Key West Flats – March Madness

March Madness is back and we’re not talking college hoops.  We’re talking flats fishing around Key West.  Tarpon and Permit take top billing this month on the flats and in the backcountry channels and  basins.   March is a time of change in the weather pattern in the Keys.  More warm days and nights and fewer cold fronts get the water temperatures in the mid to upper 70′s zone where our flats species thrive.  Add to that warm east to southeast breezes and stronger tides and you have a recipe for a successful day on the flats.

The annual tarpon migration through the Keys is going strong despite the cold weather we have been experiencing the last two months.  From March through the next few months we can find tarpon pretty much anywhere.  Key West Harbor will be loaded with thousands of tarpon and from here many a guide has made his living catching the Silver King.  The backcountry channels are a great place to stake out and cast to schools of tarpon cruising by or rolling in front of the boat.  But my favorite and the most exciting method is to sight fish these beasts in shallow water with a fly rod.

Poling my flats skiff in three to six feet of water on a calm day looking for large black backs either laying still or cruising through the area, makes for a great way to spend the day.  I am always on the lookout for a rolling fish off in the distance.  I love to throw flies at tarpon, it is probably the best way to get these shallow water fish to eat as you can present your fly in a quiet manner and keep the fly in the fishes strike zone with subtle strips of the fly line.  And nothing is more exciting than to see a large black hole open in the ocean and your fly disappear.  Strip strike hard hit him with the rod a few times and then all hell breaks loose!!  And don’t forget to ‘bow to the King’ when he comes vaulting out of the water.

Fly fishing is the romantic method of fishing for tarpon in shallow water.  But tarpon can also be taken on a wide variety of live and artificial baits such as baitfish, crabs, diving plugs and soft plastics.

March is one of the best months of year for permit.  We see a lot of big permit over twenty pounds this time of year.  Permit have been out deep for most of the winter and are now returning to the flats to gorge themselves on crabs and shrimp that reside on the flats.  They will be heading offshore at the end of April to spawn, so now is the time to fatten up.    Because there is usually a lot permit around this is a good time to chase them with a fly rod.  Many opportunities will present themselves so the odds are slightly better to hooking one on fly.  Always have a spinning rod ready with a crab, they will eagerly munch a well placed silver dollar size blue crab.  There is no better sight than to see a big permit mudding and tailing on a shallow flat.

I call this March Madness because of the opportunities of many different species on a given day.  It’s sort of a cross-over between our winter species and our spring species.  One can have shots at tarpon, permit, barracuda, bonefish, sharks and jacks on the same flat.  I usually have four rods laid out and ready:  a permit rod, a bonefish rod, a shark/jack/barracuda rod and a tarpon rod.  And there are days when it is maddening because everywhere you look there is a different fish or school of fish moving across the shallows and we are constantly switching between rods and pushing after fish.  But what a great problem to have.