Everglades Backcountry Fishing at its best
Capt. Jeremy Mathis
March 16, 2015
Key Largo - Saltwater Fishing Report
It has been an outstanding week of fishing in Key Largo and the backcountry of the Everglades. We started our week with an afternoon trip to check out the Tarpon bite. We had a solid bite but unfortunately all six of our bites resulted in missed hookups. They were very aggressive and threw the baits all over the place and jumped but we never got a hook to stick, unfortunately no photos.
The next evening I took Irv out for a night trip, I had a feeling that with the moon being as bright as it had been that we would have pretty good luck. I had a livewell full of frisky baits and from the first cast I realized we would be catching not fishing this evening. I hooked Irv up with a bait and showed him where to put it, he immediately had a nice snook on and we boated it for a quick picture and release.
We caught quite a few more and then the jacks took over so we moved about a hundred yards and started over. Irv threw his bait up by the mangroves and BAM he had another snook. I knew the Redfish were in the area so I instructed him to throw out on the flats and before long his drag was singing a song. He caught a very nice oversized Redfish which we boated, pictured, released and called it a night.
I actually had an day off this weekend, so what did I do??? I went fun fishing with a good friend. It had been about 6 months since we had fished last and we really made up for lost time. We stopped to catch some bait and wound up seeing a nice Snook which we photod and released. All I could do was laugh, 5 minutes into the trip while catching bait and we had a fish onboard.
We moved to our next spot and poled up to the mangrove edge quietly and saw 4 large shadows under the overhanging branches. On my 2nd cast I had a nice slot snook that we put back in for another days fun.
We moved down the shoreline and as we rounded a bend we heard some commotion. We soon found a group of Redfish crashing baits. A properly presented bait and I was hooked up to a 30" Redfish.
As we were releasing the fish, I looked up and there was a large wake coming straight at us. I told Brian to cast out in front of it and it was an almost immediate strike. Another large Redfish.
I had the Smiths, father and 2 sons, for a 1/2 day morning trip. The caught some nice Trout to 20", a load of snapper, and this unbelievable 37" Snook to end the day.
This weather pattern should continue and the bit should only continue to get better. Spring into some of this hot action and book a trip. There is nothing like getting manhandled by these drag pullers.
Key Largo Fishing Forecast:
Tarpon fishing will become more consistent as these waters warm. This is a great late afternoon opportunity to enjoy some of the most exciting fishing the Florida Keys has to offer.
Target Species:
Tarpon
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