Fishing the Keys

pschuler

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2006
616
3
MD
Time of the year? The mini lobster season is coming up in late July if you're into bagging lobster. In the summer it will probably be dolphin and wahoo if you're trolling. Otherwise like above (grouper, snapper, barracuda, hog fish, sharks).
 

pschuler

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2006
616
3
MD
Generally speaking, we run 4-6 lines when trolling for dolphin, tuna and the occasional sailfish up here. A combination of birds, ballyhoo, teaser bar and plugs. Throw chum at anything you see floating and see if you can get the fish rising, we've pulled a dozen dolphin off a paper plate we saw floating. We'll leave a fish in the water close to the boat until we get hooked up on another and then we'll pull that one out. Some buddies of mine in NC will actually jump over with their spearguns and clean up on dolphin when they find objects floating in the water. Nice thing about the keys is you can work your way up the food chain from bait fish to trophies.
 

pschuler

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2006
616
3
MD
I'll be down there in mid July. I'll see if I can find some additional info for you. Thehulltruth.com is a good site to find info on too.
 

pschuler

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2006
616
3
MD
If you find something floating off shore there is a good chance there will be fish using it for shade. If you just throw a paper plate in the water I don't think that will work but I haven't tried that.
 
Jan 3, 2005
11,745
70
On Kennith's private island
So I bought a pair of Penn Battle II 6000 rod/reels. Seems like an all-around good sized rod for what's biting that time of year. Should I buy another rod slightly bigger as well? We'll probably find ourselves at the Hump a day or two....
 

pschuler

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2006
616
3
MD
My buddy runs the Penn 50's w/ 2 speed reels. I think those spinning setups should be fine unless you get something like a Marlin on the line. You could probably rent some heavy duty rods for trolling and run teasers on the lighter stuff. I'm itching to get off shore now.
 

DiscoPhoto

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2012
2,581
76
Vermont
True... but there must be some good flats fishing down there? I know the keys are well known for their tarpon fishing
 
Jan 25, 2010
3,544
4
your moms bed
Yes, tarpon fishing with a fly rod is very big down there. You see alot of guys standing on the bow of a 35' Bertram in 5' seas fly casting a 1pound piece of squid for tarpon.