Summer Fishing - The pressure is off...

Key West has been fortunate this spring and had some of the best weather and fishing in a long time. Sure the fishing here is pretty consistant, but the weather is another story. This week the winds have been fairly calm and after what was Alberto rolled through (nothing much for us but some rain) we had some decent clearing weather and some good fishing.

I had one of the most memorable days of bonefishing this week with a regular client of mine. We managed to hook 17 bonefish and landed 13 of them at the boat. Not to mention a couple tarpon on the line that day as well and we had a pretty banner day. Unfortunatly it was a little to calm to get very close to a permit to try for the grand slam.

Now that is is mid-June, the pressure of so many guides diminishes as more than half of them head out West or up North for the summer months. I never thought fishing here year-round could be so much fun. The fish are less spooky and its easier to get into your "spot" without anyone else within eyes distance.

I can only hope that this tarpon season lasts well into August as it did last year. The first few weeks of August lended us a few nice tarpon in the 70- pound range. As the summer progresses tarpon will start to move out of the area while baby tarpon remain in their hiding places around the backcountry. Bonefishing is a must this time of year. It's so much fun to see schools of them glide across a sand flat.

Keep in mind that September and October are great for bonefish and permit here in the Lower Keys. It's a great time of year to be here (set aside the fact that it's hurricane season) and the fishing is very good.