Whether you are interested in catching a certain fish or would like to know what species you’ll see during your stay in the Florida Keys, Harbour Point Marine has the 411 on the area’s most likely catches throughout the year.
If you plan on fishing while you are here, be sure to get your Florida Saltwater Fishing license. You can order by phone at 888-FISH-FLORIDA from anywhere in the United States or Canada.
January
• Cobia cruise with stingrays in
Hawk Channel
• Kingfish peak late this month
• Redfish appear out back
February
• Sailfish
• Kingfish
• Large blackfin and amberjack abound
• On "cold" nights, shrimp run through
channels on outgoing tide
March
• Tuna and amberjack increase
• Dolphin and wahoo begin
• Sails and kings taper off
• Bonefish, permit, tarpon in backcountry
April
• Dolphin rise
• Bonefish rise
• Tarpon rise
May
• Dolphin and bonefish at peak
• Redfish and snook flood backcountry
(end of month)
• Dolphin
• Tuna
• Amberjack
• Blue and white marlin
• Giant bluefin tuna
June
• Dolphin, marlin, wahoo and bonefish peak
• Sailfish and tarpon taper off
• Snapper and grouper still caught
• Dolphin and marlin plentiful
• Tarpon scarce
• Trout in backcountry
July
• Dolphin and marlin plentiful
• Tarpon scarce
• Snapper and grouper still caught
• Trout deep in backcountry
August
• Lobster season begins
• Fishing best in early morning and evening
September
• Amberjack and shark return
• Dolphins on decline
• Wahoo on upswing
• Yellowtail on reefs with snapper inside
• Bonefish are back
• Tarpon around bridges
October
• Permit and bonefish peak
• Dolphin and marlin back
• Grouper and snapper abundant
in deep holes
• Sharks increase in backcountry
and offshore
November
• Sailfish and kings offshore
• Tarpon and bonefish taper off
• Dolphin and marlin decline
• Mutton snapper increase
December
• Sailfish build to peak
• Kingfish strong offshore
• Trout, redfish, jack crevalle
and blackflip shark outback
