The Key West Flats and How We Fish Here
The Key West Flats
The Key West Flats
The Key West Flats
A "Flat" is a shallow expanse of ocean that is less than 3 feet deep. The water in a Flat is typically crystal clear and flat calm, making for the perfect environment to enjoy a great day of fishing and sight seeing while exploring these shallow areas.
The Florida Keys are home to thousands of square miles of the protected Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This sanctuary includes extensive mangrove islands and seagrass fields as well as the only barrier coral reef in North America. The Key West Flats are located within this massive national treasure. The area provides pristine waters and habitat for a wide variety of marine species,
The Flats lay on both the Gulf of Mexico side of Key West as well as the Atlantic Ocean side which gives us lots of fishing options depending on the weather conditions and time of the year.
Fishing The Flats
The Key West Flats
The Key West Flats
Fishing the Flats is one of the most iconic activities in all of the Florida Keys. The sheer beauty of the backcountry is enough to get some folks out on the water but we like to reel 'em in too.
Fishing the Flats can be a lot like hunting: quietly moving along the shallow waters looking to sneak up on fish, spotting them, and then making a cast. This is called sight fishing and it's our primary fishing technique in the Flats. We use a variety of presentation methods to catch fish including lures, flies, and live bait.
Time of year, weather conditions, and desired target species all play a part in where and how we fish the Flats. Sight fishing is always an exciting tactic but sometimes blind casting in cloudy conditions or pitching near mangrove edges can be just as productive as well.