kayak fishing?

NSByak

Hope you guys can help out a little. My wife and I, a friend and his wife will be heading to the keys at the start of May. We will have the kayaks in tow and I am wondering where we may be able to use them to fish. Are there any good areas within paddle distance to some launches that we can hit? Would be looking for any kind of fish, but something we can eat for sure at some point.

I'd appreciate any tips or locations that might get us on some action.

CaptBill

Where are you staying? Lot of good meals not too far out.

razorreilly09

lower keys big pine-ramrod area. Study Google earth, lots of protected and low pressured waters that are in reach from the highway via kayak.

NSByak

We will be staying in the middle keys but willing to five to find some fish. Really want to get on some permit if anyone has some tips to find them. Friend is wanting to find some hog fish too. appreciate any help, we are still new to fishing down there, though my Buddie has done some spear fishing there in the past.

Got TA Go

Lots of hogs to spear...and by then you'll also have Grouper to spear. Short paddle...watch for sharks. BIG Hammers and Bulls here at that time. :wink

Rob

NSByak

Just thought I'd bump this right before our trip. Thanks for any tips, we want to make the most of our trip

Tim MacMich

Well -- in the Marathon area you can kayak in /around sisters creek -- I would launch from Marathon Beach... at the mouth of the creek you can catch snapper, cuda's, jacks, even tarpon this time of year...from the mouth of sisters creek you can head back and to the West where it heads towards Boot Key Harbor...that would be at least a couple mile paddle and would take a couple hours ....check the tide table so you know which way will be more difficult -- not sure you want to paddle into the tide on the way back :wink

If you can time it with a high tide maybe a few hours before sunset that would be ideal -- or early in the morning....

There are also some flats just to the west of Somebrero beach you could hit depending on the tide (high tide would be better)

kempshark

There are probably a lot more backcountry areas you can reach by kayak in the Lower Keys than at Marathon. There are some decent areas within a fairly short paddle from Big Pine, Cudjoe, Geiger, and other launch locations in the Lower Keys. Plus, you might have a better chance of running across some permit down there.

I've chased permit and searched for bones out of the yaks, but I enjoy fishing for cuda and (believe it or not) fishing a little deeper for snapper and grouper. I've found some spots in the Lower Keys (sorry, can't give away exact locations) where I can catch legal size yellowtail snapper, mangrove snapper, mutton snapper, and red grouper in only 6-15 feet of water well accessible by kayak........and I normally catch all those on artificials such as the DOA Terroreyez........bones and permit (and tarpon) are the glamor species, but they can be a real pain in a kayak. I've been frustrated by permit before that were tailing and feeding upcurrent.....and I couldn't paddle fast enough to keep up!!