No longer closed.
June 3, 2020
The fishing industry has suffered with the COVID-19 closures and travel bans, especially in the Florida Keys and Key West. We would have loved to take you guys out, but you couldn’t get to us! With a ban on travel into the Keys, a residence only checkpoint, and the hotel closure…we have been out of business since the last part of March 2020. The GOOD news is that June 1, 2020 we opened to everyone! The hotels aren’t allowed full capacity yet, but places are open to stay here. A lot of bars and restaurants are closed as well, but slowly re-opening.
Is the fishing good?
How’s the fishing been during the closure? Well, the fishing has been amazing the past few months as it usually is in the spring. Nothing was different except the lack of boat traffic and ecosystem pressure. It was wonderful. As we are starting to move back into running charters, I’d have to say that things are still looking pretty good!
Backcountry Fishing
In the backcountry, tarpon are still on the list for a target species as they are on the tail end of their migration. They are in a wide variety of waterways and depths, but we are catching them in our typical areas like shallow channels. Permit and bonefish have been up on tops of the flats as well as they are moving into their summer trend.
Reef and Offshore Fishing
The reef and offshore have been pretty productive as well. Yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper, and mutton snappers are all over the reefs. We are using mainly cut bait for those fish, but some of the bigger ones have been caught using live bait recently. Groupers are also in these areas, yet they are a little more sneaky. Lots of other species mixed in at the reefs like mackerel, bonita, sharks, jacks, and barracuda. Mahi mahi have started to make their appearance in big numbers offshore too. Occasionally we will see some small blackin tuna out there.
Fishing is great no matter which body of water you choose to fish. Don’t forget, the sandbars are still open too if you’d like to go hang out and have a little more “low key” boating day! Life is good in Key West and we are looking forward to fishing with you.
