General Boat Rental Information

This is a list of most of the boat rental companies in Marathon. There are a couple I have missed that I need to visit to complete the list. Addresses change, but I have the list pretty current for now.

Last Update 24 Dec 2011

Marathon has a large selection of boat rental companies. They are all good businesses with good boats. All of them have long lists of satisfied customers and a short list of unhappy campers. Unless you are familiar with the local waters, I recommend a local guide so you don't end up on the short list.

Captain Pips Marina and Hideaway.

1410 Overseas Highway Marathon, Florida 33050
(305) 743-4403 http://www.captainpips.com

18 to 24 foot center consoles most with four stroke Yamaha engines and full electronics. Several of the guest boats have Bimini tops that are a pain to fish around. They are fine if you need the shade, but tough to handle big fish. Fly guys like them because they can lay the Bimini down. For most fishing I recommend upgrading to a larger boat with a Tee top if you want to tangle with big fish. For more detailed information on the boats available at Captain Pips see this link.

Big advantages: Most of their fleet are Cape Horn boats that are built like brick outhouses, have large live wells, teetops good electronics and fuel efficient newer motors. Their weather policy is if there are small craft advisories, they want their boats at the dock. So you don't pay if the weather won't let you play. For most that is a good thing.

Vacation Boat Rentals

Located on the causeway to Key Colony Beach

1-(866)420-1515 http://vacationboatrentals.com


20 to 29 foot center consoles with four stroke engines. Good selection of serious fishing boats. Some of their boat are just amazing fishing machines. All the bells and whistles with sizes over 26 foot for braving the stronger winds to catch fish. Range is not specified, they determine how confident they are in your ability to get the boat back in one piece. With a local guide you can normally do 25 miles or more given weather conditions. On your own, how big a check can you write?

Big advantage: They have big twin engine boats for offshore.

Maybe a Big Disadvantage: They have big twin engine boats for offshore.

To keep it an advantage, make sure you know how to handle a bigger high performance boat in the Keys.


Quality Boat Rentals

(305) 743-2895 or 1 (877) 743-2895 http://qualityboats.net/

20 to 29 foot boats with full electronics powered by mostly four strokes with a couple Yamaha HPDI engines. Solid fishing boats with good live wells. Range is limited to 25 miles.

Quality has a new owner that is an outboard mechanic. That is a good thing!

Into the Blue Boat Rentals
50 Coco Plum Drive
Marathon, Florida 33050
(305) 289-0285 or (305) 587-3333 no website yet e-mail patandstacy@bellsouth.net

Brand new to the boat rental business. Boats available 20 and 22 foot Triumphs with 150 four strokes available with tee tops out riggers and full electronics. These Triumph boats look like they will fish just fine. The deck design is definitely non-skid, but may be a challenge to clean.

I need to pop in to see how things are coming along. They are nice folks so I am pretty sure they are doing well.

Harbor Point Marine Boat Rentals


4681 Oversea Highway
Marathon, Florida 33050
305-289-0505

WWW.keysmako.com

Nice Makos and Seacraft to 32 feet. Everything is pretty new. Total electronics and four stroke engines. Their smaller boat may have a Bimini top but the real beef of their fleet is serious fishing machines. Larger boats require a local captain or guide to evaluate your performance. Not a bad thing because it is easy to turn a vacation sour with one brain fart. Allowable range can vary pending the captain's evaluation of your abilities. BTW, the captain or guide is included free of charge for first time customer. A smart move considering the high performance of their fleet.


Harbor Point is no longer in business.
Captain Hooks Boat Rentals

1 (800) 278-4665 right at the west side of Vaca Cut.

20 to 24 foot boats all have Bimini tops. Good for snorkeling or diving but a bit of a challenge fishing for bigger fish. They do have four stroke engines that will save you money and full electronics. Range is limited to really what the smart captain would limit them to. Nice folks with a lot of local knowledge to help make your vacation safe and fun.

Tropical Boat Rentals

http://www.tropicalboatrentals.com/

(305) 481-7006

Located on Avenue A off Cocoplum Blvd.

Nice selection of 2008 and 2009 Sea Chaser boats by Carolina Skiff from 18 to 27 feet. All have four stroke engines and are fully rigged. Some have Bimini tops for shade lovers while most have tee tops. Tropical will deliver boats from Key Largo to Key West but is based in Marathon. The boats are very clean and well maintained.

For the high rollers, Tropical has added a few boat over thirty one with triples.

