Marathon, Florida
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On The Fly Saltwater
April 2026
By Jimmy Jacobs
Over the years I’ve made a number of excursions into Florida’s Middle Keys region. On all of those fly-fishing ventures the angling was with guides on either the Atlantic or Florida Bay flats. The fish targeted were tarpon, bonefish or redfish.
Additionally, there were other ventures for DIY wade or kayak fishing around Fat Deer, Missouri, Little Duck, No Name or Big Pine Keys for the tarpon and bonefish.
More recently the On The Fly South crew was introduced to another side of fly fishing in this area near Marathon. From our headquarters at Hawks Cay Resort & Marina we arranged to head out into Florida Bay for open water fly casting that produced a surprising variety of species.
Polly Dean and Capt. Jeff Malone with one of her bluefish. Photo by Jimmy Jacobs.
Showing us the angling was Capt. Jeff Malone of Tarpon Time Inc. charter service. Originally from Clearwater, he started his career on the water as a commercial fisherman. Eventually Capt. Jeff shifted to guiding recreational anglers and has continued the effort for more than three decades. The first 13 of those years his clients were strictly fly casters.
Since he shifted his operation to Hawks Cay his service has concentrated on spin fishing with artificial lures or bait. That’s because many of his days on water now are with families with youngsters. That meant more often targeting fish other than the glamor species in Key’s waters. Still, he is more than happy to accommodate fly fishers looking for any kind of action.
But those days spent looking for any fish to bend the rods of his parties revealed places where species that are less targeted by fly-rodders are present. It was to check out that action that had us on the water of Florida Bay.
The author into a hard-pulling fish. Photo by Polly Dean.
For the day of angling, we were aboard, Capt. Jeff’s 25-foot custom-built Dorado center console boat, powered by 300 horsepower provided by a Yamaha 4-stoke outboard. The boat also featured a trolling motor, wide beam to handle rolling open water and room fore and aft to accommodate two fly casters at the same time.
For the fishing we rigged up 9-weight rods and reels with a floating line. Though we would be far offshore, the fishing would be in relatively shallow water. These rigs finished out with leaders of 15-pound-test with bite tippets of 20 to 30 pounds. As the day’s action proved having the shock tippets was a good idea.
The wind and sea were both relatively benign as we motored 13 miles into the bay, accompanied by a mixture of gulls, terns and occasional rolling porpoise. The trip was in early fall and the spot the captain was taking us to was small depression in the bottom. Year-round, but especially in cooler weather, this dip in the sea bottom sometimes hosted schools of fish running into the hundreds.
As it turned out, warmer than usual conditions worked against us. Casting Clouser Minnows throughout the depression proved those schools were not present. After giving the area a through search, it was time to move to Plan B. Like any good charter captain, Malone had one ready.
Our next stop proved to be a bonanza. At this location, the captain had located a sand bank where the water depth was just 6 feet, but dropped off sharply to 15-plus-feet. The bank ran south-to-north for well over 100 yards. The pattern was to run parallel to the bank with the trolling motor, dropping our flies on top of the bank and stripping them over the edge.
Associate Editor Polly Dean got the first hook up virtually as soon as her fly hit the water. She suspected the fish was going to be a big one from the way her 9-weight rod arced under the pressure of the run. Surprisingly, when the fish came to the gunnel it was a blue runner of maybe 2 pounds. Like any fish in the jack family, it put up a fight larger than its size!
Polly with the first hook-up of the day. Photo by Jimmy Jacobs.
It was soon apparent that there was a big school of the blue runners along the bank as we boated a number of them in the 1- to 3-pound range. Soon it was obvious that they were not alone. After a strike and more extended battle, we would find we were hooked up to a larger jack crevalle.
Adding to the mixed bag and reinforcing the need for the bite tippets, several bluefish with their wicked dentures were added to the catch. But even more fun was provided by hook ups with occasional pompanos. This kind of action went on until both Polly and I had caught around 30 fish of this mixed bag each.
Photos by Jimmy Jacobs.
The fish may not have offered the aerial displays of tarpon or the sizzling runs of bonefish, but they made up for it in numbers and bulldogging resistance. All of which provided a busy and fun day on the water in the Middle Florida Keys.
