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Key West Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Key West: a free 24-hour Atlantic pier, boat access to the Key West refuge islands and the reef, and NOAA tide station 8724557 at White Street Pier.

2/5
Slow. The wind owns today.24 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.
Next tide
High 7:49 PM
Air / High
81 / 82 F
Wind
NE 14 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8724557, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. The wind owns today.24 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Key West lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 14 mph, steady pressure near 1014 hPa and a high of 82. Tides: high 7:46 AM and 7:49 PM, low 1:32 AM and 1:47 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:03 AM-12:03 PM and 10:29 PM-12:29 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutExcellent

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Tomorrow: Similar at 82 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Florida requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $17.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Florida licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with FWC before you keep anything. The season dates for Florida, read off the agency, are on the Florida seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8724557 (Key West, White Street Pier). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW1:32 AM0.7 ft
HIGH7:46 AM2.2 ft
LOW1:47 PM0.8 ft
HIGH7:49 PM2.2 ft
Sat
LOW2:16 AM0.5 ft
HIGH8:35 AM2.2 ft
LOW2:18 PM0.8 ft
HIGH8:20 PM2.4 ft

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp81 F
High / Low82 / 73 F
WindNE 14-17 mph
Pressure1014.4 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain23% cloud, 25%
Sunrise / Sunset07:29 / 18:53
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Key West this week

The best day on Key West this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

24 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Solunar majors
10:03 AM-12:03 PM and 10:29 PM-12:29 AM
Minor period
4:24 AM-5:24 AM
Sun
07:29 to 18:53
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 24 mph
Rain chance
25%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Key West: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

When to come: the Key West calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~78 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Key West today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 83 F, wind to 16 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 84 F, wind to 15 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 84 F, wind to 20 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Florida requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Florida saltwater fishing license unless exempt. State waters follow FWC rules, federal waters follow the South Atlantic and Gulf fishery councils, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary adds its own zones and rules. Tarpon, bonefish and permit each have their own FWC rules: read them before you fish.

Access

White Street (Edward B. Knight) Pier: free, open 24 hours, wheelchair accessible, no restrooms or bait on site. The refuge islands, including the Marquesas, are reached only by boat from ramps in the Lower Keys or with a charter.

About this water

Island city at the end of US-1, Monroe County, Florida. Tides: NOAA station 8724557 (Key West, White Street Pier).

Fishing Key West: the full guide

Fishing from the pier

The White Street Fishing Pier at the south end of White Street, which the City of Key West now names the Edward B. Knight Pier, is a free concrete pier into the Atlantic, open 24 hours and listed in the FWC Florida Keys boating and angling guide. Parking is along Atlantic Boulevard. FWC’s guide notes that pier anglers in the Keys catch many of the popular sport fish along with pinfish, sharks, catfish, ladyfish and spadefish.

The refuge islands

The Marquesas Keys, west of Key West, belong to Key West National Wildlife Refuge, which can be reached only by boat. The refuge allows sport fishing under state law, but the Marquesas carry island-specific rules as a wildlife management area within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, so check the sanctuary zoning maps before anchoring or wading.

Tides

Tide times for this page come from NOAA station 8724557, Key West White Street Pier; NOAA’s long-term Key West station is 8724580 in the harbor. Current and depth on the flats and in the channels follow these tides closely, so plan around them.

Common questions

Can I fish Key West without a boat?

Yes. The White Street pier is free, open around the clock and listed by FWC as a fishing pier; the refuge islands and the reef need a boat.

Which tide station does this page use?

NOAA 8724557 at White Street Pier; NOAA’s primary Key West station is 8724580.

Is fishing good at Key West right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. The wind owns today. 24 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Nearby waters

Islamorada77 miBoca Grande153 miLake Okeechobee176 miVenice181 miLake Istokpoga196 miSarasota198 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8724557 β€” Key West, White Street Pier
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 12 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 24.5550, -81.7820 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.