I am really emphasizing the higher fuel efficiency boats. My last dolphin trip on a twin engine 24 foot boat with Merc EFI's burnt 101 gallons. That is a pain in the wallet big time. The same trip on twenty two footer with a four stroke would have been less than fifty gallons. The twenty two footer fishes just fine compared to the 24 footer. It also costs less to rent. Bimini top boats are a big thing for people that need maximum shade. Also there are fly fishermen that like the openness with the Bimini removes or down. All of the above are rigged for what I consider Keys fishing, meaning versatile with large raw water live wells.

There are other boat rentals covered in related posts below. Fish 'n' Fun is one that has great boats but at the time of the post they didn't have raw water live wells. So if someone is not on my list that does not mean they have anything wrong, just that either I hadn't got around to checking them out or they may not meet my expectations for my style of fishing. As always, I will try to update things as often as I can. BTW, Fish 'N' Fun was scheduled to get a few new Parker boats with built in live wells. Any Marathon area boat rental company should feel free to add a comment if they have new boats or want to add any extra information.

Tight lines,

Captain Dallas

Chicago Joe and Crew Fishing Vacation

Just got finished with Chicago Joe and Crew. On the whole it was pretty good fishing. We had two real good days, four good but not spectacular days and one that just plain sucked due to wind. The crew wanted action and some eating fish. Jacks like those in the picture and mackerel provided plenty of action.



Lane snapper like the one above, mangrove snapper, nice porgies and on the last day a nice red grouper provided dinner. I was disappointed that I could not get them on a few sailfish. We raised one and had it spooking our baits on day six, but couldn't get it to eat. That kinda sums up the trip. Plenty of action, lots of nice fish but a lot of missed opportunities.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

ETA Joe sent me some more of your pictures.

The Pilchards are here!

The Pilchards are here! The Pilchards are here! I am always harping on your bait makes your trip. Pilchards are the best all around bait in the Keys. Now that they are showing up things will bust loose down here. Sailfish, Cobia and the Mackerel will start getting thick feeding on these tasty white baits.

Pilchards can be caught hook and line with Sabiki rigs, but the best way is to use a cast net. If you don't know how to throw a cast net it's about time your learned. I or captain Jeff pictured will be glad to show you how.

I know money's tight right now. If you are Jonesing for a fishing trip keep checking my blog and I will let you know when you can get the best bang for your buck.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

By the way I have added another charter to the list. Capt. Bo Sellers with Shallow Minded Charters. He does flats and backcountry in the lower Keys. Nice guy, check him out.

Fish Cleaning Table

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. I have have been fishing some but mainly trying to work on the fish cleaning table and a few other projects. A couple of days ago I finally got one of the hopefully last prototypes. This one is made out of the real deal HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), the same thing Starboard(TM) is made of. The molding process proved to be a bit of a challenge using HDPE. The end result of the struggle looks like it was worth the effort.

Let me know what you think.




Here is a photo with me at the table for scale.


Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Let the Buggin' Begin!

There has been a lot going on lately. The trip to Las Vegas to attend the ICAST trade show, working on new products to go with the new fish cleaning station and fishing. The final version of the table should be out soon. Once it is in production things could get hopping down here.

Mini lobster season start next Wednesday. This is always a zoo as thousands of boats descend on the Keys to catch Florida Lobster. It seems like every year someone dies chasing bugs. So if you are a bit out of shape and planning on participating in the mini season don't over do it. If you are boating remember that there are thousands of people in and on the water and a small percentage are totally clueless. Drive defensively and watch out for divers no where near their dive flags.

Fishing has been inconsistent. One day they bite and the next they have lock jaw. The outgoing tide has been best on the reef with the incoming very slow. Offshore the fish seem to be biting early (before 10) or late (after 2). Mid day is a good time to switch to deep dropping or looking for tuna.

A fair number of marlin encounters are being reported with few anglers ready for the visit. Having a heavier rod ready to live bait with schoolie dolphin is a good idea if you want to tangle with a big blue.

Inshore is about the same with the last half of the outgoing be much more productive than the incoming tide. We have been catching nice mangrove snapper all over the bay and bridges but you have to wade through a number of smaller fish before the bigger ones get nosy.

We are seeing fewer tarpon but they are still plenty around. Like everything else the outgoing tide early or late is when I see the most activity. Deeper channels near flats are good places to start looking for the silver kings.

Bonefish and permit are hard to find close in to Marathon, at least for me. Further west from Big Pine to Key West both have been fairly easy to find.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Jacob and the Balleyhoo

Thanks to la nina the winds have been abnormal this season. Southeast 20 knot winds in July just ain't fun in a small boat. Most of my die hard client are just a bit miffed. Then along comes Jacob and his sister Megan.

