Capt. Bo Sellers got this permit on a merkin...

Had the last two days off..  Fished yesterday with my friend Capt. Tom Morgan..  We found some bonefish on the gulf side in the morning then switched to tarpon..  Fished two spots with lots of glass minnows and tarpon..  Tom fed several nice tarpon..  The interesting thing is the tarpon are swimming though the bait to eat the fly..  It is a good fly!!

Met Bo at the dock at 6:00 am this morning..  Glassy smooth, incoming tide.. looked for tailing bonefish on what can be a very good bonefish flat..  Well it wasn't this morning..  Switched gears and checked out some tarpon spots..  We found some big tarpon crashing glass minnows..  Bo poled me into one and I had her on for several jumps before the line parted..  That's tarpon fishing..  The tide topped out and the action slowed down..  Ran to the back country to get ahead of the tide..  Found some permit pushing down an edge...  Bo made a great cast and we put one in the boat!! 

Check out the video....

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/   

Had the pleasure of fishing with John Courney and Bruce Pershing for the last 6 days..  John and Bruce are partners in the Scenic Valley Lodge located near the Missourri River, just outside Craig Mt. 

Yesterday, John had a shot at a tailing permit just as a huge cloud blotted out our view of the fish...    "I said "Bad time for a cloud.."  We laughed and agreed it made for a good title of a fishing report..  Actualy we had several days with lots of clouds, lots of wind and a few shots at permit and tarpon.....

The first day of the trip was great.. Light wind.. blue skies and tarpon every were......

     John boated his first big tarpon.       

           Congradulations   John!!!!!

Weather has finally warmed up here in the Florida Keys..  High temperatures around 80 for the rest of the week..

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Michael and Lori from South Carolina...  We got a couple of shots at 100 lb laid up tarpon first thing in the morning... Then opted to switch to permit...  Should have stuck with the tarpon..  permit were elusive today, but we did get a shot at one tailing permit,,,,,

Fished the last three days with Jack and Jay...  Two brothers from  from Colorodo... Great guys and lots of fun..

Day 1.... Was April 1st and they jokingly refered to them selfs as the "April Fools" ...

Fools no.. fun yes.. they managed to get three tarpon to eat a toad fly their first day of salt water fishing.. 

Good Job guys!!!

Day 2.....   The wind picked up... fishing got tougher.. we still had some shots at big tarpon, but with the wind blowing the boat down on the fish, our window of oppertunity closed quickly...  we did have some fun with smaller sharks on fly out of the wind.

Day 3......  We decided to do some thing completly different..  we targeted permit on the gulf edge instead...  had several good shots.. had two eats and also bagged a couple of sharks, one that ripped us into the backing with a 12 wt.  Jay was a lot more comfortable with a fly rod then a spinning rod, but did boat a dandy cuda with a tube lure..

I will add the tarpon photos when I get them from Jack...

Permit Release

The weather has finally improved!!!  Hopefully the cold fronts are just a bad memory. 

Water temperatures are in the mid 70s topping out in the low 80's...

This makes the fish and me very happy....  Solid cloud cover made for some tough permit fishing three days ago.  But the last two days have been very good..  Lots of permit on the flats and tarpon in the lay up basins..  Jumped a big tarpon yesterday and hooked two nice permit today.. 

YAHOO!!!!

                                        Katie's First Barracuda!!

Typically the expression is "March arrives like a lion and leaves like a lamb"  or vice versa...  this year it has arrived like a seal, or maybe a penguin..    We have been having some cooler days mixed with warmer days..  On the warmer days there have been LOTS of permit on the flats and channel edges..  Also tarpon in the lay up /warm up spots and some nice schools of bonefish on the warmer flats near deep channels..

On the cooler days we have been having a blast with barracudas!!

Temperatures will be in the mid to high 70's this week end..  YAHOO!!!

              The Permit Are Back With  A Vengeance!

It finally warmed up here in the keys after an extremely cool January, February and early March....

Lots and lots of permit on the flats and channel edges..  Not only are the permit back, but I have been finding some big tarpon in some of the lay up bays the last two days.. 

 I am a tarpon junkie.  My plan for  today was to finish up in a spot when the tide, temperature and visibility was right for big tarpon, but it was too hard to leave permit this afternoon to look for the tarpon...

Richard's First Permit!!!

