Florida Keys Fishing Charters &
South Florida Flats Fishing Report
By Capt. Jim Hale
786-255-1788
www.floridasportfishingcharters.com Feb 25 2013
Fishing remains excellent on Fly in Florida Bay out of Islamorada, Key Largo or Flamingo. Redfish and Trout mixed in with several Snook here and there.
If you like sight fishing fly or spin this is a blast!
Wednesday we were breaking in my new Mercury Optimax 115 and doing a little fishing at the same time. Good friend Jim Dillard and myself both had a Backcountry Fla. Bay slam with 9 reds 3 Snook and at least 14 Trout up to 23 inches. Some were caught on Gulp soft plastics sight fishing the flats, others were on fly. The Snook were 28 to 32 inches cruising the shore edges very close to mangroves.
Yesterday Les Juneau of Atlanta caught a Slam of 3 Reds a Snook and 6 Trout one at 23 inches. His largest Red was a 29 inch fishing working a mullet mud.
There are large Trout are all over the place and in big numbers, they look like small slot size Reds cruising the flats. There are also
plenty of 10 pound Redfish tailing on certain flats in Florida Bay."
We landed 3 large Reds that were cruising the edges of the flats and eating mullet in large mullet muds on Wednesday. We were using Chartreuse Clouser minnows on a 7 wt G loomis.
On tailing fish we are using a fly called "Ricky Red" its a beautiful shrimp imitation with plenty of bulk to grab the attention of the fish. The Reds will not refuse this fly....
We are getting at least 40 shots at tailing fish a day and another 50 shots on
structure for Reds Snook and Larger Trout in Florida Bay.
We fished Miami in Biscayne Bay Friday and saw several Bones and had only a couple of good shots, the winds were heavy and oceanside flats were out of the question. So we headed north to fish downtown Miami and caught plenty of big Trout on Jerk baits the largest was at 22 inches. Also in the evenings Trout big Bluefish and tons of Ladyfish are around to bend rods and scream drags if your looking for fun.
Tarpon are here in Government Cut, we hooked 5 on live shrimp but did not land any on Friday night. The Tarpon were all large fish that just got away!.
If you are staying in Key Largo Islamorada or Miami excellent fishing is a short drive away spin fishing or fly.
Good Luck Capt. Jim Hale
786-255-1788