Islamorada Guide needed for July 1 & 2

[bugger]

My friend and I are booked into a trip to Islamorada for fishing on July 1 and 2. We want to hire a guide for both days.

Can somebody please refer me to a good guide. My friend and I have been fly fishing for about 7 years. I would consider us intermediate fly fisherman. Most of our fly fishing is for trout in rivers and lakes.

We are totally psyched for the trip.

Thanks in advance.

[AlderBrookFarm]

Marc Bellefleur. He keeps his boat at The Chesapeake.

[jet35a]

I was there in March, fished with Charlie Owens. Didn't have much luck, mostly sea trout and lady fish, but then the weather didn't co-operate much.

I'ld use him again without hesitation. http://www.captaincharlieo.com/

Good luck.

[saltyflyguy]

Capt. Allan Finkleman

http://www.keysguide.com/305-852-5233

[pdog]

We just used a guide this past weekend for some backwater tarpon fishing. He's real good at backwater and fly ( reds, snook, permit, tarpon). He's only been on his own for 3 months but compared to our guide from last year - he's very good.

His name is Chris Jones of Mudpuppy Charters. You can reach him on his cell at (305) 304-5618 or (305) 664-5247. Tell him Patrick and Frank referred you.

Good luck.

[bugger]

Hey Pdog,

We already booked a guide for a couple of days but I was wondering how you did, where you fished, etc.

Thanks.

[pdog]

Saturday, we charterd the Challenger for some offshore. There were plenty of schooling dolphin but they weren't biting. We caught a 25 lb bull, a 15 lb cow and a small schoolie. It was a far cry from our other trips the previous 2 years where we got between 20 to 30 fish. One year we got a 53 lb and 38 lb bull on the same outing.

Sunday night we fished a flat just west of the Whale Harbor bridge in a hole that the guide knew about. We were the only ones there. We caught a couple barracuda(5-10 lbs) and about 10 mangrove snapper(3-6 lbs). I jumped a small tarpon and lost either a shark or a ray. My brother jumped a tarpon about 80 lbs. We're novice at catching tarpon, so we missed quite a few hookups. The guide landed 5 small tarpon (40-80 lbs) of the 12 he'd hooked one day. I believe it was just a few weeks ago

We headed back to the Whale Harbor bridge for 45 minutes (8:45PM to 9:30 PM) Boat traffic was a bit heavy - it was Memorial Day weekend, so the number of boats went from an average of 400/day to 1200/day. After the boat traffic settled, there were some tarpon boils. I know I missed hooking a big one (too much tension from my finger on the line) and my brother hooked a couple of grouper. We had run out of time on the trip and the fish were just starting to heat up.

Most guides go to the bridges and channels at night to hook up tarpon. But with the boat traffice, the action wasn't as good.

Next year, we probably won't do an offshore trip and we'll use the same backwater guide for a couple of fly fishing outings for tarpon, reds, snook, permit, bonefish,etc. We WONT be going on Memorial Day weekend. Either the one before or after.

Who are you going out with? Offshore or backwater. Good luck.

[pdog]

I didn't mention that we didn't fly fish on our outing. Just spinning rods, but he is also a fly fishing guide.