South Florida Salt Report: Upper Keys to Miami - Early Summer Tarpon and Flats Action

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your South Florida salt report from the Upper Keys through Miami. We started the morning with a soft southeast breeze, around 8–12 knots, warm and sticky air in the low 80s, and a light chop on the bay side. Skies have been partly cloudy, with those classic summer build‑ups already hinting at afternoon showers. Sunrise came early over the Atlantic, and we’ll lose the light this evening with a mellow sunset over the Everglades. Expect the usual summertime pattern: calmest at first light, wind bumping up late morning, then easing again near dusk. Tides around Key Largo and Islamorada are running a mid‑morning high on the ocean side with the outgoing pushing hard through the channels around late morning into early afternoon. On the bay side, the highs are lagging a bit, giving you that sweet window when the water really starts to move through the cuts and bridges. Down in Biscayne Bay and off Miami, we’ve got similar timing, just shifted by a bit of local variation around Government Cut and Haulover. Fish activity’s been classic early‑summer Keys. Inshore, the bonefish are sliding up on the oceanside flats on the last of the incoming and first of the fall; you’ll see tailers where the grass meets the hard sand. Permit have been cruising the edges of the deeper flats and some of the oceanside wrecks. On the bay side, the mangrove snapper bite around channel edges and mangrove shorelines has been steady, with plenty of keepers mixed with rats. Tarpon are still around the bridges and big channels, especially at first light and into the evening. The bridges from Channel 2 and Channel 5 down through Long Key are holding fish, and there are still migratory silver kings sliding along the oceanside edges. Closer to Miami, tarpon are rolling in Government Cut, around the causeways, and along the deeper edges of Biscayne Bay when the tide starts cranking. Offshore, the dolphin bite has been decent when you can find clean water and weedlines. Schoolie mahi have been hanging around birds and scattered weed in that 500–800 foot range, with a few gaffers mixed in. Some blackfin tuna are still showing near the humps and along color changes early and late. On the reef in 60–120 feet, yellowtail snapper and mutton snapper have been coming over the rails steadily, with the occasional grouper still around structure and ledges. Best baits and lures right now: For tarpon, live mullet, crabs, or big pilchards are money; if you’re throwing artificials, go with soft‑plastic paddle tails on a heavy jig head or big, slow‑rolled swimbaits in natural colors. For bones and permit, shrimp and small crabs are hard to beat; artificials like shrimp‑style jigs in tan or pink will get eaten if you lead the fish right. On the reef, cut ballyhoo, squid, and fresh cut bait are putting snapper in the box, while light‑colored bucktail jigs tipped with bait work well for muttons. Offshore mahi are chewing on small trolling lures in blue‑and‑white, green‑and‑yellow, and pink skirts, as well as rigged ballyhoo. Tuna are favoring darker feathers and small metal jigs dropped into the marks. A couple of hot spots to circle on your chart: First, Islamorada’s Channel 2 and Channel 5 bridges for tarpon at dawn and dusk, plus mangrove snapper and grouper tight to the pilings when the current’s moving. Second, the patch reefs and edges outside Key Largo in 20–40 feet for mixed bag snapper and grouper on light tackle. Closer to town, Biscayne Bay’s grass flats east of Homestead and north toward Stiltsville are worth a look for bonefish, seatrout, and the odd permit when the water’s clean and the wind lays down. That’s the word on the water from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn