Category: Fishing Reports

Key Largo Fishing Reports

Key Largo Cobia Fishing

Caught this massive 45 lb cobia last week in the key largo backcountry while fishing for large sharks, tarpon, and other beasts.  If your looking to target cobia, march is a great time as well as April in the gulf of mexico… many of these fish swarm on the wrecks and are much fun!  We had one tarpon bite this day too however unfortunately we did not hook him.  Key largo tarpon fishing in march should improve as the weather stabilizes and water temperatures rise.  We are in the middle of a cold front as of now which will likely slow the tarpon fishing down the next several days as well as other big fish.  However things like spanish mackerel in the gulf are possible, or redfish/snook/trout in the everglades.  Key largo spanish mackerel fishing could light right back up, I haven’t been doing it much lately but may be giving it a try this week.  We also caught a big hammerhead shark on this mentioned trip, as well as several smaller blacktip sharks, and a big 300 lb ‘mud marlin.’  You never know what you might get on a key largo fishing charter.  On this trip to we had plenty of rod bending action for trout, ladyfish, pompano, jacks, mackerel, and blue fish.  You see the ladyfish and such are good for bait for bigger things, and the trout and others are great table fare if you want to have a local restaurant cook your meal at the days end!  I’m looking forward to some march key largo fishing!

2/24/13 Key Largo Trout and Snapper Fishing

Had a half day today on 2/24/13 and did some key largo snapper fishing as well as key largo trout fishing.  We hit some islands early with some live shrimp looking for mangrove snapper.  We found a ton though had to weed through some small ones but managed to pick out some nice 12 inchers for dinner.  Also off the edge of the bank that dropped into the moat, we picked three huge trout out as well as a redfish – unusual in the crystal clear water that is found in the area.  The trout were all 24-25 inches, nice size for down here!  Anything is possible on a key largo fishing charter which is what makes fishing down here so fun!  After we had enough fun with this, we went in search of muds in the bay.  These muds, often found in the spring and summer though can be around at any time, hold a variety of fish as well.  The usual suspects are ladyfish, trout, jack crevalle, pompano, and occasionally you also get some blacktip sharks and tarpon in there too.  Today we found more trout, not quite as big but several keeper size which we all released as well as some ladyfish.  One thing I often like to do is hit these muds and keep the ladyfish for bait, then do some key largo tarpon fishing by fishing some of those live and dead on the bottom around the local channels and bridges.  Didn’t try this today but definitely will become part of the half day routine as we enter the spring and tarpon season!  If your thinking of doing some february key largo fishing get in touch, I may possibly have some late afternoon trips still available!

 

2/23/12 Key largo goliath grouper fishing!

We were after a key largo goliath grouper fishing today.  Fished near the edge of the gulf as it was too rough to get out there deeper to the wrecks.  Lots of action early whilst catching baitfish.  A mix of trout, ladyfish, and jacks were just about every cast.  Even a few  spanish mackerel, bluefish, and pompano making their presence known!  Key Largo shark fishing was on our minds too as we caught 4 medium sized blacktip sharks while doing all this.  After we were loaded up.. goliath time!  We hit the hole that I was thinking about… all of a sudden a bunch of cobias surrounded us!  I reeled in the surface pinfish and one ate it, my angler also pitched too one and he ate as well – doubled up!  Unfortunately his spit the bait/hook, but he reeled the other one in nicely.  A little bit later after chunking some ladyfish and waiting with the big rods both doubled over hard!  We gave chase leaving one fish behind with rod in holder.  Decided to switch the fish we were working on as the one behind did roll over, and my angler started fighting him.   After a few minutes there he was – big 150 lb goliath grouper on spin tackle.. nice catch!  Grouper fishing in Key Largo is fun for these big boys!  We then switched back to the other big fish which appeared to be a big ol’ sawfish.  Fought him a bit more and I leadered him up carefully – all on monofilament 100lb!  Got hit bill out of the water twice as he thrashed violently, 2nd time though he cut us off but at least we saw him and got a technical release!  After that we hit a high water spot for some redfish which proved productive… 10 or so reds mostly keeper size though all were released.

