Key West Fishing Report - February 2006

KEY WEST – A recent warming trend in the Keys has left us with beautiful clear blue skies, light winds, and a lot of happy charter captains. Each day I can’t help but meander across the street to the Sugarloaf Marina around 4PM to find out what the catch of the day has been. The reports have all been positive and everyone is so enthusiastic about the season. There is always a buzz in the community down here among fisherman when the weather gives us a break and the fishing just turns on like a light switch. This is one of those weeks.

Many of the guides that run out of Sugarloaf Marina have reported some good fishing this week in the backcountry. As the temperature of the water went up, there were more and more reports of permit and bonefish. The big talk among the flats fishing community is always “When will the tarpon show up?” Water temperature plays a significant part in the behavior of tarpon. A tarpon’s optimum water temperature is between 75 and 90 degrees. The water temperature this week started out at a cool 67 degrees but has warmed considerably since we’ve had a few cloudless sunny days. Tarpon have started to move through the area of the Lower Keys and several schools have been spotted on the edges of Northwest Channel and throughout the backcountry. Look for tarpon fishing to be an up and coming hot bite pretty soon, as long as the next cool front doesn’t shut them down.

Permit have been spotted over coral heads in the backcountry and in schools feeding on the flats. As we near the end of February the permit fishing will improve even more. Bonefish have been seen in several area flats west of Key West too.

Meanwhile offshore the bite has been equally as good. The calm seas have made it easier to get out to the fishing grounds and prevailing south east winds have pushed more fish into the areas just off the reef. Captain Brice Barr on the Double Down at Charter Boat Row in Key West had a nice catch of kingfish, blackfin tuna and schoolie mahi-mahi up to 10- pounds. His anglers seemed very happy to have such a beautiful day to go fishing. Barr explained that everything they caught was on live ballyhoo. “There’s finally more live bait on the reef,” said Barr. He’s been fishing just off the reef in a depth of 170 – 200 feet. The catch of the week at Charter Boat Row seemed to be a mixed bag of kingfish, mahi-mahi, grouper and snapper. Barr also mentioned that he’d had some luck with sailfish this week. His charter caught and released 3 out of 5 sails along the reef edge. “The sailfish shower the bait on the reef this time of year, it’s amazing to see a sail in such shallow water,” Barr said. He added, “It’s kind of like flats fishing offshore.”

Alex Canalejo on Showtime out of A&B Marina had a nice catch of blackfin tuna. His anglers, Bob Cole and Deirdre Giorlando from Chelmsford, MA were all smiles as they held up two of the five nice blackfin tuna they caught. The couple spent a full day fishing with Canalejo and said it was a great fishing experience. Most of the other offshore sportfishing boats along the A&B dock reported catching their limit of kingfish and some schoolie mahi-mahi. Both these fish provide constant action for a charter when the bite is on, it certainly makes for a memorable trip to the Keys.