February 19, 2012

Permit and Barracudas

After two days of perfect weather for sight fishing the flats of Key West and some great fishing with catches of redfish and permit, Thursday quickly turned south.  I fished with Bryan from Iowa on Thursday.  Bryan was fly fishing and was up for anything on the end of his line as this was his first saltwater trip.  We searched for some bonefish and permit in the morning finding none and we had a couple shots at bonnethead sharks, never coming tight.  Then the clouds moved in and visibility went to zero.  We moved to an area where the light was a little better and the water was shallow and still we didn't see a fish.  Permit weren't tailing and we couldn't see anything in deeper water.

We went back to pick up Bryan's Dad for the afternoon.  The tide was just starting to roll in on the Gulfside and the light came back some.  I decided to head north for some jacks on rays, which is usually a pretty easy process.  As soon as got to the first flat, here come the clouds again and visibility went to crap.  There weren't many rays on those flats and the ones that were present lacked a following jack.  Bryan had two bites neither of which stayed on.

We experienced a guides nightmare, coming home skunked.  Bryan, not wanting to go home empty handed decided to spend another day on the water with me.

We fished on Saturday and what a gorgeous day it turned out to be.  Sunny skies and light winds for most of the day, I knew were gonna have a great day.  I started at the redfish flat since the tides were very in the morning.  After a good bit of poling and a couple of shots at bonnethead sharks, we finally found a few redfish.  Unfortunately they were willing to stink around very long for Bryan to get a good shot.

I move to an area where we I have been finding some laid up tarpon.  We spent about an hour looking and found two tarpon getting a shot at one that swam off after a couple of attempts.

It was close to high tide in the backcountry, so I went to one of the many beautiful gulfside flats to catch the beginning of the outgoing tide.  Bryan through the tube lure at the first barracuda we saw and it did not disappoint.  The barracuda crushed the tube then tore off across the flat taking to the air as if he were a tarpon.  Several minutes later the cuda was boat side for a few photos.  We had a few more shots at barracudas on that flat but they were spooking easily.




I later moved over a couple of flats in hopes of a permit.  It wasn't long and a school of four permit were moving up the flat.  Bryan tossed a crab perfectly in the middle of the school of permit and it was instantly eaten.  His permit sped off toward the channel and fifteen minutes one of the most beautiful permit I have seen was boat side.





What a beautiful day and it was a great day on the water.  Thanks again Bryan.

Check out Bryans blog http://atlasfishing.blogspot.com/ he has some stunning photos of the areas he fishes out  west.



Captain Mike Bartlett
http://www.keywestflats.net/
http://www.facebook.com/CaptMikeBartlett

February 15, 2012

Permit fishing Key West

I fished with Ted and his wife Carol from Chicago today.  We had another beautiful day with sunny skies, light southeast wind and it was warm. The water temps were still on the cool side this morning, but with warm breezes throughout the day the water temps quickly rose to a more suitable level for our permit.  The morning started off a little slow but we had plenty of shots at barracudas and sharks and couple shots at permit, with eating a crab off the hook, before I realized he at it.  Permit 1, guide 0.  We moved up to the gulfside this afternoon to catch the incoming tide.  With warming water and a rising tide, permit in real good numbers moved up onto the flat we were fishing.  The last two hours of the trip Ted caught three permit, the largest about 25 pounds and his wife carol caught a nice barracuda and a jack off a huge nurse shark.  We saw a lot of permit tailing and feeding in deeper water just off the flat. As long as we stay in the weather pattern, flats fishing in Key West will continue to be phenomenal.










Captain Mike Bartlett
http://www.keywestflats.net/
http://www.facebook.com/CaptMikeBartlett

Redfish on Fly in Key West

I had a great day on the water with Doug and Sarah from Wyoming yesterday.  Fresh off a strong cold front that passed over the weekend, water temps had plummeted to the low to mid 60's in the backcountry.  First area I decided to check was the redfish flat and it did not disappoint.  Doug caught two nice redfish out of the four that ate his fly and had about another 3 or 4 shots.  We saw probably 15 or so single redfish, most of which were laid up and we drifted right over, and one big school containing at least 10 redfish.  This is the most redfish I have seen so far on this flat.  Needless to say I am pretty excited about having this area, with good numbers of redfish, for when the water is cold and not quite right for our other flats species of permit, bonefish, tarpon and barracudas.

Thanks again Doug and Sarah.









Captain Mike Bartlett
http://www.keywestflats.net/
http://www.facebook.com/CaptMikeBartlett

February 05, 2012

Cuda Bowl 2012

The 2nd Annual Cuda Bowl was held this past Friday and Saturday.  Cloudy conditions and high winds of 30 mph made for about the worse sight fishing conditions possible.  Despite the awful weather there was a lot of barracudas caught over the two day event and everyone had fun.

Jeff Pierce, guided by Captain Justin Rea.took top honors in the spin division
Trent Miller, guided by Captain Scott Irvine won the fly division

Go to the Cuda Bowl website to see all the results and sponsors from this year's tournament.

I fished the Cuda Bowl with friend and long time client Mike Metzler of Ohio.  Despite a sore back Mike stood on the bow of my Beavertail BT3 Skiff for two days constantly casting.  We had a great two days of barracuda fishing releasing 15 barracudas over 24 inches, 6 measuring in the mid 40's, and countless strikes, follows and a few bite offs.  We took fourth place overall in the spin division, 20 points behind the winner.




































Captain Mike Bartlett
http://www.keywestflats.net/
http://www.facebook.com/CaptMikeBartlett