January is almost over and we haven’t had much of a winter here fishing in Key Largo Florida! Thankfully it’s been a very busy month for me as it was a little slower in early December/November than it was in the previous couple years. Busy season is right around the corner though in mid February. We’re currently experiencing only our second blast of cold air all winter, though the rest of the week looks like it’ll stay nice and cool. Overall it’s been a mixed bag fishing… we’ve had some warm weather so there have been the occasional shots at tarpon. The everglades has had good action mostly with snook, and when its cooler redfish, drum, and sheepshead. I expect this coming week for that to fire up again nicely! Early in January after the last cold weather blast, we had a week of very good fishing back there. We landed a couple ‘big’ black drums in the 30 lb range, and plenty of smaller ones. Lots of snook in the mix too. The gulf has been alive as well with spanish mackerel. This has been the ‘goto’ on a lot of trips, just because it’s been so consistent. Those fish are great fighters, and you can often catch 20 or more in an hour. We use them for cut bait too for big things like sharks and yes even tarpon once in a while. Out front I have not been fishing the patches too much honestly. We’ve had a lot more southeasterly wind with the warmer weather, and also been dealing with some algae blooms that have worked their way out their lately. So it just hasn’t been all that great out there. But February may improve. Anyways look for good gulf and backcountry fishing in the next month, and possibly the start of an early tarpon season if things warm back up later in the month!
