Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: April 30th..

Gary and Elaine Fritz take a break from Montana winter to fly fish for baby tarpon with me in the lower Florida Keys. Gary is an outfitter in Montana, he operates Osprey Expeditions. During the his trip my skiff had a minor electrical malfunction and Capt. Andy Tipler with last Cast Charters was gracious enough to lend me his skiff while mine was being repaired..
THANKS Andy!

Check out this video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ-9RP68UgA

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: April 26th

Wind, wind and more wind..
I gave my anglers the option not to go today and they pounced on it.. One of the advantages of fishing here in the Keys with a guide instead of a lodge.. With a lodge you pay and take your chances on the weather. Here if it is unfishable, you can take the money you would have spent on the charter and play in Key West.

However.. I called my friend Bruce Chard and asked him if he wanted to go for lunch.. He was out on charter, they had already boated a redfish and had shots at bones and permit.. Way to go Bruce! The lower Florida Keys has lots of lee ward shore lines to fish out of the wind.. Here is a picture of a permit Mark Raisler boated on a 25 mph wind day.

Prior to the last 4 days the tarpon fishing had been very good. Water temps were in the low 80s. Nice sized schools of tarpon had started traveling the ocean side flats. We did very well in some of the back country basins on big tarpon and juveniles. If you can find them in the basins they will generally eat better then the ocean side travelers.. I have been concentrating mainly on tarpon the last couple of weeks, but have also been finding some permit and bone fish..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: April 4th

March came in like a lamb and left like the proverbial lion.. We had several days of very strong winds. Which meant tucking in leeward shores. How ever the first several days of April the weather and the fishing has been outstanding. water temperatures have started at 80 degrees in the morning. This makes the fish and me very happy. Large migratory tarpon have appeared in the basins and on the flats near deeper channels. These fish have been in the mood to eat! Osamu Komiyama came all the way from Japan to tarpon fish for the first time. He picked the right 3 days. Despite the language barrier Osamui fed 9 tarpon a brown toad fly..