Replies

• Permit Rat Posts: 2,283 Captain

  July 2011 #2

  Check out Anne's Beach and Bahia Honda State Park and you won't need a kayak for either. More important is to be there at first light to avoid the crowds and hope for a low incoming tide, to help with a cooler water temperature. You can also return, at about 1 hour before sunset if there is a low tide then and the crowds have gone. Don't forget wading shoes.

  .......Rick

  0 · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
• Idlewilde Posts: 1,357 Officer

  July 2011 #3

  Marathon is a tough call for bonefish - I've never found a good place there, but as you have surmised, there are lots of areas around Big Pine and surrounding areas.
  
  Anne's Beach is a long way from Marathon? To fish the grassy flat on the outer side of Anne's Beach you need a kayak as it is not wadeable, and there are more bf on that flat than you will find on the clear sand & that flat would be best at low tide in a yak as it is a fairly deep flat. At first light before the family's get there & start splashing around, I have seen baby tarpon under the mangroves along Anne's. Anne's Beach & its parking lots is also a known meeting place for queers in the upper Keys, so keep that in mind.
  
  The beach along the Long Key State Park is an excellent beach to wade at low tide, but it is best at dusk (1 hr before sunset to 1/2 hr after) because of all the campers and their families running back and forth in the shallow water - plus in the late afternoon you have the sun at your back when walking the beach. It is also best on a low tide if you can plan that. I've caught several 10 lb+ bf wading that flat, and there are permit in the deeper water there (deeper = 4-6 ft). Hint: if you also spin fish, you can pick up small size blue or cigar crabs right at your feet if you look carefully - that's what the bf are looking for, and they will come right up on the beach at dusk looking for them as long as there is no one splashing around in the water!

  0 · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
• FS Jeff Posts: 376 Moderator

  August 2011 #4

  We've actually had some pretty good bonefish reports from Marathon in the last few years. Doesn't get as much press because there are fewer guides and fewer shoreline access points... which can actually work in your favor. I haven't tried it myself, but there's a flat off Grassy Key said to hold bonefish within shouting distance of the dock at Rainbow Bend Resort (www.rainbowbend.com). Don't know where you're staying, but the resort also has a classy white tablecloth restaurant upstairs, the Hideaway Cafe... if you stopped by for supper, maybe you could talk your way into launching your yak there for a few hours? Just an idea.
  
  Generally low incoming would be the best time to investigate a potential flat.
  
  Let us know what you find.

  Jeff Weakley

  0 · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
• Bw510 Posts: 20 Greenhorn

  August 2011 #5

  Thanks for the help.
  I'd be happy with a shot..and hooking up would be the icing on the cake.
  Any suggestions on flys and also you all mentioned sunrise and sunset, will I be looking for tails and wakes or will they be visible with the sun so low?

  0 · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
• kbkeys Posts: 691 Officer

  August 2011 #6

  you can yak to a productive flat just south of vaca cut,oceanside. have fun

  0 · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
• Jack Hexter New Port RicheyPosts: 5,510 Moderator

  August 2011 #7

  High School Flat isn't too bad for bones, and on thr right tied(s), you can also find permit & poons

  0 · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
• action88 Posts: 197 Officer

  August 2011 #8

  Idlewilde wrote: »

  . Anne's Beach & its parking lots is also a known meeting place for queers in the upper Keys, so keep that in mind.
  
  !

  
  now thats just funny right der, I dont car who u r thats funny..

  [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  Capt Brian Gwilliam
  
  www.fishingislamoradaflorida.com

  0 · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
• JoeBC Posts: 608 Officer

  August 2011 #9

  action88 wrote: »

  now thats just funny right der, I dont car who u r thats funny..

  
  not funny haha...

  0 · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook