Sister Creek, Marathon?

[guanacay]

Has anyone ever fished Sister Creek in Marathon. We are staying on the creek the first week of May. We'll be about 3 docks down from the ocean. I was wondering how the fishing from the dock will be. Thanks.

[Alley Cat]

I will be in Marathon at that time but I do not know where Sister Creek is. We will be there with two boats so maybe we can get together.

Email: dghemp@aol.com

[guanacay]

Sister Creek goes from the ocean into Boot Key Harbor. It's right near Sombrero Beach.

It looks like there would be good water flow between the ocean and harbor and that fish would cruise through. Plus, the mangroves along the west side of the creek look like they could hold a lot of fish.

Where will you be staying?

[Alley Cat]

I will staying on a canal 85th st. ocean side right across from the airport. We will keep one boat tied up in the canal and the other on a trailer for Gulf side fishing or calm days on the Ocean side. This will be our second year at this location and last year the fishing was great. This is actually our third year on the keys and the fishing has completly spoiled me for my home region (the Chesapeake Bay) where most of the fishing is for stripers (poor performers compared to most of the species available in the Keys).

[guanacay]

We stayed very close to where you stay a few years ago. We were closer to Vaca Cut, but less than a mile east. We from our back door, we were looking at the ocean, over a huge flat. At low tide, some of it was exposed. Fishing was actually pretty good from our dock. We had about 20 yards of deep water between our sea wall and the flat and fish cruised up and down along the sea wall.

A 2nd boat for the Gulf? That sounds pretty cool. There were times that we stayed pretty far from the nearest pass and it took a long time to get from one body of water to the other.

Do you guys run over to Vaca Cut to hit the ocean or do you head out one of those dredged channels through the flat?

This year we will be about a mile from the 7 Mile Bridge so that's how we'll be getting to and from the Gulf. Most of our other trips have been closer to Vaca Cut.

Do you guys ever fish the Thunderbolt wreck? We've had a blast fishing there. It's 115 deep and there's usually a considerable current, so anchoring is tough. There's a mooring ball on it you can tie off to. Only problem is it's 15 feet under water. If we're the first boat there, I'll dive in with a rope and wrap it once around the cable, then back up to the bow cleat. Thatt way, I can just uncleat the tag end and pull it trough when I'm done. I don't want to dive back in after chumming for a few hours.

The dolphin should be running pretty good the week we're down. Hopefully they'll be close to the reef. I've caught them a mile from the reef some years and other years I never found them. Guys would be running 30 miles to find them and that wasn't worth it to me.

My in-laws use to live on the Chesapeake (Dames Quarter, Eastern Shore) so I use to fish the Chessie all the time. Rockfish and croakers don't can't fight nearly as well as some of those tropical speedsters down there.

[Alley Cat]

We have a dredged channel to get out to the ocean you really have to stay right on the markers though. Interesting information about the anchor ball. We have a windlass on the Grady but not sure we have the necessary line for 115 '
These trips are the high points of my year and I really look forward to getting there. Between the fishing and good friends times are good. The only thing I dread is hauling a boat 1200 miles.

Have you ever fished the back area out of Bahia Honda?

Please stay in touch sounds like you have much to share.

[guanacay]

We've towed the boat many times. And we've had it all. Trailer lights, bearings, tranny on the tow vehicle. All the while, we have two young kids with us. Talk about stress. 2007 was our last tow job. We started renting in 2008. It's expensive, but you figure the extra $400-500 in gas, it's not as bad as it seems. And we split it with my in-laws. Plus, the stress is a lot less and we make the trip in better time.

I never fished as far west as the Bahia back country when staying in Marathon. I fished Niles Channel a lot when staying on Summerland, but that's not practical from Marathon.

We try to spend as much time fishing out front as we can. We fish the Gulf when it's too windy to fish out front. We usually fish the banks. Mostly Bamboo Banks. We also like to fish the Steel Pile which is straight out from the airport, in the Gulf. It produces a lot of trash fish, but I have kids and they love catching a variery of stuff and a lot of it.

I'll be active on the Florida Keys post until we leave on April 29th as I'm pretty anxious to get down there.

