Patch Reef Fishing in The Florida Keys
One of the great things about fishing in the Florida Keys is the amazing variety of fishing available. One of my favorite types of fishing, especially from October through April is patch reef fishing. There are several different ways to fish the patches, but I’m talking about fishing the patches of coral in 10 to 25 feet of water between Hawks Channel and the edge of the reef. These patches vary in size, but any area with a rocky bottom and a combination of coral heads, ledges, or sea fans should be great spots.
Reefs with sand around them are especially good as will give you a great spot to present your bait without snagging bottom. I use a combination of 20-lb spinning tackle with live pilchards or ballyhoo fished on the bottom over the sand between the boat and the rocks for muttons and grouper as well and 12-lb spinning tackle with a ¼ ounce jig and a live shrimp for yellowtails, porgies, and hogfish. While the best fishing occurs when the visibility is low and the bottom is stirred up from recent wind, the best time to find patch reefs are on clear calm days where you can see the bottom.
It’s always good to be paying attention and marking new spots when you’re out on a clear day to come back and try on the windy ones. I’ve found several of my favorite spots by accident. Just last winter on the way out on a calm day, I noticed a large school of ballyhoo in an area that I thought was mostly grassy bottom. The ballyhoo had been hard to catch the previous day so I anchored in the area and noticed there was actually quite a bit of rocky bottom and saw a few mutton snapper swimming along a ledge beneath us. On that particular day, we headed out sailfishing as this charter had no interest in reef fishing, so I marked the spot and noted where the rocks and sand laid.
Well, just a few days later on a different trip with rough seas and muddy water, I was able to fish that spot and we wound up with a beautiful catch of mutton snapper including a few fish over 15-lbs! You never know when you’ll find a great patch reef to fish. I highly recommend giving patch reef fishing a try. You can either go out and find some spots or better yet, contact one of the awesome guides or charter captains in the Florida Keys and get in on some patch reef fishing action!!
— Capt. Bruce Anderson | Islamorada – MM85 | 305-360-2120 | www.captaineasycharter.com