february – Key Largo Fishing Report

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!