5/29/15 Late May Islamorada Backcountry Fishing Report

May is almost over and we are really getting into summer time here in the Florida Keys.  Fishing has been pretty good overall the last couple weeks.  Tarpon fishing has overall picked up again and most guides have been enjoying consistent fishing with a few 'big days' here and there.  A week or so ago we were lucky to have several flat calm days which lead to some good conditions for lots of things in the backcountry.  Capt. Skip Nielsen and Capt. Rick Stanczyk both reported great tarpon fishing back off cape sable in the everglades.  They both also reported some good action with snook and a few redfish around the shorelines and creeks.  Capt. Perry Scuderi has reported catching several nice permit in the last week.  Capt. Vinnie Biondoletti reported a nice permit plus a tarpon a couple evenings ago.  Capt. John Johansen has reported good shark and tarpon action in the everglades, plus tarpon around town here in the evenings.  Capt. Jim Willcox has been catching some snook and redfish back in the everglades.  Capt. Jeff Beeler reported good fly fishing for small tarpon and some snook last week, plus a few tarpon on bait as well the last few days.  Capt. Mike Venezia has some tarpon action the last few days and caught some nice mangrove snappers for dinner.  Capt. Mike Bassett reported a great day of snook fishing a few days ago.  Capt. Bill Bassett has had some good days fly fishing for tarpon in the last week, plus some bait fishing too with plenty of sharks mixed in.  Summer time is an excellent time of year to fish down here, as the weather stabilizes the water conditions can be very good for all kinds of gamefish.  We've unfortunately had some windy weather the last several days but it hasn't really dampened the fishing much.  As June continues the wind will eventually die down.  Early mornings and evenings are still an excellent time to catch tarpon.  Crab fishing on the falling tides doesn't get much better then the next month.  You also have a shot at catching a big permit doing that too!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk