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Marathon, Florida Keys
Capt. Bob Brown
February 19, 2007
Marathon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Where to hide in the North Wind.....
The cool, north winds we have had lately have kept most fishermen at the dock here in the middle Keys but some brave soles have been venturing out because they came here for a couple days to fish and they want to fish "NO MATTER WHAT!!" There are some places to hide from the seas and waves if you want to squeeze in some fishing in the Keys when the north winds blow and the air temps dip into the low 60s for highs. As you get down the island chain as far as Marathon, the islands start to turn more to the west and a north wind actually is an offshore wind when you go out on the Atlantic side of the islands. There are some great spots to fish within a mile or two of shore where the waves only have a short distance over shallow water to try and build and you will have a small chop of a foot or two even in a 20-25Knot wind. If you look on a chart you will see that the depths of water off of Marathon and the middle keys dip down to the 30-40ft depth within 2 miles of shore in the area we call "Hawk Channel". There are lots of coral heads, or 'humps' if you want to call them throughout the channel area. Some are marked on charts and most are not. However, some are not hard to find if you slowly motor along and see any quick depth change on your fish finder, mark the spot and come back around to anchor on the up current edge of the 'hump'. These channel humps can hold a variety of fish including Yellowtail & Mangrove Snapper, several varieties of groupers, Spanish Mackerel, grunts, porgies, hogfish, and sometimes Permit or Cobia this time of year. If the winds are huffing around 20-25 knots like they were this week out of the north, you may want to try to find channel spots south of the islands of Marathon, Grassy Key, and Big Pine Keys where you have large islands blocking the waves. As opposed to fishing just south of the 7 mile bridge or the other large keys bridges like Bahia Honda or Long Key bridge. Reasons for this are, the cool water from Florida Bay gets pushed through the bridges and the water in these areas may be dirty and full of weeds from the north winds beating on the shallow flats in the bay that are north of the bridges. Look for some cleaner water to work and the bite might be significantly better. Once things calm down however, you may want to check some of the humps south of the bridges as the water clears in those areas. The bridges allow the fish that may be wanting to travel to warmer water a passage to the Atlantic where they can warm up. The humps can hold big King Mackerel in these areas and some Cobia along with big mangrove snapper and some mutton snapper that migrate through the Bay and into the atlantic.
If you would like more info on fishing in the Keys check our web site out.
Capt Bob Brown
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