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You’ll find Islamorada in the Florida Keys, a long strip of paradise that attracts anglers from all over the world. Now to be fair, Islamorada’s fishing charters span the length of the Keys, including towns like Marathon, Duck Key, and Key Largo.
What they share in common are a combination of some of the best fishing locations you’ll ever find and charter captains with local knowledge that just can’t be beat!
Islamorada’s fishing charters offer opportunities without equal. Mahi-mahi, tuna, sailfish? They’ve got you covered. Snook, reds, tarpon? That, too. Wahoo, swordfish, snapper, and marlin? Yes--that and more!
Whether inshore excitement stirs your blood or the lure of deep water gets your heart pounding, Islamorada offers legendary fishing year-round.
The Keys are a coral cay archipelago, and each island is surrounded by a large, shallow flat teeming with fish.
Snook and reds come into these areas looking for an easy meal, and you won’t need to go far to find them. Every island offers fishing charters, and any captain will be delighted to put you on inshore fish nearby.
Shallow warm water teeming with life, the Tavernier Key Reefs are an ideal spot to catch snapper, grouper, mackerel, barracuda, jacks, cobia, and sharks.
A touch over five miles from shore, these reefs make an ideal morning adventure for anglers who can’t devote an entire day to a charter but who still want their share of the excitement.
Roughly 28 miles west of Key West, you’ll find an atoll surrounded by shallow flats and ringed by wrecks and rock piles. An ideal habitat for a stunning variety of prey items, the Marquesa Keys combine the best of both shallow- and deep-water angling.
On the flats, you’ll find tarpon, permit, bonefish--and the sharks that chase them. In deeper water over the rock piles and wrecks, the fishing for cobia, grouper, and snapper is legendary.
Working the bottom with live bait is the go-to method here, and it’s almost unimaginably productive!
Trips to the Marquesas Keys are typically all-day affairs, but on a fast boat, a morning trip is certainly possible.
The shallows around Sugarloaf Key are rightly famous for their barracuda, permit, bonefish, tarpon, and sharks, and since they’re in easy reach of dry land, you can pretty much choose how long you want your trip to be.
Whatever you decide, the fishing is simply fantastic!
Kemp and Bow Channel run alongside Cudjoe Key, offering access to flats and mangrove islands that hold startling numbers of grouper, permit, snapper, bonefish, tarpon, and jacks.
Often shielded from the wind, these are ideal locations for sight fishing.
18 to 25 feet deep, the water under the Bahia Honda Bridge is the deepest the region’s inshore action has to offer.
A choke-point for migrating tarpon, this is a prime location during their seasonal movement, but it also shouldn’t be overlooked for sheepshead and hammerheads!
Approximately 27 miles from Marathon, you’ll find an underwater mountain that creates an environment ideal for pelagic species to thrive.
Known as the West Hump by locals--there are more than one out here!--it’s simply one of the best places in the world to fish for blackfin tuna.
It can be crowded in peak season, but don’t worry! A good charter captain knows that there are quite a few humps nearby, and they all produce trophy fish.
Most fishing charters provide licenses, but if you want to venture out on your own, you’ll need to purchase a valid license. Regulations on bag and size limits apply, and your captain will keep you informed on those.
Some species can only be caught in certain seasons, but your charter captain will provide those details, too.
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