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...
Maurice Y.
Lauderhill, FloridaReported 3 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.
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
Armando A.
Lehigh Acres, FloridaReported 3 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
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...
Maurice Y.
Lauderhill, FloridaReported 3 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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
We have been fishing lots of wrecks, reefs. and inshore water. Jumbo size yellowtail have been pretty consistent on big love pilchards, along with the occasional African pompano and yellow Jack. Some decent size muttons have started to move into patches and mangrove snappers too.
On the windy days we fished inshore and caught tarpon, snook, Goliath grouper and some nice sized mangrove snapper too.
We have been fishing lots of wrecks, reefs. and inshore water. Jumbo size yellowtail have been pretty consistent on big love pilchards, along with the occasional African pompano and yellow Jack. Some decent size muttons have started to move into patches and mangrove snappers too.
On the windy days we fished inshore and caught tarpon, snook, Goliath grouper and some nice sized mangrove snapper too.
Fishing is heating up in the backcountry. Water Temps are cool in the morning and warm up later in afternoon. The snook bite is good in the glades along with the redfish. Bonefish will be here and up on the flats feeding heavily on shrimp. Baby Tarpon on fly rod has been decent as well.
Fishing is heating up in the backcountry. Water Temps are cool in the morning and warm up later in afternoon. The snook bite is good in the glades along with the redfish. Bonefish will be here and up on the flats feeding heavily on shrimp. Baby Tarpon on fly rod has been decent as well.
Captain Larry took our Girls’ Trip ladies out for an afternoon cruise. We spent time leisurely snorkeling beautiful reefs then relaxing on the sand bar. The time went too quickly but we never felt rushed. Larry was very friendly and accommodating to our group.
Kevin was an amazing guide. He was very knowledgeable and provided easy step by step instruction instructions while fighting 2 - 5 foot lemon sharks in less than 1/2 hour before daylight faded. Both were unkooked boat side with great video and pictures. His boat is clean and organized making it safe and easy to move around the boat while battling a catch of a lifetime for 2 Wisconsinites. Thanks Kevin. See you soon.
John was a excellent captain me and my son had a wonderful time with him .I would highly recommend very knowledgeable of the area and went above and beyond .
We had an amazing time iguana hunting! There were thunderstorms in the distance when we arrived, and I honestly thought the trip would be canceled—but our guides, Wesley and Matt, knew exactly what they were doing. We never got a single drop of rain and they spotted way more iguanas than we ever would have on our own. The only thing I’d do differently is bring my own flashlight. They had plenty to share, but not enough for everyone to have one at the same time. Highly recommend this adventure!
Capt. Wesley was awesome!! It was our best experience from the whole trip (and we did a variety of charters). He was very professional and helpful. Definitely a must do activity!!
Captain Billy B was exceptional. Worked very well with my two children and was very knowledgeable on the water. We caught plenty of fish and will definitely be back again
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