Outdoor Recreation Resources

The Florida Keys, that magical part of the USA that’s nearer to Cuba than the US mainland has oceans on all sides and fish galore. Keys such as Islamorada have built an enviable reputation for world-class fishing but for many years now Key West has held the reputation of being simply the best sport fishing location in North America because of the vast selection of species swimming around the island. Fishing in Key West, Florida attracts anglers from all over the world and for very good reasons.

The inshore fishing around Key West includes fishing for tarpon, permit or sharks, the reef offers snapper and grouper and offshore there’s a whole host of species including dolphin, sailfish, wahoo, kingfish, tuna and cobia. With such a variety of species and with water on all sides you’ll be hard pressed to find an excuse for a bad day’s fishing whatever the weather gods can throw at you.

Although there are a number of offshore boats operating out of Key West, our first love is light tackle fishing. If you’re not a keen angler you will be asking what I’m talking about, so let’s start with a quick explanation. An offshore boat is larger with a greater degree of luxury which might include a large air conditioned lounge and full bathrooms. They motor around the ocean towing a variety of baits behind the boat and once a fish hooks itself the designated fisher sits in a fighting chair to play the hooked fish to the boat. A light tackle boat is quite a bit smaller, normally around 26 – 30 ft long, with no accomodation and an open deck. Typically powered by a pair of powerful outboard motors, they roar around at impressive speeds which allows them to reach fishing spots many miles from the harbor at Key West. Each person on the boat is armed with a rod and reel, and when a fish bites it is up to the angler to strike and reel in the fish unaided. The offshore captains will normally operate in water at least 200 feet deep whereas the light tackle boats are much more versatile operating in water anything between 20 ft deep for sharks around the harbour to 200 ft deep offshore whilst searching for sailfish.

You don’t have to be an expert angler to fish from a light tackle boat, the captains enjoy nothing better than seeing somebody catch their very first fish. All of the skippers are very helpful and they’ll all do their best to ensure that you have a great fishing experience, and maybe a fish or two to have prepared at one of the local seafood restaurants. All of the boats have a large selection of top quality tackle for you to use if you don’t have your own gear. All that’s required from you for a great day’s fishing is sunscreen, sunglasses a hat and your food and drink for the day.

Planned future articles will describe in greater detail a day fishing for grouper, tuna, sailfish or tarpon, but for the time being we’d urge you to book a trip and catch some of our wonderful fish.