Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Boatless Fishing Reports for Monroe County, Florida Keys
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Jordan
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Jordan »

bolo wrote:
rare wrote:chevyjuan99

Since you are taking the family; not sure when you are going, but this Friday it's going to get nice & warm in Miami. Look at the weather report for at least a warm day at the keys-for snappers, I think you will be fine.
Keep in mind the bridges are usually a lot colder then the main land. Especially at night when temps drop quick.
I second that, I was so cold during our last trip in april. I want to go the week after christmas, wonder how cold it'll be then

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PhishingPhanatic
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by PhishingPhanatic »

At night, probably pretty cold. The biggest issue most people have is that they go unprepared and don't bring warm clothes. Shorts and sandals aren't a good idea for fishing at night down there except during the warmest months in the summer. Even in late spring or early fall, it can get chilly at night even if it is 90 during the day. I always bring jeans, thick socks, a fleece jacket, a rain jacket and pants (doubles as a windbreaker), a stocking hat and a light blanket if I have any doubt it will be cold overnight.

It will take more then a couple warm days to get the snapper biting after these back-to-back fronts, most of them are out in the deeper water right now. If you are going, try a bridge with deep channels, have some good fresh bait and hope for the best.
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bolo
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by bolo »

Rule of thumb, dress like if you were climbing Mt. Everst. :D
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PhishingPhanatic
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by PhishingPhanatic »

bolo wrote:Rule of thumb, dress like if you were climbing Mt. Everst. :D
Or just bring a quality tarp, like Ricky.

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ItsAllAboutME
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by ItsAllAboutME »

Uhm! If you getting lizards on crappie jigs each time you jigging, what is that mean? No real fish around or is it too cold for macks?

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Green Tide
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Green Tide »

sounds like time to move to a new spot.
were there anyone shrimping last night?
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Chevy Juan »

Yea of course, I went about 2 weeks ago at night and was dressed for the occassion but didnt have much luck at all which doesn't discourage me at all. When I go next week, if I do go, it will be during the daytime and i will arrive at 8am or so in the morning. I just primarily want to target snapper, mangrove and mutton, even grouper and any lurking cudas in the area as well. Whatever connects on the lines ill be happy with.
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by fishnfool73 »

Green Tide wrote:sounds like time to move to a new spot.
were there anyone shrimping last night?
Shrimp will pop a fw days before and after the full moon.
Dreaming the dream that one day I can be as good as some of the boatless pros and catch some 12 inch mangrove snapper.

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Chevy Juan
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Chevy Juan »

Actually forget it, ill actually be going at night instead, think any fresh dead pilchards and ballyhoo will catch anything besides the usual cut up squid?
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Xpierrat »

Hit up C 5 Sunday 1/23/11 from 8 am till around 5 PM conditions were not very good.... water was merked up but could have been worse...... fished the South side all the way back up at the Boat channel end

wind was 10 to 15 from the North/ Northeast and it was cold....high was supposed to be 66 but I think it was closer to 70 but of course the bridge was in shade from the highway bridge all day till very late when the sun peaked under the other bridge for just a bit.

chummed two blocks over the day....no baits other than those pesky Skip Jacks....
( Has anyone EVER heard of ANYTHING eating one of those used as a bait????? EVER?? )

Thank goodness I had 3 Doz live shrimp which Produced Lots of 9 inch Grovers that kept the wife happy...only 3 keepers made for a light cooler though.

No Spanish/Cero,s

Several Sharks in the 50lb class at least put some good bends in the big rods...BTW fighting a big fish with the highway pilings makes for quite a challenge..... :shock:

Also on the other side there are some crab pots near the end that can get in the way....lost one shark to a pot line cut off.

Still was a good day and the fact the wife wanted to go and share some fishing time together made it even better.... Lets hope next weekend after the C 2 clean up is better.
Rick

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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by PhishingPhanatic »

Thanks for the report. Yeah, those skipjacks are a PITA. I've never caught anything on them, I'm sure a bluefish would eat chunks of one, but a bluefish will eat anything. Next time, catch some small 3-5" grunts on a sabiki and if they are real small, fish them live with the tail trimmed, if they are bigger, use the head for bait. Cast them away from the bridge. That will give you a good shot at a mutton if there are any around, keep in mind nurse sharks will eat them too though.

