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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | The wife and I are trying to get down to the keys in January. I know a bunch of people here head down fishing during the winter. What species would be good to target in January? Is it too early for tarpon? Snook? Reef fishing?
I've only been to Florida once so any info would be a huge help. |
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Posts: 40
| Not sure myself as I only fish SWFL, but a great resource is the Florida Sportsman forum. Tons of reports and most guys are willing to help. They have a section dedicated to each part of Florida. |
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Posts: 553
Location: 15 miles east of Lake Kinkaid | Very windy most of the winter. The flats fishing is hit or miss with both the wind and water temperature a major factor. The keys have resident Tarpon but the majority of the fish arrive sometime in April. I would schedule a guide to do reef/wreck fishing for snapper/group/mackerel or go to the northern keys and hire a guide to fish sailfish(most likely you will run to Waters of Miami). Good luck. Bring a rod with some topwater plugs, and glider type jerkbaits (not musky ones) and you can catch cudas on many of the flats around islamorada. |
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Posts: 105
Location: Florida | tkuntz - 11/22/2016 8:42 AM
The wife and I are trying to get down to the keys in January. I know a bunch of people here head down fishing during the winter. What species would be good to target in January? Is it too early for tarpon? Snook? Reef fishing?
I've only been to Florida once so any info would be a huge help.
Here are a couple tips for land based fishing in the keys. I hope it helps, let me know if you need further suggestions;
Snappers can be caught year round in the keys from the shore. Good spots to try are the channel 2 bridge, channel 5 bridge, long key bridge, toms harbor cut bridge, and 7 mile fishing bridge to name a couple good spots. Good baits to use are live shrimp, live 2''-4'' bait fish, and cut bait. Do not be surprised if you catch a grouper fishing this way since they are plenty of groupers in these bridges.
Tarpon,Snook, and Jacks can be caught from land using lures such as topwaters, jerkbaits, flairhawk jigs, etc.Live bait such as mullet, pinfish, etc works well on them too. Concentrate on fishing around structure for these species and consider night fishing.
The Permit is probably the most challenging fish a land based fisherman can catch in the keys.Many Florida residents have never caught a Permit from the keys bridges, so if you like a challenge, the Permit is the fish you want to target. A Permit is much more difficult to catch than a Muskie, but Permit can be caught if your fishing the right location, during the right tide, with the right bait.
Best bait to use for Permit is live crabs,but they will eat dead crabs on occasion. Use at least 40-60 pound mono( not braid) when fishing for Permit on the keys bridges, since Permit are extremely powerful for their size and use the bridge pillings to break off your line. Use a carolina rig( fish finder rig) with a size 4/-7/0 hook and 4-8 ounces of lead depending on current. Good locations to catch Permit are the same good locations I listed earlier for Snapper.
Sharks can be easily be caught from the shore in the keys. Make sure to use a heavy action rod/reel and use a wire leader to prevent breakoffs. Good baits are Jack Crevalle, Stingray, and any bloody fish. |
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Posts: 105
Location: Florida | Forgot to mention that the Barracuda fishing is excellent in the Florida keys( December though March is known as the best time to catch big Barracuda in the keys). Many of the Barracuda you will see on the flats are between 5-15 pounds in weight, with a couple in the +30 pound category. A lot of the Muskie techniques should work on the Barracuda, so it would be a good idea to try out some of your Muskie lures when you are visiting the Florida keys. One of the best lures you can use for Barracuda is a Barracuda tube lure in colors such as chartreuse, pink , and merthiolate. Topwaters, jerkbaits, bucktails, and other fast moving lures will work on Barracuda. Make sure to use a wire leader since Barracuda teeth are very sharp. |
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Posts: 258
Location: Mayville, WI | A lot of saltwater fishing is based on use of live/dead bait, but don't be afraid to try artificial as well - they're often easier & cheaper to get a hold of. I've done well with bullet/darter head jigs in 1/4-1oz with 3-5" jerk shads on them. These are all easily bought even around here. I prefer the 5" cause you can always cut off the first 1-2" if they want something smaller. Just cast them out and twitch/rip them back with a quick retrieve. |
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Posts: 105
Location: Florida | You don't need to use live bait/dead bait to have a good time fishing in the keys. Snook,Tarpon, Jack Crevalle, Barracuda, etc can all be caught on many of the lures I mentioned earlier. Another lure that works well in the keys is the bucktail jig, so it would be a good idea to bring bucktail jigs of various sizes/colors. |
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Posts: 1000
| i'd be fishing sharks. it's the shark fishing capital of the world. Or maybe just the fishing capital of the world in general....
Someday I'll get down to Islamorada |
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Posts: 105
Location: Florida | Lots of good places to catch a +7 foot shark from land in the keys. |
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