Key West fishing report has winter coming early for Key West. A nice push of very cold air came in from the north switching our summer season over to winter in a matter of 48 hours. It was impressive to see how fast the water temps dropped inshore and how the offshore scene changed up so fast. It happens every year but most years is pretty gradual. This time we went from 80° air temps 76° water temperatures all the way down to 59° air temperature and 62° water temperature in that short 48 hour period of time. We will talk about the effects on the flats, the backcountry the reef and deep sea.
Deep Sea Fishing
November can be such an unpredictable month this last cold front that pushed through provided us with winds over 30 mph out of the north west then a steady 25 to 28 out of the north north east so for a few days we were not out there. Preceding the cold front we did have some cooler winds out of the north and east and Matt brought some nice Sailfish through our area as well as a few wahoo and a scattered mahi-mahi with the occasional tuna very typical for this type of year after the cold pushed through and the north north east winds prevailed there have been several Sailfish caught as well as some wahoo conditions are now getting very favorable for some great deep sea fishing coming up the air temps will start to warm again back up to the mid to lower 70s. I suspect with the cooler reef water temperature that many of our fun species will start to show up close to the reef such as kingfish and cero mackerel as the bait on top of the reef becomes thicker and thicker, providing a massive amount of food source. Often this time of year we will slow troll the reef for an opportunity at a black grouper or large button snapper even the yellowtail snappers will eat a properly presented smaller bait. This makes for a nice color mix to the box at the end of any great deep-sea fishing trip.
Flats and Backcountry
Fishing the backcountry and the flats this cooler weather has just got the party started. Cooler water temps in the shallows, bring in all sorts of fish that are looking for the copious amount of bait that we have in the shallows small finger mullet, Ballyhoo and Pilchard’s all serve the fish a cornucopia of food. Following these Bait fish will be trout, big jacks, Spanish mackerel, sharks, large barracudas, mutton, snapper, mangrove snapper and yellowtail snapper without my fishing clients ever having to see big sea conditions.
Many think that when the cold water sets in the flat fishing stops, and that is not true at all in between the cold fronts, we get warming trends, and often the bonefish will reappear early in the winter season with permit as well as the baby Tarpon and the barracuda that love to pounce on an artificial lure. Add all that to a really great mutton, snapper fishery on the edges of the flats. There is so much to do on in the shallows to keep anyone entertained.
