Fish the Keys with an open mind brings lots of opportunities
Capt. Steve Friedman
January 13, 2010
Islamorada - Saltwater Fishing Report
As the weather shifted into winter last week, fishing strategy had to shift as well. I allowed the weather to dictate what kind of fishing I would target each day. With the weather changing on an almost daily basis this time of year, in a short span, I fished the Gulf, the Reef and the Park -- we're lucky to have so many options close to the shores of Islamorada!
I had the pleasure of fishing with the Cantelmo family from Orange County, New York for a few days. These were so enthusiastic and open-minded. Whatever bit is what they liked best.
In high, cold winds, we ran to Flamingo in Everglades National Park. We started with light tackle, 10-pound braided line, weighted jigs and artificial bait like Berkley Gulp's new penny shrimp color. The first cast tossed into the murky backcountry waters hooked a nice jack crevalle. At one point the Cantelmos had a fish on every cast. We ended the day with a flurry of action involving redfish, ladyfish and some nice sized snook – all safely released.
The next day we ventured out to the Gulf of Mexico in search of Spanish mackerel. The chum bag soaked for only ten minutes when the toothy speedsters started ripping our tackle apart. When the tide slacked off the macks seemed to slow down too. So we switched to larger baits on the bottom and battled with goliath grouper up to about 80 pounds. We had vicious top water bites too, including 60-pound black tip sharks.
The following day we boarded my 22' Pathfinder and headed to the reef in some light wind and clear skies. Using primarily cast-netted pilchards and hair-hooked ballyhoo for bait, we set out to find sailfish. I used a four line set with both rigged ballyhoo and nose-hooked pilchards on 7/0 circle hooks. A good strategy, but the sailfish were difficult to come by for us that morning and we quickly changed tactics to do some bottom fishing. We had a stellar grouper and mangrove snapper bite and capped it off by catching big ‘cudas, up to 20 pounds, on light spinning gear.
To round off the holiday week, I took the Cantelmo family flats fishing close to home where we sought bonefish and tarpon. After several nice shots using just a medium-sized live shrimp, the bonefish proved to be a tough adversary and passed up each opportunity we gave them to eat the easy meal. I moved off the flats to deeper water surrounding mangrove islands, where we found willing baby tarpon. Again I reached for the Berkley Gulp, but this time chose a worm hook in a "Texas-rig" style where the hook point is slightly buried into the lure. My anglers placed casts beautifully, way up under the mangrove canopies, to reach the small tarpon while avoiding a tangle in the foliage. The boys made some stealthy casts to catch 3 of four tarpon hooked that day.
Islamorada Fishing Forecast:
Cold weather is settling in the Keys. Warming trends to start late in the week.
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