Do you guys snorkel or scuba dive as well?

[Perchguy]

I will be there just ahead of you April 16-24 staying KCB. I will post how we do. Can't wait to get there, only 59 days, but who is counting.....

[guanacay]

Who's counting??? ME!

Here's our place for this year. Look at the website almost daily :)


http://www.marathonrental.com/poponea.htm

[shoot-straight]

plenty of good shore fishing to be had. go to the marathon side of vaca cut at night. there is EVERYTHING hiding in the shadows of the bridge lights. got my first tarpon there, on a fly rod... drift a live shrimp. you will catch.

by boat, go to any patch reef or bay wreck, throw in a full chum bag. catch fish till your armsa wear out.

[Alley Cat]

Who's counting??? ME!

Here's our place for this year. Look at the website almost daily :)


http://www.marathonrental.com/poponea.htm Nice!!!

[guanacay]

Let's see your place.

[reel determined]

I will be in islamorada the 20th through the 25th, I am from Ocean City area, flying down to Miami and driving the rest. I am looking forward to the fishing as well.

[Alley Cat]

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/8541.html[/URL]

[guanacay]

Nice. You're right at the ocean there.

[Alley Cat]

This years trip down will be a real adventure I will be towing a 19' Twin Vee from Baltimore with two friends to Atlanta area to pick up another passenger. We will stay over one day in Atlanta then drive to Stuart Fl. and drop off 1 passenger there (we may spend a night at his condo) we will then take two cars to Marathon and will arrive either the evening of 4/15 or noon 4/16. One party will be flying home to Baltimore after the first week and another will be returning to Stuart after the second week. Then we have two fresh bodies flying in from Balto. for the last two weeks. The trip home will be two people from Marathon to Stuart then three to Atlanta and two home from there to Baltimore. The Grady will be waiting for us in Marathon.

I know it sounds like a railroad schledule.

[Perchguy]

Man, that's a lot of logistics! I think you need to set up tracking numbers for everyone or else you might loose track of someone. I have this image of one of your buddies stuck at a bus stop for a couple of days waiting for you to pick him up!

[guanacay]

Alley Cat - Have you ever tried the alternate route instead of I-95 the whole way down? Head west over to 81 and take that to 77 and take 26 back over to I-95 down in South Carolina? You'll go through the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I always put it off because we'd have to head west and back east again. My wife kept on me to try it. I didn't want to add another 90 miles on to the trip. But, after a few times of sitting in I-95 traffic, I decided to give it a try. It ended up taking the same amount of time as I-95 with traffic and a much nicer ride.

It might be hard to justify since you're so close to I-95. But, Washington DC, Fredericksburg VA and that stuff can get old fast.

We always leave PA at 3:00am so we can avoid hitting DC during rush hour.

I'm not sure what your route will be now that you are incorporating Atlanta in there.

[Alley Cat]

That is the route I have taken the last two trips it is a beautiful drive. My friend in Ga. lives about 5 miles off 85. I take 81 to 77 to 85. This route is just about the same timewise and distance as taking 95 to 85 below Richmond. From Ga. we take 75 to Florida turnpike.

[guanacay]

I really enjoyed that drive. The mountains remind me of the mountains around our hunting camp in upstate PA. It was refreshing after a week in the Keys in July. We made it up to Virginia on the first day and spent the night. It was about 50 degrees that night. We could turn the A/C off in the car :)

[Water_boy]

Alley Cat, you'll need to change your name to road warrior after that trip. Must be a very good friend in Atlanta for you to go that far out of your way for them, I'm sure you already figured this out but if they could get to Savana it would save you about 4 hours off your trip but who am I to say.

Anyway, my Dad used to live in Stuart so if you want to wet a line there to kick off your trip I can give you almost a sure thing that you might want to try. There's a public launch off A1A right where it crosses the ICW and the adjacent bridge no more than 100 yards away holds a lot of Sheepshead, and eating size black drum during the winter. I've killed many of them fishing from the bridge itself but a boat would make it much easier. Let me know if you want more info.

