BACKCOUNTRY FISHING
A blend of talent, knowledge and skill distinguishes the best backcountry guides in the Florida Keys. As you embark on your expedition into the wilderness of the Florida Keys, your guide's objective is to find the fish. The guide must consider such factors as the tides, time of day, water temperature, wind speed and direction and cloud cover, just to name a few. And while the guide must be proficient in processing this information, he must also be adept at piloting the relatively small craft through tiny channels, which sometimes are nothing more than unmarked prop ditches And finally, the guide is there to take you where you should be; that is, where your skill level dictates. Spending a day with your guide, you'll learn more about fishing, the folklore of the Keys, and possibly about your guide, than you could ever imagine. After selecting your guide and your fellow anglers, you can expect
some of the most fantastic fishing of your life. Common catches when fishing the flats include barracuda, bonefish, permit, redfish, shark and tarpon. Backcountry fishing in Florida Bay brings with it the excellent chance to reel in black drum, ladyfish, pompano, redfish, sheepshead, shark, snapper, snook, tarpon and trout.

How To: Backcountry Snapper
by Capt. Dave Brown
Sailfish, marlin, tarpon; these are the fish you always hear about in the Keys. What fish do the locals target when they want the best fish for dinner? Snapper is the choice table fare, with the mangrove or grey snapper topping the list. Sometimes locally known as "mango".
The grey snapper is one of the most common fish in the Florida Keys, found almost everywhere from the reef to the farthest trap piles in the backcountry. You will see them swimming around docks and piers and around the Overseas Highway bridges. Mangroves can grow to 16 pounds, however the average is from one to five pounds. The Florida state limit on mangrove snappers is five per person per day and the minimum length to keep a fish is ten (10) inches.
There are several good places and ways to catch mangrove snappers from the shore. We have numerous bridges in the Keys, and these prime snapper habitats can be fished from the bridge or from a boat. The best bait for snapper catching off a bridge is a live shrimp, with fresh Ballyhoo cut in big chunks running a strong second. The natural tendency with people fishing off a bridge is to put on the heaviest weight and throw the rig as far downstream as possible. The right thing to do is to lighten up the weight and fish the upstream side of the bridge, so your bait is in the shadow of the bridge. Fish like to hide from other bigger fish, that's why the dark shadow under the bridge is the best place to fish. You should always use monofilament leaders when fishing for snapper, wire leaders are only for toothy critters.
Fishing for mangroves from a boat is a little different. The first thing we are going to do is look for some bottom structure locally known as wrecks, which can be anything from a pile of old traps to a crashed airplane. There are hundreds of such places in Florida Bay and they can be found with a GPS
or LORAN and some numbers from the Waterproof Chart Number 3. When fishing a wreck you must anchor up current so your chum will cross the wreck and draw the fish out. You may have to anchor several times to get in position. Once you are in position, put out the chum. Chum should be of the frozen variety...once your chum is working, and you will know that it is when you see lots of small fish behind the boat....start fishing with live shrimp first, this will get the action started. This is a good thing to do when you have impatient fisherpersons on board such as wives or kids! After the chum
has been working for a half hour or so cut up a FRESH ballyhoo into chunks an inch or so long. Bait your hook and cast it as far out in the chum as you can. Next set the rod in a rod holder. Don't touch the rod until it bends almost to the water no matter how much the rod tip moves! Then grab the rod, crank the slack out of the line and set the hook. You will surely put a nice mangrove snapper in the cooler.