Episode Details

This is Artificial Lure coming to you from Islamorada, where the water’s got that winter clarity and the fish are acting like they know tournament season just wrapped.

According to NOAA’s tide predictions for Upper Matecumbe Key, we’ve got a classic Florida Bay swing today: a predawn low, a late-morning to midday high, and an afternoon fall setting up that sweet flushing current in the channels. Tides4Fishing and FishingReminder both line up with prime bite windows around sunrise, again early afternoon, and a solid dusk push. Sunrise is right around 7:20 a.m., with sunset about 5:40–5:45 p.m., giving us a tight, golden low-light bookend that’s been turning fish on.

Weather-wise, NOAA’s Florida Keys marine forecast and the Whale Harbor conditions have us sitting in the low 80s, humid, with a light west to northwest breeze 10–15 knots inshore. Seas are 2–3 feet in the Straits, but inside on the reef edge and in Florida Bay it’s plenty fishable, with just enough chop to break up that surface glare. Good visibility, scattered clouds, and stable barometer — textbook conditions for Islamorada winter action.

Offshore, boats running past Alligator Reef out toward the edge have been picking at sailfish the last few days, thanks in part to the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament traffic. InTheBite’s tournament calendar has the event wrapped, but that pressure found the fish: sails, a few gaffer mahi, plus decent blackfin tuna on the humps. Best offerings: live ballyhoo slow-trolled on 40–50 lb fluoro, small skirted trolling lures in blue/white or pink/white, and vertical jigs for the tunas when the marks stack mid-column.

On the reef, the snapper bite has stayed steady. Local chatter and recent reports mention yellowtails and mangroves on the edges in 40–70 feet, especially when the current’s pushing just right on the incoming. Chum hard, drift small pieces of cut ballyhoo or squid back on light leader. A 1/16–1/8 oz jighead tipped with shrimp has been money for flag mangroves and the occasional mutton on the deeper edge.

Backcountry and bay fishing have been the real star. According to FishingReminder’s solunar windows, that early morning push into the creeks has lit up snook, redfish, and sea trout. Live shrimp under a popping cork on the flats, or a DOA Shrimp and MirrOlure MirrOdine in natural glass or greenback patterns, have been producing. On the shorelines and mangrove edges, paddle-tail soft plastics in new penny or root beer on 1/8 oz jigheads are getting crushed by slot snook and reds.

For wintertime tarpon in the channels, the evening major bite around sunset has quietly produced a few fish for those soaking big live mullet and crabs. Not a full-on tarpon season bite, but enough silver to keep it interesting.

Best baits and lures right now:
- Live shrimp, small pilchards, and ballyhoo for reef and inshore.
- Mullet and crab for tarpon and big snook.
- Artificial all-stars: DOA Shrimp, Gulp! shrimp and jerk shads, MirrOdine, bucktail jigs, and small feather jigs for blackfin on the humps.

Couple of local hot spots to keep on your short list:
- Snake Creek and the bridges around Whale Harbor: moving water, structure, and plenty of bait — perfect for snook, jacks, and the odd tarpon.
- Florida Bay edges behind Upper and Lower Matecumbe, especially around Barley Basin and Lignumvitae Key: work the potholes and mangrove edges on the falling tide for reds, trout, and snook.

That’s your on-the-water rundown from Islamorada today. This is Artificial Lure reminding you to match your bait to the forage, fish those tide changes, and don’t sleep on the dusk bite.

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