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Kudu

Learning the salt and the keys

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I'm Kentucky born and bred. I've fished the salt on vacations and with a guide. I just purchased a condo in Key Largo and will frequent there regularly and plan on buying a fishing bay boat. I want to learn the area safely. Boated my whole life but know this is different entirely. What resources should I consult, etc?

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Haha welcome to my world! I didn't quite understand if you meant like what things you should know about boating here and regs and all that or good places to visit and whatnot. Let's get into greater detail, really wanna help you out since I am literally 30 minutes from Key Largo.

 

Flats

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Start by dowloading some NOAA charts and look at Google Earth to get a feel for the area, depths, etc.

Saltwatertides.com or similar for tide predictions.

Lots of sunscreen and mosquito repellent.

You are going to get the best advice from locals like Capt. Bob Lemay in this forum.

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Everything. After I recover from next months back surgery I'll try and hook up with the good captain as we'll as others. I'll check out that site.

Thanks

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Lots of sunscreen and mosquito repellent.

I don't worry about mosquito repellent ... but I won't ever have kids, so no small headed creatures for me.

 

BUT ... Even if you spend hours and hours in the sun back home in Kentucky ... Florida sun is completely different.

I can get to the point where I can be outside for two hours without sunscreen. Then I spend one or two weeks up North, and I have to lather up immediately upon my return. Do NOT believe that your tan from up North will protect you when you get to Florida.

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Ok so it sounds like you have a lot of time to figure this out. What kind of fishing will you mostly be doing(offshore,mangroves,flats,etc). And it depends on the season of course. Try to just take the boat around and try to find some secluded areas before you actually go fishing. And make sure to get saltwater hooks, those freshwater hooks won't last a day

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And yeah I'm used to the heat, but you Northerner might want a buff, hat, long sleeve shirt, pants, and sunglasses. Bring light colored clothes,and a good attitude. Have fun and go with the flow

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Lol. First Kentucky is not up north. Sunscreen I agree. I've travelled fairly extensively Florida sun mild compared to the Baja, Death Valley, and the Kalahari but I appreciate the concern. Second, I'm more interested in boating safely, finding fish, etc. I've fished many times in the salt Florida, Georgia, Mexico and so forth but I'm wanting to know methods, learning tides etc.

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Ah ... can't help you there, as I only fish fresh water.

And to those of us residing in Florida ... Kentucky IS "up North".

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Ok, so you are going to have to do some research. Good news is we don't have drastic tides like you will find in Alaska. Don't ever ever ever go fishing when it's lobster mini season, you will regret it.

 

And what kind of boat are you getting, you have to take that into account for some areas

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I'm Kentucky born and bred. I've fished the salt on vacations and with a guide. I just purchased a condo in Key Largo and will frequent there regularly and plan on buying a fishing bay boat. I want to learn the area safely. Boated my whole life but know this is different entirely. What resources should I consult, etc?

Buy the satellite charts and study. Drive around slowly and learn the waters, and respect all boats on the water. Never run your boat in skinny water, and ruin the bottom or scare the fish. Hire local guides, and don't tell them that you are buying a boat and intend on fishing there by yourself, or they won't take you to the good spots.

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By "the bottom" he means the seagrass beds. Many people here will not care, and will actually be happy, if you ruin your hull by running it in skinny water.

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Mike

Geographically I agree, culturally no! Permit Capt I had already planned to do that. I have been behind the wheels of a boat since I was seven (46 now).

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Hey Kudu, so yeah first thing you want to get a bunch of charts and try to learn them. Since you have a bay boat I am betting that you will have some nice HP and modern tech. Sooo look up some reefs and wrecks, I'll be nice and tell you some good areas, the marathon hump during the fall is prime time for top water blackfin tuna, and also during the summer you can go offshore (here it only takes 15 minutes and your in hundreds of feet of water) and look for weed lines,birds, and floating debris and under that you will find schoolie dolphin with usually a big bull and cow in there as well(talk about fun).

 

Now inshore, your probably after bonefish,permit,and tarpon right? But don't expect to encounter those consistently. Meaning, have a plan B. Barracuda, snapper, snook, even sharks are all plentiful, especially sharks. Those are great fun, usually "easy" to find, except snook, and put up great fights!

 

I would ask Capt Bob to help you on the actual boating part because he is on a boat quite a bit, also he is way more knowledgeable than I will ever be, plus he's a really cool guy!!

 

Flats

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