Young kids just want to catch fish. Bait like Pinfish and Balleyhoo are great kid size entertainers that the parents can trade in for something more challenging. Jacob pictured and Megan caught plenty of bait which they and dad traded in for a variety of sharks, barracuda, snapper and mystery fish. Mystery fish being critters that spool your light tackle when you are expecting something smaller. All of the action was within two miles of the dock in sheltered water.

Add a trip to a deserted island with a nice beach to explore and the kids were nearly as impressed as the parents.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Dolphin and More!

Tons of dolphin offshore and finally the winds are cutting the small boat fishermen some slack. The dolphin were mainly undersized last week with a lot of hunting required to find keepers. Now the school fish are almost all respectable. Big fish are hard to find but, a few slobs are coming to the dock.

The reef which has mainly been closed for me this month due to winds, is turned on with a good current. Plenty of yellow tail snapper though the size is smaller than last month during the spawn. Mangrove should be on the reef to spawn this month so look out for nice fat spawn fish through the full moon.

The bay and bridges have been a little slow due to the mangs moving to spawn and the constant 15 plus knot winds that are finally dieing. Tarpon are still around. Most of the fish I am seeing are in the deeper waters near the flats. I haven't been in the back country for a while but, I hear permit are pretty thick from the Contents through the lower Keys Gulf side islands. As a reminder, if you are trailering a small boat down to the Keys keep it own the trailer so you can hit a few different areas. A good GPS map helps you find some honey holes around the back country islands.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Fishing Fun

Yesterday was a slow day fishing. We had a west wind which is generally not a good wind. We caught a few dolphin, but the bottom bite was not happening. The crew was a bunch of guys from England that where a riot. As they goofed on each other and me I started thinking of other slow trips I have had.

Off of Jacksonville, Florida I had one of the slowest trips ever. We had been trolling for 5 hours without a single bite. I looked at a new guy on the boat and told him check one of the baits. When he got the lure in I said, “No wonder we aren’t catching anything, the bait’s on backwards!” I then take the perfectly rigged lure and rig it backwards. As the new guy put the lure out we hook a good size dolphin.

A few months later I hear that the new guy got into a big argument with another crew during a big fishing tournament. He was telling them they didn’t know how to rig baits. I busted a gut laughing.

Slow bites and kids are a bad thing. They get discouraged pretty quick if they aren’t catching fish. On one trip I had two boys about nine years old. They started getting on my nerves so I told them the best way to get the fish to bite is to take a nap. They didn’t believe me of course, but I got them to go into the cabin. They popped back out about two minutes later saying that I was goofing them. I convinced them that they had to actually doze off for the trick to work.

A couple of hours later we got into a school of fish and I woke them up. They had a ball fighting the fish and as soon as the bite quit, they ran back into the cabin to get another bite going. Those two are a joy to fish with.

Some customers get on my nerves too. They get excited just like kids and get in my way while I am loading the boat. When they do that I tell them they need to get the emergency bait. The emergency bait is Dion’s fried chicken from the store across the street from the marina. The chicken has to be hot and fresh for it to work. Since Dion’s never has chicken out until eight o’clock, the customers are out of my way.

When it gets to around noon, I tell them it is time for the emergency bait. I take a bite of a piece of chicken and drop a small piece in the water. Then I take another piece and put it on a hook. Mangrove snapper love chicken so I almost always catch a snapper. That gets the crew fishing with chicken while I enjoy a nice lunch.

Yesterday with the bite dead slow, I switched to trolling on a color change from bottom fishing. The crew started getting a little rowdy so I told them the only way to get a bite going was to get the guide a beer. About half way into the beer, we hook up a dolphin.

Things like this inspired me to write a couple of articles, The Zen of Fishing and How to Catch More Fish: The Banana Myth and its Impact. Fishing is fishing. The main thing is to have fun and catch a few fish. So if you have a slow day, think about some of these tricks.


Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Marathon Reef Report

Since the wind laid down yesterday the reef is open to more comfortable fishing. The yellowtail bite yesterday was pretty good. We came close to limiting out. We would have limited out quickly if it wasn't for tons of big king mackerel eating our flags.

In the fifty plus foot range The only 'tails we could get to the boat were barely legals. Every good size fish we hooked got ate about twenty feet from the boat. So since the crew didn't want to play with thirty plus pound kings we moved to the 30 foot range. In the swallow water we didn't get any flags but a good number of 17-18 inchers with most of the box in the 14-16 range. Not fantastic, but plenty of sandwiches.

The bottom bite was a bit slow. Only two nice porgies came home for dinner. The crew did lose one big grouper and a few nice hits that I believe were muttons or big mangs. In the shallow water the kings were not a problem but cero mackerel were everywhere. So we were using short light wire leaders 'tailing to save hooks.

Even though the crew didn't want mackerel, they seemed to have fun fighting the 6 to 10 pound ceros on the yellowtail rods. They even put a couple in the box dinner.

Most of the other boats 'tailing were singing the blues about poor catches. They stayed in the deeper water the whole time. Sometimes you just have to hit the kiddy pool (shallow water) to make a trip.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next yellowtail snapper fishing vacation spot. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

PS: The Three Day Getaways are starting to get popular. If you want a quick fishing weekend without the hassle of lugging the boat and all your gear down, check it out.

Hogfish or Hog Snapper a Tasty Treat

One of greatest things about fishing the Florida Keys is the diversity of fish you can catch. One my personal favorites to catch is Hogfish also called Hog Snapper. First, I think they are neat looking and most of my customers have never seen one. Second, they have the whitest, firmest flesh you have ever seen.

Catching Hogfish hook and line is not all that easy. Because of all the other critters that share their neighborhood, you end up catching just about everything but Hogfish. So the best time to catch Hogfish is when nothing else is really biting. On the reef that is when you have clear water with very little current. The favorite bait for Hogfish is shrimp, the fresher the better and live is as fresh as they get.

Hogfish feed on the bottom, so jigs or weight of some sort is normally required. Even though using a jig you don’t really jig. Let the bait set on the bottom and just once and a while lift slowly to see if you have a bite. Most of the time you won’t feel a Hogfish bite, you just find you are hooked up when you lift your rod tip.

Hogfish can be found anywhere in the Keys and in nearly any depth. They do tend to like areas with sea fans on the bottom that they use for cover. If you try to target Hogfish, the reef in the 15 to 30 foot depth range is a good place to start. Remember clear water works to your advantage Hogfishing. You will probably catch a few Porgies fishing for the Hogfish. If they have any size to them you won’t be disappointed if you invite them to dinner.

So if you are having a slow day on the reef, think about shifting to Hogfishing until the current changes.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Big Pine Key Back Country

For some reason we had two great weather days Sunday and Monday, but no one wanted to fish. So I went to Big Pine Key to sea trial a McKee Craft 16 foot skiff with my buddy Doc.

We launched at the Old Wooden Bridge fish camp and headed out Big Spanish channel. If you have never made that trip you need to put it on your list. It is one of the best boat rides you will ever take. The fishing can be outstanding for tarpon, permit and bonefish if you can get around in skinny water.

Big Spanish Channel ends on the Bayside at Harbor Key and is just a mile from the Content Keys. There is a mixture of sand and grass flats with deep channels in between. It is a back country fisherman's paradise. Near the islands there are a few spots you can catch Mangroves and even a keeper grouper if you aren't much into sports fishing. Bird watchers will have a ball in winter and spring.

We took a couple of rods but weren't serious about fishing. Since we were breaking in a new motor we didn't have that much time anyway. We did drift a few flats seeing mainly baracudas, sharks and mangroves. Now that the skiff is ready to run and we figured out a few things, I will make a few more serious scouting trips to areas I can't access with the bigger boats. Once we get the Pangler running, we should be able to run some top notch back country trips.

Speaking of the Pangler, that idea is placed on hold but not forgotten. With any luck that boat will be available for next season starting in November. That should give the economy enough time to turn around and Conchtiki should be making some money.

With the Pangler I will be able to fish everywhere in the Keys. For instance from Marathon, the Contents is a forty minute run by water. Flamingo is a little longer run, but there are several good areas to fish along the way. I will also be able to trailer to other areas to take advantage of the bite.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Small Boat Fishing in the Keys

There are a lot of people that like to trailer their small boat down to the Keys for their fishing vacation. There is a ton of great fishing you can do from a small boat or skiff in the Keys. Even when the wind blows you can find a place out of the wind to enjoy a day on the water.

To use your small boat to your best advantage don't forget that trailer. From Marathon you can launch on the north or south side of the island to avoid the wind. Marathon is also in the middle of the Keys. A short trip either east or west will take you to new fishing spots. Out of Big Pine or Cudjo Keys you have access to some of the finest flats fishing in the world. There is more than just bonefish tarpon and permit around the flats. The deeper water between the flats and around the back country islands hold snapper, grouper and even a cobia at times.

Navigating the waters can be intimidating. To make life simpler, have a GPS map system on your boat and a good chart of the area as a back up. Plan your trip in advance and have a float plan ready for a friend in case you get caught by the tides.

The small boat owner can have a great time exploring the back country and on calm days can fish the reef and near offshore waters. The Florida Bay is accessible on most days for the small boats and has some great fishing.

