Florida fishing

[Satchmo]

I'm thinking of going to Islamorada next year. Does anybody know what the best time of year to go is? in terms of variety and availability of species, especially the big ones!

[Paulg]

http://www.reelbusycharters.com/ - has quite a bit of info. And you could always ask on this forum - http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zeroforum?id=9

 

Very friendly people on there.

 

I went for a days fishing from Port Charlotte, so any info I've got will be a bit too far north for you.

 

HTH

Paul

[Happy Dude]

hi satchmo,

 

i have fished islamorada a couple of times and the fishing has ranged from bad to brilliant.

 

from what i have learned the spring months are best for tarpon and bonefish, also offshore for dolphin etc, but the best for me was fishing the reefs and wrecks for permit, barracuda, jacks, snappers and everything inbetween.

 

there is also a lot of good skippers and an awful lot of bad ones, i had a bad one on my first trip, my boy (9) got a barracuda about 20lb and the skipper wouldn't bring it into the boat for a picture, too dangerous.......my ar... butt ;o)

 

but the second time i went we fished on a larger boat most of the time on the reefs and wrecks, brilliant, big fish, light tackle, i got a 25lb permit on a fly rod, first and only fish i have caught on a fly rod too, but we cheated using live crabs for bait, 35lb blackfin tuna on 20lb spinning rod, barracuda to 30lb on 12lb gear sightcasting live baits....if we had fishing like that here i would never go to work

 

there is a small marina a couple of miles south of islamorada called "caloosa cove" we fished with a guy called roy on a boat called "tiki", and with a lady skipper on a flats boat who was brilliant, she just about wet herself laughing at me for trying to tail in a 100lb+ nurse shark (think 100lb bull huss)into the boat for a photo, these things can bite thier tails and it nearly got my fingers twice.

 

it was 3 years ago and the prices were steep then, a full day tarpon (8 hours)2 people max cost $400 + bait + tip

 

the big boat was $660 + bait, live crabs were $2.00 each + 15% tip for the deckie 6 people max

 

hope this helps

 

les

[Newt]

Costs not as bad as they sound though.

 

Right now,

1 USD = 0.549086 GBP so that

100.00 USD = 54.9086 GBP

[Happy Dude]

hi newt,

 

a lot better than the times i was there i think we got $1.40 or so to the £

 

les

[Satchmo]

Hi Happy Dude, what was the name of the bad boat? I'll make sure I avoid him. I'll be with my 12-year-old boy who'll definitely be miffed if he can't get anything over 20lb into the boat for a pic!

Did you book the boats in advance or just turn up in Florida and start looking round.

Since it will be my first time in America (never mind Islamorada) did you find the skippers going out of their way to make sure you had a good time, or just happy to take the money since they figure you won't be coming back anyway.

A few email replies have told me that May/June is the best time for guaranteed catches.

[Paulg]

did you find the skippers going out of their way to make sure you had a good time, or just happy to take the money since they figure you won't be coming back anyway.

 

The one I went with was all out for me to have a great time. I was on a half day, but as it was only me and the skipper, I ended up fishing for 10 hours!! I think the majority are really keen to make sure you have a day to remember. This helps their business as you'd then be more than willing to recommend them to other people. He asked me what I wanted from the day, and did his utmost to achieve this......which we did.

 

As I said in previous post, he's probably too far north for you, but, have a look at www.noslackcharters.com and if you look at the pics page, I'm the seventh one down I think.

 

Paul

[Happy Dude]

hi satchmo,

 

his name was capt pete king and he worked from the island on tavanier just before islamorada.

 

if you go into bud and marys or caloosa cove you will get your choice of skippers all willing to do the fishing of your choice, tarpon, bonefish permit, from the flats, inshore and offshore on bigger boats for anything you could want. trolling for dolphin and sailfish can be exciting but a bit monotonous if theres not much doing, there is always something to get from the wrecks and reefs plus the water is so clear at times you can see the fish take your bait in 70-100 feet of water, then watch the sharks and barracudas chase it all over the place.....lol

 

the problem...if it is a problem, they get so many people who have very little or no fishing experience that they assume that you are the same and treat you as a beginner, tell them your fishing experience and you won't feel patronised whan they show you how to flip the bail arm on a fixed spool.

 

paulg is right as well, if you get the right guy you will have a good time, last time i was over my first fishing day of the trip was from a flats boat from bud and mary's, can't remember the guys name sorry, i hooked a small fish i didn't have a clue what it was, as he netted it he was shouting about world records, it was a ladyfish, the average size is 1-1.5lb, this one weighed 5lb, it didn't mean anything to me, i wanted a tarpon and was a bit disappointed, he reckoned it was the biggest ladyfish he had ever heard of i told him to kill it if he wanted to for the publicity it would bring him but he insisted on returning it alive, turns out the florida state record was 4lb 10oz and had stood for donkeys years, the world record was 5lb 14oz, fish of a lifetime??? rather have caught a tarpon......lol

 

i'm hoping to go back in the next couple of years, when i do it will be in april or may, it isn't too humid and there is less thunderstorms and its peak tarpon season.

 

http://www.caloosacove.com/oldsite/about/

 

http://www.budnmarys.com/

 

hope this helps

 

les

[Satchmo]

Thanks Les and PaulG. April/May sounds like a good time to go. Flights are dirt cheap and it apparently doesn't get to crowded. I'd originally planned to go end of May until I found out about the Memorial Day Weekend on the 30th, the whole place is already booked up now for 2005! and this usually kicks off the summer season. A couple of skippers have told me if you get there 2, 3 or 4 weeks prior to this you can get the pick of the boats, cheap accommodation and great fishing.

 

Looking forward to trying some saltwater fly fishing, never done any flys before. How hard can it be?

 

Paul

[Alan Taylor]

Satchmo:

I'm thinking of going to Islamorada next year. Does anybody know what the best time of year to go is? in terms of variety and availability of species, especially the big ones!

You could email Cranfield, he was in that area for about 3 weeks before heading home via Ireland, he sent us some cracking post cards so I can why you have chosen the location.

 

Alan

 

[ 29. July 2004, 03:07 PM: Message edited by: Alan Taylor ]