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Home , Everglades National Park, Florida Bay, Glasses, Lignumvitae Key, Little Mullet Key, Park Key

Keys Fishing Guides Association Islamorada, Florida U.S. Department of the Interior Map & Guide Hit this guide READING before hitting THE WATER LEARN TO SEE THE BAY THE the Bay WAY LOCAL EXPERTS DO “There’s no other place in the States where you can sight-fish for tarpon, , snook, and redfish,” says Commodore Tad Burke of the Fishing Guides Association. But Burke is quick to add DISSECTING that, “it’s not just about the fish. You can THE MAZE see spoonbills feeding on the flats and crocodiles up in the creeks. If you’re lucky, THE BAY’S CHANNELS AND you might see a flamingo or a sawfish.” BASINS MAPPED AND RATED BY A TEAM OF EXPERTS. While exploring Florida Bay can be a treat, (Inside Spread) it’s not for the beginner. Shallow waters, snaking banks and tricky passes make Reading Shallow Water the Bay a challenge even for experienced shallow water . HOW DO YOUR Some local guides will tell you about the practice reading the color of the water. time they got The Sight. Maybe it was “There are dozens of subtle colors in the “Florida Bay is not a body of deep water SHALLOW WATER after they fished 100 days in four months. Bay”, suggests water scientist Joe Boyer, with a ring of shore around it,” advises SKILLS MEASURE UP? Maybe it was after ten years traveling the who studies such things. White mullet flyfishing instructor and Bay veteran Sandy same waters. Regardless what brought it mud. Tea-colored Glades run-off. But, for TAKE AN EASY TEST AND PICK Moret. Instead, it is a few dozen basins on, one day they just started to see things starters, and banks are usually tan UP SOME POINTERS FROM THE (most less than five feet deep) separated they hadn’t seen before, small details in the or brown. Deeper water is green or blue. PROS. (back page) from each other by banks where the water water, the fish, the winds, and the weather. Your polarized should make the is only a few inches deep. Boaters can get colors pop. from basin to basin by following passes ISLAND BLUES Everyone would like to be able to see like and channels through the banks. Some of SEEING SPOONBILLS IS A TREAT these locals. You can, if you’re willing to these passes are less than 16 inches deep in FOR MOST ANGLERS. FIND spend hundreds of days on the water each Wading Birds. “Birds aren’t six feet tall,” winter. And some of them twist and turn OUT WHAT YOU CAN DO TO year. Until you get that experience under quips guide George Clark, Jr. If you see a like a slalom course. PROTECT THEM. (back page) your , you can use these tips to help bird stalking the flats, the water where it you distinguish shallow water from deep. stands is less than a foot deep. See “Hit This Guide” on back page

Visit us on the Web Polarized . “To see like a local,” Seedlings. These seedlings Florida Keys Guide Association: advises veteran guide Mike Ehlers, “you grow only on bank tops. The water around Signs of Shallow Water floridakeysguideassociation.org need to use the same tools they do.” You them is generally less than 6 inches deep : need to use your eyes and a great pair of - too shallow to run a boat. www.nps.gov/ever polarized glasses, preferably with amber The National Parks Trust: or vermilion . “Reading the water Near Flamingo. The banks that stretch www.nationalparks.org/southflorida is something your GPS can’t do,” adds from Conchie Channel to the mouth 16-year veteran backcountry Park Ranger of Tin Can Channel are easily lost in Birds Wading Dave Fowler. “Most of the people we the muddy water carried by Flamingo’s Contributors find aground have a GPS and charts on main tidal channel. Stray too far south board. It didn’t keep them off the banks. towards Murray, Frank, or Palm Keys, and Written and produced by the Florida Brown = Keys Fishing Guides Association and They weren’t using their eyes. They got you’ll find yourself aground. “Outside Everglades National Park. Printed with stuck with a towboat bill and a ticket for the channels,” says guide Rusty Albury, generous matching donations from the hundreds of dollars. Worse than that, they “everything’s shallow.” The big rectangle South Florida National Parks Trust, the tore up the bottom.” formed by the mainland, Oxfoot Bank, Green or Blue = Deep Fishing Guides Association, and the National Park Service’s and Whipray Basin is notoriously hard to Challenge Cost Share Program. The Color of Water. If you want to navigate. Twelve inches of water can look Calm Patch in Chop graduate from novice to apprentice, like three feet and vice versa. Black Pt

Elliott Key

Rubicon Keys Mangrove Pt Long Arsenicker Key

Card Angelfish Key Pt

Middle Key

Short Key Turtle Reef Manatee Main Bay O Turtle Harbor Florida Bay Be Courteous Key G Give Them Space R A Joe Bay nd L Carysfort Sou Northwest ng Lo 905 Reef Legend Little Thursday Trout Blackwater Pt Sound C Cove r JOHN West Lake o Largo ss 3-6 Feet Deep. Recommended for boats 23 feet in length or less. Bay Davis K Pt ey Cove Snipe Pt Y PENNEKAMP Seven E Coot Bay K REEF Palm ira Deer Key Less than 3 Feet Deep. RecommendedMiddle for boats drafting less Bay ade than 12 inches. Avoid stopping and starting - even shallow boats Black Pt Lake M Duck Cape C A P E W tle STATE PARK can “crater” the bottom when getting up on plane. Lit Key The Boggies L S A B L E W W ak Buttonwood Canal Eagle Key Shoal or banktop. These areas can be less than 1 foot deep.e Bear Lake Rattlesnake Key

y Poling or trolling motors recommended. I Garfield e n K Blackwater g Porpoise Bight y Sound ra Rankin Santini Terrapin Keys g h Pt Madeira g a Snake Bight Bight Pass Key o m Bight Bay Bay B Wilderness Entry. Paddle-in only. Only boats with motor Otter Crocodile Pt Crocodile Dragover W removed from transom allowed beyond these points. Flamingo Key Derelict Terrapin Pt Lake Key Nest Keys Porjoe Key Key W Joe Crocodile El Radabob Kemp Tin Can Channel Mosquito Pt Key Big Dragover Key Key Snake Bight Channel Key Wilderness. Only boats with motor removed from transom Bradley Key Rankin Key Whaleback Key allowed in these waters. Triplet East Keys Black East Cape Buoy Key Betsy Buttonwood Cape Elliott Keys Sound Murray KeyKey Canal Camp Key Samphire Wildlife Management Area. Closed to any and all entry. Dump Keys Club Bob Keys Shell Key Rubicon Cormorant Key Keys Oyster Keys Keys Frank Palm Key Formerly known as the “Crocodile Sanctuary”. Middle Ground Mangrove Key Pt Key Long Curlew Key Arsenicker Catfish Key Swash Keys Conchie ChannelKey Brush End Key Totten Roscoe Key Keys Key Murray-Clive Channel Old Rhodes Buttonwood Russell Key Keys Twisty Mile Clive Key Key Whipray Basin Manatee Keys First National Bank Jim Foot Key Bottle Key Passes & Channels Everglades National Park Boundary Dildo Key Bank Keys Key Stake Key

Card Angelfish Key Largo Pt Dildo Key Jimmy Channel Black Coon Key Very shallow, especially in winter. Can be 16 inches deep or Johnson Key Keys less. Route is often very hard to read. Only shallow draft Carl Ross Key Dead Terrapin Whipray Low Key Keys 1 Rodriguez Key Topsy eys Key boats (1 foot or less) at all times. We recommend ’s Allen K Sandy Key Key Bob use other routes in winter. Man of War Cluett Key Man of War Channel Key Corinne Key Sid Captain Key Key Middle Key

Red Short Key Pollock Keys Molasses Reef Some portions might be less than two feet deep and Main Key require tight turns. Extra care required to avoid damage to Iron Pipe Channel Spy Key Panhandle Crane Keys the bottom. Only shallow draft boats (1 foot or less). Key Tavernier Rabbit Keys T Oxfoot Bank East Key ave Thursday rn Pt Rabbit Key Basin ie Tavernier Key C r ro Largo Cr ss e K Pt Crab Keys ek ey F L O R I D A Green Snipe Pt Gopher Keys West Key Plantation Wide channels that are usually deep and easy to read. Plantation C A BAY Key P E Good for beginners. Still, boats drafting more than 18 Deer Key Duck Schooner Bank S A B L E inches not recommended. Key Rabbit Key Pass FLORIDA KEYS Eagle Key Ninemile Bank Everglades National Park Boundary Rattlesnake Key Twin Keys B o g NATIONAL MARINE Tern Keys gy Porpoise K Pt ey Pass Key

Otter Crocodile Pt SANCTUARY Key Derelict Terrapin Pt Channel MouthLake Key Nest Keys Porjoe Key Key Joe Crocodile Umbrella El Radabob Twin Key Bank Snake Creek Kemp Mosquito Pt Big Key Key Key Dragover & Markers Key Windley Bradley Whaleback Key Key Rankin Key Triplet Park Key Key Keys Size up theB lchannelack from a safe Buoy Key Betsy Upper Arsnicker Dump Keys Keys FLORIDA KEYS Barnes Key Murray Key distance. Stay on plane, but slow Keys Samphire Shell Key Keys Club Palm Cormorant Key Camp Key Key Bob Keys Oyster Keys Key way down. Channels are shallow- Shell Islamorada Frank NATIONAL MARINE 0 1 5 10 Kilometers Key Curlew Key Key Catfish Key est at their entrances and exits, so Swash Keys Roscoe Key Brush Peterson End Key Keys trim your motor. Enter. If there are SANCTUARY Lower Arsnicker Keys Upper Matecumbe Buttonwood Russell Keys Buchanan Keys Key 0 1 5 10 Miles Clive Key two stakes,Key stay between them. Keys Manatee Keys State Aquatic ATLANTIC Pelican If there is only one stake, stay as Keys Jim Foot Key Entrance Shallow Bottle Key Sprigger Bank Preserve close as possible to it. SArrowstake Key k Trim Up n Dildo Key indicate the side of the stake a OCEAN Coon Key Calusa B Johnson Key c k Keys where you should be. i n Lignumvitae Low Key n a Teatable Key Dead Terrapin Whipray Rodriguez se Key Key Topsy Line Up OuKetyHs ere Key r B North Key A n Sandy Key Don't Cut Corners o Man of War Cluett Key Key Corinne Key o Sid eys t Allen K n Key Bob ChoosingCaptain Key Routes o Indian Tripod Bank P Key Pollock Keys Use the deepest routes to get to Spy Key Crane Keys Waterway Panhandle where you’re going. A boat could Key 0 1 5 10 Kilometers use two routes fromEast K eAy to B. The Tavernier Key Lower Matecumbe A best would be the green channels Key Rabbit Keys 0 1 5 10 Miles Gopher Keys CraSEb Key sof PanhandleWest Key and S of Gopher Intracoastal Keys. Don’t run aground, take the Plantation B Key Fiesta long way around. It might cost you Anne's Beach Twin Keys Key 1 5 minutes, but it will save you from 5 North tearing up the sea bottom. l

e Windley n Barnes Key Key Use as a companion to NOAA Chart 33E - Do not use for navigation - Use as a companion to NOAA Chart 33E - Do not use for navigation - Use as a companion to NOAA Chart 33E Upper Arsnicker Long n Keys To Key a

Shell h Key Peterson 70 mi C Lower Arsnicker  Florida BayKeys Guide Upper Matecumbe Florida Bay Guide  Keys Buchanan Key Keys 112 km

Lignumvitae Key Teatable Key

Indian Key

Lower Matecumbe Key

Fiesta Key

Long Key Florida Bay Map and Guide

From left: 1) Hard aground in 6 inches of water. 2) Flamingos near Flamingo. 3) Grounded boater and passengers push towards deeper water .

World-record fly-fisherman Hit This Guide...Cont. Rate Your Skills in Billy Pate has his own scoring system for boat Back in the 1880s, when no escaping the physical map describing passes Shallow captains. He believes in maritime knowledge was realities of Florida Bay. And and shoals. When used Water courtesy on the water. Many transmitted by word of there is no substitute for correctly, as a supplement fish and birds that haunt the mouth, Florida Bay was good old-fashioned caution. to - rather than a substitute Veteran Park Ranger Dave trim when you’re idling in flats are extremely skittish. known as “a body of water for a chart – this map should Fowler, a friendly, chat- shallow water. At idle, you Flats anglers and nature so shallow that even skilled Most people who run keep you in water deep over-the-back-fence kind can tilt the engine up quite watchers often pole or boatmen had trouble aground in the Bay have a enough for your boat. of guy, has a simple grading far. Just be sure to keep the paddle a few hundred yards navigating its treacherous chart and a GPS on board. system for the dozens water intake under water. to silently stalk them. If you shoals.” Author and So, we decided maps and Staying in water deep of people he’s taught to get within a quarter mile, historian Stuart McIver charts weren’t enough. To enough for your boat is the navigate the Bay. Clean The best way to keep your you can spook the animals recounts that most travelers get people safely in and key to protecting Florida white of prop wash and trail clean is to stay out of and ruin the person’s day. to Flamingo avoided a route out of the Bay, we need to Bay. More than 10,000 you pass. Brown in the prop areas too shallow for your Stay well clear of any craft through the Bay. Instead, give people tips from the acres of prime habitat for wash and you fail. Pieces boat. How can you judge if moving under hand-power they stayed out in the Gulf experts. Think of this guide shrimp, lobster, and game of cut grass in the prop an area is too shallow? Can on the flats and you’ll pass until they reached the tidal as a notebook that has been fish have been torn up by wash and…don’t ask. To you come off plane and get Billy’s test. channel between East Cape marked up for you by a inexperienced boaters. Billy graduates of Dave’s boating back up without blowing Sable and Flamingo. roomful of guides, rangers, Pate, record-holding fly- course, brown in their boat’s a crater in the bottom? In Outfitter Sandy Moret has and Bay natives. Some of the angler, calls the Bay “more wake is like muddy on general, even shallow draft one last piece of wisdom. Advances in contributors to this guide special than any of the 30- an expensive rug. boats need at least three “You shouldn’t ask yourself like , shallow-draft have been traveling the Bay some odd countries I’ve – can I go? Instead ask boats and the handheld for more than 40 years. fished.” But without your Clean white trail of prop – should I go? And if you GPS might seem like great This guide will help you help, the Bay will suffer. don’t know, don’t go. It’s antidotes to the hazards read the water (front page). wash and you pass. that simple.” of the past. But the truth is You’ll also get some advice Do your part, study up, and that these tools often give from the pros about running stay cautious. Tight lines and boaters the confidence your boat safely in the safe travels. Clean, white prop wash is feet of water to climb up on Give yourself time to learn they need to get into Bay’s shallows (back page). the best indicator that you’re plane without stirring up a the Bay. It won’t happen in a serious trouble. There is Inside, you’ll find a detailed running the Bay correctly. plume of mud. weekend. tips Follow these expert tips and you’ll keep your trail clean. Island Blues and scratchy drawl suggest spoonbills nest on islands quarters of the nests failed. 15 or until the spoonbills “fishing guide”. Though in Florida Bay. Frank Key is Veteran fishing guide Dale fledge, whichever comes Trim your motor up when Jerry Lorenz has quit many of his friends are fly next to an unmarked tidal Perez was taken aback by first. In 2006, Sandy Key running through channels smoking. But, when his anglers, Lorenz is not a channel that motor boats the news. For him and his will remain closed, as it has and passes. “A small change work gets stressful, he guide. Lorenz is a scientist. and paddlers frequent. The clients, seeing spoonbills been in years passed. The in the engine’s trim angle,” sometimes wants a cigarette. His line of work, and the boats didn’t kill the birds, on the Bay is part of the water around the two keys says Fowler, “raises the A few weeks ago, Lorenz cause of his stress, is roseate but they helped. Clever pleasure of fishing it. is a small piece of the Bay’s propeller a few inches in watched a whole year’s work spoonbills. birds like crows had learned “Spoonbills are part of what almost half-million acres, the water and directs the go down the tubes. Today, to key in to the sound of makes Florida Bay,” he said. but a piece that could make blast away from the bottom.” as we ask him to recount the In December and January, a boat motor. When the a huge difference in the Don’t tip the engine up so story, he looks like he needs Jerry watched the Frank spoonbills spooked, the Keys in Florida Bay spoonbill’s future. high that you lose the ability a smoke. Key spoonbill colony - the crows swooped in and are vitally important to to steer. second largest colony in quickly feasted on eggs spoonbills. In 2006, the What line of work is Lorenz Florida Bay - go bottoms and baby spoonbills. Over channel next to Frank Key You can – and should – also in? His sun-reddened face up. In the Everglades, a few weeks, almost three- will be closed until March keys

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