3/21/16 March Backcountry Florida Keys Fishing Report

March is rolling by fast and things are super busy here with spring break.  Boats are fishing just about every day. We had a good 5 or 6 days of hard winds over a week ago followed by several nice day where fishing got very good, tarpon were showing up and getting 'happy', and then now we are getting hit by a late season cold front to mix things up again.  Always keeps you on your toes this time of year.  I myself have been starting to focus on tarpon more regularly.  We had some good days when it was calm landing multiple fish and plenty of sharks as well.  The windier days it has been a little tougher for me we've only had a handful of bites those days and you better make the most of them, however the sharks are still there to keep your busy.  In the bays the trout fishing has been decent with some larger keeper size trout showing up, and mixed in our plenty of ladyfish, some snappers and jacks as well.  Out in the gulf there are still some mackerel around and that has been good to have this late in the year.  I had Eric and John out there and they had a great time getting into the spanish macks.  Also a noteable catch several days ago was a 13 lb tripletail caught by John Wilson who was down here with a group fishing.  Capt. Bill Bassett has also repoted good triple tail fishing on the calm days, as well as getting into some tarpon on those days as well.  He had some good fishing in the gulf yesterday with plenty of mackerels, jacks, and some snappers for dinner.  Capt. John Johansen had some tarpon action with the group party I mentioned they caught a double header tarpon one day which was quite a feat.  Capt. Clyde Upchurch reported good trout and snapper action in the bays catching plenty for dinner.  Capt. Mike Venezia had good snapper action for dinner today.  Capt. Gunner Guthrie reported catching a couple tarpon yesterday locally around Islamorada.  The tarpon bite may slow down for a few days it is suppose to get in the high 50s tonight, though just for tonight then things will warm back up considerably.  By the end of the week things should be semi-normal again though it looks to be breezy for a few days so water temperatures may be slow to rise.  Though there are plenty of options and protected water in the backcountry here so you can be ready for anything!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk