Carey what is the barometric pressure App that you use? Look forward to fishing with you again soon.

Its a site
http://usairnet.com/weather/conditions/?station=ktki

I also recommend Navionics app for depth info on any body of water.

Those two paired with the knowledge he provides help a lot.

Page 13? Try page 6

Depends on how you have the preferences set... Mine is set to view 10 posts on a thread.

Well, Im back home. Finished up my Key West Drama, got all my tourneys out of the way, and its now time to hit the water and chase Sandies, Hybrids, Crappie, and Black Bass again. Unfortunately, Lake Lavon Ramp is to iffy for me, so, I have moved back to guide on Lake Ray Hubbard again! I will be in a bunch of Large Mouth Bass Tourneys on Hubbard, So I will be guiding the sandies , crappie and hybrids mainly.

I am still going to do the Party Boat Trips @ $75 per person.

Email me, Text me, or Call me, to book a spot on the boat!

Here is my report from Key West though:

Scooters rule the island. $45 a day. tons of parking everywhere for the scooters and I highly recommend them. You are stuck on the island is the only thing.

Taxi cost $14-$15 per one way trip to where ever you want to go.

Who knows how much a car rental is. Parking is a B if your in a car



About 2 weeks ago I hit Key West for a week. The first day I went out with ShowtimeFishing guide Alex. Caught Yellow Tails, Bonito, and Barracuda on the fly rod. The fish below peeled all my fly line off, and, all my backing off before I knew it, within seconds. I now own a 7 piece, 4 piece fly rod after that one.



The next day I walked out to the beach and hit the end of the rock jetties and picked up Mangrove Snappers every cast but they were small guys.



After the trip with the guide I hit the 2 fly shops on the island and asked them, " where can I find some Bone Fish, Tarpon, Permit, or anything to keep me busy while on the island." Every single one of them said there are no fish to be caught by a fly rod from the banks of Key West. They said you have to have a boat or head East to the other Keys. I looked at a map and decided that's what I am going to do then. I quickly realized that option is not a good option seeing as, we rented scooters for the week that top out at 35 mph. The HWY that connects the islands is 55 mph. So I was stuck on an island. So I pouted all day thinking im out of luck on fishing anymore and would have to hire a guide everyday to get my fix.



As you walk from restaurants to shops along the island, there are fish freaking everywhere. Every slip on the island is full of charter boats. 100's and 100's of them. So when they come back in from a trip, the fish know. The canals and slips are full of Tarpon, Snapper, Tropical Fish, Jacks...etc. They are just waiting for the guide boats to throw the waist over board and turns into a frenzy of gorging fish. And im not talking about small fish, lol. At one restaurant called Conch something, they have a Tarpon feeding at 4 pm. 40-200 lb tarpon swimming around there all day. It was killing me to see this majestic fish within touching distance and there was nothing I could do but watch them. Your not allowed to fish in the shopping areas for some reason! lol.......

Now what I am going to do, is, take all the scouting & recon out of picture for whomever decides to go there. Its a 2 mile island and I put 86 miles on my scooter. So I literally went everywhere on the island that was not private property.

So that night, I decided to go and see if I could find any lights shinning in the water near the beach and the sides of the roads. 11 pm at night the second night I was there, I loaded up my back up fly rod and headed out on the scooter to see what I could find. I noticed a pier in the distance and it had light on it! So, I hopped on the scooter and took me a whole 2 mins to get there. I walked out and started to stare in the water looking for targets. I got half way out there and I see a 5 ft shadow cruising the wall of the pier. It was a Tarpon! Made a cast and it quickly shot out into the deeper darker water. Walked about 10 more feet and saw another one. I shot the fly way out in front of the fish, about 30 feet in its cruising lane. This all happened within 10 mins of me getting there. 10 seconds later the arrives to where my shrimp fly landed and I gave the fly a small strip. BAM, the Tarpon hit it harder than I have ever been hit on a fly and shot str8 up in the air 4-5 feet, shaking its head and threw the fly right at me, and hit me in the chest. I still have a small welt from that one. I was using 20 lb fluorocarbon, so it had frayed my line up bad. I tied on another leader and walked another couple feet and then I saw 10-15 Tarpon cruising the lights, to 50 lbs or so. For the next 2-3 hours, I missed a dozen fish and only jumped 4 more Tarpon. On the 4th Tarpon, he broke my leader and took my only shrimp fly. They wanted nothing to with streamers or clousers, just that one shrimp fly I got from the fly shop. So I gave up and went back to the resort and took a nap. Got up at noon and went to the fly shop and grabbed 4 more flies, and cruised around the island eating stuff. The best seafood place is called the RAW BAR. Cheaper than all the others, but man the food is greatness. The Caesar salad was amazing, boiled beer shrimp, raw oysters, fresh catch of the days, poboys, and everything else I ate there was perfect. We ate at all the top places and this was by far the best for the money.



The above fly is what I was going into battle with. $7 fly. I will be tying up a lot of those before I go back.

That night I decided to go look for an easier place to land a fish. I left the Resort and turned left and drove for a whopping 2 mins till I hit a bend with street lights shinning in the water. The light went over the sea wall and casted a shadow, and I could see 20 or so baby Tarpon to 20 lbs smashing shrimp left and right 3 ft from the wall. Every night I hit this spot, I would hook a Tarpon on the first cast. These guys would hang out here till 730 am and then all the fish went out to deeper water where I couldn't access them.



Every fish here looked like the one above. I couldn't get them over the seawall due to no gloves and they were to strong when they would shake so I didn't want to break my fingers. Make sure u bring pliers to remove the hook and a flash light head lamp so you can see what you are doing. This spot is the easiest spot to fly fish and target the little guys. You really need good vision to see the fish in the shadows. 3 ft cast in front of their path is all that is needed for the babies.

Now, the next spot is impossible to catch them from the bank using a fly rod. So here at the bridge, you have to use 25 lb braid and 30 lb shock leader with a white fluke on a jig head.




At the bridge, the tide has to be running from south to north for them to show up. Otherwise you are wasting your time at this spot. If the water is going the opposite way, catch some grunts or pin fish. Cut them in half and chunk them out. snapper and sharks are thick here with beautiful reef fish swimming under the rocks you are standing on. While I was tring to catch bait, I would catch a fish that I have in my Reef Tank at home. Irritating seeing as to how I would spend $80-100 for that fish and I just caught it on some small pieces of free cut bait I just had caught. Anyways, at this bridge there are 10-80 lb fish smashing shrimp within casting distance of a spinning rod.



On the sharks, mostly Lemons and Nurse, they would come right up to the bank next to the bridge, looking for the cut bait I would toss in that was not need anymore. Very easy to catch. After the 1st 4 sharks, I was done with them. Not worth the hassle.



3-4 lb mangrove snapper here as well. They are closer to the pylons.

Just cast and slowly retrieve the fluke. Just reel it in slowly, no need to make it move. The snapper here smash it. When you hook into a tarpon, it just a hit, then when you rear into it on the hook set, all hell breaks' loose and the battle is on. I jumped 87 Tarpon on the this trip and only landed 26. Or 26 that I got to unhook or at least touch. There is no way your landing one without a big net. The rocks, seawall, and pier are just to high up to safely do it without breaking your fingers off.



Seeing a 6 foot Silver King ( AKA Tarpon) jump out of the water is freaking greatness!

I tried the GoPro thing at night, thinking maybe one would jump and I could see it on film, but all you can hear is a jump jump splash, and then a curse word. Just to dark.

The last night I started at 1130 pm and stayed out till 8 am. I went to the seawall spot and hooked on the first cast. Somehow my face time was working on my IPhone so I dialed my buddy Mike and he got to see the fish peeling line off the reel and could hear it jumping and thrashing around! Fun stuff.

.......Continuing.

Where the Purple pin is: That's the bridge you fish at night. and You will stand right on the corner and cast to the middle of the bridge like below:



The water has to be moving South to North. Otherwise, no fish.

Below is where the bridge is.



Seawall Spot:





The 2 spots above are on the South East Corner of the island near the airport. You walk from that very spot along the seawall till you get to the rocks and turn around and walk back to the end of the mangrove island and repeat till you see a target. They are only 3-4 ft off the wall. It is a 3-4 ft drop off you you have to hang off the side to unhook the fish.

White Street Pier:




Above pin mark is where the 50 lbers hold. Most of the other pin marks on the pier are just 20-30 lbers but lots of them! This is the hardest area to hook fish as they can see you very well.









I had to go to Kmart to gear up on spinning gear. I bought two rods for $30 each. While fighting the fish the handles bend out of whack, making it very hard to turn them. I will bring better rods and reels with me next time. I figured I would ONLY fly fish but the bridge made me buy them. Seeing and hearing 50+ Tarpon smashing shrimp was enough to put down the fly rod. Bit the pier and seawall spots are very fun on the fly. The shrimp fly is an absolute must. Smaller the better. I guarantee you if you go to those spots and the tide is right, You will have a blast. I couldn't imaging what would have happened if I Free Lined live shrimp........................... The Mother in Law is trying to find a nice house to buy down there so it looks like I will be there a couple times a year soon!

This trip was the slow season. I couldn't imaging what it would be like when the Tarpon move through on their migration.....

The locations I gave yall, that can make it down there are to a "T" I didn't keep any secrets to myself. There is however a military bas that has 100 lb tarpon swimming everywhere along the sea wall. Its legal to fish there, but they were doing Navy Seal training the whole time I was there at night. So they didn't like me being there one night so I didn't go back. Fun fun stuff. I hope you have an understanding spouce with you cause the best fishing times were between 11 pm and 6 am. Obviously my wife didn't care to much! No stopping me anyways!

Awesome stuff. Great pics. Glad to have you back. This may be my opportunity to finally try RH.

same as Lavon, just with big bass and hybrids to add to end of the line

Very cool report!

Tarpon fishing is greatness. Looks like you had a great trip.

