| There is a lobster season. It opens in February and I don't know
when it closes for 1988. You might want to invest a quarter and
call. The lobsters have to have a 3" carapace to be legal. The
tail may not be seperated from the carapace until you get it home.
Lobster may not be speared; they must be caught by hand.
Violate any of these laws and the meat gets real expensive. I have
never been checked for a license or size of any animal/fish that
I have ever taken. But my roommate was arrested because he seperated
tails from the carapace (called "wrenching") of legal sized lobsters.
The keys are a great place to get caught for lobster violation.
I understand the arresting wildlife officials get to keep the "shorts"
as motivation to check people.
For fish, you should be able to get grouper, yellowfin, dolphin
etc. I don't know how many fish you can get surf fishing. However,
ask around down there for "Snook" spots. Most people think Snook
is the best white meat fish to eat. The trick is to find a lagoon,
estuary, or good tide change spot (bridge between two islands).
Go out at night, 45 minutes before high tide till 45 minutes after
high tide. Your best bet is when high tide is ocurs between 9 PM
and 4 PM on a full moon. Cast a large Bomber with 17 lbs test.
Red and White or Black and Silver work best for me.
You'd want to check at local shops and find out bag limit, minimum
size, season. I think it closes in January and February because
the
fish are so docile you can see them on top of the water and they
are very gullible during this time. The minimum is probably around
18-20" and you can expect a large one to run around 30 lbs.
I don't think a license ofr any saltwater activity, although they've
been talking about it a lot.
Hope this helps.
Brett.
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| I make 4 o 5 trips a year to the keys and the comment regarding
spiney lobsters there is pretty accurate.T he lobster season end
the end of May. pay extreme attention to the 3 inch measurement
described. Fines are unbelievably high for shorts or too many in
possession. If your caught, not only will you be fined, but the
Fla. Marine Patrol has the right to confiscate boat and equipment
on the spot if they so desire. This is usually reserved for repeat
offenders and poachers. Your fine can cost you more than a round
trip first class ticket to Miami.
As far as fishing the overseas highway, some excellent fishing can
be had. Also several styles of fishing can be applied such as bottom
fishing with bait, live bait, and even something called bridge
trolling. This principle is very similar to trolling from a boat
except that you walk along the bridge trailing a lure such as a
bucktail jig behind you. This works well for snook and other predators
that hide in he shadow of the bridges.
As in other types of fishing, not all bridges are equal. You can
usually tell the more productive bridges by the number of people
fishing on them. Also check the parking areas at either end and
see how many Fla. liscense plates are on the cars. A parking lot
full of cars from Iowa may not necessesarily mean good fishing.
(please, no letters from Iowa residnts).
For types of fish caught you can expect many of the reef dwelling
species to be present. These will include snappers, groupers, jacks,
grunts, etc. which are present all year. Depending on time of year
other species are also present. For example, during winter and on
into early summer(December to May)some very respectable tarpon and
cobia can be caught. Tarpon to 150 lbs. and cobia to 40 ibs. are
not uncommon. Tides are extremely important to your success and
moving water is a must. The tidal currents carry baitfish under
the bridge and the faster the movement, the more bait will be washed
by. The other species someone else mentioned like dolphin, yellowtail
etc. are found offshore and are not present around bridges. There
is enough variety to keep your interest though.
For starters I can recommend two bridges. The first is Longboat
Key Bridge, and Chanel 5 Bridge. Both are found between Islamorada
and Marathon and can be identified by looking at Fla. State road
map.
As I said earlier, I make 4 to 5 trips a year to the keys fishing.
If your interested in trying some exceptional reef or wreck fishing
or want to take a shot offshore for dolphin, sailfish, marlin etc.
give me a call at DTN 486-6200 or 214-404-6200. I keep a boat in
Key West and depending on time of year and enough advanced planning,
air fare and accomidations can be quite reasonable. I also have
friends there who are professional guides should you need one.
In closing, the biggest fish I ever saw caught off a bridge down
there, sharks excluded, was a 387 lb. jewfish. The guy was using
130# mono on a Penn International 80 reel with a live Fla. lobster
for bait. Dont know how legal the live lobster was for bait but
I got the feeling this guy had done this before.
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