Inshore/Offshore Action In Marathon

Article Date: January 1994

Old hands at flats fishing know all too well that a high number of days are rendered virtually unfishable each winter in Florida by the passage of cold fronts. It's not just the coldish weather that hurts the fishing by "shocking" the bonefish off the flats. The wind associated with those fronts also roils the water and blows your flyline around. What makes all this so bad is the unpredictability of the fronts. Unless you are able to fish "on call," there is simply no way to be sure the flats will be fishable when you arrive.

The smart fly angler who comes to this region in winter, I think, should have a backup plan perhaps to spend a day in the rivers and backwaters of Flamingo or Chokoloskee, or in the relatively sheltered canals of The Everglades. Another intriguing possibility is what I call the inshore/offshore structure game the way it's played down in Marathon and elsewhere in the Keys. Actually, this game is not limited to winter/early spring alone. You can play it year round.

I got a good introduction to the game recently, thanks to Marathon's Jake Jordan president of STH Reels U.S.A., as well as a successful guide. Jake, it seems, has hired a local skipper to run his 25 foot Aqua Sport "Mean Marlene II" full time. Jake's real love and specialty is tarpon fishing aboard his Shipoke flats skiff "Mean Marlene III." Trips aboard the larger Aqua Sport were a sometimes thing, mostly when the weather was calm enough to reach various so called blue holes and other spots an hour or more away. Now, with enthusiastic young skipper Dan Strub (pronounced Stroob) aboard, the boat is poised to go any time and not just to far offshore spots.

The........(continued)

CONTACT DETAILS FOR COMPANIES/INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN ARTICLE (if any)

Vaughn Cochran, Sportfishing World Headquarter. 55 Sawyer Dr. Cudjoe Key, FL, 33042. Tel. 305-745-2425, 800-772-2715. Fax 305-745-2425

Captain Dan Strub. Tel. 305-743-3682

Jake Jordan, J. Js Fishing Adventures. PO Box 500937. Marathon, FL, 33050. Tel. 305-743-0501. Fax 305-743-5007