Back Country: Always a fun and productive trip the back country this time of year remains an excellent choice for fast paced action while targeting a very wide variety of species. Anglers will appreciate our calm, crystal clear waters now filling with spawning Tarpon. The overall population of Tarpon in the back country has reached epic proportions. Plus, several additional sport fish species, edible fish, and predators are in the near shore shallows now to target. Redfish are all but done for now as our summer time water temperatures rise, however Snook take up their positions on the mangrove shorelines and channel eddy’s. The numerous schooling species will continue to provide nonstop action most days. Just a few of the schooling species remaining in our bays now are the ever-present brutish Jack, Lady Fish, Blue Runners, Grunts, Porgies...the list is nearly endless in May that keep the younger anglers happy with the super-fast bite of schooling fish. A perfect trip for the hard-core light tackle angler to the novice angler or the family. Tarpon as we said earlier are here. The population of Tarpon has continued to increase daily throughout all of April. Tarpon fishing in Key West becomes prolific. These behemoth sport fish are on every saltwater angler's "bucket list" and rightfully so. Key West now offers the angler a high level of success to landing possibly the largest fish of a life time. The Tarpon are aggressively feeding on the evening tides now as well as first light. Our sunset Tarpon trips fishing through the twilight are spectacular when conditions (primarily the tides) are optimal. We do not recommend more than 3 anglers as a max on our Tarpon bay boats for night trips. We do not recommend younger children anglers either as the action can result in a chaotic environment at times. If you have more than three anglers understand the time restraints in catching multiple Tarpon and the need for larger vessels to accommodate the chaos that comes with a 100-pound fish going berserk at boat side. The ½ day to ¾-day trips continue to produce well as the afternoon water temperatures are still far from high so the later part of the day with good tides can be awesome. Good Cobia fishing continues and can produce some quality fish and action in the back country. The Mangrove and Yellow Tail Snapper fishing continues to be very good in the back country in May. For serious "table fare" harvest we certainly recommend the reef & wreck trips now but to include a few "keepers" fish for lunch or dinner will not be a problem in our shallows. The predator fishing continues. Giant Barracuda and several species of Sharks in the shallows are on the hit list. Our Monster Shark charters are awesome and continually produce multiple larger sharks even on the ½-day trips. Remember where you find large Tarpon schools you find feeding sharks. May remains predator time especially in the Marquesas so anglers can count on these aggressive species to be ready to go “head to head”. We "highly recommend" a back-country charter this time of year and especially for those guests looking for a shorter than full day trip in calmer waters. Flats: Our Bonefish action kicks in big time for May...May continues to produces those Grand Slam events where the anglers successfully land a Bonefish, a Permit and a Tarpon in the same day...a rare feat at the very pinnacle of flats fishing accomplishments. Permit are no longer scarce on the flats as the action is peaking now. More Permit will be found on the reef & wrecks for summer especially during their spawning cycle which takes place between early June and later July. Tarpon are still primarily found at home in the back country but are beginning to venture out onto the flats and into the deeper channels just off our harbor now. The flats angler should certainly be including Barracuda and sharks on his hit list. Just a remainder that we provide a true "flats fishing experience" and this should not be confused with the back-country fishing. These are two totally different experiences. Notable: We still recommend fishing morning trips if going shallow as they remain the most productive over the later afternoon hours for the serious angler looking primarily for Tarpon action, but again the afternoon trips are good and Tarpon are certainly possible. The afternoons can be quite enjoyable especially for those people just looking to stay in calm waters and enjoy a fun few hours catching fish. Reef trips in the afternoon fishing slightly deeper waters along with the patch reefs can be very good trips for later in the day departure times. Sharks are plentiful and active. Pursuing these heavy weight monsters on light tackle is challenging to say the least and talk about something you cannot do at home!