2-20-13 February Offshore Fishing in Key Largo

It’s been a busy week here in the Florida Keys, and the Offshore Key Largo Fishing Charters have been a good bet for action! I’ll start with today and work my way backwards to tell you about our latest Fishing Trips in Key Largo. We’ve been fishing 20 miles south of Key Largo, and there’s been a little bit of everything on the edge of the reef. Today we went to a wreck first thing in the morning and caught a pair of decent size amberjack to 30 lbs, as well as releasing a 100 lb sandbar shark. We then came back to the edge of the reef and put the live baits out. We caught a few king mackerel to 8 lbs, as well as a pair of keeper mutton snapper and a couple of nice 2 lb yellowtail snapper. At theend of that we hooked a big bottom fish, which turned out to be a 15 lb black grouper that we released after a quick pic (shallow water grouper season opens up again on May 1st). After that we found a sailfish swimming inside the reef, but he refused to eat a bait so we let him be. We finished up the day by catching and releasing a handful of barracuda up to about 15 lbs. Yesterday we did two 1/2 day fishing charters in Key Largo and the morning sailfish was the target species. It was quite for the first hour but then we hooked what we were after. After a 30 minute fight we had a nice 50 lb key largo sailfish boat side and took a couple pictures and then released him to fight another day. We also caught a king mackerel, little tunny, and a jack. In the afternoon we had a Key Largo Family Fishing Trip with a father and 2 sons, 8 and 11 years old. Action was the goal to keep the kids entertained so that’s what we did. We started out by catching everyone a barracuda, and then moved to some bottom fishing for dinner! We caught a handful of yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper, a couple spanish mackerel, and a 5 lb margate for dinner. We also let go 5 groupers and a few other reef dwellers. The day before that we also did 2 half day charters and caught snapper, mackerel, released grouper, and released barracuda. On the 16th we released 2 sailfish in the morning, and then caught a 15 lb blackfin tuna, as well as a few king mackerel to 20 lbs, and then finished off the day with 15 snapper for dinner, and released another nice big black grouper. Fishing in Key Largo in February gives us a few different options but the reef is still the best bet for a good day. Let us know if you want to get out on a trip!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

2/15/13 Key Largo February Fishing Report

Looks like we have some more cold weather on the way this weekend.  But the fish were feeding in the backcountry today for our february key largo fishing trip.  We caught this nice small tarpon along with several large redfish, plus lost a nice snook at the boat, in one of the many creeks in the everglades on the falling tide.  All on big ol’ shrimp nice, lively, and twitchy suckers!  We took a look out in the gulf of mexico with the last of the falling tide to find a cobia, which we did.  Unfortunately we had a hook pull on him and that was our only shot, but on the way back we saw plenty of triple tail on the crab buoys.  We caught about 8 or so and one nice keeper for dinner for this key largo fishing in february day of fun!  Hit some trout run-offs after all that and caught plenty of them too.  Back near home the tarpon have been seen rolling in some of the basins and channels, we saw them on this day as well.  We only had a couple tired pinfish left, but did make a few drifts and casted to some, alas none were interested.  Look for it to get cold this weekend and perhaps our last good push of ‘cold weather’ fishing key largo.  After that, tarpon will be back in the mix as we enter our key largo tarpon fishing season for 2013!

2-12-13 Key Largo Offshore Fishing Report

It’s been a rough few days lately while Key Largo Fishing. Yesterday was the 32nd annual Bartenders Sailfish open, where different bars and restaurants from Marathon to Key Largo compete against each other in a fun day of Sailfishing, where the most releases win. Sailfishing in Key Largo has been fair lately, but yesterday I wanted to stay closer to home since I heard of a few fish being released near alligator reef the day before. It happened to be the right move because after the first two hours of the tournament we had 2 sailfish releases, which proved to be just the right amount since we won 1st place in the tournament. We also had a couple king mackerel, including a “smoker”, 34.6 lber off the kite with 40 lb test monofilament leader, always nice to get lucky once in a while considering their razor sharp teeth. Over the Weekend was the two days womens sailfish tournament, and the bite was still a little slow. We started out about 10 miles south on the edge of the Reef of Key Largo, and right away we released a sailfish, but that was our only bite that day. The next day we raised 2 fish, and hooked one. Unfortunately we lost that fish when the line broke, but the girls still had a great time while on a Key Largo February fishing Charter. We still came in 3rd place so they were happy with that.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

2/10/13 Key Largo Flats Fishing Report

Fishing with Capt. Dave there was something awesome reported while stake-up bonefishing.  Key Largo bonefishing provides shots at large fish, stake-up fishing is a good bet when it’s windy and/or rainy.  You simply position yourself on the edge of on a flat and put your shrimps on and sit and wait.  Pre-cold fronts are often a spectacular time to fish as the bones can often go nuts foraging to prepare for the temperature drops.  This is a often way to catch many bonefish, as well as shots at permit, or in this case, big mutton snapper!  These muttons are an unusual catch while flats fishing key largo.  Definitely some good eating fish!  At first it was thought these guys were  permit as they were making some erratic movements, then discovered they were these nice key largo mutton snapper fish!  Also caught was a nice bonefish and a permit.  Not bad for a half day late afternoon key largo fishing charter!

key largo mutton snapper
key largo mutton snapper

2-7-13 Deep Sea Fishing in Key Largo

Fishing in Key Largo has been great the past few days! We’ve been doing a little bit of everything lately too. Today we went on a Key Largo Swordfish Charter and managed to catch 1 broadbill swordfish, we also lost another one after a few minutes in the chair and had one other bite that we didn’t hook. Yesterday we went Key Largo Sailfishing with the girlfriends for the annual Poor Girls Sailfish tournament aboard the Catch 22. The girls wound up releasing 3 sailfish, which tied us for 3rd place, but unfortunately the other boats caught theirs before we did. The Day before that we did an afternoon 1/2 day fishing trip and started out by catching some fresh live bait. From there we went and caught about 10 snappers for dinner. After that we went for something a little bigger, so we headed out to about 300′ of water and sent down a live google eye. It didn’t take long before we hooked and landed a nice 40 lb amberjack. We only had an hour after that to fish, so we went and released about 10 barracuda, which are great fighters and pretty acrobatic as well. We’ve been fishing south of Key Largo about 20 minutes, so come on down for while there still time for February Fishing in Key Largo.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

2-1-13 February Fishing in Key Largo

January 2013 is over but now it’s time for some Key Largo fishing in February. We had a cold front move through over night, but the over the past week we caught some good fish while fishing in Key Largo. We’ve been fishing a lot near conch reef, about 10 miles to the south of Key Largo. There’s been a few sailfish around, not swarming, but if you are patient and put your time in you have a great shot at catching a couple fish. There’s also been some great eating fish caught using shrimp down on the bottom. We’ve been catching an assortment of hogfish, porgy, and snapper. We’ve also been doing some wreck fishing on our deep sea key largo fishing charters and have been catching some amberjack and big red snapper, but unfortunately we have to release the snapper due to the closure. The fishing should continue to be good through the rest of the winter!

Capt. Nick Stanczyk

bnmcharters@gmail.com

1/29/13 Key largo backcountry fishing in january

The winds howled the last few days here in key largo florida fishing.  Gusts up to 25 mph!  We decided to take a run back to the cape area to get out of it.  One nice thing about my comfortable 20′ seacraft is you can still make it to the cape and anywhere in the backcountry or bay and have a nice time.  It doesn’t pound, slap, or spray you terribly – you can’t say that about many smaller skiffs and such.  Once we got back around ‘the corner’ things were nice and we were in the lee of the wind.  Our first stop for our january key largo fishing trip was in a creek that the water had been falling out of and left very low tide.  The bugs had other plans and drove us right back out, so we worked the outside shorelines.  This proved a good thing as we caught 3 big snook up to 13 lbs jigging shrimp on the sandbars.  After about 10:00 or so we tried the creek again, now the sun had come up and wind swung around a bit, so the bugs were gone.  We picked away at plenty of redfish, small black drum, and sheepshead.  Redfish in key largo is a good bet in the winter time.  We worked our way further in and continued doing the same, though we did get lucky and catch this huge ~20 lb black drum.  We had to motor after him down the creek as he almost got around a bend on us!!!  We moved further back and found some nice trout too.  Around noon we headed back towards home and stopped in a channel for some rod bending action, which we had – plenty of trout, ladyfish, and jacks for 45 minutes before calling it a day.  A great way to spend a 20mph windy day key largo fishing in january!!!