Lower Matecumba Key, Florida
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On The Fly Saltwater
December 2025
By Jimmy Jacobs
When most folks hear the term fly fishing, they immediately associate it with chasing trout in mountain streams and rivers. Or, if it is saltwater fly fishing, the assumption falls on the glamor species of tarpon, bonefish or redfish. The fact, however, is that a wide range of fish can be fooled with a hook dressed with feathers and fur. That is especially true when tossing flies in the brine. Often that angling turns up in places that also fall outside the usual parameters of our perceptions of the sport.
The crew from On The Fly South recently experienced just such unusual long-rod action while in the Florida Keys. We found ourselves in Islamorada in the mid-section of that string of pearls hanging off the end of the Sunshine State peninsula. Our jumping off point for the venture was Robbie’s Marina at the north end of Lower Matecombe Key.
Robbie’s Marina on Lower Matecumbe Key. Photo by Polly Dean.
Robbie’s is most famous for the herd of tarpon that hang out under their dock and can be hand fed minnows. Naturally, that draws a lot of tourists. To keep those visitors happy, the marina offers The Hungry Tarpon restaurant and a bar with a waterfront deck on the Lignumvitae Channel.
Photo courtesy of Robbie’s Marina.
But for our purpose, the attraction was meeting up with Capt. Roman Gastesi of Islamorada Adventures. The captain planned to show us a type of fly fishing to which we were unaccustomed. And, as you’ll see, he delivered on that promise.
To start with, Capt. Gastesi is a not your conventional fly-fishing guide. The vast majority of his trips are with anglers spin fishing with bait. On the other hand, he does know how to find the fish and put you in position for catching them on a fly and is happy to handle such charters.
The Conched Out at the dock in Robbie’s Marina. Photo by Jimmy Jacobs.
We met the captain at Robbie’s dock and stowed your fly gear aboard his classic Edsey & Duff Conch 27 boat named Conched Out. Though Edsey & Duff ended boat building in 2010, the Conched Out was fully refurbished in 2020 and does not show its age. Where we were headed, its size would provide a smooth ride. Another factor making it ideal for the venture was it provided room on bow and stern for fly casting, meaning we would not have to take turns for the angling.
Once aboard, instead of heading for inshore flats, Capt. Gastesi set a course offshore on the Atlantic side of the island chain. Our destination was some patch reefs 5 miles offshore. These are small, isolated sections of coral on the bottom in 12 to 15 feet of water, rather than one continuous reef. Though in close proximity, each is surrounded by sand. The trick for this angling is knowing which of the reefs hold the fish, and it was a mystery that the captain had figured out.
Mangrove snapper was one of the species brought to the boat. Photo by Jimmy Jacobs.
Once on this spot, Capt. Gastesi put a chum block composed of ground bait fish into a chum net and tied it off the back of the boat. In short order fish began rising from the depths and darting near the surface down current of the chum. At first these were smaller fish, but bigger ones also began to appear a bit deeper.
Although we had brought rods rigged with intermedia sinking lines, along with others with floating line, we soon figured out that either would work. With the floating lines we just needed heavier flies that sank fast to avoid hookups with small, shallower fish.
Yellowtail snapper were plentiful and are good to take home for a fish dinner. Photo by Polly Dean.
Immediately after we began casting and starting a strip, strip, pause retrieve, our flies would suddenly stop with a solid jerk and then a strong run by the culprit that bit it. At first, we suspected that we were hooking fish that were a lot bigger than they would turn out to be. The steady stream of mangrove (gray) snappers, yellowtail snappers and blue runners that were biting, all had “shoulders’ that belied their size and put up a rugged fight.
This kind of angling can get away with employing rods as light as 7 weight, but a better option is going with a 9 weight. That’s because schools of larger yellow jacks (a close relative of jack crevalle, but slenderer) would shoot through the cloud of smaller feeding fish. Hooking one of them on a light rig would end up costing you a good bit of your fishing time!
Capt. Gastesi with one of the rugged fighting blue runners Polly Dean caught. Photo by Jimmy Jacobs.
The blue runners were the hardest fighting of the 50-plus fish we caught during the day. On the other hand, a number of the mangrove and yellowtail snapper were of legal sizes to harvest. Taking some of those back to the dock, you can have them cooked up at The Hungry Tarpon.
While this trip wasn’t what would be regarded as classic fly fishing, it was well worth the ride out. We had virtually continual action from fish strong beyond their size. It would be a great way to introduce youngsters, or anyone you wanted to get into fly casting to the sport. There was nothing boring about the day.
Capt. Roman Gastesi can be contacted by phone at (786) 214-0749 or click here to visit his web page.
