Card, Barnes, Blackwater,

Wra22

I seldom see posts involving Card, Barnes, Blackwater Sounds. Is this because they are not productive, hard to get access to, or some other reason?  

spear40

Barnes Sound when I was a kid in the early 80’s was productive for trout.  I have not fished it in decades but have noticed that a lot of the grass beds are gone and the water clarity has gone down hill.  Would be nice to hear some good current reports. 

Jack Hexter

I used to fish Card Sound Bridge about 40 years ago for tarpon and snook , but the a$$hats started to trash the area and the county closed the fishing piers under the bridge.

Wra22

40 years ago I did not fish.  But, one night I went  to that very pier/bridge with a couple of friends who did. They loaned me a rod. Nothing for a few hours then sometime in the middle of the early morning hours a bunch of tarpon showed up. We threw shrimp, some kind of frozen bait and probably every lure they had and got ZERO bites. Went home tired. 

Must have been memorable though. I am sorry now that I never went back. 

The Cat's Eye

Haven't fished the area since they closed the ramp at Alabama Jack's. When that ramp was open I would launch my small alum skiff and fish the area some 12-15 years ago and caught mostly cuda's, jacks, one snook, and some snapper. Got smoked twice near the bridge (50 yd run's only to be broken off with mono leader. figure big snook or permit since there were no tarpon around). . Now that they kicked out all the PWC's from launching along the Card Sound Road it might be better. I think the trout fishing is history. Too far a run for me in my larger boat from Homestead to interest me, but one day I am going to give it a shot.

Note:
 I avoid the Caribbean Club ramp in Key Largo since that ramp has no dock and I normally solo fish on weekdays so it would be very difficult for me to retrieve my boat alone without a dock and do not want "Help" from impatient people who do not know what they are doing.

Yeaaa_Chris

Used to fish the card sound area a lot when I had a smaller skiff. Can be some pretty good snapper/trout fishing. Decent amount of snook and tarpon around as well. The area should be covered up in mullet soon and you'll have shots at everything while they are around.

Warning, the bugs are pretty gnarly around the mangroves. 

lemaymiami

Now that an occasional redfish is actually being found near Homestead - that "inside passage" from Florida Bay might just be worth some exploring....Like most I haven't been anywhere near Card sound in a boat - in many years.  In my early years as a guide, almost 25 years ago now I did a few forays down into Card sound looking for bonefish - but other than that, like many - it's the long haul towing my rig to Flamingo or Chokoloskee each day - year round for day trips...  I only do night trips up in the northern portions of Biscayne Bay as well - been that way for me for some years now... 

2times

Back in the late 70's to mid 80's we used to fish around the Card Sound bridge for Snook and tarpon frequently and had some great success especially at night.   It was common to take home our limit of 4 snook per person and hook and release couple tarpons.  We also pulled out couple of large jewfish from pilings next to the channel.   Grass flats on both sides of the bridge were vast and fishing for trout, snapper, jack, barracuda,  black drum, etc. could be fantastic.   I think the area started to change in the late 80's when grass flats started to die out.  As grass flats declined so did fishing.  I haven't been back in that areas for 25+ years so I have no idea what fishing is like now.