Islamorada or KW for bones/tarpon in February?

[Bonecrusher]

Hi all,
Need some advice. I have a meeting in Ft. Laud starting Feb 15th and am thinking of coming down early to fish the Keys for 2 days (fly only). If I want to target bones and tarpon (maybe a permit if they're around), would you recommend Islamorada or Key West?

Any guide recommendations would be appreciated as well.
Thanks,
Bonecrusher

[wjc]

Feb. is not prime time for tarpon or bones in the keys because of both wind and water temperatures. I don't fish much for either of those species in the winter, but I live here and can pick and choose.

There is actually a very good permit and bonefish guide right here on these pages whom I have only had a chance to fish with once - but that will change this winter. Bonefish whisperer is his name. He guides Biscayne bay, and I would highly recommend you contact him. Read "Westside story - the sequel" thread on this forum.

If you are set on the keys, I have another buddy who guides out of Islamorada, but who is in LA right now till the 4th. He has a skiff with a lot of bottom, and good in a chop, but not so good poling for bones. I will ask him what he thinks when he gets back. The water temp yesterday out back in northern part of Fl bay was 65. The shallow water gets cold pretty quickly after several days of cold wind and the fish move into deeper water - which is often just channels.

If it were me, and the wind was 10 knots or less, and I wanted to fish the keys in Feb, I'd go after sailfish. Molasses, Conch, Pickles, Hens reefs are only 3 -4 miles from shore and the sails are usually no more than 100-300 yds. off the edge. All you need for equip is a 12wt. with a decent reel. I'd say your chances for a sail are better than for a bone. It is no more expensive fishing sails with a guide down here than for tarpon and bones. Just not so many do it.

PM me if you want any further info.

Cheers,
Jim

[lemaymiami]

If you can do without the bonefish.... There's some very good tarpon fishing down here in February. There's world class night fishing for small fish up to 40lbs every night in Biscayne Bay then unless it gets really cold... These are fish that hold in the shadows under local bridges and in docklights and they're right in front of you. We use 8 or 9wts and sight fish them.

Out of Flamingo there's actually a great winter fishery for the giant tarpon then as well... But it's weather dependent. If we have a few mild days in winter, Whitewater Bay can have thousands of the big fish (Whitewater is 10 miles long and roughly six miles wide, it averages 4 to 6 feet deep throughout, with tannin stained but relatively clear waters). When it's on, we see guys with TV shows there to film and you're likely to see the best known tarpon anglers then since Whitewater will be the only place where you can find the giants in shallow water that time of year. The fish range from floaters to laid up fish in three feet of water. They're there to warm up, but will eat anything that's easy to take down. When it's on, it's tarpon heaven in my opinion. That said, if cold fronts drop water temps there won't be one fish in the interior until it warms up again.

I recently did a bit of filming with Florida Sportsman's Mike Conners for the Shallow Water Angler show in Whitewater... That was on 10 December and the big fish were in. That show is scheduled to air on 22 January and I looking forward to it since it's the first time I've been in front of the camera and I haven't seen any of the film... That day we were using shallow running twitch baits and jumped three fish. We'd have done much better with flies since the school of fish was about 200 yds long, 100yds wide and they weren't going anywhere - just rolling, loafing, and hanging out....

The night trips in Biscayne Bay are only five hours and the first bridge is five minutes from the dock... Night trips are tide dependant and we have to have a falling tide that's why the five hour trip...

The Whitewater Bay fishery is in Everglades National Park, and requires a full day. From Miami, Flamingo is 70 miles, from Ft Lauderdale it's right at 100 miles. I live just west of Ft. Lauderdale and commute to Flamingo every day that I'm booked there...

Here's a sample of one of several patterns I'm tying now for the big fish in the 'Glades...

[bonefishwhisper]

Thanks for the kind words Jim...basically for me fishing for bones is very slow to non exsistent if weather is cold...cold is usually anything under 70 degree starting temp and it really needs to be 80ish during the day....sometimes they show on cooler days but dont set yout watch by it...if they do show you can bet they are well over 10lbs....redfish is my main action if its cold and that in itself is so tough I believe I am the only guide to offer Biscayne Redfish as a option...I dont sugar coat what I do...it is tough even under ideal conditions...you must be a sniper type casting machine capable of 1ft windows at 60ft with finese and be fully confident to flourish...I have a failure rate like no other hovering at over 90% among my customers but they will all tell you they want more and they come back about 90% of the time...they realize after a short time that there is no such thing as a accidental catch with me as it is 100% sightfishing and knee shaking...this is not to scare anybody but its the truth straight up....all fish caught with me is considered a trophy because you are fishing from a canoe old school and you cant hide any weakness or rely on anything but yourself...I am there simply to put you into position to succeed because its too late for practice....wjc(Jim) is such a caster that I am positive he will get permit this yr...he actually has me back off so he can air his deadly shots...if the water looks like this then it will be extremely good...this was 3 days ago permit fishing....Capt LeMay owns the tarpon and I wouldnt hesitate to jump on with him for sure fire hookups no matter what conditions

[wjc]

Well there you go, Crusher. You will be pretty much at the mercy of the weather regarding species.

I haven't had the pleasure of fishing with Capt. LeMay, but have heard nothing but good things about him from a variety of sources. Hopefully, that will change once I quit working so much - I mean that I have the pleasure of fishing with him some day.:)

If you are a fishing fool, don't require a lot of sleep , and the weather is decent, fish for permit during the day, and tarpon at night.:cool:The odds of catching tarpon go up astronomically after the sun goes down, especially with flies.

If it's been cold but not real windy, give sails a shot. There should still be plenty of them around then. Wouldn't hurt to call a few folks 4 or 5 days before you plan on coming down to see what's happening.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Jim

[Bonecrusher]

Thanks for the input guys. Coming from the midwest in February, we all have different definitions of 'cold'. I guess the only one that matters though is what feels cold to the fish and whether that means they'll be in the channels or on the flats. Hard to rely on Mother Nature to give us a stretch of 80 degree weather in mid-Feb I guess.

So, sounds like maybe what I should be leaning towards are a couple of night trips in Biscayne Bay area and if the weather is good, get out during the day as well?
So, who do you recommend for night tarpon in Biscayne Bay?

By the way, was on Hilton Head Is in SC over Christmas and got out one afternoon with a guide for some redfish. It was really chilly (50 degrees) but I got about 6 fish up to 7 lbs.

[soundownsam]

I try to always fish Biscayne Bay one of the nights I am at the nights that I am at the Miami show. Generally we hook 5+ tarpon and sometimes a few snook.

sam

[bonefishwhisper]

CAPT. BOB LeMAY for TARPON IN THE BAY!!!