Key west flats fishing report by AWS charters

I had 2 half days today, my first trip was with larry and jim from Yester day and my second trip was with chad and pam stelmok. My first trip started at 6, we had a bit of trouble finding tarpon but finally hooked up around 7 with a very large fish that ate a pin fish. Jim was on the rod that got hit, the tarpon dragged us about a mile before it finally jumped, the fish was very large and tired so we saw about half. The tarpon surged again and pulled the hook. Larry was on the bow when I spotted a very large school crossing a shallow bank, we had three tarpon eat a crab before we came up tight. The tarpon ate and ran towards the boats and

when he did jump, he jumped over the bow just barely missing Larry. he finally broke the line after a few more jumps and Larry not “bowing to the king”.

My second trip we had shots at 1 school and a single tarpon but did not place the crab correctly. I headed out for some shark fishing north of Key west. We landed on a white sand spot that sharks rest on during the day, I placed a shot for Pam and she was soon hooked up with a large lemon shark. This shark fought for about 20 minutes before we brought it boat side for some pictures. chad hooked up minutes after the release and also brought in a truly large lemon shark. We had 1 shot at a permit but the water was really heating up so we headed home

February Key west fishing report 2012

The fishing in Key west has been fantastic this month mostly due to above average temperatures. My clients have been catching just about everything except Bonefish witch has been very scarce. To start with the Tarpon fishing has been fantastic as of late, i have been catching fish on fly in the backcountry as well as with live bait in Key west harbor. The night fishing along the docks for baby tarpon has been great with multiple hook ups per trips. These juvenile fish can be caught with a shrimp pattern fly or a live shrimp on a 3ot hook. Permit fishing west of Key west has been unbeliveable as they are feeding heavily to prepare for their yearly spawn. My clients have landed many permit on live crabs and unfortunately spooked many with the fly. I am participating in this years March Merkin where I will be guiding capt Mike Bartlett, i will keep you in touch with the results. The Barracuda fishing has finally started to kick in with many of my clients landing multiple fish per day, I know I say this every year but if you have never targeted cuda’s your are really missing out. Jacks are still the easiest species on the fly, these fish will follow sting rays as they follow the rising tide onto the flat. These fish eat everything you throw at them and since they are so focused on feeding they are easy to approach. Fishing for sharks is always easy with warm water temps, I have landed mostly lemon sharks with 1 around 8ft long. March is going to be very similar with the Tarpon fishing becoming more consistent and Permit fishing starting to taper off towards the end of the month.

Key west flats fishing report by Capt Anthony Skinner of AWS charters