Carey, I once left home at 10:30 pm and got home just about the time the sun peeked over the horizon, and the wife was waiting for me at the door, demanding to know where i'd been. I let her go on and on, and then i stepped back, and dumped out a 5 gallon bucket full of 2-4 lb channel and blue cats. Covered the porch! I said, "this is where i have been!" She turned, seething but silent, went in the house, back to bed, and it was probably 36 hours or so till i heard a sound emanate from her mouth that was even remotely directed at me. Ah, the bliss of silence! (LOL)

welcome to husbandhood!

Rudy

Needless to say, once the fish fry went down, there was too much chomping, and very little jabbering, going on!

Welcome back, the crappie waited for your return to start making any moves. The reports are getting better!

Nice fishing the Keys.
Global warming they be underwater humps.
But that won't be for another 30 years.
So until then "tarpon" fish on.

The last week has gotten a bit tough, but the fish r still catchable. Minnows are king at the moment. Jig bite still produce for the die hards.



Black and chartreuse and white and chartreuse jigs, preferably some Thump Buddies, with a pink head on the jig head. 1/16 oz



( Ranger gave my client some fish at the end of the day yesterday, thanks man. )



In 3-4 hours we average about 10-15 keepers person on the crappie.



One of my clients had the lake record black crappie at the boat before the hook pulled out. Had to be 15-16 inches long and fat! Sad few minutes. Client still kicking himself for that one.



Fish are holding in the timber now too. 3-5 fish per timber if they are there. 10-15 ft is an average depth of where we would find them.



White Bass: old road bed near power plant/ Avalon/ and south side of island cut along the banks in 10-15 ft of water. Some old ramps holding them here and there, but some days they never show back up to the spot they were in the day before. Sporadic top water is starting to happen again. Very random though. The pop up here and there for five minutes maybe 15 to 20 minutes. 1/4 oz chart slabs with a jig or two tied above it 12-18 inches spaced out, is getting them at the moment. Minnows 6 inches off the bottom, if you find the school. We will anchor and set out rods and wait for them to pass back by. They are working the banks searching for baby fry schools. Beaching the boat at the island hopping out and working the banks with spinners seems to be producing a couple in the mornings. That is the sun comes out they seem to be moving back out into 10 to 15 foot of water on average. I expect the White Bass bite to pick up in the next month. Once all the small fry balls get bigger the top water action should get a lot better.

Black Bass Report: Early in the morning fishing the rip rap, with top waters has been producing some great blowups and 2 to 4 pound fish. As the sun starts coming up, and the top water bite slows, switch to a white and chartreuse spinner and still work the riprap and timber. As the sun is at its highest switch over to a Texas rig with either creature baits or watermelon red or watermelon green 6 inch worms or creature baits. Lake Fork Tackle, Okeechobee blue beaver tails or the watermelon red and green work well also. The rail road tracks, the dam, the tires, swimming beaches with brush piles nearby, old submerged ponds, old submerged roads and boat ramps, and even the humps and 20 foot of water are producing fish. Average fish are 16-20 inches. A few 6-8 lbers have been caught too.

Top Water Catfish Report: yesterday my client glanced over and pointed out a carp sucking the surface. I could not see what he was pointing at but he said it was up on the surface for about 15 to 20 seconds. About 15 to 20 minutes later we hopped off the brush pile we were fishing and got on plane. around the spot he said the car was in, all of our eyes in the boat got huge. I ran over a school of about 30 to 40 catfish to 8 pounds. All sitting on the surface. Look like they were sucking air as I ran them over. I stop the boat turned around and they were back up on the surface. Put a bobber and some bait on and immediately hooked up. Every time we would hook up the school with spook would take 3 to 5 minutes to pop back up. For about 10 to 15 minutes I could not figure out what the hell they were doing. Then as they were up again on the surface sucking air I told my clients to hold off and I trolling motored over to them to try to figure out what exactly they were doing. As I got to the main school of 15 to 20 Fish sucking air, is what it looked like, I noticed the water was brown like somebody diarrhea in the water. I took my minnow net and scooped up the brown stuff. These are my results.





Small baby fish fry. Not able to I'd them yet due to they were to small and look like all the other fry when they r that small. I also saw couple sand bass busting through the small fry schools. I have had multiple people call and ask me why are the catfish sucking the surface? I could never answer them because I never saw this before. Pretty neat to see that many fish that big eating bait that small. But if you think about it, that's what the biggest creature on earth eats. The blue whale. Plankton.

My prediction is like Lavon will turn on in 3 to 4 weeks as soon as the plankton and fish fry get a little bit bigger. Should be a good year as long as we get a thermocline. Last year we got screwed and didn't get a thermocline due to the Highwinds keeping the lake churned up. No thermocline means that the fish can be at 32 feet all the way to 1 foot. If thermocline settles in it usually settles in at 17 to 18 foot. If that happens all the fish will be 1 foot to 16 foot somewhere in the lake making it easier to find them. Also, having a thermocline prevents the balls of Bait to go deeper and run away from the game fish. Having a thermocline makes the bait balls get pushed to the surface and the white bass Crappie and largemouth are able to school them up easier.