Florida Keys Fishing: Tarpon at Dawn, Snapper on the Evening Tide

This is Artificial Lure with your Florida Keys fishing report. We’re sitting on a light southeast breeze this morning, around 5–10 knots, with air temps climbing through the low 80s and humidity thick but manageable. Nearshore waters are running in the low 80s as well, with clear to slightly green water on the oceanside and a little more stain in the backcountry. Scattered clouds, low rain chances until later this afternoon when a few pop‑up storms may build over the Gulf side. Sunrise comes early over the Atlantic and sunset will give you a nice evening bite window; plan around first light, late afternoon, and the dusk changeover for your best shots. Tides around the Middle Keys are on a moderate cycle today: a predawn high starting to fall through the morning, bottoming out late morning, then a solid incoming push early to mid‑afternoon. That moving water is what you want to key on. Offshore, boats running beyond the reef line have been into schoolie and peanut dolphin with a few gaffers mixed in under birds and weedlines. Most of the action has been 10–20 miles out, with trolled ballyhoo, small chuggers, and feather jigs doing work. Keep a spinning rod rigged with a pilchard or chunked ballyhoo for fish that slide up to the transom. On the reef edge, yellowtail snapper are chewing well on the evening tide. Drop anchor in 60–80 feet, start a steady chum slick, and freeline small cut baits or shrimp on light fluorocarbon. Mixed in have been mutton snapper on the bottom and a few black grouper for those soaking live pinfish or ballyhoo down deep. Inshore and backcountry, the flats and mangrove edges are seeing good tarpon, snook, and redfish activity around that early falling and afternoon incoming tide. Early mornings, throw soft‑plastic paddletails in natural hues or bone‑colored topwaters along shorelines. Live shrimp, pinfish, and pilchards are hard to beat if you’re bait‑soaking. Tarpon have been rolling on oceanside channels at dawn and dusk; crabs and big mullet or ladyfish chunks are the tickets there. On the patch reefs and near‑bridge rubble, mangrove snapper and lane snapper are stacked up. Small jigs tipped with shrimp or cut bait, and simple knocker rigs with 1/0–2/0 hooks, are putting good numbers in the box, with the occasional keeper grouper hanging right on the structure. A few hot spots to circle on your chart: – Around the 7 Mile Bridge, especially the channel edges and pilings on the ocean side, has been consistent for tarpon, mangrove snapper, and some hefty muttons. – The flats and channels off Islamorada’s oceanside have been productive for bonefish and permit on the clear, incoming water, with live shrimp, small crabs, and light‑colored bucktail jigs doing damage. Best artificial choices right now: – White or natural‑colored paddletail swimbaits on 1/8 to 1/4 oz jig heads for snook, reds, and trout in the back. – Bone or silver walk‑the‑dog topwaters at dawn for tarpon and snook along shorelines and bridge shadows. – Small bucktail jigs in pink, white, or chartreuse for snapper and assorted reef fish on lighter tackle. Live bait still rules the Keys: pilchards, pinfish, shrimp, and crabs if you can get them. Match your leader to the water clarity; when it’s gin‑clear, go lighter and longer. That’s your Keys report from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a trip. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn