Cold water makes for red hot fishing on the flats in key west.
Capt. Lenny Leonard
January 18, 2014
Key West - Saltwater Fishing Report
Get out your hat, gloves and winter coat it's time to go barracuda fishing. Old man winter finally found us down here in Key West. I'm only joking. That's a little extreme, we are still in the 70's, so fear not people from the northern states.
Personally I am not a big fan of cold weather, however, the fish need the water temperature change. The cooler water temperature drives the baitfish inshore looking for warmer water. It's not so much the cool down part that is compelling to the fish, it's the warming up part they seem to like. As that warmer water starts to flood inshore on a tide, those baitfish will seek out, gather and hold in that warm water. Like riding on a train from the suburbs into the city. That bait congregation in the warm water, will usually end up drifting inshore and finding happiness around the shallow flats. Which can make for very happy feeding if you are a barracuda, shark or jack.
The last week or ten days the fishing around key west has been pretty good.
I'm starting to see quite a few more barracuda in the shallow flats thanks to the push of cold water and bait. The shark fishing has been really good. Lots of blacktip and lemon sharks prowling the flats. I had great fun with a regular client, targeting sharks on fly. Several blacktip caught and a few lemon sharks. Between the barracuda and the sharks, we had plenty of action sight fishing.
The winter time sight fishing in Key West is super fun. You might be jumping tarpon one day and chasing barracuda the next. You just need to be open minded and ready to fish what the guide recommends.
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