Keys Fishing Report: Sails, Tuna, Snapper, Trout - Your Morning Rundown from the Florida Keys cover art

Keys Fishing Report: Sails, Tuna, Snapper, Trout - Your Morning Rundown from the Florida Keys

Keys Fishing Report: Sails, Tuna, Snapper, Trout - Your Morning Rundown from the Florida Keys

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 Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in from the Florida Keys with your morning fishing rundown.

We’re sitting on a classic winter Keys pattern: **cooler mornings, light northeast to east breeze 10–15 knots, highs in the low 70s**, mostly sunny with a few passing clouds. Local TV weather out of Miami is calling for calm seas inside the reef and a light chop outside, perfect for small boats and reef trips. Sunrise in Key West is right around **7:10 a.m.**, with sunset close to **5:50 p.m.**, giving you a nice low-light bite on both ends.

According to the Key West tide tables from Tides4Fishing and NOAA, we’ve got a **rising tide through the morning, topping out late morning to early afternoon**, then easing into a decent falling tide toward evening. That incoming water on the Atlantic side has been kicking off the best action on the edges of the flats and along the channels.

FishingBooker’s January Keys reports out of Key Largo and Big Pine show **steady sailfish and blackfin tuna offshore, plus mahi mixed in when the water’s a little bluer**, with boats raising multiple sails on the better days and blackfins in the 5–20 pound class. On the reef and nearshore, captains are stacking **yellowtail and mangrove snapper, muttons in the mix, plus a good pick of cero and Spanish mackerel**. Inside the backcountry, guides are putting clients on **sea trout, mangrove snapper, jacks, ladyfish, and small sharks**, with redfish and snook showing a bit more to the north around Florida Bay according to recent coastal reports.

Best **baits** right now:
- Offshore: **live pilchards and ballyhoo** for tuna and sailfish; rigged ballyhoo on fluorocarbon leaders for the sails.
- Reef: **chum bag and cut ballyhoo or squid** for yellowtail and mangroves; small live pinfish or ballyhoo chunks for muttons; shrimp on jigs for porgies and misc. reef pickers.
- Inshore/backcountry: **live shrimp under a popping cork**, small pinfish, and soft plastics on light jigheads.

Best **lures**:
- For reef mackerel and jacks: **silver spoons, white bucktail jigs, and small diving plugs** burned through the chum slick.
- For bridges and channels: **3–4 inch paddle-tail soft plastics in glow or new penny**, and small suspending twitchbaits.
- On the flats: **bonefish-style shrimp jigs** and natural-colored soft plastics for reds and snook when you slide up toward the Everglades side.

A couple of **hot spots** to point your bow toward:
- **Seven Mile Bridge / Bahia Honda area**: Good winter run of mackerel, snapper around the pilings, and shots at tarpon starting to nose around on the warm afternoons.
- **Patch reefs off Key Largo and Islamorada in 15–35 feet**: Heavy chum and light leaders are turning up flag yellowtail, mangrove snapper, and the odd mutton, with cero macks strafing the edges.

Fish activity will be **best around the tide changes, especially late morning on the high and again toward sunset on the falling water**. If you can, plan your serious effort around those windows, start on the patches or bridges, and slide into the backcountry as that sun gets lower and the wind lays down.

That’s your Keys fishing update from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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