Family Fishing Options
As summer winds down and the beginning of another school year looms, Marathon and the Florida Keys are filled with families taking some quality vacation time together.
There’s no better activity than fishing for family members to reconnect with each other. Nothing beats a day on the water without electronic interruptions – TV, computer, cell phone, video games.
A little friendly competition adds to the experience. SeaSquared Charters can set up your own mini-tournament. Who caught the first fish? The biggest? The most? The strangest?
An excellent option for family fun fishing is a trip to the reef or Florida Bay.
Snapper of all variety – yellowtail, mangrove, mutton, and lane – are plentiful on the reef and offer endless rod-bending action with tasty rewards. A bonus black or red grouper may make it into the fish box also.
On a breezy day, we head to the calmer waters in Florida Bay for action-packed mangrove snapper fishing. Incredibly hard-fighting fish for their size, mangroves are superior table fare.
Shark Week
Since it’s Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, shallow-water catch-and-release shark fishing in Florida Bay comes to mind as another family-friendly option. This fishing offers an eco twist as it allows anglers to observe sharks interacting with each other in their natural environment.
Yet another option – now that the winds have died down this week, anglers are able to get offshore once again.
Dolphin are being caught with regularity in the Middle Keys on the wall where the water drops from 900 to 2,000 feet. The majority of the fish have been good size keepers and gaffers with some weighing in at the high teens and low 20’s.
Lobster Season
While conditions made for some tough lobster-catching during the Mini Season last week, those who had success report there are more and larger lobster this year than in recent memory.
Regular lobster season opens August 6, meaning both commercial and recreational harvesting of lobster is permitted. Bug-hunting, as we locals call it, is another great family activity.
Exercise caution while diving for lobster. Have your dive flag displayed, be observant of other boats and divers and please adhere to the regulations regarding size and bag limits.
Cook Your Catch
While it’s certainly a blast to catch a bunch of fish or lobster, it’s a ton of fun when you get to eat them too. After a day of fishing, reward yourself with a cook-your-catch family dinner at any of the fine restaurants in Marathon.
Be sure to celebrate the winners of your mini-tournament!
The week’s best catches
Families and friends from New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Connecticut and even Canada fished on the SeaSquared this week.
They caught lots of delicious snapper to enjoy cook-your-catch at Marathon’s fine restaurants.
Two groups also enjoyed catch-and-release shark fishing. Quite appropriate for Shark Week!
Click here to read all the reports. Click on the links for more information and pictures.
Until next week … tight lines!
Capt. Chris and Christy Johnson SeaSquared Charters Marathon Florida Keys 305-743-5305 SeaSquared@bellsouth.netClick to be redirected to our handy CONTACT FORM …
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