Fishing Q&A
Flats Fishing in the Florida Keys?
im located in north florida and fish the flats every chance i get. and i go down to the keys every year at the end of july to catch lobster but always have some time for fishing but have always done the deep sea thing. this year i want to go the opposite route. my question is, where do i need to be to catch trout, redfish, and snook? can i just free line live bait in the grass flats? or do i have to find the mangroves? thanks for any help
Public Comments
- I don't know very much about this area, but generally when you are a flats area amateur, live bait is the way to go. Many times you can just free line some live bait and wait for the schools of fish to come to you. Fish in these areas can often spook fairly easily, so you need to really know what you are doing to fish artificials.(This is of course a general opinion, you could have luck with artificial bait as well.
- the best place to go is called 1000 islands. You can catch every kind of fish here. I've caught tarpon, bonefish, trout, all kinds of snappers, snook, and even hooked up with Red drums and groupers. Its like fish heaven here. Not too many people go here for the fact that many people can get lost because all the islands look alike. The mosquitoes also help keep away people. i go here any chance i get.
- Key Largo-Islamorada is where you want to be. As you go further South toward Key West flats fishing for Reds, Trout, Snook, diminishes and is replaced by 'Cuda, Permit, (small, "spooky") Bones, Tarpon, Shark, Mangrove Snapper, Etc. You may want to "re-think" your trip. Perhaps make your destination the town of Flamingo?? Flamingo would be ideal Red-Snook-Trout area! Or even Chocoloskee. In any regard, if you go past Marathon your odds on targeting good 'ole "Swamp fish" like Reds, Trout, Snook are low. Not to say you CAN'T catch them, but it's more likely you'll catch Snapper, 'Cuda, Permit, "baby Bones", Nurse sharks, Etc BEFORE you even SEE a Red! And fishing in a Mangrove situtation is much easier and "fun" (and productive) than "scouting" all day for ONE spooky 16" Bone. (Trust me!) In the Mangroves you would use the same lures you use in N Fla: Jigs, Topwater's, Berkley "Jerk Shads", Etc. Due to the water being fairly clear, (compared to N Fla), go with shades of green, whites, "Glass Minnow", colors. Texas-rigged Jerk baits work esp well in a mangrove situation because they are weedless. A Jig/live Shrimp works everywhere! (lol) I'm originally from Jacksonville Fla, and vacationed in all the Keys for years. PS: Don't forget your Fluro-carbon leaders!
- Firstly i would take S_M_Cs advice, he knows the area well, however i just thought i would add another option you could take, and that's fly fish for them, Ive been to the keys to fly fish and its been very good, Ive fished the Bahamas flats and in future i will stick to the keys, better fishing, you're lucky to be so close to it, if you do decide to fly fish then the general patterns such as the clouser minnow work very well, fished on a floating line, catching a tarpon on a fly rod is great fun, you might want to give it a go, about a 9-10wt rod will work well, make sure you have plenty of backing on the reel as the fish do run.