Found this video I made last summer and never posted..

Last summer I was fishing on the same flat as my friend Capt. Derrin Doop.   Derrin was on charter.   Richard hooked his first permit and we ran over to film it.. 

Check out the video..          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brjIttPY54o

March is here!  March is widely considered the BEST month for permit in the Florida Keys! 

The weather has been cool for Jan. and Feb.  Starting next week... temperatures will be back in the mid 70's..  Once the water temperatures rise into the 70's ........We will have some great permit fishing!!

Shark Fishing is always an option..

The recent cold fronts have effected the fishing this Jan and Feb.  Cold water temperatures force the tarpon, permit and bonefish off the flats into deeper water..  How ever it is warming up this week...  Finally.  Back in the mid to high 70"s..  

It warmed up enough this weekend for the permit to start trickle on to the flats..  
 
March is considered PRIME time for permit in the Florida Keys.  The off shore guides report that some unusually large schools of permit are off shore..  the permit have disappeared from the gulf towers up north..   The popular word on the street is the cooler weather has forced them down here.. I certainly hope so..  Once the water temperatures rise, we should have some epic permit fishing!!!!
 
In  March we can still get cold fronts.. but If the weather is good we will find  big  tarpon in some  the lay up basins.  We also find juvenile tarpon in some of those basins as well.   If we get hit with a cold front, and water temps drop into the 60's we can always target redfish, snook, cudas and sharks...

Last weekend Evan from Michigan coaxed several nice sharks into eating an orange bunny fly....

He said it was a lot more fun then sitting in his office!!

Today is day 7 at the computer working on my new website.. Hope you like it!

The word from my fellow guides on the water..
Permit fishing has been good..
Seeing a few bonefish..
But the big news is..                                            

                                                      THE TARPON ARE HERE!

After several weeks of very cool weather, it has finally begun to warm up here in the lower Florida Keys. Permit have moved back to flats and can also be found laid up, basking on the surface in some of the warm up spots. On sunny days the surface temperature is the warmest. They can be difficult to approach and catch during these conditions, but a live crab suspended under a bobber can be effective...

Bonefish, sharks and cudas have returned to the flats as well. then can also be found in some of the warm up spots too.

Speaking of warm up spots...It is almost February. This is the time of year, I start to look for big laid up tarpon in the warmer places on the nicer days..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Dec 20 th....

It is winter here in the Florida Keys. We got hit with a cold front this weekend. North winds and the high for today is 72. degrees. Supposed to be back in the high 70's by mid week. Guess I should not complain, the east coast is getting pummeled by a major snow storm..

When water temperatures drop below 70 degrees it make it tough to find tarpon, bonefish and permit. How ever if it is cold and blowing here we can always fish for barracuda, sharks, red fish, sea trout and lady fish.. Beats scraping ice off the wind shield and shoveling snow..

The weather and the fishing had been excellent this Nov. and early Dec. Water temperatures in the mid 70's and light winds. Lots of big permit on the gulf edge along with some tanker sized cudas. My friend Bo asked me to show him were I had been getting the permit... I call it PERMITOPIA..
Here is his video..

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. 14th....

The weather and the fishing has been good this last week. Water temperatures in the mid 70's and light winds. Lots of big permit on the gulf edge along with some tanker sized cudas.

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.

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: 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: May 22nd

Tarpon Tarpon Tarpon!!!
Lots of tarpon moving on the ocean side flats, channel edges, basins etc..

We have also been finding some permit in the tarpon spots.. Mike Ward even fed one a chartreuse bunny tarpon fly several days ago..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: May 6th..

It Is Tarpon Season Here In The Keys!!!!

My very favorite time of year. Schools of tarpon have begun migrating up and down the ocean side flats and channel edges. They can also still be found in some of the back country basins. For some reason they seam more eager to eat the fly this year! But it is probably the weather. Water temperatures are in the mid 80's and the winds have been very light out of the south east.

I have not been looking for them, but my friends that have, are finding good numbers of bone fish.
also there are still some permit around on the flats as well..

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..

