Marathon Fishing in July

Perchguy

I will be in Marathon from June 28-July 12 with my wife and 3 kids (15, 12, 10) and will be renting a 22' CC. I have been there several times in April and have done fairly well chumming on the reef and hitting Sprigger Bank or the Steel Pile on the Bay side when the wind kicks up but have never been there mid summer. From my research on the forum, it sounds like the reef fishing will be fairly similar with the exception of a night bite for the spawning Mangos (our rental agreement wont allow us to night fish :nono). My question would be what to expect on the Bay side at that time of year. My plan will be to fish the reef as much as possible but need a back up plan for when the wind blows. We are staying on an ocean side canal near Vaca cut. Since I am fishing with my kids, I am not real concerned what type of fish we catch, just something to put a good bend in the rod.

Klinger

I usually drift a jig tipped with cut bait or a gulp in the murky water south of Schooner Bank over to Sprigger Bank on 10-12# tackle. Will keep the kids happy and usually more than you can eat.

Took these in about 2 hours towards the end of August & had to throw back about 10 legal Mangroves trying to catch a few more trout.
[IMG][/img]

piner_wahoo

sharks mackerel trout cuda around bamboo bank

BD27

??? will they allow you to use the boat on the gulf side ? Most down where I'm at won't.

Perchguy

Yep, no problem on my agreement going Gulf side. I have rented this boat several times. The only limit they have is that I can't take it out after dark and there is some limit for miles off shore but my kids have no patience for trolling so the offshore limit is not a factor for me.

Perchguy

Do people use popping corks much around here? I was at Panama City Beach last year and that is a pretty common way to fish there but I don't hear it mentioned too much in the Keys forum.

Klinger

I've never used one, but I'm sure they would work. Probably catch more trout with a cork.

BD27

Perchguy wrote: »

Do people use popping corks much around here? I was at Panama City Beach last year and that is a pretty common way to fish there but I don't hear it mentioned too much in the Keys forum.

I'm sure people do, I personally wouldn't because the water is so clear. I might would try the smaller cigar shaped floats that have the plastic beads that look like jumping jacks on them over a popping cork. They are more stealthy and add a little "click" . The only time that I will use a popping cork is if I am targeting cobia with live pinfish. If you can see the cobia and he doesn't want to take the bait you can use the popping cork that attaches to the line with the big chugger top. Throw it past him and give it a couple of good chugs. They will crush that pinfish