2/25/13 Backcountry fishing in the Florida Keys Report

Had a good day today in the backcountry florida keys fishing.  We ran out to some channels in search of some big fish in the backcountry and gulf waters.  Had a few hours of falling tide this morning, we started out catching a variety of ladyfish, trout, and some nice pompano.  Saving the ladyfish for live and dead bait.  Saw a handful of tarpon in islamorada rolling so we put some baits out.  Caught a couple blacktips and did have a tarpon bust a live ladyfish however he missed it and didn't come back for seconds!  After the tide quit and we had enough bait we hit some shallow runoffs for some trout where the tide was still trickling out.  Caught a handful and made a few throws with the net in hopes of mullet, however only came up with one.  We went out a little further towards the gulf and set up for some february shark fishing in islamorada with hopes of getting lucky and maybe snagging a tarpon.  Lots of action with smaller blacktips, and hooked a monster 'mud marlin.'  He had a nice companion following along with him, a 45 lb cobia!  We hooked him up and took a break with the sea monster and focused on the cobia... after a 25 minute battle on light spin tackle he was ours!  We then went back to the big rod and fought him for another 30 minutes and finally got a good look at him before he rolled over and cut us off.  Ran back to our spot with an hour or so left to fish and within a few minutes hooked up this nice 100 lb hammerhead shark!  After that saw a few more tarpon busting and a couple rolling around, however not our day for them, but all in all still a fantastic day fishing islamorada in february!  Capt. John Johansen and Capt. Bill Bassett both reported good rod bending action with ladyfish, trout, etc... and also had lots of action with the blacktip sharks in the backcountry.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti reported several hook ups the day before fishing some rock piles on the ocean side when it was flat calm for permit.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk