Swording off Marathon? Your thoughts please.

[reeltherapy]

We're hauling the boat to Marathon in May. Is there a sword fishery out there. I know of the wall off Kew West but what about Marathon. Would it be worth a nights effort? Should I rather just forget it for this trip and stay after the Dolphin and snapper.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Roger

[LHPfish]

Of course there is, try to FS forum and go to the keys section. I think the forum member "Gottago" can point you in the right direction. Try to get yoru hands on a chart and look at the bottom structure off the surrounding area of marathon. Find some humps ledges, drop offs in 1000-2000 feet and start fishing.

[RiskTaker]

reeltherapy:

Swordfish can be caught down there. Like LHPfish mentioned, forum member/moderator "Gottago" fishes for them regularly, uses a mix of artificials even. His name is Rob Harris and he lives in Cudjoe Key. (I think he's got a Tackle shop going as well.) So he is a good number of miles SW of Marathon.

I have spoken with him before and there are a few select spots in that area that are better at giving up swordfish. Generally called Wood's wall in that area. I hear that other people are catching them down there as well, just that they are not advertising it much.

But even if you try it off of Marathon you may probably still want to drift along that same roll-off line. The only drawback is that we have it pretty good off of Miami-Dade and Broward: we have only 15 miles of offshore travel plus your port of call angle. Off of Marathon to Cudjoe it is about 25 miles due south to get to the zone plus your port of call angle.

But if you are going out to 500-800 feet of water to get dolphin (not sure how it goes in winter time), you will be a good ways out anyway. You may as well just make it a long day and stick it out till sundown and beyond and try doing some swordfish drifts, or make an early day return trip to spot stuff on the way in. It is a bit of a drag to set out simply to go swordfishing without making some other type of fishing drift while you are out there. Figure 60-75 miles of running for a round trip and it may make a lot of sense to leverage your effort.

Good luck. You may want to pick up a Home Port Chart of the area if you do not already have one. A marine shop in Marathon carries them (West Marine I believe). That small shop in Big Pine next to the Ace Hardware store carries them as well.

I haven't heard too much about big fish being caught in that zone. But you can set the record straight in May.

(Of course, your alternative launching points can change everything.)

[ausum]

I live in Islamorada and the best fishing to start at about 8 to 9 miles southwest of the marathon humps in about 1500 ft. drift to the humps and then go back and reset..dont go any shallower as you will hit the sharks.. post the results so we can see how you do..AuSUM 2

[LETSRIDE]

i fish the area out of tavernier. we have had very good sucess their with a few nice fish. we fish floyds wall alot closer than woods wall. but from marathon i dont really know unless you want to go to islamorada to catch the fish. let me know ill give you our starting numbers and you can give it a shot

[reeltherapy]

Thanks a TON fellas. I'll follow up on all this and let you know how it goes. I'm able to get down there about three times a year and fish hard for a week or so at a time. I'm just starting the Broadbill persuit. So, if I sound like a novice at times, it's because I am. I'll do my best to avoid the dumb questions.

It's been my joy here in the Rocky Mtns to help some guys get their elk. The ones I've guided who've been the most fun are the ones who will pay attention, listen to you, work hard and be responsible. I'll endeavor to return the courtesy to you guys. Again, thanks for your thoughts.

Roger