Today the flats were pretty slow, last night a north wind dropped the water temp 5 degrees. I fished with Tom and his son Nick form California, we headed west of Key west to an area I have been finding tarpon. We were blind casting Hogey’s and only drew 1 strike and spooked a few others. I moved further west to an area with light bottom. We had several shots at tarpon, barracudas, permit and sharks but we were only able to land 1 cuda. I moved inside the lakes and saw even less fish, we did hook a nice lemon shark but he broke off. I went to 1 last spot and we landed a very nice bonefish to make the day somewhat of a success.

From the 16th to the 24th I have had trout fly fisherman. I would like to explain you can be the best trout fisherman in the world but fail miserably in salt water. Trout fishing requires a delicate presentation and short cast, saltwater fishing requires quick, long and accurate cast. The tarpon fishing has been epic these past few days but my anglers were only able to draw 1 strike out of countless shots. If you are coming to Key west and are going to invest in a guide please do your homework and practice the double haul this will make your transition to salt much easier.

Today I fished with Josh, we headed out with crystal clear skies that change quite rapidly, while the skies were clear we had 3 shots at permit and a shot at a barracuda. After we lost the light we had shots at sharks and more barracudas, we also had several shots at tarpon. Josh landed 1 tarpon and jumped 2 more before we headed back to Key west.

I fished today with long time client Phil and Hugh. We had very heavy storms in the morning so we got a late start. The tide was low east of Key west so we headed to some white sand spots on the gulf side in search of bonefish. My first flat produced only sharks and barracudas but my second and third held bonefish. Phil landed the first fish and Hugh the next 2, we would have landed more but we were battling clouds. We headed towards Key west in search of tarpon and Hugh had a grab and a follow but we did not land any.

For the past 2 days I have been running 4hr trips with with clients who are both new to fishing and flats fishing. With high winds and high clouds I have been taking my clients tarpon fishing to begin with and moving over to sharks, barracudas, permit and bonefish. The tarpon fishing has been incredibly hard for this time of the year and we did not hook any these 2 days. We saw a few bonefish and permit but with the high clouds we did not get any really good shots. The cudas are heading out to deeper water but we did land a very nice one. the shark fishing has been really easy and we have landed many lemon sharks

I had a wonderful 4hr fishing trip with John Fredrick. We had a late morning start leaving my spot in Key west harbor at 9am. I headed east hitting a sand spot in search of bonefish, this flat proved to be the only 1 we would need, John had several shot before we finally land our target. The permit fishing proved to be a little harder and it took us 3 flats before john perfectly landed a crab in a school of tailing permit. Having 2/3rd of the flats slam landed we of course headed out looking for tarpon. Very similar to many of my trips I fell short of the slam once again. We also landed a very nice jack and had several barracudas eat but miss our cuda tube.

Today I fished with newlyweds John and Lauren. We headed out of Key west at 7am trying to get some fishing in before the impending cold front. We hit 2 channels for tarpon and hooked 1 and lost another at boat side. Lauren always wanted to catch a barracuda so we headed east to some spots I have been seeing a lot of cudas. Lauren missed 2 before John finally landed 1.

Day 4 of my trip with the Duane group. The weather laid down enough for me to fish the Key west harbor, we made 3 drifts for tarpon and broke 1 off boat side, jumped another and missed one more. I hit a spot for permit and we had 2 shots at permit and landed 1. We crossed the north west channel and had several shot at tarpon on the first flat we hit but the fishing slowed as the day progressed. Having landed the tarpon and the permit we went in search of a bonefish for the slam, we had 2 shots at permit but we could not find any bonefish.

Day 3 of fishing with the Duane group. We started out looking for tarpon and once again struck out. We headed east of Key west in search of barracudas and permit. We had several strikes on the first flat that we fished, we saw nothing on the second and landed 2 on the next flat. We headed back towards Key west in search of permit but we only saw sharks.

The second day with the Duane group the weather changed drastically. The winds were in the middle 20s and we had a lot of clouds. Not being able to sight fish I took to the channels, We hit a few spots west of Key west soaking bait for tarpon but we had no luck. I switched gears in order to bend the rods and went in search of shark and barracuda, we landed a nice black tip and a huge barracuda. Lastly We went in search of bonefish. I had loaded up with shrimp earlier in order to try to bring the fish to us needles to say that did not happen and we only landed a sting ray.

fished with long time client Duane and his friend Lee. We left Key west at 7am and headed west in search of tarpon. We found plenty of tarpon cruising the flat but we could not put the crab in the right place so we came up empty. I tried to make sight fishing easy and went in search of bonefish, unfortunately I could not find any. I hit another flat and got a few shots at both tarpon and permit but just like earlier we could not put the bait in the right spot. I hit another spot for bonefish but once again could not find any so I headed home empty handed.

My clients told their friends at the dock that we had a tough day of flats fishing. My clients had 30 shots at tarpon and permit, that is not a tough day of fishing that is a bad day of angling.