We are headed to Marathon Fl in May with a group of people (guys and gals). I know nothing about the fisheries down there whatsoever, other than the quick google search or two. We will be renting a house on the water within view of the inlet and will have deep water access. We are probably going to rent a boat for a few days and possibly kayaks as well.
Does anyone have any real first hand tips or knowledge of the area regarding, inshore, offshore, gigging, lobsters, etc?? It looks like there is good fishing for a lot of things down there and I am just not sure where to start.
The fishing is similiar to that here except you only have to go out a few miles to get to the deep water. Stay well clear of sanctuaries like Alligator Reef and Chicks and Hens. We trolled with ballyhoo on skirts and did well a few years ago. Dolphin and Kings. Something I learned the hard way…wear gloves when grabbing lobsters! And of course make sure you have Fla fishing licenses, the Fla DNR is very watchful. Saw a family a few houses down from our rental get arrested for over the limit lobster catch.( They probably had 80-100 bugs and were drunk as all get out, calling attention to themselves, so what did they expect?).Stay off of the flats unless poling. Watch for manatees. Visit Bass Pro Shop. Feed the tarpon at the marina (don’t remember the name offhand).
If you want to use a charter for offshore, this guy is great. http://www.outtasightsportfishing.com/
we used him the last two years and have him scheduled for April this year.
Lobster season will be closed in May, so forget those, unless you are adventurous and can afford to lose your boat. The season is Aug. 6 through March 31, plus a 2 day mini season the last Wednesday and Thursday of every July.
Other than that, dolphin, wahoo, sails, yellowtail snapper, grouper, tarpon, and many others should be in full bite. Lots of good fishing in Marathon in May. Flats or deep, fishing should be good.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Small craft surveying and repair
There are plenty of near shore reefs (4 - 5 miles out) that you can fish. Going out in our 18’ was no problem if the weather was right. Check before you fish as some have buoys marking areas that you cannot fish within. Buy some chum, anchor up current from a reef area and fish for yellow tail. As fro inshore, kayaks and flats are a good combination. We had moderate success with mangrove snapper. We are headed down in April to Islamorada and hope to do a little better this year since we have a better idea as to what we are doing. We did really well catching live bait on the reefs using sabiki rigs. Snorkeling was really good and most of the reefs have mooring buoys to tie up to as they don’t want you anchoring directly on the reef.
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weve gone to marathon every june for the past 18 years
inshore fishing is great
for fast action near home, small cut bait in the canals for tons of mangrove snapper, most arent keepers, but plenty of fun.
tarpon in VACA cut at dusk freelining a live crab or big pin fish
most of the marked reef areas are EXTREMLY overfished
hawks channel which is the deeper area between land and the reef…anchor over some of the sandy patches and drop a chumbag on the bottom and you can attract grouper, and barracuda.
early morning on the gulf side, cast live shrimp or pilchards on a popping cork around docks and seawalls for snook (great for kayak fishing)
and ofcourse cant forget teh 7mile bridge, anchor and chum and you have no idea what you will catch, and you can also motor from one piling to the next and cast
empty
weve gone to marathon every june for the past 18 years
inshore fishing is great
for fast action near home, small cut bait in the canals for tons of mangrove snapper, most arent keepers, but plenty of fun.
tarpon in VACA cut at dusk freelining a live crab or big pin fish
most of the marked reef areas are EXTREMLY overfished
hawks channel which is the deeper area between land and the reef…anchor over some of the sandy patches and drop a chumbag on the bottom and you can attract grouper, and barracuda.
early morning on the gulf side, cast live shrimp or pilchards on a popping cork around docks and seawalls for snook (great for kayak fishing)
and ofcourse cant forget teh 7mile bridge, anchor and chum and you have no idea what you will catch, and you can also motor from one piling to the next and cast
How did y’all go about getting your fishing tackle down there? I thought about either taking it on the plane or somehow shipping it down there before our trip, therefore it would be waiting for us. I have never traveled and taken tackle before. How do most folks do it?
You can check your lures, hooks, etc no problem at all. I have always made PVC pipe contraption to get my rods on the plane. Remove the reels and carry those with you and check the rods in a PVC pipe. You can buy a rod travel tube or make one yourself out of PVC. To make one will take you around 15 min and cost around 10–around a $100 to buy one already made. Check the airline charges for oversized luggage. I have heard of people checking rods in a snow ski bag b/c it was half the price to check snow skis for some reason v. an oversized bag.
An alternative is to rent some while you are down there. I usually take my own because rentals usually aren’t very well taken care of.
You should spend the money to do a charter the first day you are down there to get the layout of the land. I think that the bottom fishing there sucks compared to Charleston. Lot’s more people, less hiding places = more fishing pressure and smaller\less fish. Chum is highly utilized down there because you are on miles of contiguous reef (unlike Charleston), and fish are spread out and you need something to concentrate them. We do a charter down there every few months and they put us on all the hogfish and lobster we want, but they are typically on the smaller size.
Remember, people’s experience and expectations are all relative… You ask anyone down there and “fishing is great!” That’s just because they have never lived outside of South Florida.
Though I have never actually done a charter down there for trolling, I’ve walked around the docks a few times and have never really seen any phenomical catches for the pelagics. I’ve seen lots of micro-dolphin and micro-blackfins though.
You should spend the money to do a charter the first day you are down there to get the layout of the land. I think that the bottom fishing there sucks compared to Charleston. Lot’s more people, less hiding places = more fishing pressure and smaller\less fish. Chum is highly utilized down there because you are on miles of contiguous reef (unlike Charleston), and fish are spread out and you need something to concentrate them. We do a charter down there every few months and they put us on all the hogfish and lobster we want, but they are typically on the smaller size.
Remember, people’s experience and expectations are all relative… You ask anyone down there and “fishing is great!” That’s just because they have never lived outside of South Florida.
Though I have never actually done a charter down there for trolling, I’ve walked around the docks a few times and have never really seen any phenomical catches for the pelagics. I’ve seen lots of micro-dolphin and micro-blackfins though.
True that. Lots of pressure and we chum like it’s no tomorrow. Last year, most of the dolphin I would find were on the small side and the sailfish run was less than stellar.
What Skinnee said…we have boss bottom fishing up here. I have read about the many reefs over in the gulf that harbor permit, cobia, etc…screw the crowds.
What Skinnee said…we have boss bottom fishing up here. I have read about the many reefs over in the gulf that harbor permit, cobia, etc…screw the crowds.
Boss bottom fishing? I thought it was illegal to bottom fish… Hence the bottom dwellers are doing quite well.
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You might consider giving Chris a call while there if you do a charter.
Capt Chris Morrison Marathon The Ultimate Island Vacation …
For more than 12 years, Captain Chris Morrison, a veteran angler in the Florida Keys, has been taking both novice and seasoned anglers out for their most memorable … www.ultimateislandguide.com/.../capt-chris-morrison.html
Sorry Penny, I fished with him about 2 years ago and I remembered he was from just north of Charleston. I guess I was mistaken and thought he said Gtown!
