Islamorada Fishing Report

The water is starting to warm up and the tarpons are warming up too!

The past few weeks we have been dealing with very inconsistent weather. Tarpon are not a fan of cold water. The past cold front dropped the water temps into the 60s and they are slowly starting to work their way back up.

This week brought wind and chilly water temps, but we were still able to make it happen. We worked lee banks and found nice snook and a few baby tarpon on flies. Later in the week the water temps started to warm up and I changed my game to hunting for the bigger tarpon around Islamorada. Though there have not been great numbers of fish we were able to hook a few on the fly rod!

Fly Fishing For tarpon Islamorada

This weekend looks like it’s going to be windy and bring in some warmer temps. Next week is looking solid and we’re going to try and hammer down on some silver kings!

Fly Fishing for Snook

I checked my personal fishing reports from last season and the tarpon are definitely running behind schedule due to the colder water temps. The great news is that once the tarpon fishing gets into full swing we’ll have solid fishing through June, which is even better news if you’ve waited to book your trip! June is going to be an amazing month and I have availability!

Thanks for reading, and if you’d like to book a trip feel free to reach out,

Capt Josh

Islamorada Fishing Report

Fly Fishing For Tarpon Islamorada

The weather warmed up and the Tarpon got happy! The past few days have been a ton of fun hooking tarpon on fly and spin gear. Black flies have been working best and soft plastics in white and black have been getting them too. This colder weather coming in might put them off for a few days, but the season is right around the corner and my guests and I are stoked!

The backcountry up the East Cape has been awesome this past week. We’ve been Catching Tarpon, Snook, Redfish and Black Drum. We’ve also been finding schools of nice trout that are game to eat pretty much anything. Fly fishing up against the banks has been epic, we’re seeing good numbers of redfish and snook.

Thanks for reading! I hope to see you on the water,

Contact me for availability, I still have some days open February and March

Cast Josh

Fly fishing for Redfish Everglades

Islamorada and Florida Keys Backcountry Fishing Report

Backcountry Cobia

The weather has been awesome these past few days! The water has been glass for the past 3 days and we have had plenty of shots at permit and big tarpon. When the conditions line up it makes fly fishing the backcountry a dream. We can see tarpon roll a long way off and permit tailing in areas that are difficult to fish otherwise. We did manage to sight fish a few cobia this week and that was amazing, and delicious. Best table fare the keys have to offer in my opinion.

Early this week consisted of windy fly fishing conditions, though the wind was up we still managed to land a few nice snook on the fly and had multiple shots at redfish. Fly Fishing in the Keys can be amazing, however its only as amazing as your ability to cast. I highly recommend casting lessons and practice before your trip to the keys. Theres nothing worse than being just 10ft short of a tailing permit! As a rule of thumb I tell my guests to practice until they are able to cast 60ft comfortably, a double haul helps. I have links and resources that I send my guests to help practice. Let me know if you need a tune up before your visit, I am happy to help! Simply making a vid of yourself casting and sending it to me for review can help a lot!

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you on the water,

Capt Josh

Islamorada Fishing Report

Nicole with her first Everglades Flats Redfish

Its a chilly one here in Islamorada today. I stepped outside with a hot cup of coffee to let the dog out and was greeted with a cool blast of winter air. I thought I left the cold behind in Idaho! No matter, the warmer temps start blowing in this afternoon and this week looks like it going to be great.

Pre cold front the fishing was steady. I was finding redfish, snook, and black drum in their usual haunts. Deep holes with lots of current. I have been catching redfish up on the flats around Flamingo, and if you’re willing to take some chances and pole some flats with these super low tides the action has been good. Just have a way out, or bring a book and an extra sandwich if you get high and dry!

With these coldfronts coming and going the fish have been pretty dialed in on shrimp, gulps, and flies. When we can get out of the wind the fly has been working well tight against the bank. We’ve been seeing snook, tarpon, and reds on fly.

Weather this week looks great and its back on the water for me tomorrow! Hopefully this weather warms up and some bigger tarpon get moving around. I look forward to taking you fishing!

Capt Josh

Islamorada Fishing Report

2021 Happy New year! Hope you’ve all had an awesome holiday!

Wind has been the word for the past week. A front came in on Tuesday and it has been blowing ever since. According to the weather man its supposed to slow down later today and next week looks great. The wind makes fly fishing very difficult. Though we had one good day on fly, most days we left the long rods at the dock this week and focused on spin gear and live bait.

This week we spent in the back country of the Everglades fishing mangroves and deep channels. If the wind didn’t make it difficult enough, the ultra low tides definitely did. This moon phase we lost a lot of water making it difficult to get to certain areas, some spots were simply off limits. The plus side is if you can find deep water and a bit of current you can usually make something happen. We were able to get into a few more monster black drum, snook, reds, and even some triple tail.

This week looks good with wind coming down and the low tides starting to come back to normal. I have availability this month so feel free to give me a call and we’ll get on the water.

Capt Josh

Islamorada Fishing Report

Winter Everglades and Keys fishing is in full swing and it has been amazing this past week! The gulf fishing has been producing our larger fish and the change in tide in town has been getting some larger bonefish up on the flats. My clients have been catching a ton of different species this past week, grouper, black drum, barracuda, redfish, snook, trout, tarpon, cobia, and of course bonefish! The cold weather and the ultra low tides have fishing holding in deeper holes and close to the mangroves and we have been capitalizing.

If you want to come out and try for snook, redfish, black drum, permit and bonefish give me a call! I have dates available in January. Dress warm! 60 degrees doesn’t feel too bad when you’re standing on the dock, but when we’re jamming at 30mph for 45min to the Everglades it can get chilly!

Hope you and your families had a great holiday and I know I’m not the only person looking forward to 2021!

Capt Josh

Islamorada, Florida Fishing Report

The Holidays are here and the fish are have been gifting tight lines on both fly rod and light tackle!

We had a bit of a weather change these past few days with cold fronts coming in. Everything has started to settle in nicely with the fish getting used to the cooler water temps and heading into their winter holding zones. This creates awesome opportunities to fish the flats in the Everglades and in Islamorada.

Snook have been holding on banks and in channels, and they’re hungry! They’ve been eating almost everything we’ve been throwing at them. Redfish have been the same, however we’re finding large schools on flats and sight casting to them has been a lot of fun and should stay good until April. Fly fishing for bones has been good on calm days when the wind isn’t beating up the angler and we’re able to see. We have been getting bones in the AM on live shrimps in town. There have been some tarpon still cruising around but I have not spent a lot of time targeting them due to the other species fishing so well right now.

Hope to fish with you soon,

Capt Josh

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