Islamorada Fishing Report

Islamorada Fishing Report

Fly Fishing and Light Tackle Florida Keys and Everglades

Fly Fishing and Light Tackle Florida Keys

Fishing near the Keys has been great when the weather has been cooperating. We have been seeing good numbers of bones, permit and smaller tarpon around. The bonefishing around town has been great on both incoming and out going tides and keep you eyes peeled for permit cruising the flats as well! Ocean side I have seen a few larger tarpon still lingering around with a few shots here and there on fly. All of our shots on permit have been on live crabs and they can be just as picky on live crabs!

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Fly Fishing and Light Tackle Everglades

Getting out back between the storms and rain can tough to manage, but if you can launch at Flamingo or keep a good eye on the radar coming from the Keys, the backcountry of the Everglades has been consistent when the wind has been down.

Snook fishing has been fire on deep edges with plenty of current just watch for sharks, and if you’re getting sharked up, either move up to heavy gear and get those fish in quick in fish or move on. With the current water conditions plaguing the Tampa area it would be nice to keep our fish alive. There are plenty of other spots to fish where you can crush on the snooks without getting sharked up. Check out flats for muds for reds and snooks! the edges have been great! I have been spending a lot of time fishing weedless rigs and soft plastics and doing very well on the drops!

On the glassed out days look for fins, there have been tarpon rolling early in the morning on the right tides!

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August and September are great months to fly fish and spin fish in the Florida Keys and Everglades. Typically a slower time of year as far as tourism goes, the water is warm and the fish are happy. Fishing for Bonefish, permit, tarpon, snook, and redfish can be some of the best of the year with little to no crowds. So if your trout fishing trip isn’t looking so good due to low water conditions it might be time to check out the Keys and Everglades!

Thanks for reading the report, if you have questions, comments, or just want to gimme a shoutout, check me out on Instagram, @mooncastanglers or shoot me an email josh@mooncastanglers.com

I love hearing from you guys!

As always check the calendar on the “Book Your Trip” link for my Availability!

Capt Josh

Islamorada Fishing Report

The Islamorada Fishing Report

Being a fly fishing guide in Islamorada can be amazing, this week was awesome. The tarpon fishing in downtown Islamorada has been great. There have been steady schools of fish for the past few weeks. The permit have come back into town after their Spring spawn and are eating flies and live crabs.

Fly fishing for tarpon has been my main focus for the past few days and I was seeing good numbers of them until they all headed south. The next few days are going to be difficult with yet another front moving in right now and winds in the 20mph range for the next week. After the wind dies down we should start seeing northbound fish on the ocean side.

Jumping a giant Tarpon on the fly rod!

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Everglades and Backcountry

Fly fishing the Everglades and backcountry has been good when the tides have been right. I have been using both fly and live bait and getting great snook when we head to the back. Fishing larger baits has been getting giant snook, however if there are giant snook eating baits there are sharks around. Be careful not to let the sharks get the snook, its a pretty big bummer when you only land a snook head on what could have been a fish of a lifetime. Use heavy line, get em in quick, and open the bail if a shark gets on em.

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June has filled up, I still have some dates available at the end off the month. Tarpon, permit, bonefish, and snook will be fire this summer let me know if you want to fish! I’d love to get your picture up here on the fishing report!

Thanks for reading,

Capt Josh

Islamorada Fishing Report

Fly Fishing For Tarpon Islamorada

Well the weather locally has been a rollercoaster ride for the past few weeks. Typical March. When the water is warm the Tarpon have been eating, but these small windy cold-fronts that keep coming in are putting them off. No matter, we’re still making due!

The Tarpon bite for the past week was slow, though we still managed to hook a few on fly and artificials. In Islamorada, fly fishing for tarpon has been tough, but that is hopefully about to change. We have been seeing large groups of fish around bridges and the gulf. They’re still a little shy to bite, but hey that’s tarpon fishing! When this water temp gets stable the fish will resume their happy habits and the 2021 tarpon season will be in full swing.

The windy days have also caused some issues in the back country. The Flamingo area has been blown out with muddy conditions for the past few months, and every time it seems to start to clear up the wind just turns it back up. There are absolutely fish to be found, but its been best to look for clean water, and cast into mangroves.

In town the bone fishing has been great when the wind is down. The wind situation has been sounding like a broken record for the past few weeks, everyday it seems to be blowing 15mph. Hopefully we’re getting our spring wind out of the way and the rest of the season we’ll have calm days!

I still have a few dates available for April and May!

-Capt Josh

Islamorada Fishing Report

Suzuki 90 from Outboard Specialties

Well folks a lot has happened in the past two weeks since my last report. Tarpon fishing was getting off to nice start when all of the sudden my Yamaha 90 decided to give up the ghost on a guide trip. Lucky for us she died only about a half mile from the marina and we were able to limp her in. After cancelling a few trips and making some phone calls to find a new motor, Outboard Specialties in Pompano Beach was able to find me a new Suzuki 90, and they got her mounted in just a few days. The people at the Outboard Specialties were amazing to work with, and i’m super stoked on my new 90! I’m back on the water so lets talk about that!

Bonefishing in Islamorada

Last week before this wind picked up and cooled everything off we were seeing good numbers of tarpon and getting awesome shots everyday on both fly and spin gear. We hooked a few up but we got beat, sometimes the king wins! The bone fishing has picked up and has been a really nice way to get out of the wind and get some solid action. Snook fishing and backcountry in general was great but this front that is rolling through out of the NE has pushed a lot of the water out of the already shallow bays in the backcountry so fishing channels is best until the wind lets up.

Tarpon season is right around the corner and I still have dates available for end of April, May and June.

See ya on the water,

Capt. Josh