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Kinni

Florida Keys Recommendations

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I'm going to be heading to the Keys over spring break (week of March 13th) to get out of this frigid Wisconsin weather and I'm hoping for a little guidance. I'm going to be with my wife and two daughters and don't expect to have a ton of time to myself, but would sure like to wet a line for a little while I'm there. We're going to be staying 4 days in Islamorada then heading north to Melbourne for a few more days before heading back home to the frozen lakes of the Midwest.

 

If I keep my expectations low, could any of you recommend any flies or general areas to entertain myself for a few hours? I'm not necessarily needing to target anything in particular (I don't expect to hook into a tarpon or permit or anything like that). Could someone with mainly small stream trout experience hope to walk some flats areas and at least cast towards a bonefish or some other fish like that?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Dave

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The Atlantic side of Lower Matacumbe Key has a nice sandy beach with easy wading hard bottom flats. It heads west to a jetty by a marina and should have some bonefish around. Google up satellite images to see a few more areas just west as well. Once back up to Melbourne there is a lot of areas off U.S.1 to wade as well. Maybe the surf too if it's not blown up.

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Are you only looking to fly fish? If you are open to spinning gear, the area bridges there can be great fun, especially at night while your family is sleeping. The Marathon bridge is a great one but most of them there very good. As Salty said, up near Melbourne there are a lot of wading places off US1. I'm not that familiar with that area but a little to the south near Sebastian there are also some great wading spots along A1A (right along the beaches but on the lagoon side). There probably won't be many snook along the beaches unless you are near the inlets but you may get jack, bluefish, and mackerel at that time of year.

 

As a lifelong Florida native, one thing I have learned is that any access point to water you find is worth throwing a line at. You would be amazed at where fish, and sometimes BIG fish can show up. You will probably want to bring something more substantial than small stream gear if you want to fly fish the salt both for the larger-than-trout bugs you will want to throw and the fish you may encounter. What you guys call a big trout we call bait

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This is the area Salty mentioned. Ann's Beach is named in the map.

 

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You can see it is pretty shallow almost all the way to the channel. I found myself once on that flat in the middle of a frenzy of fleeing baitfish chased by a pack of jacks. Me without a rod, of course! But a sight to see anyways.

 

Another place is Pennekamp Reef Park. You can rent a canoe and follow the trails along the mangroves.

 

Good luck and I hope you have pictures to post after the trip.

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Anne's beach has no fishing signs posted all over which really bites. I would recommend taking the family out for some fishing and snorkeling with the folks at bamboo charters. It's a blast. I go down there several times a year and I've been with them a lot. I caught a 10lb tripletail last with them last month which is the best dinner guest I've ever had.

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Along most of the coast of Florida access is difficult. If you are not one of the chosen few with millions of $ to stake-out your piece of the pie, it is difficult, especially in the Keys. I lived and guided in the lower Keys for 10 years, and I always lamented the fact that there were so few opportunities for shore-bound anglers.

 

As Saltybum said, there is a flat along the highway in Lower Matecumbe that can be waded. If you can plan to be there, and be lucky enough to find low tide early in the morning or late afternoon, you may see bonefish on the incoming tide. Same for Long Key State Park further down the road. Of course blind-casting with a clouser minnow or other baitfish pattern might get you a bite from a plethora of species, especially barracudas or any number of jacks.

 

You MUST have polarized sunglasses, and anything lighter than an 8-wt would leave you going to a gun-fight with a knife.

 

Have fun, and let us know how you made out.

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I'll chime in here a bit as well.. As already noted most of the access to saltwater down in the Keys is difficult at best if you're on foot. One tactic I used years ago (when I prowled everywhere on foot when it was too windy for the tiny 12' dink I fished out of....) was to fish under bridges at the base of each bridge - tossing my flies towards the nearest piling (if I could reach them). For this sort of stuff you need a Clouser or other sinking baitfish pattern and a bit of patience (allow it to sink after a slightly up-current cast -then work it slowly near any pilings you can reach from shore...). For some real wading experience - Long Key State Park down past Islamorada is your best bet - but you'll have to have polarized glasses to see much at all (and might not see much other than the occasional 'cuda) -there are some very big bonefish, though, that do prowl that area out in around three feet of water (outside the areas where people wade...) so a sinking fly on a #4 hook (Charlie, or small crab pattern no bigger than a nickel your best bet) is a possibility. I've seen big bones there but rarely had much of a shot at them...

 

Almost forgot to add - some of the best "visitor fishing" is always at night at any place where there are docks with night lights (maybe even behind wherever you're staying...). Non-descript docks with nothing around them in daylight turn into fishing hotspots if there's lights (or even just one lonely light...) shining down into the water. Here you'll actually see fish swimming in and out of the light - all night long. We've always used small white flies at night (matter of fact I'm booked to do just that on Saturday and Sunday around Miami Beach - but we'll be in my skiff running from docklight to docklight, when we're not fishing in the shadows up under one bridge or other...). The best docklights will be over at least four feet of water in places where there's an active current... To fish one - stay as far away from it as possible then cast up-current and strip your shrimp or minnow pattern through the light -or along the edges of it so that it looks like forage moving by that's been attracted to the lit up area - and hold on. Very possible to hook fish (snook or tarpon, mostly) that will make a 9wt feel... inadequate... If you can see big fish working a light, late at night, make sure to use a bit of bite tippet (minimum 30lb... we use 40lb at the end of your leader to give you a chance if you hook up...).

