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Marathon, Florida Keys
Capt. Bob Brown
April 17, 2003
Marathon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Sailfish Action Sways With The Breeze!
The offshore fishing off of Marathon and the middle Keys has been highlighted by some fantastic Sailfishing in recent days. This just following a very slow period as tournament anglers in Key West's large Sailfish Tournament last weekend had to put up with Northwest winds that slowed the bite to a crawl. The three day tournament had winning boats with a total of 5 Sails. As the wind turned to the Northeast and picked back up to 15-20knots two days ago, the bite was back on as some boats recorded as many as 25 Sailfish releases in as short as 4 hours of fishing! The turning of the wind to the East, coupled with the hard current running back to the East creates the great "tailing" conditions that we had on Tuesday. There has been lots of dirty water offshore of the Keys lately, and when the easterly current is running back into the wind and up against the dirty water, a powder blue water color is created. This is the target area for Sailfish, Cobia, and Hammerhead Sharks this time of year, with some occasional surprises also surfing down the waves. Several Swordfish have been seen tailing recently along with a few large Tuna, Dolphin, Marlin and other Sharks. Lately, this water color condition has been in fairly deep water off of Marathon, causing many boats to run down to the west as much as 30-45 miles. The condition has been in closer down near Key West which is what you are looking for this time of year. Sailfish want to be in the area from the reef edge, say 30-40ft. of water out to about 200ft. When the color change is out in 400-500ft., it dramatically reduces the number of Sails that you see on the color change edge. Most boats have been sight fishing and pitching baits to the fish using mainly Mullet, Pilchards, Ballyhoo, or Pinfish. Cobia will eat crabs, & pinfish fairly well allowing you to save other baits for the Sails. If you are out cruising the color change keep your eye peeled and a bait in the livewell as this exciting part of the year is now in full swing.
If you would like more information on Sailfishing in the middle Keys, check out our website! Good luck in all of your fishing adventures!
Capt. Bob Brown, Jr.
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