Backcountry fishing for red drum in the Florida Keys.
October 22, 2025
By Matt Sexton
I was thrilled when my youngest daughter, Elaine, said to me and my son Luke: “Dad, let’s book a trip to the Keys this summer and go fishing for some tarpon, redfish and snook!” When that elusive window of availability appeared, I booked a unit at the Kon-Tiki Resort in Islamorada and started getting the skiff and tackle ready. We would escape for a few days to Florida Bay and enjoy our mutual passion, flats fishing.
When the day arrived, we started our three-hour drive from Stuart. On the road we drove through a monster thunderstorm that enveloped Miami-Dade County, but the weather cleared as we exited the highway in Homestead to see my favorite road sign: east to Biscayne Bay National Park, west to Everglades National Park and straight ahead to the Keys. Things were looking up and we arrived in time to check-in, launch the boat and catch a few pinfish to use for tarpon in the channels later that afternoon.
Catching pinfish can be a fun activity. A chum block and some light spinning rods rigged with a couple of size 8 hooks flavored with bits of squid above a ¼-ounce weight will get you what you need for the live well. The chum will keep the pinfish active but also bring in fun species like speckled trout and sharks. We didn’t bother with the chum but still had success casting that rig over the grass, providing enough pinfish to keep us fishing for a couple of hours and for Elaine to jump a tarpon.
Luke Sexton holds a redfish caught by his sister Elaine on a gold spoon. Rise Early for Redfish Finding tarpon helped us set up our plan for the next two days: Rise with the sun, cast pinfish at baby tarpon rolling at first light, and then head into the backcountry to sight-fish the flats and island moats using artificials and flies. Redfish would be our main objective—big schools often move in from the Gulf to forage on the grassy banks in Everglades National Park. It’s also common to find singles tailing in clear water, ideal candidates for the kind of technical fishing I enjoy, particularly with fly tackle.
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In the morning, the wind had shifted from the evening before and the tarpon were not rolling, so I plotted a course into the backcountry to minimize exposure to wind chop. Our first stop did not produce any of our target species, but we did have shots at tailing sheepshead along a backcountry island shoreline. We poked into a deeper mangrove cut looking for juvenile tarpon to no avail, then got our first clue to unlocking some success later in the day when we spotted a juvenile Goliath grouper in a hole along the mangroves hanging out with some snapper. We didn’t get a shot at that one, but we now knew what to look for.
At our next spot, I positioned the skiff to pole with the wind onto the flats towards a cut that looked promising, about 100 yards wide between two islands. On the way, we spotted a school of fish pushing on the flats.
With anticipation, Luke tightened his grip on the fly rod. We finally got into position to make a cast when we saw the tell-tale black sickle of a permit fin. I was not expecting to see permit in the backcountry and after they spooked from the cast, we didn’t see them again, but seeing them was amazing!
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Some examples of good fly patterns for mixed-bag action in backcountry. Tailing Reds We reached the cut and it was shallow and clear. We could see the backs and tails of redfish as they crawled over the mud, but could not quite get to them. I poled over to the shoreline where we found a deeper, moat-like hole holding several baby tarpon. The tarpon were hungry. Luke had one attack his black-and-purple baitfish pattern like a cruise missile. There is a learning curve to catching tarpon on fly and Luke found that out when the fish came off after a few jumps.
Nearby on that shoreline, we found a hole similar to the one we’d noted earlier. This one was holding two Goliath grouper along with an aquarium’s worth of tarpon, redfish and snook among other species. Elaine cast a pinfish into the hole and one of the Goliaths promptly inhaled it. Keeping the drag tight so it didn’t wrap itself on a mangrove root, she landed the fish. After a few pics, we left that spot and headed towards Flamingo with some well-earned experience and a plan, weather permitting, to return the next day.
As we approached Snake Bight, the water was so slick we couldn’t tell where it ended and the sky began. We started seeing fish spooking and waking and decided to shut down and pole. This time we started with ¼-weedless gold spoons. For some reason the redfish seem more active to me in the warm weather and the water is slicker. But summertime fishing in South Florida means keeping an eye on the skies. We could see storm clouds forming to the east and could tell it was going to build and head our way. We were able to land one redfish before we decided to make a run for it, barely reaching the Flamingo marina in time to beat the rain.
We waited that storm out with a hope of returning to the flat, but another storm quickly built. We filled up with gas and took an alternate, bumpier route back to avoid the storms. We arrived back in Islamorada in time to enjoy a great sunset and beautiful weather. The tarpon still weren’t where we had seen them the evening before so we continued on to dinner before returning to the boat basin around 9 p.m.
Topwater plug, scented soft bait and weedless spoon are three good choices for flats reds. Stormy weather must be planned for and best avoided. Putting It All Together On day three, our last day fishing, we were able to put it all together. We went straight to the zone where we had caught the Goliath the day before and chased redfish, tarpon and snook. Luke finally landed his tarpon and Elaine landed her first snook which also happened to be her first fish on fly! I don’t know that I have ever seen her happier or more excited.
We then returned to the area in Flamingo where we were seeing the redfish the day before. I made sure to note the direction of the wind and tide and shut down to allow for a drift towards where I expected to see the fish. Luke landed a nice snook and jack on a spoon before another storm chased us to Flamingo. We refilled with fuel and this time we were able to return to those flats where both Luke and Elaine each landed a redfish and we completed Luke’s backcountry slam before returning to Islamorada and celebrating the trip.
Everglades National Park is a special and ecologically sensitive place. In addition to the amazing fishing, we saw manatees, dolphin, crocodiles, spoonbills, eagles and lots of other great wildlife, all in a pristine setting. The seagrass fields in the shallow water of the Park are critical to the health of this ecosystem. For that reason and the health and safety of the wildlife and boaters, recreational boaters are required to complete the park’s Boater Education Program and carry the certificate while boating in the park. The course can be found online here .
Elaine Sexton with ever-dependable backcountry snook. Gearing Up for Redfish Navigating Everglades National Park and the extreme shallow flats of Florida Bay takes a special kind of boat. A shallow draft skiff with a push pole and/or trolling motor is ideal. On my 2000 Hells Bay Whipray , we used the trolling motor in deeper water for power assist or looking for tarpon. The push pole is essential for sneaking up on the tailing and waking fish in less than a foot of water.
My Whipray has a center console with a cooler seat, and a new poling platform over a 50 HP Tohatsu 4 stroke. Over the years I had the boat rewired by Murphy Marine Electric in Stuart, redid the non-skid, added a PowerPux for the trolling motor and a Garmin GPS unit to help plot my way through the backcountry. I also added some SFC fly line deck spikes to help keep the line on the boat in windy conditions.
For fly rods, I brought 8, 9 and 10 weights made by G. Loomis and Sage with Tibor and Nautilus reels. We were not expecting to try to tackle any monster tarpon on fly requiring bigger gear, but we did have one larger spinning outfit just in case, along with two light spinning outfits. I kept the tackle simple, bringing an assortment of redfish, snook and tarpon flies, and for spinning, weedless ¼-ounce gold spoons, Gulps ! in New Penny along with some light jig heads and bare circle hooks in case we had to go extremely light and weedless. We also brought 5/0 circle hooks and some heavier leader (40- and 60-pound fluorocarbon) for tarpon along with pinfish gear. We ended up switching to buying the pinfish rather than catching them, so that we could spend more time focused on the primary shallow water target species.
Anglers work into a marsh with pushpole, attentive to signs of fish. Also in Redfish Roundup Read more about red fishing in Florida.
This article was featured as part of "Redfish Roundup" in the October issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe .
