Night fishing out of Key Largo is one of Brian's best trips: lobster in season, bowfishing, and dark-water fishing on the channels. Dedicated heavy-tackle shark trips are a different rig, and the family runs those out of Islamorada.
Two different trips get called shark fishing, and they are not the same night. One is a bay boat working shallow water after dark with lights, a bow, and lobster bags. The other is a sportfisher sitting on heavy tackle with fresh baits soaking, waiting on something that might be longer than the boat you would have taken.
Dusk to dawn out of Key Largo on the Sea Hunt. Lobster when the season is open, bowfishing on the flats, and fishing the channels in the dark when the tide runs. Sharks turn up on those trips regularly, because they feed hard at night in shallow water. It is the trip most people actually want when they say night fishing.
The family's evening shark trip runs out of Islamorada on the Hatteras, leaving around 5 pm with heavy tackle and fresh bait, and summer nights are the peak. Their shark trip page is here. Same family, bigger boat, deeper water.
If the goal is a memorable night on the water with your hands full, book the Key Largo night trip. If the goal is specifically a big shark on heavy tackle, that is the Islamorada boat, and Brian will book you across without blinking.
Regularly. They feed hard after dark in shallow water. It is just not a dedicated heavy-tackle shark trip.
Florida's spiny lobster season has a two-day sport window in late July and a regular season from August into March. Ask Brian what is open on your dates.
The family's evening trip out of Islamorada, leaving about 5 pm on the Hatteras with heavy tackle. Summer nights are best.
People do, on different nights. They are twenty minutes apart on US-1.
Captain Key Largo runs the backcountry, the flats and the reef out of Key Largo. The Poppa Wahoo Collective runs the offshore fleet out of Islamorada. Brian will put you on whichever one fits the trip.