When fishing own your own, I recommend hiring a guide for your first day or two on the water. Navigating around Marathon is pretty easy, especially with a GPS map system. The back Country out of Islamarada and Big Pine Key to the west is a little trickier. Get a local guide for the area you are fishing. The everglades National Park has great fishing and some of the toughest navigation. A guide out of Key Largo, Taverner or Islamarada will make your trip productive and easier on your wallet.

I have good knowledge of the waters from Marathon to Key West. Still there are a few areas I would recommend a more local guide to get the best bang for your buck.

Another advantage of the GPS map system is that most of the boat ramps are listed and easy to find. I will try to add a few links to boat ramps in the near future. Right now I am heading to Big Pine for back country trip. The sun is high enough to read the water and spot the fish.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

The Full Moon

I have posted before that the full moon can make fishing a challenge. Most of the fish targeted here in the Keys are current feeders. The full moon currents and the light of the full moon cause the fish to change their feeding habits.

Daytime fishing can become a challenge on the full moon. Normally, there are only one or two days at and just after the full when daytime fishing, well sucks. Night fishing on the other hand is fantastic. So if you are vacationing around a full moon plan on scheduling a night trip.

Tarpon guides are all geared for night fishing. On the full moon the bite can last all night long. Reef fishing charters at night are very productive if there is a favorable current. Yellowtails, mutton and mangrove snapper are great night feeders. The biggest complaint about night fishing trips is that they are short. With the ten fish per person aggregate snapper limit, it doesn't take long to limit out when the current is running with the wind.

So does the full moon mean all day time fishing sucks? No, the big tide changes can be very productive for flats fishing. At low tide, when flats are fully exposed, bonefish, permit and tarpon can be targeted along the edges of the flats. This is a great time for you to get in touch with your light tackle side and have some fun.

Fishing on the reef can still be productive, but you have to change your tactics. Because of the stronger tides, visibility on the reef will be either very clear or very dirty. In the clear water target grouper, hogfish and porgies. Use live or very fresh dead shrimp on light jigs for the hogfish and porgies and live pinfish, ballyhoo and pilchards for the grouper. This is normally a slower bite than chum fishing, but can produce a very good catch. The key is to cover a lot of ground and hit plenty of live coral fields. This type of fishing is where flourocarbon comes in handy. I use 12 pound flouro with the jigs. While any jig head will work, I have better luck with the white buck tail jigs just heavy enough to get to the bottom. For the grouper use a long leader, six to ten foot, and keep the bait about five feet off the bottom. The grouper bite will be slow, so just dead stick the grouper rod and work the jigs.

Chumming in clear water is optional if you are targeting the hogfish and grouper. If you do chum, you can catch yellowtail if you use very small hooks and light leader. I have had to go as light as six pound test and size six hooks to catch 'tails in clear water on a full moon.

If you have dirty water and a decent current on the outgoing tide, the reef can be just as productive on the full moon as any other time. The problem is the if. Tides in the Keys are a bit abnormal. You only have two to three foot swings and there is often a low high and a high high. This makes the currents very difficult to predict. So be prepared for any conditions if you want to catch fish on the full moon during the day time.

There was a comment on my last post about Oceanside 101 guides. As you all hopefully know, most of my trips are fishing 101's. While I can cover a lot of techniques in a day, most of my regular customers like to book me every year for the first day of their stay to learn something new. One thing I recommend is learning to throw a large cast net (eight foot or larger). The right bait can make your trip so try to add castnetting 101 to your lesson plan. Another thing is make sure your boat has a good round or oval livewell to keep your bait happy until it is time to fish. Most of the Pips and Vacation Boat rentals boats have good livewells. If you are renting make sure you have at least a twenty gallon bait well. Then your Oceanside 101 trip can be productive.

Make Marathon in the Florida Keys your next fishing vacation destination.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

Fishing is Good if you Have the Right Bait

The little guy in the photo is a pinfish. Each one of my fishing 101 trips starts with catching a few of these guys to trade in on something bigger. While pinfish are not as versatile as Pilchards, they are easy to catch and fish love these bite size snacks. Small hooks size 8 to 10 with small bait a quarter inch square are the ticket. A small Sabiki rig is fine, but cut it down to two or three hooks to reduce your frustration level.

Drifting pinfish past the old bridge piers will produce anything from a variety of Jacks to Tarpon. Big mangroves love pins and the bridge is holding big mangrove snapper. On the patches just on the reef and inside there are plenty of mangroves, muttons and grouper. Just do me a favor and use circle hooks so you don't gut hook the undersized fish. A light knocker rig, just an egg sinker free to slide on the line a 2/0 to 4/0 light wire circle, is the ticket. Adjust your weight with the current and bait size. From a 1/4 ounce to 1 1/2 ounce being the most you should need.

