Fishing the Florida Keys the Past Week

I have been booked all week and the wind has been blowing enough to make it uncomfortable if you head out to the reef or beyond. This is why I make the big bucks. It can be blowing over 20 knots and I can still find a place to fish and most often fish to bite.

That doesn't mean you catch fish from start to finish. You have to deal with a little slow bite until you get the right current. Wind against the current is tough fishing. That is the time to forget the chum and fish the bottom. The bite is slow but you do catch a few fish waiting for things to get right.

Another thing to remember is when the bite is slow the fish may be finicky. We lost more good fish this week by customers getting anxious and pulling baits out of the fish mouths. Many species, Mangroves in particular, will pick up a bait on a slow day and just hold it in their mouth. If you try to set the hook you just pull your bait off. A slow bite is a great time to set your rod in a rod holder. The rod holder has the patience of Job. It doesn't fiddle fart around trying to feel a bite and prematurely try to set the hook.

The guys that listened to me this week had nice fish dinners and some fun with a few big fish. The guys that didn't listen are probably talking bad about me. (Not really, they realized they had shots.) But that is the thing when fishing is slow, you take advantage of your shots and it is a good trip. You don't and it is not.

We did have a few days that it was not that rough and we could have kicked some fish butt. This is a great time for me to give y'all a couple of reminders:

1. If you think you are going to get seasick you will. Take regular Dramamine the night before and one in the morning to ward off Mal de Mer.

2. Upgrading to a larger boat is a good idea if you can. For Pips customers I recommend upgrading because of the bigger live wells and smoother ride. If you bring your own boat down you can't upgrade your boat. You can change your tactics. Between the bridges, lee side of the islands and lee side of flats, there is plenty of fishing.

This week in the smaller boats and bigger boats with greener crews, we caught keeper Red Grouper, Hogfish, Mangrove Snapper, Lane Snapper and Mutton Snapper plus a variety of jacks, sharks other critters. Not a chamber of commerce kinda catch, but my customers had pretty big smiles and a tasty dinner.

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

Photo Tour of the Florida Keys Boat Ramps

Okay, I have been busy fishing and getting tiki prices together and a few other things. Because of that my post are a little behind. Doc, has started a photographic Tour of the boat ramps here in the Keys. As he and I get time we are going to build a blog and later a book of the launch facilities available.

Right now I want to turn you trailer boaters on to the photos library. Details like directions, parking limitations and other stuff will be down the road. As soon as I get a day or two free I will build the blog and start writing.

For now here is the link to the photos. Some are pretty funny if you were planning to using the ramp.

Here's the link:

This is the link to the Boat Ramps of Monroe County where we are building the ramp guide. It is under construction so there will be changes and additions.

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