Hey guys - a couple of us are heading down to Marathon first week of September. Never been and not sure what the ins and outs are but we are planning on dragging down the kayaks and hoping to get on some fish.
Anyone have any tips/advice? And recommendations on backcountry or flats guides?
Can’t help you with guides but, we have kayaked around Islamorada and a bit south. The Tea Table Key area is beautiful and you can paddle out to either Indian Key or Lignumvitae Key which are pretty cool. You can also hit Toilet Seat Pass (look it up). We did not yak fish a lot because we had a boat and went out to the reefs but there are a lot of opportunity to fish from yaks.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
If your are looking for a guide to put you on the fish, forget it, you dont need one as the fish are everywhere down there. I would stay near the bridges and fish during tide change. You can stay near the canals and fish those on high and low. I would bring medium gear as the tarpon and barracuda are going to hit for sure. You can expect to land lots of yellowtail, cubera snapper, grouper, and many other reef fish. It all depends on what you want to target but the fishing is fairly easy down there. Live shrimp, cut mullet, squid, and some artificials will do just fine. If you bottom fish a lot, prepare a bunch of rigs because you will gwt lots of snags. Look at the maps before you decide on where you want to head out and have a foul weather plan as the skies down there will turn on you at the blink of an eye. Please have on your PFD and have all your safety devices on you as the Coast Guard is EXTREMELY busy down there and the boat traffic can get heavy. Have fun and take pictures.
Great responses! Still doing research and we will be putting in a lot of effort on our own but we will probably also get a guide. I like to support the local guides to help support the industry
Look up captain Buddy I had a great trip fishing with him back in October