Well we leave out tomorrow night with boat in tow for islamorada. Any tips on possible locations to fish? We go each year but always charter, this year we’re doing a combination of both. 20ft bay boat is what we’ll have, if in doubt we will fish the bridges. Thanks for any info and look forward to posting reports!
Offshore and troll for Dolphin or chase the birds if the weather allows. On the back side…fish the deeper channels with live shrimp of chopped up squid for Grunts. Pretty easy stuff.
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
Go out and hit the reefs to fish for yellowtail. You are within 6 - 10 miles of many of them. I go out (on good days) to many of them in an 18’ cc. Did see some phins around a weedline last Summer but we weren’t set up to fish for them.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
Thank you gentlemen we will give it a try!
Oh, forgot to say. If you fish for YT, chum, chum, chum and then chum some more. Key Largo fisheries has good bait and chum prices.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
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Oh, forgot to say. If you fish for YT, chum, chum, chum and then chum some more
Amen to that. When you are fishing patch reefs either bring plenty of chum or a good book. Chum will draw a crowd behind the boat…
Which draws the big boys. Fish on up the food chain and you can hand feed Goliath grouper and catch more than enough fish.
It’s pretty easy to catch fish in the Keys 
A good fisherman from our area will do a lot better in the Keys than a good Keys fisherman will do if he comes up here and tries catch some inshore fish.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
That big Goliath looks like one that hangs around Looe Key. Is that were those pics were taken?
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
I can’t tell you much you don’t already know, Chuck, but good luck and have fun! Wish I could’ve made the trip. And remember, without pictures, it never happened!
“I’m not a hundred percent in love with your tone right now…”
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That big Goliath looks like one that hangs around Looe Key. Is that were those pics were taken?
No, but close. A few miles west of there on a patch reef at Maryland Shoals. I sure would hate to get caught chumming and fishing at Looe Key [:0] Those FWS folks don’t play!
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Very true Larry.
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
You can see tarpon at about every pier at the bridges when your walking from above you really can’t go wrong. One thing I’ve learned from vacationing down there is if your going trolling go early. All the boats will hit the closest weed mats first, the later you go the more picked over the weeds are going to be and the further you will have to go.
18ft Polar CC 115 Yam.
“Pamplona is no place to bring your wife” Earnest Hemmingway
Well guys we left at 11pm and got here at 1115 am Wednesday morning, boat in the water by 1230. Hit a couple bridges, saw plenty of tarpon and sharks but no takers. Caught plenty of snapper on the bottom. Thursday we did a full day backcountry and caught more fish then I could count. Plenty of 20" plus female trout but all released except for handful of males. Plenty of snapper and saw couple huge sharks. Had the best charter captain I’ve ever used and we come every year. Even took him with us to local restaraunt to eat our catch. Of course he only ate shrimp n grits which I did have to tell him charlestons is the best! Tipped him 20% on top of the charter price and we paid for his meal and drinks. Means a lot to have a great guide and plan on being back this year.
Fishing out my boat tomorrow and another charter Saturday so I’ll keep y’all updated
Oh and hope u can make it next time Scott (black Bart) you’d love it here but I do agree it’s not hard to fish here!
Can you name the Captain/Boat you fished inshore with?
Fished with captain Keith with bamboo charters. BY FAR the best guides I’ve ever used. The self serve bar at the marina is nice too! You can sit down and grab your own beer while they clean the fish for you