I usually don't chum from the bridges unless I'm trying to catch bait like ballyhoo, the chum brings in too many junk fish and tropicals and the bigger snapper stay away.
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Xpierrat »

PhishingPhanatic wrote:Thanks for the report. Yeah, those skipjacks are a PITA. I've never caught anything on them, I'm sure a bluefish would eat chunks of one, but a bluefish will eat anything. Next time, catch some small 3-5" grunts on a sabiki and if they are real small, fish them live with the tail trimmed, if they are bigger, use the head for bait. Cast them away from the bridge. That will give you a good shot at a mutton if there are any around, keep in mind nurse sharks will eat them too though.

I usually don't chum from the bridges unless I'm trying to catch bait like ballyhoo, the chum brings in too many junk fish and tropicals and the bigger snapper stay away.

Interesting .....others find the same ???? sure would save some coin.
Rick

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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by bolo »

Xpierrat,

All the 20" plus Muttons I have ever caught in the Keys have been on gogs, ballyhoo, bluerunner, or Mac. I have caught Muttons on Pinfish but always been small.
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by PhishingPhanatic »

bolo wrote:Xpierrat,

All the 20" plus Muttons I have ever caught in the Keys have been on gogs, ballyhoo, bluerunner, or Mac. I have caught Muttons on Pinfish but always been small.
Personally I've found that oily baits like gogs, runners strips or mac strips attract small blacktips and other sharks faster then the muttons can find them on the bridges. FRESH dead pilchards and threadfins are great bait too if there aren't many bait stealers around. But different bridges also have different baits that work well. Long Key is my favorite mutton bridge, and I would say 75% of my keepers have come off of grunts or assorted whitebait. For the most part, I've found whatever you catch at the bridge is what they are feeding on and makes the best bait.
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Xpierrat »

Yep I had 2 good sized dead Gogs, 2 small runners and 3 hand sized dead pin fish..... Tips claimed all of them..... but it was some pullage so it wasn't all bad. :wink:

Did catch one good sized grunt chopped and stomped him but something took him off the hook and didn't leave a calling card. :roll:
Rick

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bolo
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

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PhishingPhanatic wrote:
bolo wrote:Xpierrat,

All the 20" plus Muttons I have ever caught in the Keys have been on gogs, ballyhoo, bluerunner, or Mac. I have caught Muttons on Pinfish but always been small.
Personally I've found that oily baits like gogs, runners strips or mac strips attract small blacktips and other sharks faster then the muttons can find them on the bridges. FRESH dead pilchards and threadfins are great bait too if there aren't many bait stealers around. But different bridges also have different baits that work well. Long Key is my favorite mutton bridge, and I would say 75% of my keepers have come off of grunts or assorted whitebait. For the most part, I've found whatever you catch at the bridge is what they are feeding on and makes the best bait.
That is the key using fresh oily bait to attract quality fish. I don't use Mac or Blue Runner strips. Cut bait for large Mutton. I have never caught Blacktip or Spinners with those bait sitting on the bottom. Is it any different when you fishing in the Tortugas in the fall with all them sharks? You just have to fish through them and catch your Mutton. This is from my experience catching Muttons from the Keys and from the boat. It is no different. The only thing I have ever hook up to on Threadfins are Kingfish and Macs off the pier and boat. I lost a grouper off the Keys bridge. Otherwise I find them to be a worthless bait to me. Pilchards on the other hand are great bait but are too small to deal with. During the Summer I know a spot to catch Horse size Pilchards.
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

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Xpierrat wrote:Yep I had 2 good sized dead Gogs, 2 small runners and 3 hand sized dead pin fish..... Tips claimed all of them..... but it was some pullage so it wasn't all bad. :wink:

Did catch one good sized grunt chopped and stomped him but something took him off the hook and didn't leave a calling card. :roll:
If Blacktips are thick I just fish for sharks or leave to another spot. I know it sucks when you can't catch what you are targeting for. But hey, it is fishing so make the best out of it. Frogfish and I went down to the Keys to catch Permit and Snapper. He lost one Permit and nothing biting on the Snapper bait. Macs were plentiful so we decide to catch them. After we got bored we started to shark fish with my little reel. What a blast we had. Highlight of the day was watching a Bull Shark belly flopping on a Bonnethead. Everyone on the bridge freak out. It made our day.
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by bolo »

PhishingPhanatic wrote:Personally I've found that oily baits like gogs, runners strips or mac strips attract small blacktips and other sharks faster then the muttons can find them on the bridges.
If this was true, why didn't you follow your own advice and catch some sharks during the 3 shark tourney? :)
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Green Tide »

went to ch 2 for a few hours yesterday. got there about 40-50 minutes after the tide started coming in so it was moving pretty good.
there was a good crowd so i found a small spot that was open set out the first rod and went to get the 2nd one baited when the 1st goes off. had a good fight and brought a 16-18 black grouper up. well he killed that bait so i got a new one and put out the 2nd rod, 3rd rod and not much going on after that.
i was trying to get some bait banked up for some night fishing but didnt have a whole lotta luck. of course i had to leave within an hour of the tide changing again.
lots of large cudas around. chummed up some nice looking grovers but didnt get any of them. saw alot of small grovers caught
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skyzdalymit71
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by skyzdalymit71 »

Great reports ill be down there in two weeks . Cant wait!!!!!
FISHING ANY TIME, ANY PLACE, ANY CHANCE I GET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

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Buddy and I shot down to Largo to take his boat out on Sat. Got there at 6 to find the gate to the marina shut. No biggie we will hoist the gear over and get going. Then I look at the rack and there is his BOAT :nilly: :mad: :auto: Hes flipping out as its a new spot for him and they dont open till 8 this is our Half day trip as we both have to work the panther game that night. we drop the cover load the boat and then one of the charter capts thats in the marina comes in and tells us the forklift driver lives in the trailor way in the back so we wake him up about 7:30 and get on the road. Kite fishing since the wind was cooperating. Got a little dolphin 10lb dolphin to start the day, and BONITA AFTER BONITA after that these were huge 10-15 lbers. Had a big Hammer come up and eat the only GOG we had so that was fun for about 5 minutes till he decided he was leaving.... 8-3 Great day on the water and had enough fish to make fish tacos for 4 off the dolphin....
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Green Tide
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Green Tide »

fish tacos :toast:
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skyzdalymit71
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by skyzdalymit71 »

Fished channel 5 sat about 2pm till sun 10 am acouple small grovers and that was it. Hooked a lot of huge tarpon towards the middle but unable to land any. But they were some monsters ill tell u that but it was fun. That went on from about 12am to 4am. Had shark bait out in the middle of bridge but nothing on that. But all and all it was fun and a nice full moon night out. :D :reeling: Wish we had more action to talk about but thats it. Till next time :drunk:
FISHING ANY TIME, ANY PLACE, ANY CHANCE I GET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Landol45
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by Landol45 »

Hey thats not too bad man like you said, it was a nice night with the full moon.
I was plannig on going that over to CH5 Saturday night too. They called in to work and had to cancel the trip. Hopefully I'll get out there memorial day weekend.

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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by spin4reel »

Hey lando, I'm new at the forum, my name is Rob. Let me know if you are going that weekend and maybe we can hook up. I haven't been to that bridge in years. I remember that when I use to go there, I would walk all the way down to the end, and it was a very good spot for mangrove snappers. Let me know, I would like to start meeting members from this forum and share knowledges of fishing. How it happens.
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by james380 »

Spin if you want to meet forum members a good place to start would be here http://boatlessfishing.com/forum/viewto ... 19&t=25350
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

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spin4reel wrote:Hey lando, I'm new at the forum, my name is Rob. Let me know if you are going that weekend and maybe we can hook up. I haven't been to that bridge in years. I remember that when I use to go there, I would walk all the way down to the end, and it was a very good spot for mangrove snappers. Let me know, I would like to start meeting members from this forum and share knowledges of fishing. How it happens.
Hey no problem spin, you can pm me and set up a meet place. We can get together at jack's bait&tackle before heading down to ch5.

skyzdalymit71
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Re: Upper Keys Fishing Reports

Post by skyzdalymit71 »

I feel the same way I've met a few people on here and fished with a couple I would like to fish with u guys or anyone else who is interested.
FISHING ANY TIME, ANY PLACE, ANY CHANCE I GET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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