Key West Fly Fishing

As I sit here listening to the rain slap against the window in the stiff 30mph breeze and the temperature is droping nearly 30 degrees from the highs of yesterday, I can’t help but think about how spoiled I’ve become over the last few days. 

February is one of my favorite months in the Keys. When mother nature co-operates with unseasonably high temps and low winds this place comes alive like no other time of year. It’s a roll of the dice to trying to time this good weather to coincide with a trip. Some years the good weather never materializes and some years it lasts all month. For the last week it’s been like the Discovery Channel on steroids.

Two days ago on my way to the Marquesas, there where schools of mackerel shredding bait in the Boca Grande Channel. As we pulled up to the first flat inside Mooney Harbor, we saw the first permit tail of the day before I had even turned the motor off. I lost track of the number of shots we had but to put things into perspective, I didn’t change spots until around 1:30. I can already hear the comments that John and Drew will make about my next statement but . . . my client wanted to catch a cobia so I ran to a wreck about 7 miles west of the Marquesas. While no cobia were present, we did see something that was pretty amazing. About a dozen bull sharks, some over 300 lbs, circled the wreck as we floated over it. The sharks were mixed in with hundreds of cudas, a few small schools of permit, a huge jewfish, and thousands of other smaller snappers and jacks. The wreck was a sight to behold.

We headed back to the east side of the Marquesas and continued to permit fish when we saw the first school of tarpon rolling towards us. After switching rods, we began to get into position for a shot when we came across a monster sawfish, as long as my boat, with a small cobia following close behind. The last hours of the day where spent casting to schools of tarpon. Mostly big fish, between 60lbs and 120lbs, rolling, sliding, cruising, and eager to eat a well presented fly.

I won’t bore you with our numbers for the day. . . you wouldn’t believe me anyway.

Jacob

The fishing thus far this month has been almost everything that you could want for early February. The weather has been beautiful and the fish have responded. After a fairly typical January with almost weekly cold fronts moving through the area, February brought us warming temperatures and bright blue skies.

In fact, the weather has been so nice that it has had John and myself thinking of March and April. We have not been able to help ourselves and have had to check some spring time tarpon areas to see if some fish have been present. They have. While there haven’t been as many tarpon as there will be later in the spring, the sight of laid up tarpon holding and sliding in the current has us as giddy as school kids on the last day of class.

I checked for tarpon with Kris Williams of Boston early last week, after his buddy Graham had to leave after four days of chasing permit. Despite increasing winds we found a handful of fish in the first spot I checked. After a few shots to get familiar with the game, Kris connected solidly with a fat 120lb fish, landing his first tarpon. Unfortunately he had to catch an afternoon flight and the day was a short one. I had the next couple of days off and gladly took my parents, who were in town, out to chase some early season tarpon. Dad took his rightful place on the bow making great shots in the 20 knot wind. The first day we had three fish eat, catching two, on 12-15 shots. Both of the fish that we landed were in the 120-130lb range. The second day, a little windier than the day before, didn’t bring us as good of fortune. There were fish around but they just didn’t want anything to do with our best presentations.

Of course with the warming weather permit have been a primary focus. The beautiful weather also coincided with the new moon on the 6th of the month. This brought much better current flows and water levels that the permit can’t get enough of. While the permit fishing has been fairly dependable this winter, in the past week it has been exceptional. I had the chance to fish with Paul Shahinian of New Jersey for a couple of beautiful days late last week. On the first morning we fished a strong incoming tide getting multiple shots at singles and groups of fish working the flats. We caught two permit in the 10-15lb range. As the wind slackened my mind again went to tarpon, so we ran into the backcountry to tangle with some ‘poons. Unfortunately, the tarpon didn’t realize this was the plan and the fish we found had lock jaw. We finished the day fishing for tailers on the Gulf getting several great shots but no takers. Lesson learned - don’t leave fish to find fish. Duh.

Due to my poor decision the first day we decided to focus strictly on permit the second day. The wind was light but the fish were active. The first spot we hit, we had 12-15 shots at actively feeding and tailing groups of fish. We briefly came tight to one before the fly pulled out of its mouth. Although not as good, the midday fishing was dependable as we got several shots at every spot we fished. The late afternoon, however, was epic. At the final spot of day we were greeted by large, tailing permit. The fish were tailing so aggressively that they would often throw water several feet in the air as they rooted for crabs. The fish, many in the 20-25lb class, were on high alert in the 18-24 inch water. The shallow, falling tide in combination with light winds and bright blue skies made the fish especially wary, but the numbers of fish and what they were doing made it a memorable afternoon. Although we didn’t get one, as I ran back to the dock I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.

February always seem to be a special month. When you hit the weather right it can provide all of the great fishing that you expect later in the spring. However, it always seems to be a game of give and take. After a cold front Sunday, the wind has been 25-30 knots and the next couple of days are supposed to be rainy with occasional thunderstorms. In fact, I just heard the first rumble of thunder this year. Luckily, warmer weather is (hopefully) not far off and the fishing we had this week will become more and more commonplace. I for one can’t wait to consistently start tangling with laid up fatties.

Drew

Still in Mississippi, finding it difficult to leave these redfish.

Yesterday the wind kicked up a little bit so my cousin Micheal and I drove the extra 45 miles to Hopedale to keep from rattling our teeth out crossing Lake Bourne. Around 9:30 we pulled up to the first spot and poled into a shallow lake with creeks on each end, one flowing into the gulf the other into a larger lake. The entrance into redfishville was stacked with fish around 10-15 lbs. Micheal, being a fish friendly caster, with little time on the bow of a skiff and equally limited time sight casting to tailing reds, was not much of a threat to the school. It was still really cool watching the fish hold in the current, waving their tails slowly. The blue sky made the visibility flawless and we could see the bluish outline on the tips of their tails as they slowly waved in the incoming tide. It was even cool seeing the explosion of mud as the school fled for their lives as Mike cast a Randy Johnson fastball into the middle of them on his third or fourth attempt. We poled around the mouth of the lake but it was too shallow to get inside very far. We managed to hook a few and land one or two before we poled out and drove around to the other end of the lake where we had almost the same scenario as on the first end.  We found fish at every spot we stopped, all new spots that I had never fished. The highlight of the day was a cove we found with a deep depression running up the middle. All of the fish we saw in the cove were huge. I’d be lying if I said how big they were. All I have to go on is the 3 we landed weighed around 20 lbs and I saw some in there that looked like they could have eaten the ones we landed.

Heading back in the morning with two friends from Memphis, Mike Smith and John Barb. Our game plan is to get one over 30lbs. I’ll keep y’all posted.

Jacob