bertram31.com

I'm headed down to Key West with 29 other family members from 7-27 to 8-3 and was hoping to get some intel on a good charter boat in the area. I was hoping to get a 31' Bertram or Custom Sportfisherman for offshore fishing while down there. Also I was wondering how the fishing is down there this time of year. Thanks for any advice.

JR

JR,
29 other family members......I think you're gonna need a bigger boat! Sorry I could not resist.
I can't recommend any charter boats. I don't recall seeing any 31's as charter boats but I do not frequent that area much anymore. I do recommend that you ask if you get to keep what you catch if it is legal to do so. Heard a few complaints circulate about unsuspecting folks getting to keep trash fish and grouper goes to market for profit. There is almost always good fishing around here and quite the variety of species to target. Hopefully the faithful chime in and give you a captain to contact directly.

I used Capt Greg Poland when I took my wife down for her birthday 2 years ago. http://www.gregpoland.com/gregpoland.com/Welcome.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greg is based out of Islamorada, which is a good 80 miles out of KW.
I'm not saying he doesn't fish KW, but he is not out of KW. He is a helluva fisherman...

There are a lot of well known KW guides/capt's. Most of the highly regarded KW guys have gone the skiff (CC) route utilizing Contenders, Conch27's, SeaVees, Yellowfins, etc... but I'm sure a quick google search will turn up what you want. I know there are a few in larger Bertrams.

Go to the tackle shop near the city marina, they will find u a guide or boat yellow tail snapper are real strong now, need to go 20/30 miles south to find fish in the Gulf Stream, generally very productive,go up to marathon and run out 25 miles to the hump, wahoo, dolphin, marlin,loaded with activity

Thanks for all of the great info. I know there are some beautiful boats to charter out of Bud N Mary's in Islamorada, but I was hoping to find a good charter in Key West so we would not have to make the 2 hour drive.

JR

Here are some of the KW guys I was thinking of with the larger bertrams. Funny, they're all running 46's....

The Triple Time: http://www.fishtripletime.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Mr Z: http://www.keywestfishtales.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Sea-Clusion: http://www.seaclusion.com/boat.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Marlin wrote:go up to marathon and run out 25 miles to the hump, wahoo, dolphin, marlin,loaded with activity

The hump? What's that?

(just getting into fishing and sometimes run down to Marathon)

The hump is an underwater seamount...
We have several in the Keys. Islamorada and Marathon humps are the best known. They're magnets for the entire pelagic food chain.

Thanks for the lesson :-)

BTW, I see that you yourself are in Key Largo... Assuming you fish, any chance of me joining you some time and learning some of the art? I'll be more then happy to share costs, supply the liquid refreshments and so forth :-)

Mark, you gonna tease him with a picture of your skiff?

If you really want an inboard boat, this is the guy: http://southpawfishing.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;