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.