Video

Fly Fishing For Permit In The Lower Florida Keys  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRwyez2HpSc

The weather and the fishing continue to be absolutely great! Water temperatures are in the high 70's. The fish are happy and so am I. Tailing permit on the incoming tides. tarpon in the basins and even some schools of bonefish on the flats.
March is considered to be the best month for permit. This March is no exception, lots of permit on the flats and the gulf edge. Two days ago I had the privilege of fishing with my friend Capt. Kevin Guerrin. It is rare that we both have the same days off.. We each hooked a permit on fly.. However Kevin boated his..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: March 10th.

The weather and the fishing have turned on.. Light winds, blue skies and temperatures in the high 70,s. Hopefully we are done with our cold fronts, or at least the major ones..
The last 4 days, we fished mainly for permit. Lots of permit on the flats and we had some good opportunities at some tankers tailing.. The big tarpon are here as well.. Yahoo!!

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 And Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrkGtjAz488

Wind and more wind... The last week we have been faced with NE wind. This wind keeps the water temps cool, the sky blue. Cooler water temps make for some tougher fishing, but blue skies make for some great visibility when sight fishing on the flats. Fortunately here in the lower keys we have lots of leeward shore lines and protected flats to fish out of the wind. On the days when the wind has laid down a little we have been able to hunt baby tarpon. (my favorite) The last several days has been a mixed bag of permit, redfish, snook, barracuda, jacks and sharks.

Montana Fly fishing Outfitter Mike Kuhnert jumped his first tarpon yesterday and boated his first permit today.
WAY TO GO MIKE!!!

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Feb.13th

The cold front that hit over a week ago is finally over.. Cooler weather in the 50;s and 60;s lower the water temperatures, which sends permmit, tarpon and bonefish into deeper and warmer water.

Temperatures are back in the upper 70's with light winds. looks like it will be that way for a while.
The last two days we have been finding good numbers of happy tailing permit on the flats, some bonefish and rolling baby tarpon.
Yesterday day Mark R. from Montana got 3 juvenile tarpon to eat a toad fly.

Weird day today,,,,, FOG... Impenetrable New England fog... Steven King fog.. Rolling in from the Gulf side. Went fishing with two other guide friends. We made our way into the back with a lot of help from the GPS.. thought even thought the tides were all wrong.. that the baby tarpon would have to roll in the twilight... well they proved us wrong..

After checking multiple spots we finally left the fog and headed back ocean side. Seen a couple schools of small bones and finished up looking for tarpon. Found some 6 footers on top in 76 degree water... Could not get the right angle or cast on them,, but I tried... not good enough... tomorrow.. Love throwing flies at those big fish..

Florida Keys Flats Fishing Report: Jan. 30th

So much for my New Years Resolution of keeping current with fishing reports.. It has been 3 weeks.. Since my last report. Sorry...

The weather and the fishing was outstanding the first two weeks of January. We were finding tailing permit, rolling tarpon and bonefish on the in coming tides.. Then as is typical for this time of year we received a cold front, which dropped temperatures into the low 60's and even the 50's. Well, it is winter even in the Florida Keys..

A week later(felt like a lot longer then that) it warmed back up.. Just in time to take Pat and his girl friend fishing.. I was still wearing fleece, but they were from Alaska and were in shorts and tee shirts.. Water was still cool, fishing was tough, but we had fun with cudas, sharks and jacks. Pat hooked a permit off a coral head and a big goliath grouper on the flats next to the mangroves.

Later in the week I fished with John and Ed. It warmed up!! We got shots at redfish, snook, bonefish, permit(one ate Ed's live crab) Hooked several baby tarpon and even got some shots at 6 foot tarpon in a winter warm up spot.. Boated tarpon, cudas, sharks and jacks...fun two days. We fished till dark both days, chucking tube lures over a warm up flat full of 4 foot cudas when we lost the light to sight fish... John says he will be back..

Jan 29.... Got a last minute call to take Bruce fishing. A cold front was coming and he wanted to get in a day on the flats before it hit. Good thinking!! Tides and temperature were perfect. But I could not find bonefish... After 3 flats we gave up on bonefish and found permit and tarpon Bruce got 4 baby tarpon to eat a tan toad fly. Nice work Bruce!

Front hit yesterday after noon... but not before I checked out a big tarpon spot with a couple of friends. We got into a BUNCH of laid up 6 foot tarpon in the same warm up spot I took John,, Mark Raisler fed one a tan toad fly, before we had to race the front back to the marina..
That's all the news I have...highs in the mid 60s today... time to tye flies... It will warm back up in a couple of days..

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. 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..