Florida Keys backcountry fishing report April 2014

Posted on 4/29/2014
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Hello everyone! Unusual weather settled in South Florida most of last week with a drop in temperatures and a prevailing West to North wind. Anglers fishing the mainland shorelines from Key Largo to Flamingo reported great success most of last week putting together some great catches of Redfish, Trout, Big Jacks,Snappers plus had some shots at Snook and Tarpon. Sight fishing around the Islands and mainland shorelines will be very rewarding with Redfish, Snook, Tarpon and many more. The Trout bite in the bay continues to be hit or miss, find the Mullet muds and you will find the fish. Move around until you find the mud that's holding fish. Soft plastics under a popping cork are getting plenty of bites. The bite in the Flamingo area will be descent with Redfish, Snook, Trout, Tarpon and Sharks. Fish the runoffs, island moats and flats for the Snook and Redfish and concentrate on the deeper channels while targeting the Tarpon and Sharks. Same goes in the Cape Sable area, plenty of Snooks and Reds being caught on a regular basis by anglers working the creeks and shorelines. Tarpon can be seen rolling in the area and Sharks continue to patrol looking for an easy meal. 

Hope everyone has been taking advantage of the calm weather and ventured out in to gulf waters. The Triple tail have been lurking by the crab trap buoys so it might be worth your time to do some hunting. Out on the wrecks anglers have been getting in to a little bit of everything from Permit to Cobia and even Tarpon plus nice Snappers and Groupers. Plenty of rod bending action makes for a great time on the water for the hole family. Out towards the park boundaries Trout and Snappers have been good and will continue to be so for the time being. Drift the area while bouncing Bucktail jigs close to the bottom or cast popping corks and jigs with Berkley Gulp! Shrimp for great action. 
The change of temperature and the west wind slowed things down for the Tarpon fisherman but mostly everybody that stuck to their game plan managed to bring a fish boat side. Things should get back to normal for the weekend with prevailing east winds and warmer temperatures. For you Fly fisherman now is the time to get all those thought after shots at Tarpon. Look for the fish to be pushing ocean side around the points of flats and channels. The calm conditions will provide for some great shots at laid up fish around bayside banks and basins. Permit can be found feeding around the deeper edges of flats and banks both Oceanside and bayside. We had some great Permit fishing during last week while sight fishing schools of them around inshore rocks and wrecks on the reef line. Look for the Bonefish to continue to be tailing on the lower stages of the tides and pushing or mudding on the higher tidal stages around Oceanside flats. Enjoy the beautiful weather and take somebody fishing!

Captain Juan Garcia