44850

44846

44847

[Alley Cat]

49 Days!

[Perchguy]

Same for me alley cat! Can't wait to leave this cold and snow behind and hit the Keys!

[Alley Cat]

Seems we will traveling the same day, look for a Jeep with a good looking driver pulling a 19' shrink wrapped catamaran

[Perchguy]

If your looking for me, look for the crazed looking guy driving a rented Minivan with a good looking wife in the front seat and 3 kids in the back that will either be arguing with each other or asking me "Are we there yet?"

[guanacay]

Perchguy - are you driving from Wisc or flying to Florida and driving from there?

[Perchguy]

If I drove from Wisconsin, I don't think all of us would make it! We are flying in to Miami and renting a minivan. Using UPS to ship my fishing gear down.

[guanacay]

It's not that bad. We've been doing it every year. Towing a boat many of those years. How far is it for you? It's 1440 miles for us. My kids are 8 and 7 now.

[Perchguy]

It would be 1850 miles for me. I would be possible I guess, but my vacation time is limited and its way quicker to fly. The boats I have here are definitely lake boats so I wouldn't drive just so I could tow the boat. So the airlines get my money. Shipping the fishing stuff worked out great last year. We are renting a house and boat from the same place. Last year I just shipped my fishing stuff to the to guy we are renting from and he had it sitting in the boat tied up to the dock when we arrived. Can't get any better service than that!

[guanacay]

That does sound good. I usually bring 10 fishing rods, a gaff, a net, a cast net, a big cooler, a medium cooler, a playmate cooler, a 5 gallon bucket, a couple tackle bags and a big tackle box. Then we have a couple bags for all our snorkeling stuff. That's not including any of our luggage. So, for us, it just makes sense to pack the vehicle up with all our stuff. If I'm lucky, I'm also looking to bring a lot of fish home :)

Our total time in car is about 23 hours. We usually drive all day Friday 3:00am until about 6:00 or 7:00pm and then spend the night. Saturday we have about a 4 hour drive. Works out quite well. The drive down is fun. The drive home sucks :)

Looks like it would take you about 3 or 4 more hours. That starts to push it a little, I guess.

The other thing we're looking at is the price of 4 plane tickets. Ouch!!!!

[Perchguy]

The boat we rent has a landing net, gaff, and big cooler so I don't have to worry about those. I can get 10 rods in my rod tube so I send that down an pack all my other fishing gear in a box and send that. It would be nice to be able to bring more tackle but for the most part, we are chumming and fishing with shrimp or cut bait so were using mostly hooks and sinkers. I bring a handful of trolling lures and a few jigs. We don't do any diving so I don't need to worry about getting any of that gear down there. Last year we bought a cooler and dry ice for the flight back to pack our fish. Always seem to need an extra cooler at home anyway. I think if it was more like 1000 miles, I would think about the drive.

[guanacay]

No diving? How about snorkeling? Sombrero is only 5 miles out from the beginning of the 7 Mile Bridge. It's awesome.

[Perchguy]

I may have to give that a try this year. Last year the winter down there was so cold that water temps were still cool in March. Looks like they are having a more normal winter there this year so I would think the water should be pretty warm in April.

[guanacay]

Water temp is around 78 right now so you should be good in April. You have to try it. It will blow your mind. As a fisherman, you will get way more out of the experience too. It's so cool to be swimming right along side a school of big snapper. Or see that huge grouper swim by. I've swam right along side tarpon, permit, snook, sharks, stingrays, you name it. The big barracudas are the coolest. You can swim to about 10 feet of them. They'll look you right in the eye, then slowly back up.

[Perchguy]

Man, I gotta do that! There is a lake in Wisconsin that I have snorkeled quite a bit that is really cool. It has rock bars that come up from about 30' deep to just below the surface and very clear water. Lots of bluegills, smallmouth bass, and the occasional musky. I enjoy the heck out of that so I will have to snorkel for sure in Marathon this year. Were do you go? The diving area out by Sombrero Light? Are there buoys to tie up to? How deep is it where you tie up?

