Hanna Robbins holding a redfish caught near Key Largo and Tavernier Florida

The primary goal of our recent trip to Islamorada Florida was to catch tarpon. Unfortunately, they didn’t cooperate. We aren’t sure whether it was the full moon, the type of moon phase, the water temperature or something else, but they played hard to get. Fortunately, the Keys hold plenty of other options. When the tarpon acted like jerks, we went to the back country and tried for snook and redfish but ended up with a whole lot more.

I personally caught 16 different species of fish and was more and more excited with each new one we brought into the boat. I’m always happy when I get a chance to add to my “life list” of fish I’ve caught.

Here is a list, with their genus names, a little bit about them and picture of us together.

Pinfish – Lagodon Rhomboides – silvery with blue and yellow stripes and yellow fins, caught near grass flats. We caught them on pilchards while fishing for snook and redfish.

Ladyfish – Elopidea – they are bony so not marketed for human consumption. The body is a tapering spindle shale and they have large eyes. They are the only cousin to the tarpon. This was the last ladyfish we had for tarpon bait (yes, they eat their own) and we almost let it go before I yelled, “We don’t have a picture of a ladyfish.” That would have been a disaster, lol.

speckled trout caught on a popping cork in the florida keys

Speckled trout – Cynoscion nebulosus – a common estuarine fish found in the southern United States. They are silver/gray with black speckles (dots) along their back fins and kind of have a purple sheen. You will find that sometimes they have two canine teeth but many times only one in the top of their mouth and little baby teeth in the bottom jaw. We caught these on grassy flats in the same spot as the ladyfish. Twelve inches is a keeper. We caught mostly little ones but I was able to catch an 18-incher and we put it on ice.

Lizard fish caught in Florida by Hanna Robbins

Lizard fish – Synodontidae – found primarily in the tropics, they are elongated with rounded bodies and scaly heads. Very short dorsal fin, a small fatty second dorsal fin and a caudal fin which bursts a very deep fork in it. Mark, our guide, said he doesn’t see many of these caught so get a picture. The fish was really small but I wasn’t going to miss a photographic moment until I did……the fish literally jumped from inside the middle of the boat, off of Mark’s hands into the ocean. Not to worry, I always have strange coincidences and sure enough I reeled in another, bigger, one. This time we made sure we got him in the bottom of the boat so it wouldn’t escape before getting his picture taken..

Gafftopsail catfish – Bagre Marinus -- It has long venomous spines and feeds on crustaceans and other fish. They get their name from the dorsal fin which extends much higher than other species. I was just hoping that Mark would not get stung or poked because I needed to take a picture of yet another species.

Tripletail caught on a live shrimp on a channel marker in Florida

Tripletail – Lobotes surinamensis – Warm water marine fish found across the tropics. They also are nicknamed flasher or steamboat and may float on their sides to appear like a floating mangrove leaf. Mark says they find them hanging out around the pilings in the waters and they are very skittish. We found what seemed to be a large one and I had one chance to throw a non-weighted, live shrimp, in the wind, on a spinning rod. Like a champ, I came through under pressure. Keepers need to be 18 inches and apparently they are rare in the Florida waters. When it got to the boat Mark kept yelling, “It’s a slob, it’s a slob”. That’s right, 21 inches and went right to the ice chest as these, in Mark’s opinion, are one of the best fish to eat.

Jack crevalle - Caranx – Also known as the common jack, is a common species of large marine fish classified within the jack family. The crevalle jack inhabits both inshore and offshore waters and is a powerful, predatory fish and highly regarded gamefish. You can eat this fish but we were told it is very oily. I was very happy with my picture and sent it back to swim again.

Mangrove snapper – Lutjanus griseus – caught for commercial use and game fishing. It’s typically greyish red but can change color from bright red to copper red, (mine were just grey). Because of the reddish color they can be confused with the cubera snapper (not the ones we caught in Panama, there was no doubt what we caught were cubera!!). They feed on small fish and crustaceans and we caught them very close to the underside of the mangrove trees (not too hard to put two and two together). You can catch them up to about 20-inches or 5 pounds in deeper waters, but fish that large are uncommon where we were. They’re good for eating and that we did.

Snook – Centropomus undecimalis – The common snook is an estuarine (where the river meets the sea) and freshwater dependent fish species. They spawn, and the juveniles migrate to the brackish waters of the nearby estuarine and then upon maturation return to the higher salinity waters of the ocean. They have a large mouth with a protruding lower jaw, high dorsal fish that is divided, a black lateral line that extends onto the tail and pelvic fin is yellow in color. They eat pinfish, small mullet, shrimp and pilchards. We caught these in the same spots as the mangrove snapper. I have never caught a snook before or even seen them in the water but we saw so many in the spots we fished it was incredible.

Hanna Robbins and Capt. Mark Cockerham with an Islamorada redfish

Redfish – Sebastes – Their body is copper-bronze and they have a white belly. Their tail has one or more dark spots and occasionally you will find one without (I caught one without and didn’t think it was a redfish until I was told differently). They have powerful pharyngeal teeth used to crush oysters and other shellfish. They are one of Florida’s most popular sport fish. The best way to catch redfish is with live shrimp under a popping cork but they also eat mullet, pinfish and pilchards. The redfish we caught were all smaller, no bulls like we caught in Louisiana. Redfish make great table fare.

Tarpon – Megalops – the silver king – vertical silvery sides are made up of large scales, the most distinctive feature of the tarpon. They are considered to be of poor food quality by humans but hugely sort after by game fisherman. The pictures of the tarpon were not caught by me but still worthy of the pictures and the long hard perseverance and determination. Good job Pete.