Fishing the down current side of a patch just in the sand is productive. Watching the fish take your bait is kinda fun too. If there are a lot of smaller fish in the area, try cutting a larger pin in half for bait. The little guys will go nuts pecking at the cut bait. Just let it lay until a big one shows to spoil their party.

If you hit a patch that is hot, don't wipe it out. Leaving a few bigger fish on a patch helps attract other big ones. If you take all the larger fish it can take months for the patch to reload. When you don't wipe it out they tend to reload in a few nights.

If you want sailfish, pinfish will work. The sails won't always eat the pins but they will check them out. Have a rigged ballyhoo ready as a pitch bait if they are window shopping.

Drifting the pinfish in the bay on a float will produce sea trout, mangroves, mackerel and even a grouper on occasion. On anchor, get your chum going and free line a couple and have a knocker rig or two out just like the patches.

By the way, Circle hooks are going to be required for all Gulf Reef fishing this year. Get used to them now. With circle hooks you don't set the hook, let the fish tighten the line and just reel.

Tight lines
Enjoy some Marathon Heart of the Florida Keys Fishing

Capt. Dallas

Not Everyday is Fantastic

Today was a day from hell in my opinion. The live well took a dump and the New Moon currents threw my whole time table off. Yep, I was stooping and fetching to make anything happen.

I am a light tackle guy. I think in terms of 5 to 1's and better. Any fish that weighs five time more than the line test that caught him is my goal. With everything going against me I managed to squeak out a nine to one today. A just over one hundred pound bull shark on twelve pound test.

Most savvy anglers would say "Whoop de do, they caught a friggin' shark!" I agree, there is no way in hell that I would want to fight a shark on any tackle. But I am not the paying customer. There are folks that have never caught a fish that weighed more than the test of the line they were using. Sharks are a good way to move into big game fishing though.

So the day after tomorrow, I will try to place this satisfied customer on a few sailfish on light tackle. That is just a little more exciting than sharks in my opinion. Sorry, no photos of the shark, we were fishing the flats and I had enough fun driving the boat.

Hopefully, I will have some sailfish pictures for the next post.

Tight lines,
Enjoy some Marathon Heart of the Florida Keys Fishing

Captain Dallas

The Seven Mile Marina is Looking Good

The Seven Mile Marina is starting to look like the place to be if you are a charter captain in Marathon. The newly added finger docks on the back side of the boat basin nearly doubled the number of boat slips.

In addition to the new docks, there has been a lot of sprucing up of the grounds and a new restaurant built on the site. The restaurant is not open yet, so if you feel like running a restaurant in the Keys here is your chance.

I threatened a while back to list a few of the old town charter boats. So I might as well start with the new and improved Seven Mile Marina. All ready mentioned in my blog is Native Son Charters, run by Captains, Pete and Howard that I worked with at Seadog. Best Bet Charters, with Captain Jason has also been mentioned. Since then, Best Bet has add a new Cabo to the fleet. Blue Magic, with Captain Larry is back running out of Seven Mile after pretty much completing the refurbishing of his 30 foot Island Hopper.

First Light, with Captain Jay DeShay is running light tackle trips in his new 25 footer with single inboard diesel. Fuel cost had been hurting his business, but the new boat has things going the right direction.

Walk About Charters, with Captain Chris is just starting up at the Seven Mile Marina. Chris you should remember if you read my blog. He was my mate for the sailfish trip in "When it Blows it Sucks" post last year. If you haven't read it you really should, just click the link.

There are a few other captains that I haven't met at the Seven Mile. Hopefully I will get a chance to meet them soon and add them to the list. If you fish with any of these guys, mention my name.

Tight lines,
Enjoy some Marathon Heart of the Florida Keys Fishing

Captain Dallas


Here are a few photos of the Walk About.

What Kind of Fishing Gear Do You Need?

I am getting a lot of new customers from Europe this season. Traveling by air, it is a little tough packing all the fishing gear you think you will need. To make traveling a little easier here are a few tips for you guys.

90% of the fish I catch are on spinning tackle. A good twenty pound spinning outfit is a must for the Keys. To be what I consider good, the reel should hold at least 180 yards of clear monofilament line. A good drag is a must for the reel. While I don't use two piece rods, they are great for traveling. The rod length should not be over seven feet long. Fishing from boats with teetops, the longer rods are a pain. So stick with a six and one half to seven foot long spinning rod.

With this basic outfit, my customers have boated Sailfish to 90 pounds, Amberjack to 75 pounds, Tarpon to 150 pounds, Dolphin to 50 pounds, King Mackerel to 55 pounds, permit to 38 pounds and sharks over 400 pounds.

Lighter spinning outfits are lots of fun. Just make sure they have plenty of line capacity, 200 yards or more. Boating big fish on light tackle, under 15 pounds, is a big challenge. Not so much due to the fish over powering the gear, but due to obstacles in the water. Lobster pots, sea fans and bay grass cause a lot of fish to be lost. Just remember this before going very light.

If you don't want to pack your gear for the trip, good quality spinning outfits cost from 40 dollars. Renting gear locally is pretty much a waste of money when you can buy for the same or less. The lower end spinning outfits are throw aways. This means that they are fine for fishing, but the reels are more easily replaced than repaired. The quality of these outfits won't impress anyone, but they are fine for a couple of weeks in the Keys. By the way that 75 pound Amberjack pictured was caught on a cheap Shimano outfit.

If you are planning on trolling for tuna, wahoo and a shot at a marlin, a couple of heavier conventional trolling rods are in order. Forty to fifty pound outfits with plenty of line, four hundred yards or more are recommended. Shorter stand-up rods are the best for small boat fishing. Mine are five foot long with a long fore grip. A one piece rod is the only way to go in this case. The shorter length rod makes packing for your trip easier. A good drag system is a must for these reels and I do not recommend level wind reels. Braided line is getting popular with traveling anglers until they fish the Keys. Braid is fine for bottom fishing, but trolling it tends to be more of a problem than it is worth. Clear mono is more forgiving and versatile.

For fly fishermen a heavier weight rod is recommended in the winter with lighter for the summer because of wind conditions. A nine weight is a good all around choice. For bonefish and permit, epoxy crab patterns are the ticket. Mackerel hit the fairly large (three to five inch)Clouser and weighted streamer patterns with yellow, Chartreuse and blue/white good colors. These work well for dolphin offshore also. One fun fly to use is a red headed popper with white streamer. It drive mackerel, jacks and dolphin totally nuts. Tarpon like the large streamers, crab patterns and poppers though the sponge worm pattern is the hot fly around sponge worm time. If you are like most fly guys you will spend some time at the World Class Angler shopping for flies or getting ideas for tying your own. They have a good selection of flies and material for tying your own.

A simple four tray tackle bag will handle all the tackle you need. For trolling offshore, lures like C & H stubbies, Billy Bait Turbos are the best for all around trolling. Having a medium Islander (eight to ten inches)in the mix is a good idea. Basic colors that work well are blue and white, pink and white, red and black and dolphin color. Hook sizes for these lures should be from 5/0 to 8/0 with fairly light leaders of 50 to 100 pounds. In most cases, these are rigged with clear mono, but a short wire leader is a good idea for King Mackerel and Wahoo.

For inshore fishing, mainly natural baits are used. Light leaders and smaller hooks are the norm because of the clear water and the free lining fishing technique used. size 2 to 4/0 in straight J hooks or thin wire circle hooks are most common. Weights tend to be light in the keys with split shot and small egg sinkers from 1/8 ounce to one ounce all that is required. For deeper water bottom fishing larger sinker are needed on occasion. It is much easier to just buy the larger sinkers here than lugging them in from home.

Leader material should be kept to the light side. Light size three wire and twenty pound mono or flourocarbon is all you need most of the time. An exception is shark fishing where heavier wire and 80 to 100 pound mono is recommended and Tarpon fishing where fifty to sixty pound mono helps prevent chaffing.

For catching your own live bait, size 8 to ten bait hooks should be included. Sabiki rigs are recommend for catching Pichards, threadfin herring and cigar minnows. The Sabikis will work for pinfish, but I normally use only two to three hooks per rig for the pinfish.

To really catch bait a cast net with six foot or greater radius is handy. Packing one of these for your trip is a pain, but you can get one locally for around forty dollars. If you are staying for more than a week, it is worth the investment. Don't worry I can teach you to throw one in about ten minutes. Having the right live bait really improves your catch. Most of the best baits, Ballyhoo, Pilchards and Threadfin herring are not sold because they are difficult to keep alive. Catching your own is required and is the first thing I teach in my fishing 101 trips. Live shrimp, pinfish and crabs can be bought at any bait and tackle shop in season. The cost of the pinfish is pretty high and they are so easy to catch on your own why bother. Shrimp and crabs are the only live baits I would buy.

Lures for inshore fishing can be kept pretty simple. Fairly heavy spoons like a four inch Drone spoon, light jigs 1/8 to 1/2 ounce with Chartreuse being a very popular color, and four to six inch casing lures like Bomber long A's, Yozuri and Zara Spooks. Natural colors and the old reliable white with red head are your best bet. Count on losing a good deal of these lures. Soft lures in shrimp, crab and fish designs will get plenty of hits and torn up with nearly every fish.

To round out your tackle bag include gloves, needle nose pliers and a fillet knife.

If you are staying at Captain Pips, most of the basic gear like landing nets, gaffs, bait nets are available on site. So you can save luggage space by not bringing any of that.

The best piece of advice I can give you is keep it simple. Don't overload your boat with too many rods and tons of tackle you will never use.

Tight lines,
Enjoy some Marathon Heart of the Florida Keys Fishing

Captain Dallas

I Need to Post More Often.

I just got a comment that I need to post more often. That is true. It is tough for me though since I am just a bit spoiled. To me news is kick butt stuff. I have had enough kick butt trips that just the normal things don't turn me on to write about. Doing the fishing 101 thing as much as I do it is hard for me to get excited about writing about it.

Today I took out a crew from the UK. That is United Kingdom not University of Kentucky. Gran dad is a serious fisherman, son could give a rip and the grandson didn't make the trip today. So I am teaching Gran dad how to catch bait and trade that in on something better.

While I am teaching Gran dad, the son starts thinking that the whole fishing thing is not that bad a deal. Now I am teaching the middle generation how to cast a spinning rod and catch fish. The middle generation had never caught a fish and never thought he would want to, now He is an angler. This is what I do. I teach people how to catch fish.

I teach more than just the fishing 101. I show people more advanced stuff and I get a lot of customers that want me on the boat every day because I put them on fish. A lot of different kinds of fish by the way.

So my old customer is right, I don't post enough because I am just a bit spoiled. An average day like today doesn't impress me much, but the crew had a great time and took a lot of photos. I just have to remember that a ho hum day to me may be another person's trip of a life time. And since Gran Dad never thought the father of his grandson would ever care to fish, today was a pretty big day.

Tight lines,
Enjoy a Marathon Heart of the Florida Keys Fishing vacation this year.

Capt. Dallas

Boy Howdie!

With fishing, Tiki huts and general fixing stuff I have been busy. Fished most every day the last couple of weeks except during the cold front blow. That was a serious cold front! The iguanas were falling out of the trees every where.

Fishing wise, most of my trips were close in with the smaller boats which was just fine with me. The bridge has been holding some nice mangroves with sharks and various jacks for the out of towners to get their line stretched. Muttons and some keeper grouper are on the Hawk Channel rock piles. The bigger Spanish are moving in close in the Bay. Along with the Spanish we have been getting some very nice mangroves and a grouper here and there. With the cold front, the big King Mackerel are harder to find and the Cobia are playing hide and seek. I know they are out there, just have to find were they relocated.

The sailfish are off the reef, but you may have to run a ways to the west to get into them hot and heavy. Once things stabilize after the light front we had yesterday, they may pop up closer to Sombrero Key Light. I don't have a tuna report because of the wind. A few dolphin have come to the docks for the few that have tried getting out a little deeper.

For the flats guys, bonefishing has dropped off, but permit and a few tarpon are filling the gap.

Got to run. Tight lines,
Enjoy some Marathon Heart of the Florida Keys Fishing

captain dallas

Shark Fishing!

I don't have a clue why, but lately all i am getting is shark fishing trips. Don't get me wrong, shark fishing on light tackle is a ton of fun. Still five out of my last seven trips have been for sharks on light tackle.

We have been averaging fifteen hook ups per day on the sharks, plus a variety of other fish. Two of the last three trips have produced keeper grouper. Not that that is stellar grouper fishing, but it ain't a bad by-catch for shark fishing trips in the Bay. Quite a few nice mangrove snapper, a few yellowtail snapper, a variety of jacks and tons of Spanish mackerel round out the by-catch on most trips.

The sharks brought to the boat are mainly browns in the 30 to 50 pound range with a few lemons and blacktips mixed in just for fun. Several large bull sharks have been hooked up. On 12 pound test most of these mercifully broke off. It can take a long time to wear out a 300 pound shark with a 12 pound spinning rod.

The reef is loaded with bait! Once the wind shifts to the Northeast and stays there, the action for big mangroves, yellowtails and a few muttons and grouper should be good for the meat fishermen. The sailfish and king mackerel are here waiting for the wind to change. Near shore drift fishing will really heat up here when this front slides through.

Fishing isn't the hottest I have seen for this time of year, but is pretty good.

Tight lines,
Enjoy some Marathon Heart of the Florida Keys Fishing

captdallas