling barracudas, blacktips and lemon sharks. The gin clear waters of the backcountry provided us with a front row seat to watch all the bites.
Thankfully, for us in Key West, the hurricanes of September only brought us a couple days of wind and rain. We did not experience any major damage, just a few days of dirty water. Now all the storms have past, the water has cleared up and flats fishing is great. Yesterday, I had a couple from New York on their first flats fishing trip. They both managed to to land a couple beautiful Florida Keys Bonefish. The incoming tide has been bringing bonefish on the flats to feed in the cooler water. We are coming to the end of the Tarpon fishing here and as the cold fronts move in these fish will head out. But right now there are juvenile tarpon rolling in the back country channels. These fish are very temperamental and react poorly to overfishing. It is very important NOT to fish an area day after day. Another great fish, and my favorite, to target is the Permit. Pictured above is a couple fish we caught just the other day. Permit fishing should only improve during the Fall months. If you want to do some “hands-on” fishing then the Shadowcaster is for you.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Down here in the winter sometimes these cold fronts are a good thing for the fishing. The weather before the front is usually warm and sunny and that can really turn the fishing on. When that water temperature has a chance to stabilize the permit start to come from the deeper channels and back up on the flats to feed. During these days of warmth there have been a good number of permit around, as well as barracuda, probably the most under-rated fish on the flats. I just love fishing for them, there are very few fish that provide the excitement that a cuda does.
Tarpon have been in some of the channels around Key West in the very early morning, these fish I have been seeing have all been on the larger side. Bonefish, a species that does not get much thought in January, have been coming up on the flats during midday, when the temperature and tides are right. Now for January to be able to fish for all three of the most prized flats fish is a great thing. This is the time of year that basin fishing is loaded with action. You will catch everything from Speckled seatrout to ladyfish to jack crevalle and often you are getting a bite on every cast. On light tackle this fishing can be loads of fun for everyone.
