I love mornings like this!!

Fished with Tony and Chip the last two days..  Day one we worked to find bone fish on the atlantic side..  good tides,, good conditions.. good spots...  Some how the bone fish did not get the memo..  We did get shots at a couple of fish, but I was hoping for more..  Conditions were right and these guys could put the fly were it needed to be..  When the tide got high we switched gears and looked for juvenile tarpon..  Checked several spots.. we either found none or LOTS..  Even got a couple of shots at lost permit in tarpon spots..

The second day we started before dawn..  Found rolling juvie tarpon in the first spot..  Tony jumped one on a gurgler..  later in the day we switched gears and decided to swing for the bleachers,,  Checked out  a place were there was a chance of getting a shot a full size tarpon.. 

Tony hooked up with  a 6 footer... she ate the toad fly right near the boat...  COOL EAT!!

The last three days have been cloudy with not much wind..  Makes for good conditions to target baby tarpon..  Sunday was supposed to be mostly sunny..  It was solid cloud cover..  We changed our bonefish plan to tarpon..  After checking several spots we found a shrimp hatch.  Joan and Ob each fed tarpon gurglers...  I love watching tarpon smash a surface fly..

                       Joan gets a tarpon on a gurgler!!

Yesterday we left the dock before sun up.. first spot had rolling tarpon and the beginnings of a shrimp hatch..   A shrimp hatch is when the shrimp float to the surface and the tarpon are  feeding on them..  Finding  a shrimp hatch is like hitting the scratch lotto..    It  does not happen often, but when you do, you win....  We fed a couple in the first spot then moved of to another spot...  Long story short, we fed a bunch tarpon on top before we got rained out 4 hours later...    Tried to duplicate that today and got rained out before we could go..              

Dawn Patrol

Not every morning is like this... but the ones that are, can be epic....

Flat calm mornings are a great time to find rolling juvenile tarpon and tailing bonefish.   This morning I found both!! 

Temperatures have been in the mid to high 80's..  with light winds out of the south east..

Just got back from a two week vacation in Montana...   Great to see my friends, the mountains and the river..  Oh and the fish are big this year!!

Kevin Guerin with a Brown trout..  Kevin guides in Montana and the Keys..

Great to be back!!

Fished the last few days with friends...  It has been fun..  Up early and out on the water before dawn.  We have been finding rolling juvenile tarpon as the sun comes up..  then have been targeting permit and bones on the incoming gulf edge tide... then when the tide tops out and the water gets too warm..  ocean side for big tarpon...  Most of the big tarpon have moved on...  But there are still enough left to keep it interesting..  Had one go way out of its way to eat my fly today..

Like I said It is great to back!

Oil Spill????

Currently, for south Florida and the Keys, there is a very low risk of impact in the near future, due to the separation of the Loop Current, NOAA officials said.

"Any oil reaching this area (South Florida and the Keys) would have spent considerable time degrading and dispersing and would be in the form of scattered tar balls and not a large surface slick of oil," the NOAA study said, echoing previous statements made by the U.S. Coast Guard, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and local officials.

For more information....         http://www.fla-keys.com/oilspill/   

Putting on the pressure...

Rich and Gerry hit it right for some end of the season tarpon fishing..  Weather was cooperative and so were the fish!

                                                 Gerry with his first big tarpon..

Of course having two anglers on the bow that can put the fly right were it needs to be,,,right now!    Does put more fish in the air..

Yesterday Jerry and Randy each hooked up with a big tarpon...  Today they had an early flight out of Key West..  We opted to go Dawn Patrol for baby tarpon..  Got three on surface flies... Gurglers..  Then switched to big tarpon..  Gerry hooked a dandy...

Thanks guys it was fun!!

I still have some days available this month....  Wanna get one???

June 14, 15, 20 and 21...

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: January 1st....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

Another great year of fishing has come to close.. fished the last day of the year with Patrick from New Jersey.. Weather and the tarpon cooperated. We managed to end the year with a nice juvenile tarpon on fly!

Yahoo!!!!

The weather for the upcoming week looks sunny but cool... highs in the mid 60's.. This will take tarpon, permit and bonefish out of the picture for a while until we get some warmer weather. However that still leaves us with barracuda, sharks, redfish, snook, lady fish and seat trout. Speaking of sea trout. Trout season is now open.. They are very tasty...