[guanacay]

I've snorkeled lakes and it's no comparison. The coral is stunning and there are thousands of fish. As soon as you hop in, you will see suurounded by hundreds of fish. Yellowtail snapper, sergeant majors, Bermuda chubs and a couple of barracuda. As you swim around the coral, you'll see all manner or tropical fish. Some in schools of 10,20,30,50.... Try to keep track of how many different species you see. You won't be able to. You may even see a sea turtle.

There are a ton of buoys you can tie off to out at Sombrero. The depths go from about 20 feet to all the way to the surface. You'll probably be between 10 and 15 feet above the bottom most of the time. Easy to dive down and swim around the bottom on a breath of air. There are also spots where you can swim in between walls of coral.

Take a couple of those waterproof underwater cameras. You'll get some really cool pictures.

Email me at scott.meier@iconplc.com and I can email you some of the pictures I've taken.

There are also mooring buoys at Coffins Patch. That's another popular snorkeling spot that's right off of Vaca Cut. I think Sombrero is much better for snorkeling, though. Most of the area is more shallow and easier for snorkeling.

[Alley Cat]

Boy gas prices are rising a friend in Key West said prices on land $3.70 and $4.40 at the Marinas and oil prices are still going up. 41 days and counting.

[Water_boy]

Here's a quick video I made at Looe Key a couple years ago. Most of the protected areas have bouys to tie off to, the marine life is amazing in those areas, I say rent a snorkle for sure.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rrUSKuDeFs

[guanacay]

We always crumble up some of whatever bag of snacks is on the boat. Chex Mix works great. Have somebody throw it in the water all around and on top of you while you're in the water. Talk about being swarmed!!!!

[Perchguy]

How does the current affect snorkeling? Is it better to snorkel at slack tide or when the tide is running? Certainly don't want to have my kids swept out to sea because we were snorkeling at the wrong time!

[guanacay]

The current is not strong enough to be a problem when you wear flippers. My kids went snorkeling first at age 6. The first year, we just had them swim around close to the boat. The next year, we got further but we always stay together so there's no worry about being swept away. You can have them snorkel in life vests, too. That will keep them afloat and easily visible to you. There are usually a bunch of other boats at Sombrero so there's usually help pretty close by if you need it.

[Perchguy]

I will just have them were life vests. They are used to doing that anyway. The freshwater lake I snorkel is fed by a bunch of springs and even in August the water is kinda cold so we always wear vests just to keep you a bit warmer. How is Conch Fever treating you? I has an awful grip on me. Woke up about 2:00 AM last night and couldn't get back to sleep. I was thinking about what type of spread I wanted to put out trolling for Mahi! 43 Days!

[guanacay]

It was 20 degrees this morning. Everything is frozen. Ughhh!!!! I ordered a couple new books on fishing the Keys. I was home sick today. Had a book for the couch and a book for the toilet :)

A little longer to go for me. April 30th. We've been finishing our basement so that's been keeping me from going stir crazy.

[Alley Cat]

12 days look out fish here I come! If you guys don't catch them all!

[Perchguy]

14 days for me. That give you a 2 day head start on me. Dang, probably be nothing left.........

[Water_boy]

Good luck guys, with all this chatter I expect to see some very detailed reports upon your return!

[Al B]

Man - you guys are getting me pumped up too! 10 Days!!!

We're arriving 4/16 and will be there 'til the 23rd, staying @ Futura Yacht Club in Islamorada. I'll be renting a boat for a couple days, and plan on fishing primarily the wrecks/reefs. I'm shipping rods/rigs, but packing a cooler with all the chit too, and checking it as luggage. We'll FOR SURE be taking some fillets to Lazy Dayz in Islamorada for their "cook your catch"... it'd be cool to meet you guys up there, or at the Lore-Lai for a cocktail/fishing stories.

[superfishal]

Take your fish to Morada Bay...blows Lazy Days outta the water...

[Perchguy]

Just shipped my gear yesterday. We are renting a house on a canal in Key Colony Beach. We arrive on the 16th also. Can't wait to hit the water! The gulf stream is only 3 miles off the reef as of today. Hope it stays put and I fill the boat with Mahi!

[Water_boy]

Any report?