The july key largo backcountry fishing is as hot as the temperature! That is really saying something! We’ve had good action with the snook this week, around many of the islands and mangrove-laden shorelines. Not a lot of huge fish but good rod benders with a few double-digit sized fish mixed in. They’ve been eating decent sized shrimp fairly well which have been around, as well as pinfish and pilchards. Tarpon are still going strong too. I’ve caught them almost every day and the key has been getting out EARLY to catch fresh live mullet. You have to scout and look around for them, and you may even take a couple hours just catching bait.
But the payoff has been worth it, we’ve been hooking 4-8 fish a day the last week. Early in the morning with the falling tide until about 10:00 has been stellar, and then again in the afternoon in the start of the incoming. For dinner fare mangrove snapper fishing has been good as well as a few seatrout in the bays. Sharks have been plentiful too. We caught blacktips every day too as well as a few lemons, bulls, and even a roaming hammerhead one day! As we get nearer to fall look for the redfish to get into some of the deeper areas where I usually fish them, including the runoffs and creek mouths.
