Happy Mothers Day! Tarpon fishing has been great in the backcountry as well as around the ocean side flats and bridges. Live mullet have been the most successful bait of choice for tarpon right now. You can also catch a variety of fish such as grouper, sharks and snapper by having a bottom rig set up with a chunk of dead mullet/bait. The migratory tarpon are 75 to 100+ lbs. Permit are stacked up on the rock piles and wrecks ocean side, they put on an excellent fight for my clients once hooked up. Tripletail are still around until the middle of the month. The mangrove snapper and seatrout are biting great. Along the mangrove edges in Everglades National Park we are catching some decent sized snook as well using live bait and softplastic jerk baits.

Captain Ron Howell
Robbie's Marina
www.captronhowellfishing.com

Fishing report for this week: The FL Keys offers such a variety of fish to be found between fishing the Everglades National Park and the Gulf! The snook bite remains strong in the creek mouths, tarpon are in those same creeks and can also be found around the bridges and channels. The snapper and trout bite is excellent and the tripletail are continuing to stay around in the past couple weeks around the Gulf. Cobia should be showing up in the Gulf soon again too! www.captronhowellfishing.com

Snook season is now open on and we have been catching plenty in the past 2 weeks. The areas we have been getting hooked up are Sabal Creek and out front of Flamingo - both part of Everglades National Park. Mangrove snapper have been filling up the coolers, we're using live shrimp and the tripletail also started to show back up under the crab buoys. Tripletail will hit live shrimp, artificials and fly too. Tarpon are in the creeks and eating on a falling tide - we released a 40 lb tarpon last Friday using a live pilchard. Over the weekend we caught a few spinner sharks which always make for an action packed fight!

The weather has been beautiful. There are places to hide from the wind and still easily catch fish.

Spring Break is coming up for the kids - give Captain Ron a call and get the family out on the water!

305-896-1507

Last week Fred & Jane from London joined me for a day of fishing. They caught snook, redfish, snapper, trout and mackerel. Their targeted species was shark. Here in Islamorada the most common sharks we find blacktips and spinners. They are very aggressive and a true gamefish! When they strike at the bait is explosive usually sending them high in the air. The strike is followed by long fast runs and punctuated by spinning leaps that rival any tarpon or billfish. One day we fought 9 in a row before we could land one. The bonus with gamsters is they are great to eat. We also caught a couple lemon sharks. Fred and Jane were a lot of fun to have on the boat and I look forward to seeing them next year.

I also fished Paul & Dave - we caught trout, snook, black drum and snapper. We scouted out for tripletail - found 2 and were able to get 1 to the boat. They are fun to sight fish, provide an excellent fight and even jump! One of my favorite fish to eat as well.

Towards the end of the week, Tom and his son Brett fished with me. Brett caught a beautiful pompano and his dad caught his first snook measuring in at 33 inches. We have a new week ahead so please check back for the latest fishing reports in Islamorada!

While Everglades National Park has remained closed, we are still catching plenty of fish here in Islamorada, FL. We anticipate the park re-opening by this Friday. This week on one trip we easily caught over 100 fish just outside of the park boundaries in the Gulf. Species included huge Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper, cobia, tripletail, jack crevalle, and blue runners. We also caught several sharks in the 10 to 25 lb range. There have been big schools of mullet traveling down this way during the fall mullet run. Morning, depending on the tide will be the best time to target tarpon.

Some of the best fishing to be had in the Florida Keys no matter what season we are in lies within swimming distance of the shore, it's what we call Patch Reef fishing. In minutes you'll be on top of mutton snapper, yellowtail, grouper, mackerel and other fun fighting, good tasting fish.

Once the park opens back up, I am looking forward to getting clients hooked up to the redfish, snook and trout action in the backcountry.

Give me a call to book your next fishing trip!

Captain Ron Howell
305-896-1507

The bait runs have started down the east coast, lots of pilchard and finger mullet are showing up in Florida Bay and with them the snook, redfish and tarpon are right behind! Being that snook season has finally opened for us,  we've been focusing are attention on them. They are rascally rabbits! Hard strikes followed by hard lunges toward the cover they're usually found in. Tight casts along the deadfall and mangrove roots in the creeks and passes are usually the ticket. A keeper snook, one between 28 and 32 inches is highly prized for its tasty fillets. I've been catching lots of medium size tarpon too! They are unbelievably fun the acrobatic fight is the best and these size fish can be caught on light tackle, and don't wear you out like the bigger version! Redfish are showing in the sloughs in snake bite back in Flamingo. Out on the reef snapper and various jacks have been plentiful. Next month the stone crab traps will get dunked and tripletail fishing will be in full swing, We've all ready started catching fish floating the tides in the passes! Hope to see you soon, don't hesitate to call. I'm happy to answer any questions. 305-896-1507.