I would suggest that you stay within sight of the wilderness waterway your first few trips and then slowly branch out further off the beaten path as you become familiar with the waters. You can follow the markers all the way up to Ponce De Leon Bay just outside the Shark River. There are plenty of tributaries and points throughout Ponce Bay. These points are a great place to start fishing, especially on the outgoing tide. Don’t be surprised if you pull-up a nice gag or goliath grouper hanging along the edges and points. It would be a good idea to bring along some stouter gear just incase you find a good grouper hole.
The grouper are very receptive to artificial baits such as a bucktail or diving plug. But, they will also eat just about any live bait including mullet, pilchards and even shrimp. In my experience, circle hooks work best because they allow you to use lighter leaders. Just remember to reel down on the fish until the line comes tight then hold because these freight trains are going to head straight for any nearby structure.

 

A little closer to Key Largo, the fishing in Florida Bay for snook and redfish has been hit or miss depending on the weather conditions. The snook, tarpon and reds that have been caught are in deeper creeks and bays along the shoreline. I like to use slow moving jerk baits, shrimp imitations or the always reliable Chartreuse Hank Brown HookUp lure with a shrimp. This trend will continue through the first half of spring until the water levels and temperatures increase enough for the fish to move back onto the flats. A good way to find a snook hole is by drifting or SLOW trolling a shrimp on a HookUp lure along the bottom in the various creeks in Florida Bay and around the Upper Keys.
The next few months, trout will provide the most dependable rod bending action around the upper keys. There are several ways to locate schools of trout. First and foremost, study your charts looking for bays with mostly grassy bottoms. Trout tend to congregate in these areas due to the abundance of shrimp and crabs that live in the grass. In bays where the water is clean you can also look for dirty water as an indicator of trout activity. If you can’t see a difference in water colors then drift through the grass beds with a Berkley Gulp shrimp on an 1/8 oz HookUp Lure about 2 feet under a Cajun Thunder popping cork. I normally give the cork a good pop every 15-30 seconds depending on the wind conditions. On windier days, pop it more often since the sound of the waves will muffle some of the noise produced. Cajun Thunder corks work by imitating the sound of feeding fish on the surface which will attract fish to your bait.

Offshore Report

Offshore fishing has been better than good. If you are planning a sailfish trip don’t wait too long. Sailfishing has been phenomenal. We have had no problem catching bait in the mornings. Ballyhoo are swarming the reefs and easy to catch. The fun part might be fishing for big Cero Mackerel when chumming up the Ballyhoo. On light tackle the Ceros make huge runs and go ballistic. There not bad eating either. We have had some good Grouper and Mutton action also around these bait areas. I guess it’s just nice to catch some dinner while you are bait fishing. Once we’ve caught our fill of bait we’ve made short easy runs to the sailfish hole. Actually the entire reef edge has been productive for the sail fish and King Mackerel. I’ve been starting as shallow as 60 feet and going as deep as 250 finding fish in all depths. While we watch our surface baits we have been able to sneak out a bottom rod most of the time. This keeps you busy while you’re waiting for a surface rod to fire off. Mutton Snapper averaging 8 to 12 pounds have been common including a pick of healthy Black Grouper. Kings eat you up when you find them, inhaling deboned Ballyhoo rigged on wire. Not much to mention on the Dolphin this week. We catch a stray fish here and there, but really not the groups we caught 2 weeks ago. Tuna fishing has been quiet as well. The wahoo bite has slowed down a bit, but many of the boats high-speed trolling with black and red jetheads are also catching enough kingfish to keep them busy. This month’s offshore report has been provided by Capt. George Clark, Sr. of Rodeo Charters. To book a great day of offshore fishing with Capt. George call (305) 522-5530.