June 15th 2014 – Flats fishing report for Key West by Capt. Steven Lamp

I love this time of the year. June.. It sounds nice feels nice and is nice. Hot as hell but thats typical for the tropics in the summer. June is the time that the part time fishing guides slow up or leave town. Head out and see no one anywhere sometimes all day long. Have the best flats to your self and get back to what we love about this sport, the fishing.

The last few days we have had incoming big water in the mornings and super low moon tides in the afternoon with a nice cool incoming in the late evening. The fishing has been great all through the tides.. Coming off the full moon next week we will have the last of a meager out going tide that will have the fish super relaxed and in hunting mode with lighter currents. Whats good about he next week tides is the cool water that will flow into the flats all morning long through the top of the day keeping the back country a tad cooler than last week.

Tarpon fishing is still very good and there are plenty of them. Like I said many boats have left the area so the tarpon have relaxed and taken off their helmets. Our backcountry and flats fishing trips lately have been slamming the tarpon on artificial baits and crabs. As a fishing guide I truly enjoy the smaller tarpon in the 50-60 lb range. The fish we have here seem to be that ++++.  Our anglers are getting up early and making it happen with us just after sunrise. This last full moon was even red hot with the tarpon bite in the morning and pretty much all day which is unusual.

Permit are here in force. Tailing and pushing fish are showing up on the flats. Problem with the last week was the flat calm conditions making the casts long to ensure the fish not spooking out. We still managed some nice fish and some great shots. In the next week I will be working my inside flats with the cooler waters in the morning then switching to the Gulf flats in the top of the day.

Bonefishing has been good here as well. Last week I had a flats trip on board my new Beavertail Elite Flats skiff with bonefishing as a focus with two very young novice anglers. Going East of Key West back toward Sugarloaf Keys and Cudjoe Keys we got into them pretty well. One flat we poled we actually had shots at bones, permit and tarpon as they slowly worked the tides. Try and try they did well but did not manage to seal the deal. These young men learned very quickly what anglers keep coming back to the Florida Keys to fish for these elusive critters.

Flats fishing trips are fun and challenging. Its like hunting and fishing wrapped up into one experience.  We use technical poling skiffs and bay boats to facilitate the experience for a broad range of clients.

Technical skiff is a 17.5 ft Beavertail Elite custom flats fishing boat. Great for super shallow water and the traditional way to fish the flats here in Key West. Propelled by your fishing guide using a long pole from the back of the boat.

Bay Boat is a 24 ft Yellowfin. Super comfortable. not tippy and very stable. Good for up to 3 persons. Propelled on the flats by a trolling motor..

We use both You decide… Call my office at Dream Catcher Charters and see which adventure is right for you..
Call Island Genn at 1-305-292-7212