Marathon, Florida Keys

Sailfish Showing up! Sailfish season is creeping up on the Florida Keys with November usually being the kickoff month for some hot action off of Marathon. Some good catches of Sails have already been reported in the past two weeks with some double header hookups also happening. The bite off of Marathon has been from the 7 mile bridge to the Long Key bridge in about 120-180ft. of water. Most sails have been taken on live baits and some have been caught by Dolphin fishermen trolling Ballyhoo. Best live baits have been Ballyhoo, Blue Runners, Pilchards, and Goggle Eyes. My neighbor, George Amato of Marathon reported a nice catch of Dolphin offshore the other day with some nice sized schoolies coming to George's cleaning table. Dolphin action has been in the 300-650ft range around floating debris and weed lines. Some nice Blackfin Tuna have also been showing up just off the reef in 300ft. of water under the frigate birds and our on the Marathon Hump 26 miles out to the SE. Reef Bite Excellent The Yellowtail Snapper action has been excellent lately with some up to 6lb taken off of Long Key bridge in 85ft of water and off of Key Colony Beach in 90ft. of water. Some nice Mutton Snapper have been showing up on the deeper wrecks along with some large Black Grouper and a few African Pompano. Big Barracuda have also moved in on a few wrecks and can give quite a surprise on a bottom rod as they come skyrocketing out of the water!! Some large Sharks have also been inhabiting the reef and wreck scene and can give any angle a giant battle on light tackle. Good luck in all of your fishing adventures! Capt. Bob Brown, Jr.