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Dec 12th....

It has been a warm december here in the Florida Keys. Highs for this week in the mid 80's.. Water temps rose into the low 80's two days ago.... no wind... we found schools of rolling baby tarpon the first stop. Jumped one and left tarpon to look for tailing permit.... found some permit, but it was tough. I did find a dozen or so 6 foot tarpon laid up in a winter warm up spot..... YAHOO!!

It is winter here in the keys and conditions change..
Had a charter yesterday.... winds out of the NE, solid cloud cover and had too work to find fish... However we did find some nice snook and redfish out of the wind.. Earlier in the week under similar conditions I had the pleasure of fishing with Sid and Jesse... They were taking a break from winter up north and just wanted to keep the rod bent and lines tight. We changed tactics.. Instead of sight fishing we went out to the gulf edge and caught a BUNCH of sea trout, lady fish and jacks on shrimp tipped jigs...

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Nov. 26th....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

The weather predictors missed it again today. The prediction for Turkey Day was wind and rain. When I woke up this morning it was flat calm with solid cloud cover. Perfect conditions to find rolling baby tarpon.. Made of few phone calls, woke up one buddy, but found another already awake.. Splashed the boat and found several nice schools of baby tarpon. We hooked three on fly before Tom had to be back at the dock by 10:00...

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Nov. 14th....

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Our first major cold front of the year has arrived. Just after that we had some horrendous fishing conditions when Ida was passing though... 30+ mph winds and solid cloud cover. My friend Luke Andrews, a Montana Fly Fishing Outfitter was also passing though as well. So we went even though conditions were awful. It worked out, we fished leeward shore lines and had a blast. We got into baby tarpon, snook and redfish. Luke even tempted a blacktip shark to eat a crab fly..

Thankfully the winds and clouds associated with Tropical Storm Ida have past... I fished with my Friend Capt. Derrrin Doop today.. Blue skies, light winds out of the NE... water temps in the mid to low 70's.. We found a bunch of redfish in the first spot and a surprising amount of bonefish later in the day.. Also lots of BIG barracuda in the 4 to 5 foot size..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Nov. 14th....

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Our first major cold front of the year has arrived. Just after that we had some horrendous fishing conditions when Ida was passing though... 30+ mph winds and solid cloud cover. My friend Luke Andrews, a Montana Fly Fishing Outfitter was also passing though as well. So we went even though conditions were awful. It worked out, we fished leeward shore lines and had a blast. We got into baby tarpon, snook and redfish. Luke even tempted a blacktip shark to eat a crab fly..

Thankfully the winds and clouds associated with Tropical Storm Ida have past... I fished with my Friend Capt. Derrrin Doop today.. Blue skies, light winds out of the NE... water temps in the mid to low 70's.. We found a bunch of redfish in the first spot and a surprising amount of bonefish later in the day.. Also lots of BIG barracuda in the 4 to 5 foot size..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Sept. 29th,,,

Bonefish?? Tarpon?? Permit???
It is a tough choice some times... Yesterday we focused on tarpon..It was glassy smooth and cloudy, We lucked out and found large mat of floating grass covering several acres. In and around that grass was 3 foot tarpon feeding attaching shrimp on the surface..
Today light winds out of the NW blew the clouds away and we had excellent visibility to sight fish. That and a falling tide on the gulf side made for a fun day with lots of shots at bonefish and permit.

Fishing here continues to be epic. The last week or so has been very warm with little or no wind. Glassy smooth conditions make it easy to spot rollers, tailers and wakers. How ever it can be very tough to present a fly or crab to permit in these conditions... Fall is a great time to fish the Florida Keys for permit, bonefish and baby tarpon.

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: August 28th... While tarpon fishing we found gulls and tarpon feeding on floating shrimp. SHRIMP HATCH!! Kelsey catches a nice tarpon on a gurgler.. Mike and Kelsey run Fishy Expeditions in Craig Mt. Check out the video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFm33_0z_Nc

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report and Video.....

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sHNOuMAIb8

Todays charter, Tom from Germany with his first tarpon.