 

Lastly up along any of the beaches near Melbourne you do have an opportunity to fish the surf (very little surf most days...) at dawn or dusk. For that kind of fishing, small minnow patterns rule (less than 1/0 hooks, mostly in white or similar bait fish colors). Don't even think about casting straight out from the sand - instead make your casts at a 45 degree angle to the sand and remember the fish you're hunting are right close to the beach (that first zone where you can no longer see bottom -that close...). Snook, jacks, blue runners, and other species work that zone continuously (if there's any groins or rocks along the beach make them a special target... As already noted an 8wt is relatively light gear for fishing on foot - a better choice would be a 9wt for that first foray...

 

By the way, although most want to target the salt on their first time bringing their freshwater fly fishing gear... every canal and roadside ditch anywhere in the state holds fish - and many have some great surprises (freshwater canals that also hold snook or tarpon along with big bass and a variety of exotics like cichlids (oscars), etc. around Miami every canal also holds peacock bass...). I'd make a point of looking for spots where two canals come together or places where culverts allow waters to flow from one side of the road to the other.... Find any spot in a canal with water flowing into it and you're probably found a fishing spot...

 

Hope this helps. I can remember, years ago, with my family staying at some motel along a beach - getting up before dawn to hit the beaches for an hour or two on foot - then back to the motel - before any of them were awake. Great memories... Or at any waterfront motel with a good dock for nightfishing... I'd be out there between midnight and dawn - with that dock all to myself...

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Wow! Thank you all so much for the tips! I do plan to use an 8 weight. I fish a little steelhead in northern Wisconsin, so I figured that should also work down there. I'll leave my 3 weight at home... :-) I've got a bunch of Clouser Minnows already tied up, so that's a start...

 

I was already planning to look into Long Key State Park and Bahia Honda (another good option?). You guys have suggested some other great places as well so depending where our days lead us, I now know there's options to consider.

 

We are staying at the Postcard Inn and I know a lot of outfitters are based right there. It looks like Bamboo Charters has a connection with Postcard too, so that might just have to happen. My youngest daughter (13 years old) has some amount of interest joining me to fish, but my oldest (17 years old) and my wife (age NOT to be shared) don't really have much interest - they'd rather sit pool side or their preference would be a spa day (might have to concede on that one, if I get my opportunity to fish). From the sounds of things, I might have a great option to night fish right outside our hotel - that would be perfect! Might even be able to get at least my youngest out to join me. Fingers crossed...

 

Thanks again - I really appreciate the help!

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Bamboo is at Anglers House Marina. Capt Matt does the Keys fishing report on the radio at noon. If you can get away from the kids for an hour or two take your wife to the Cheeca lodge for cocktails. Lazy Days in Islamorada is an off the hook restaraunt with a beautiful view. They do hook n cook or they have their own fish if it is a day they don't bite. I wholly recommend the catch of the day jalapeño encrusted super lazy style. Unbelievable! Fla Keys Brewery is a small microbrewery in Islamorada. It's in the art area. Good beer. Pelican poop is a stout with oysters in it which sounds gross but isn't! Have fun!

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Long Key State Park provides great access. That's where I got my first bonefish!

 

When you're in Islamorada, check out Robbie's. You can hand feed tarpon right from their docks.

 

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The southern tip of Long Key (near the bridge) holds some barracuda as well. They aren't as plentiful as they once were, but, are easy to fool and a lot of fun to catch!

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Well, I did keep my expectations in check, I did get out for about as long as I really expected and did not get into any fish on the flats.

 

I was really hoping that Long Key State Park was going to be my best opportunity to convince my girls to hit the beaches and allow me to fish a bit, but alas, Bahia Honda won out based on Pinterest pictures my daughters discovered. Again, this was much more of a family vacation with a little fishing thrown in for my entertainment purposes, so we didn't get going early enough to hit the incoming tide in the morning at 6am. Instead, we arrived around the crack of 10:00 so I fished the high tide time period. Obviously not the ideal time to be out, but I was able to wet a line for a few hours, saw a couple of rays and chatted with a few other fishermen that had the same luck as I had.

 

After dropping the girls off at the hotel one evening, they wanted to hit the gift shop and lounge around, so I headed south to Anne's Beach for an hour or so. I broke my line off on something there but couldn't figure out for sure what it might have been. I had heard a few guys commenting that come dark, being out in the water is not the best place to be due to sharks moving in. I wasn't necessarily scared, but the sun was going down and I didn't feel like tying on another fly, so I decided to call it a day and headed back to shore... If there were no fishing signs around Anne's beach as Kudu mentioned, I must have totally missed them.

 

We did get to Robbie's to feed the tarpon and also stopped at Islamorada Fish Company and saw the tarpon there as well. They're huge! We made a day trip down to Key West and spent some relaxing time around the Postcard Inn where we stayed.

 

Once we got to Melbourne, I did take a half day party boat out of Port Canaveral with my wife's uncle and my youngest daughter. We caught a few Red Snapper, Mother-In-Law fish and my daughter caught a Red Drum. Unfortunately, we were not able to keep anything for dinner, but did have a good time. One guy on the boat landed a 4-5 foot lemon shark and another guy hooked into a nice sized ray that tanged into a bunch of lines.

 

Overall, a great vacation and now I'm able to say that I've fly fished the flats of the Keys and will certainly look forward to the next opportunity to get down there and try it again.

 

Thanks once again to everyone with the tips and recommendations!

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kinni, thanks for the report, very entertaining and interesting for those of us, still stuck in a cold climate for a few more weeks.

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Good to hear you had some good family time. Also good to hear you got some fishing in. Sympathies with the lack of hook sets, but that's just the way the tide flows.

 

Thanks for the narrative.

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Next up is some small stream fishing much closer to home (right behind my house for one spot...) and I'm going to try and get up to the Brule River for lake run steelhead. I've fished them up there in the fall, but never in the spring. Season just opened for them and from what I've heard, the river was packed full of fishermen and at least a few fish were caught. Hope to post in the cold-water section on some successes there...

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