Capt.PeteRowney
10-28-2006, 07:47 PM
Greetings from the Florida Keys. Right now the second cold front of the week is working past us and it's a nice reminder that winter is just around the corner! Before the wind and clouds really set in the sight fishing was great this week. The permit action remained solid and with no surprise- the New Moon. Lots of smaller permit around, tailing hard on the right tides. Finding that window is always the key. For you do it yourselfers, simply fishing the "incoming" or "outgoing" is not enough unless you are determined to sit on a likely looking area for an entire tide. A lot of the times the fish come in a push at a certain time of the tide when the current and water temp is to their liking. Even then, if you sit on a spot the fish could miss you by yards. Anyways, one of the best permit of the season was a 26 pound slob that was all over a mudding ray. In those situations, it's a pretty good bet that you're going to get an eat. In this one particular area we found lots of big permit (20 pounds plus). Most were singles with the occasional pair, lazily cruising or floating in deeper water but find the rays... Having good light was the key. Without the light it would have been impossible with the breeze. There are still a lot of smaller tarpon around, both oceanside and out back. A lot of these fish were 10-15 pounds but we came across a number in the 70-80 pound range. The smaller guys are always a blast- they jump a lot, they don't hurt you and usually they will eat a well presented fly. That doesn't mean they're stupid however. Most of the time a few fish is all you will get out of a group before they know something is wrong and move on. Didn't do any bonefishing this week with all the permit around. Out back still remains solid with plenty of snook, reds and trout harassing finger mullet. Until next time. -Pete