Layton Key Fishing Reports (December 2025)

Tony Young with Forever Young Charter Company
Key Largo, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Mutton fishing has been good off the upper keys with the cooler water temps, sailfish season is in full swing as well.

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Tony Young with Forever Young Charter Company Key Largo, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Mutton fishing has been good off the upper keys with the cooler water temps, sailfish season is in full swing as well.

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Brad Picariello
Marathon, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

A great day aboard. The little migratory fish are here on the reef in Marathon Fl. The fish are little guys but a lot of fun. At one time we had over 12 fish behind the boat, an incredible sight. They are up on the reef in 20 to 30'...

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Brad Picariello Marathon, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

A great day aboard. The little migratory fish are here on the reef in Marathon Fl. The fish are little guys but a lot of fun. At one time we had over 12 fish behind the boat, an incredible sight. They are up on the reef in 20 to 30' of water pushing bait- mostly ballyhoo. To see this happen is amazing even to me doing it for 40 years. What a great time for my customers and crew. Also the bottom bite is off the scale. Yellow tail snapper, mutton snapper, king fish, and many other species. Time to come on down here for dinner and a show. Don't forget the sailfish are all catch and release but as much dinner as you want otherwise!

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Maurice Young
Lauderhill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Key Largo to Marathon Mid January 2023 Happy New Years to all from our wonderful Hawks Cay Resort location. Fishing over the holidays up till now has been spectacular in the Florida Keys, between Key Largo & Marathon. Just about everything is biting now on the reef / wrecks &...

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Maurice Young Lauderhill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Key Largo to Marathon Mid January 2023
Happy New Years to all from our wonderful Hawks Cay Resort location. Fishing over the holidays up till now has been spectacular in the Florida Keys, between Key Largo & Marathon. Just about everything is biting now on the reef / wrecks & offshore. The predominant bite offshore has been sailfish, wahoo, king mackerel & mahi-mahi or dolphin fish as we like to call them. Uncharacteristically for this time of year, we’ve been slamming the dolphins offshore between 120 feet - 300 feet while trolling wrecks looking for wahoo. For whatever reason they are showing up, I’m totally happy about it.
The sailfish are here! They are around in good numbers between 100 - 180 feet & we’ve been getting multiple releases a day. Most of them have been caught either kite fishing, slow trolling live bait or pitching live ballyhoo at bait showers. The king mackerel have been caught in the same manner as the sailfish.
Like I said on my last report, it’s wahoo fishing time & onboard the Ace of Spades we’ve been catching them. Then bite has been up / down the outer edge of the reef & around the deep water wrecks between 115 feet - 250 feet of water. Trolling Normad plugs around 9 knots, high speed trolling lures with various size trolling weights & live bait fishing has been working for us.
On the reefs & wrecks, the Yellowtail snapper / mutton bite has still been consistent on the reefs between 45- 90 feet of water. This is also the best time of year for patch reef fishing.

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Don Reichert
Islamorada, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Big Mahi today and lots of snappers

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Don Reichert Islamorada, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Big Mahi today and lots of snappers

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Armando Alejo
Lehigh Acres, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

recently aboard, Ms Jeniffer picked up this bruiser of a #redfish at 8.5 lbs it’s a great catch for us in the #flamingoeverglades It was released to fight again

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Armando Alejo Lehigh Acres, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

recently aboard, Ms Jeniffer picked up this bruiser of a #redfish at 8.5 lbs it’s a great catch for us in the #flamingoeverglades It was released to fight again

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Maurice Young
Lauderhill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Fishing in the last couple of weeks has been outstanding in the Florida Keys, between Key Largo & Marathon. The water is cooling down & the bite is in full swing on the reef / wrecks & offshore. The predominant bite offshore has been sailfish & blackfin tunas. The sailfish...

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Maurice Young Lauderhill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Fishing in the last couple of weeks has been outstanding in the Florida Keys, between Key Largo & Marathon. The water is cooling down & the bite is in full swing on the reef / wrecks & offshore. The predominant bite offshore has been sailfish & blackfin tunas. The sailfish have finally been showing up in good numbers between 100 - 180 feet & it’s only going to continue to get better as we get deeper into the season. We’ve been catching most of them slow trolling live bait & pitching live ballyhoo at bait showers. The blackfins are still super thick on the humps & it’s been nothing but pure fun! We are catching them in just about every way possible from trolling feathers, to live bait pilchards, to slow pitch jigging the Mobster! ( Captain Maurice’s secret weapon- try them) It’s also wahoo fishing time & I’ve been hearing of a few being caught. We onboard the Ace of Spades will actively start fishing for those hard fighting, tasty torpedoes throughout the holidays, so hopefully I’ll have something good to report on the next fishing report.
On the reefs & wrecks, the Yellowtail snapper / mutton bite has still been consistent on the reefs between 45- 90 feet of water and on the deeper water wrecks in 100 plus feet. Also the Spanish, cero, & king mackerel bite has been insane on the patch reefs out to the deeper reefs.

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Tony Young with Forever Young Charter Company
Key Largo, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Hey David! We had some wind come in yesterday afternoon/today which clouded up the shallow patch reefs and made for some good fishing today. Water temp has dropped off to 78 degrees and we are starting to see a lot of our winter migratory fish!

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Tony Young with Forever Young Charter Company Key Largo, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Hey David! We had some wind come in yesterday afternoon/today which clouded up the shallow patch reefs and made for some good fishing today. Water temp has dropped off to 78 degrees and we are starting to see a lot of our winter migratory fish!

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Tony Young with Forever Young Charter Company
Key Largo, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

We had some wind come in yesterday afternoon/today which clouded up the shallow patch reefs and made for some good fishing today. Water temp has dropped off to 78 degrees and we are starting to see a lot of our winter migratory fish!

See Full Report & Photos >

Tony Young with Forever Young Charter Company Key Largo, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

We had some wind come in yesterday afternoon/today which clouded up the shallow patch reefs and made for some good fishing today. Water temp has dropped off to 78 degrees and we are starting to see a lot of our winter migratory fish!

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