The fishing in Islamorada has been spotty at best. We have had some crazy conditions as of late. The water temps are still down and the clarity is horrible. We did catch a Sailfish this week in water that was so dirty I’m not sure how he found the bait!! Speaking of bait that too has been a struggle still, however, we have managed to get some Cigar minnows once every three days. Ballyhoo has been way up the road in some cleaner waters,…too far for me to go. The live shrimp have helped greatly on the patches with the snappers and smaller mackerels.

We have been doing lots of different types of fishing as of late as it’s becoming that time of the year that the surrounding waters begin to show more signs of life. Both Capt. Jeff and Capt. Clyde have started to run more backcountry trips and finding great catches of Spanish and Cero mackerels, all on light tackle 6lb and 12lb test. Capt Clyde did have some good luck with some clients this week catching these fish on Fly too!! To go with the Mackerels, the Sea Trout and Ladyfish have started to really turn up the action with bites on almost every cast!

Out front I have had some good days and we really aren’t finding it easy but with hard work it has paid off most of the time. There have been a couple of days we had very good King Mackerel fishing all 7 to 10lb’s. A few cobia were caught on Wednesday as a small pocket of some cleaner water showed up on the tide change which allowed the guys to see better and did manage to find a few fish. We have been out at the Hump a couple of days and had little luck. We did manage a few nice Blackfins and several larger Amberjacks. The bites have come on Butterfly jigs and trolling feathers, for the AJ’s larger jigs and Blue runners. The Patch fishing became a little tougher this week. There’s been a lot of pressure so that is to be accepted. However we have managed to get our dinner fish. The hogfish and Porgies really have been biting well too, which are great table fare!    

Lastly we have our last front coming in on Monday and we are all hoping for Tailing Conditions. This week should be something special, keeping our figures crossed. I know it has already started in Key West as the guys had up to 20 fish each the last two days so…….. that’s Sailfish plus a good showing of Cobia!   

Tight Lines,
Captain John Oughton