Key West Mid Summer Fishing 2015

7/21/15

The summer time fishing in Key West can bring lots of opportunities to get into a great catch. There are so many areas to cover while fishing in Key West, that one must decide what they’d like to do for the day. With the typical summer time pattern, you can expect to experience great weather, lighter winds, and mild rain showers throughout the day. The light winds are my favorite, as it lets me go anywhere I’d like to fish. Having a good weather pattern makes it really easy on backcountry charter captains because we don’t have to go somewhere only because the weather allows us.

Now, depending on what you’d like to do for the day is always the hard part. There are so many different aspects of the backcountry that one can fish. You could be up on the flats looking for permit and bonefish, or blind casting in the channels for a variety of jacks, snapper, and barracudas. Sometimes there are a few tarpon left over from their migration in these channels too. The flats fishing is typically where my anglers like to start out, since it is the more difficult part of the day. Once we have hit a few flats and searched a few different areas for permit and bonefish, then we move to a lighter fishing day back to the channels and throw lures and plugs. Drifting live bait is also a good technique in the deeper channels.

Another good part about having beautiful weather is being able to shoot out to the reef mid day. The weather can sometimes get so hot that the backcountry doesn’t show much life. Usually this will happen mid day or early afternoon. If there isn’t a big flowing tide and the sun isn’t being protected by clouds every now and then, the waters in the shallows can get up to 90-100 degrees! This high temperature makes it hard for fish to be active, as it limits oxygen contents in the water. This is a perfect time to shoot out to a near by reef and see what else is out there!

Fishing the reef this time of year can be fun as well as fill a cooler. The mangrove snapper are spawning right now which means they are all sitting in a huge bunch at various locations at the reef. Using live pin fish and chumming them behind the boat is the best technique. They are very fun to catch, as well as fun to throw in the cooler! Yellow tail snappers and other tropical reef fish will also show up in the chum slick.

Sometimes we will also push into the shallow sections of the reef and throw plugs and buck tail jigs. This is the best way to get a variety of fish to the boat. Tropical groupers, snappers, jacks, and barracudas all come to play in the fun artificial lure game!