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Marathon, Florida Keys
Capt. Bob Brown
May 17, 2006
Marathon - Saltwater Fishing Report
23 Miles to BIG DOLPHIN!
The springtime run of big Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi) has been happening for a few weeks now off of Marathon with the most reliable area being about 22-24 miles offshore. This puts you in about 700-900ft of water off of the Seven Mile bridge if you head south and run past Sombrero light. There have also been some nice fish up to 45lb caught 12-13 miles offshore, but the numbers of fish increase significantly if you burn the extra fuel and make the run another 10 miles off. Nice sized school fish have been out there as well along with lots of Skipjack Tuna in the 12-20lb range. Big Bull Dolphin of as big as 63lb hit the docks in Marathon last week with many fish over 35lb. If you want the better eating schoolie Mahis there have been plenty of them at the 20+ mile mark as well. Main reason for the fish being out at that distance is the fact that the gulfstream current has been 22 miles off marathon for about the last 3 weeks. If that changes, then the fish will move in or out depending on the fluctuation of the stream distance from shore. Look for debris in the water or birds that give away the location of the fish. Some large fish have been taken just by trolling 'out of the blue' not around any weed lines or debris. Best bet though, is to follow the frigate birds or gulls dipping down to the surface. A stray Wahoo or two has also been hitting the docks. Several Blue Marlin have been hooked up in the past two weeks mainly off of "the wall" that starts about 25 miles south of Sombrero light and then heading west from there. Once you hit the depths of about 1100ft is where the Marlin have been located lately.
Tarpon Bonanza!
The Tarpon fishing at the local bridges off of Marathon has been red hot for the past two weeks with lots of fish around and some large ones as big as 180lb. The morning fishing has been a bit better than the evening lately but the outgoing tide has been producing fish no matter what time of day it is lately. The Seven Mile bridge has been red hot in the mornings up until about 9AM. IF you want to Tarpon fish all day then a trip down to Bahia Honda might be the ticket for day time action. Use live blue crabs on the outgoing tide and drift them back in the current behind the pilings. Live Mullet has been the hot bait at the 7 mile bridge along with fishing plugs in the dark. Long Key bridge has also been hot and plenty of big sharks also showing up around the tarpon schools, expecially at Bahia Honda. We did have about a 700lb Hammerhead try to eat a tarpon we had hooked the other night at the 7 mile bridge but there have not been as many this year as other years. That is a good thing because nothing sucks more than feeding a big Tarpon to a bigger shark!!
Yellowtail Biting
The reef fishing for people who are into that can be rewarded with easy yellowtail fishing lately. If there is any current, the deep reef edge has been hot with limits of 10 per person coming in a couple hours leaving you plenty of time to target some Grouper or Muttons on the deeper reef or wrecks or even try for some Permit that have been biting on the deep wrecks as well.
All in all, some great fishing is going on right now in the Marathon and middle Keys area. For more info, check out our web site!
Good luck in all of your fishing adventures!
Capt. Bob Brown, Jr.
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