We’re very busy at marina this week getting ready for our 20 year anniversary event on memorial day! I can’t believe we opened this place on Memorial Day weekend all the way back in 1999 — time flies! We’ve got a lot of fun planned, including free drawings for prizes, etc., so come by if you are in the area.

Welcome, from the southernmost city. Fishing is on fire inshore, offshore and on the reef. Whatever your pleasure, be it filling the freezer or knocking that trophy fish off your list, there is a charter here for you in Key West!

This past week would be rated a 6/10 on the Richter scale. One day was great and the next days were dead. Kings were hard to get due to the weed population — it’s absolutely unbelievable what we are dealing with here. It’s virtually impossible to get a bait out without snagging a weed in the first five feet and I sure hope it clears up soon. It’s making us look like a fool blaming poor fishing on weeds…..

With Pompano season officially over, this will be my last report for a while. I want to start off by saying thank you to everybody who has tuned into Spacefish over the last year to read my surf fishing reports. We had a great pompano run this year and I look forward to an even better one next season!

What an unusual run of business for me this past week. One day I took part in a two boat charter that was originally slated as a four boat trip; another day I filled in for Capt. Jim on a supposedly nearshore trip, and finally finished off with a Mosquito Lagoon charter with a couple of guys from Ohio.

Kingfish action has improved along the beaches this week but the bait situation is still not what we had hoped for. Bait gathering each day has taken longer than it should. Once you get bait things start happening quickly though. Slow troll these on a wire stinger rig. Most of the kingfish are running 20-25 pounds right now. We’ve been finding a few schools of big jack crevalle south of Sebastian. They are not in good numbers yet, but the fish are all in the 20 to 35 pounds range. If you like a fight, these fish will bring it!

Things were all over the place last week! We had some high winds when they were supposed to be calm, and some calm days when it was supposed to be windy. Hit some nearshore reefs for Mangrove Snapper, Lane Snapper, Triggerfish, Bonito and King Mackerel. Saw a few Cobia but couldn’t get them to eat. Along the beaches were schools of big jack crevalle and bluefish. Live bait was best for all but the jacks and bluefish. Inlet water is clean and the redfish bite has been a bit slow.

We’ve had a great mixed bag of fishing this week. The black drum bite has continued to be good. Any type of stinky bait fished on a jig-head will typically get them to eat. The lagoon has been loaded with jacks, ladyfish, blues and trout. We also started getting good numbers of tarpon ranging 30 pounds up to 100 pounds!

Ryan Wood ventures into the urban jungle of South Florida, searching for peacock bass in Lake Ida and Lake Osbourne.

After checking the weather and moons, I decided to hold off on the fishing to later in the afternoon on Sat. Hit Wabasso and headed to the south point. Bait was everywhere, and I could see tails. Throwing a gold paddle tail on red jig I immediately hook up, I was thinking red, but was pleasantly surprised with an 18 inch snook.

It’s starting to get really good offshore with blue water in only 60-70ft. We got out Tuesday despite breezy west winds and storms south of the port. There were not any pogies off the beach, but we did see a few tarpon while trying. Unfortunately, the weather forced us further north and way shallower than where I think would have been the best bet. We still managed to get a few snake kings and the usual red snapper in 100ft. What you didn’t get to see was a mangrove and a big lane snapper.

The weather is finally starting to stabilize and fish are stalking the shallows. This time of year can offer some of the best in sight fishing for a multitude of species in shallow water on fly. The transition from Winter’s cooler water temps and the warmer waters of Spring to
Summer’s patterns is starting to finally take place. There is no better time for big Trout and belly crawling shallow water Redfish for anglers who sight fish on fly. Water levels are still fairly low but clear water is still the key in the North Indian and Mosquito Lagoons. The early morning bite has been very productive using top water Gurglers, especially for Trout and Snook.