Putting a bow on cuda season.

Recently Key West has been blessed with some of the most consistent weather of the winter. However the week started cold with water temps in the high sixties, it warmed up considerably with sunny calm conditions and highs in the upper seventies.

Perfect conditions for Steve and Cain, dedicated barracuda anglers. Cain’s landed some of the most impressive cuda’s i’ve laid eyes on over the years, and our expectations for this trip were high. Although we had to battle a stubborn bite, the shots were numerous and we managed to land a few decent fish. We had some monsters chase all the way to the boat, but we didn’t manage to land the giant we were hoping for.

While the barracuda’s seemed to have lockjaw, the bonefish were plentiful. As the water temperature increased into the week we managed a few productive sessions, trading off shots and landing some really nice ones.

Next up, Jim traveled down from Chicago to do some bonefishing. Day one we had a consistent flow of fish, hitting two spots that consumed most of our day, Jim fished well and caught a hand full of really nice fish. One fish was a warrior, having a major section of its tail bitten off and major scaring on its body.

The next day were were socked in by heavy cloud cover. We tried to find some tarpon in the morning with no success. We fell back on some bonefish that we could target on a lighter colored bottom, and chipped away at a few that we could make out in between clouds. Although we’ve fished a handful of times over the years, I learned that Jim is a NFL hall of fame lineman, which lead to some really engaging conversation. We ended the trip on a solid fish, and headed to the dock.

To finish the week, I had to opportunity to fish with Eeland and Nic. Eeland is a visiting comedian from Denver, a featuring at the Comedy Club in Key West. Anna and I attended his show the night before and had a belly full of laughs. We set our sights on permit and fished them hard from dock to dock. Although we bumped a few and saw a few tails, we could not get a shot off with the heavy cloud cover. Although we could not come tight this trip, I admire their patience and determination, attributes that will lead to many permit in their future.

With the water temps on the rise and the March Merkin permit fishing tournament around the corner, stay tuned for more permit fishing updates in the next few weeks. Tarpon are starting to trickle in as well, which has me chomping at the bit.

Cain with an excellent Barracuda landed on fly out of Key West.

Steve with a bonefish caught fly fishing Key West.

Bonefish surviver.

Jim with a Key West bonefish.