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Marathon, Florida Keys
Capt. Bob Brown
January 6, 2004
Marathon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Super Grouper and Mega Mangroves!
The cool weather we had back in December has helped the reef fishing heat up as we have enjoyed some great fishing lately on the reef and in Hawk's Channel. The Red Grouper action was fast and furious around Christmas and New Year's on the patch reefs and Hawk Channel humps. Nice sized keepers in the 20-25" category we common for a couple weeks. Some nice Black Grouper have been coming in as well, as yesterday we had three large Blacks to go with a nice Red and lots of Mangroves and Yellowtails. Lots of undersized Grouper have been hitting the Shrimp and Pinfish as well on the reef along with Blacks and Gags that have been hovering just below keeper status of 24". All makes for some great reef fishing action as a 23" Grouper can sure pull hard! Moving from hump to hump or patch to patch without hanging out too long on any one spot seems to be the ticket to putting together a good Grouper catch these days. Chances are you will catch a couple of good ones off of a spot and then the smaller ones take over. After an hour or so, move on to the next spot on your list. UNLESS...... You are catching some of the fantastic Mangrove Snapper action that has been going on as well. Nice Mangroves have been hitting the docks all over Marathon and 30' of water seems to be the best depth for the larger Mangs on the patch reefs. Live Shrimp and Pilchards seems to be the best baits. The Mangrove bite has also been good at the 7 mile bridge and in Florida Bay as good catches have been coming in both sides of Marathon. Use cut Ballyhoo when Bay fishing as they seem to prefer that bait the most, but live or cut pinfish will also work well. The other super hot bite going on right now is the Mackerel in Florida Bay. "As fast as you can throw the line in" I have been hearing from the Mackerel fishermen in the Bay. We were out there three days ago and they were chewing up everything we threw out there. Great fun for all in calm waters! This activity should last from now through Feb and into March before starting to cool off.
Sailfish & Tuna
The Sailfish action off of the middle keys has been a bit spotty but when you find the right spot, the action has been very good. The hot area last week was from Looe Key to Marker G near Big Pine Key, near Sombrero light & 6 miles west of Sombrero light. In between seemed to have dead areas where not many Sails were showing up, but some boats caught as many as 5-8 Sails per day in the hotter areas. The King Mackerel action has been good as well on the reef edge and a few Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi) have been finding their way into the spread as well with all the SE winds we have has this week. A turn to more NE winds the next few days should fire up the Sailfish bite and keep the Kingfish around as well. Offshore fishermen braving the breezy conditions last week to venture out to the humps were rewarded with nice catches of Blackfin Tuna. Some fish up to 25lb were reported but most fish that were caught "on the troll" were in the 10-15lb. class. Some schools of Mahi were also reported 15-20 miles offshore in some huge weed lines that were out there at the time. Those conditions have changed now, but look for the Dolphin fishing to be good when ever we have a stretch of warm weather like we just had. If you would like more information on fishing in the Marathon and middle Keys area, check out our web site.
Good luck in all of your fishing adventures!
Capt. Bob Brown, Jr.
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