Florida Keys

Overview

The Florida Keys represent the pinnacle of saltwater fly fishing in the continental United States, a chain of low-lying coral islands stretching 120 miles from Key Largo to Key West where the shallow flats, channels, and basins of Florida Bay and the Atlantic backcountry provide habitat for the three species that define the saltwater grand slam: tarpon, permit, and bonefish. No other destination in the world offers the same opportunity to pursue all three of these iconic gamefish within a single day's fishing, and the guides of the Florida Keys have elevated saltwater sight fishing to an art form refined over generations of poling skiffs across these storied flats.

Tarpon fishing is the headliner in the Keys, and the annual spring migration of silver king tarpon through the channels and along the oceanside flats from April through July is one of the great spectacles in all of fishing. Fish averaging 80 to 120 pounds, and occasionally exceeding 150, stream through Islamorada, Marathon, and the Lower Keys in vast schools, rolling on the surface in the early morning light, presenting fly anglers with shots at one of the most powerful gamefish in the ocean. The fight that follows a hookup is legendary: aerial acrobatics, blistering runs, and a test of endurance and tackle that can last an hour or more.

Permit fishing on the Keys flats is widely considered the most difficult challenge in saltwater fly fishing. These broad, wary members of the jack family cruise the turtle grass flats and sand pots in small groups, their nervous dispositions and reluctance to eat a fly making each successful catch a hard-earned trophy. The flats around the Content Keys, Boca Grande Channel, and the Marquesas Keys west of Key West hold some of the best permit populations in the world, and guides who specialize in permit fishing possess a depth of knowledge about tides, bottom composition, and fish behavior that borders on the obsessive.

The Keys bonefish population, while smaller than in the Bahamas, offers the advantage of larger average size and the convenience of fishing within sight of civilization. The backcountry flats of Florida Bay and the oceanside flats from Key Largo south hold bonefish that average four to six pounds, with trophy fish exceeding ten pounds a realistic possibility. The year-round subtropical climate means that something is always biting in the Keys, with tarpon season in spring and early summer, permit available year-round with peaks in spring and fall, and bonefishing best from November through May when cooler water drives fish onto the shallow flats.