Nothing you order in a restaurant beats a tail you pulled from the water two hours earlier. Very few charters run these trips. Brian grew up on them.
Florida spiny lobster is a hunt: spotting antennae under ledges, working the net and tickle stick, and icing down tails you earned. The regular season runs August through March, with the famous two-day sport mini-season each July, and Key Largo's shallow ledges are prime ground for it.
Winter brings the shrimp runs: cold nights when shrimp flow with the tide and a lighted boat dips dinner out of the current by the netful. Locals guard these nights like secrets. It is the single most Keys thing you can do on a boat.
Sizes, bag limits, and licenses are all regulated, and Brian handles compliance so you just hunt: gauges aboard, rules known, catch handled properly. You take home dinner and the story; he handles the paperwork details.
The regular season runs August through March, plus the two-day sport mini-season in late July. Book early: mini-season dates are the hottest of the year.
No. Many lobster are taken in shallow water with nets and tickle sticks, and Brian teaches the technique in the first fifteen minutes.
Winter nights, under lights, dipping shrimp as they run the tide. Cold, quiet, and absurdly rewarding when the run is on.
Night fishing, lobster and bowfishing run out of Key Largo on Brian's boat. Overnight swordfish and evening shark trips run offshore with the family's Islamorada fleet.