We found baby tarpon just about every were we looked today. We also found a shrimp hatch, with dozens of tarpon feeding on top. Tom hooked a bunch with gurglers...

I am back from my vacation in Montana. Montana was great! Unfortunatly there are no tarpon, permit or bonefish in the rivers.

Weather here in the islands has been warm. Not too bad if you are out on the water. Early morning starts have been productive. Take your pick, rolling baby tarpon or tailing permit and bonefish. By mid day the water temperatures are nearing 90 degrees, which makes it tougher to find bonefish or permit in shallow water. Baby tarpon thrive in the warmer temperatures and are eager to eat a well placed surface fly or plug.

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: August 13th...

Todays charter, Tom from Germany with his first tarpon.

We found baby tarpon just about every were we looked today. We also found a shrimp hatch, with dozens of tarpon feeding on top. Tom hooked a bunch with gurglers...

I am back from my vacation in Montana. Montana was great! Unfortunatly there are no tarpon, permit or bonefish in the rivers.

Weather here in the islands has been warm. Not too bad if you are out on the water. Early morning starts have been productive. Take your pick, rolling baby tarpon or tailing permit and bonefish. By mid day the water temperatures are nearing 90 degrees, which makes it tougher to find bonefish or permit in shallow water. Baby tarpon thrive in the warmer temperatures and are eager to eat a well placed surface fly or plug.

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: June 15th...

The weather and the fishing have both been HOT!!
Almost zero wind for the last several days. The ocean has been glassy smooth..

Take your pick! Large migratory tarpon are traveling the ocean side flats.. Baby tarpon are rolling in the back country.. Bonefish and permit are on the flats until water temperatures get too warm.... It has been warm..

How ever we did find permit in some 94 degree baby tarpon water yesterday...

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..

Today I fished with Sam and Joe on weeks vacation from a Philadelphia winter. I asked them what they would like to fish for...tarpon? permit? bonefish? All three are on the flats now.
Joe's reply was "We want to catch fish!" Sam had never fished before..
Boy did we catch fish... Normally I prefer to sight fish. Which is a lot more like hunting then fishing.. We went to a basin on the gulf edge on a falling tide and threw jigs tipped with shrimp and soft plastic.. Almost every cast resulted in a hook up. Mostly lady fish , which are a blast... they are closely related to tarpon and love to jump. We also caught some nice sea trout, snappers and jacks..

Several days ago I fished with Alan from Atlanta. Blue skies, warm water and light wind. Alan had fly fished most of his life for trout and was new to sight fishing on the flats... However even though it was Friday the 13th and he brought a banana(bad ju ju), he still feed 5 baby tarpon a surface fly.. Nice going Alan..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: March 3rd.

Finally warmed up and the fishing was great last weekend. I had the pleasure of spending the day with Tim and Rhonda. They were a blast.. It was their first time flats fishing. They said they did not care what we went for as long as they caught a lot of fish on fly.... OK.. Fly fishing in the Florida Keys is a lot more challenging then trout in a western stream, but we came up with a plan for lots of fish. First we hit some coral heads for snapper and grouper...then got some shots at permit.. then beat up on lady fish. After boating a bunch of fish we decided to try some classic Keys style sight fishing.. Got some shots at some nice permit on the flats, then switched to tarpon.

Rhonda got three baby tarpon to eat a toad fly. The end of the day we found some 5 to 6 foot tarpon floating in a warm up spot. We could not see them until we were very close.. one ate a toad fly and several others followed it right to the boat.

The next day a cold front hit.. I am sitting in my apartment typing next to the space heater. It is March.. Great fishing in between fronts. Looks like the weather will improve towards the end of the week.

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Jan. 8th

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The weather and the fishing continue to be great here in the Florida Keys..

Fly Fishing For Bonefish and Permit In The Florida Keys

Water temperatures are in the mid 70's.. The last several days have been very good for permit in the back country. Lots of permit on the coral heads and on the flats.. The very beginning of the incoming tide has been good for bone fish. Today we hooked 3 on flies. the fly of choice was a #2 white Cracked Crab. Later in the day when the flats near the channels warm up I have been finding some nice schools of baby tarpon and even some 100lbers as well. Earlier in the week we had some extreme low tides in the back country and we also found some snook and red fish..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Dec. 21st.

