The geographical layout and location of the Florida Keys provide anglers with many fishing opportunities. With the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay on the North side and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, it's no wonder so many fishing enthusiasts flock to the Keys each year to pursue a dream of a permit on fly or to catch some fresh fish for dinner.

The Florida Keys chain of islands flow south and west from the Miami area of Florida. The waters surrounding the islands provide many types of habitat for fish. Flats, or shallow water areas, surround many of the islands and extend into Florida Bay and the Everglades. To the west of Key West also lies one of the only atolls in North America, the Marquesas. This area of flats surrounding the Marquesas is 3 miles wide and has been referred to as "the golden donut" by famous author, Jeffrey Cardenas. The Marquesas is a magical place where tarpon, bonefish and permit feed daily on the flats. There is more life here at this atoll, just 22 miles from Key West Harbor, than in many of the other areas of the backcountry of the Lower Keys. Because it is separated from other points of land by 8 miles of brutally rough water, the Boca Grande Channel. This shallow but wide channel feeds water from the Atlantic to the Gulf and on any given day can be brutal to cross in a small boat. Anglers find this place to be most promising on days during the annual tarpon migration while slow summer days you may have the whole atoll to yourself.

The Keys not only attract saltwater fly fishing enthusiasts in search of their first permit on a flyrod but light tackle anglers in search of some arm burning fish to give them a run for their money. Many species call the shallow patch reefs and wrecks home in the Lower Keys. Grouper, mutton snapper, yellowtail snapper, porgy, cobia, grunts, and triggerfish should fill your vocabulary when talking about reef dwelling fish. Many of these species will eat a variety of bait including bucktail jigs, rubber DOA shrimp, live pilchards, squid or chunks of ballyhoo. Bottom fishing is always better during the cooler months here in the Keys. Fall is when many of the larger grouper will move from deeper water where they spent the summer back up onto the reef areas.

For the offshore enthusiast there are so many species to fish for. Challenge your angling ability with light tackle sport fishing for wahoo, sailfish, mahi mahi or tuna, or jump on board a sport fishing vessel and head further offshore for marlin, sharks, swordfish and deep drop for snowy grouper. Many of the species mentioned for light tackle and reef fishing may also be caught off an offshore trolling vessel. It highly depends on the conditions and the captain's abilities.

If you have heard someone talk about fishing the Dry Tortugas they probably had some big fish stories to tell about this fishing playground some 70 miles from Key West. Fort Jefferson is located in the Dry Tortugas National Park and is a tourist attraction not to be missed. This beautiful outpost was never actually used as a fort but served as a safe harbor for shrimp and fishing boats traveling to the mainland Florida, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Today it still serves as a safe haven from the weather but there are many visitors by seaplane and boats from Key West daily. There are few fishing charters with the licensing to fish the grounds around the Dry Tortugas but if you get to go it will certainly be a big fish event.

Loren Rea lives and works in the Lower Keys and has been a part of the fishing community for nearly a decade there.