The weather and the fishing has been good the last week. Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Dan and Jackie. Honey mooning and fishing in the keys... We got some shots at 5 to 6 foot tarpon on the flats!!! Not real common this time of year.. Hooked up on some monster Jacks crashing bait.. Dan hooked his first permit!

Lately, just about every other coral head has permit on it.. Earlier last week a friend and I spent days trying to get them to eat. I have not faced that much rejection since my last high school dance. Water temps finally warmed up enough for them to eat today..

Fished with Jim and Nick yesterday, we found baby tarpon in several spots. Jim got three to eat a toad fly..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Dec. 12th

Dec 12th Video Fishing Report... mackerel. redfish permit and tarpon

Fishing here continues to oscillate between epic and tough depending on the weather..Poled a buddy into a bunch of permit yesterday...got over a dozen shots with the fly rod...later in the day I poled him into some nice schools of baby tarpon... got 10 eats on a toad fly..jumped a couple..got some of the eats and jumps on video.. YAY!! The day before we got a red to the boat, busted off a permit, got shots at snook and bones too.. not bad for the middle of Dec.
For those of you who like smoked fish and fish dip, the mackerel blitz continues on the gulf edge. Thousands of mackerel are crashing bait on the surface. Out going tide is best..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Dec. 8th

Weather continues to be pretty good for the end of the year. Water temps have been starting out in the high 60's and getting into the low 70's in the afternoon. Cooler water temperatures are bring BIG cudas up on the flats..
On the gulf edge there are thousands of gulls feeding on the bait driven to the surface by Spanish mackerel.. It is blitz fishing!!! Mackerel crashing bait fish...birds diving for bait fish.. It is wild..

I fished with Capt. Jimmy Reese from S.C. two days ago.. Water temps were low, but we still found some rolling baby tarpon. Jimmy got 4 to eat a toad fly.

The day before that I fished with a buddy, we got some nice big cudas on tube lures. The wind laid down in the afternoon and we found lots of permit floating in some warm up water..

Dec 5-7th Video Fishing Report... tailing permit, barracuda & mackerel

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Nov. 26th....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

The weather predictors missed it again today. The prediction for Turkey Day was wind and rain. When I woke up this morning it was flat calm with solid cloud cover. Perfect conditions to find rolling baby tarpon.. Made of few phone calls, woke up one buddy, but found another already awake.. Splashed the boat and found several nice schools of baby tarpon. We hooked three on fly before Tom had to be back at the dock by 10:00...

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Nov. 18th

Last Friday and Saturday were epic.. Water temperatures were in the low 80's.. Bonefish were moving onto the flats with the incoming tide along with permit. We found good numbers of tarpon too on the top of the tide later in the day. Fished with Rob from N.J. Friday... Rob hooked 5 tarpon on his new tarpon fly..

It is hard to film and pole while on charter.. While fishing with my girl friend on Saturday we spotted a large school of Jacks on the gulf edge.. It was a blast!!! Jan also got shots at permit, tarpon, bonefish and barracudas..

JACK ATTACK! Sight Fishing For Jacks

Another cold front hit Sunday... Which has given me some time to work on my web site and video reports... Water temps dopped into the 60s.. I fished with Marten and Alice from England. They thought the weather was just fine.. We boated several sharks and snapper and did get some shots at baby tarpon and snook..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Aug. 20th

I spend most of the year guiding in the Florida Keys, but left the Keys early July to fish Montana and Alaska. How ever I have a hard time staying away from the flats too long. Just returned from a trip to the keys with Mike Ward. Mike is an outfitter on the Missouri River in Montana and operates under the name of Fishy Expeditions.

Fly Fishing For Baby Tarpon In The Florida Keys

Mike put LOTS of tarpon in the air. The baby tarpon fishing was outstanding! (Can you really call a three foot fish a baby?) On no and low wind days we found them rolling on the surface. Gurglers (floating foam shrimp fly) stripped slowly across the surface, produced some explosive strikes, followed by lots of jumps. I love seeing these fish in the air. The last day we found a large school of tarpon crashing glass minnows on the surface. It was epic!

Baby tarpon are my favorite, but there are also lots of bones and permit on the flats as well.