Florida Keys Everglades National Park Fishing Guides Association National Park Service Islamorada, Florida U.S. Department of the Interior Florida Bay 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, bonefish, snook, and redfish,” says Commodore Tad Burke of the Florida Keys 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 boaters. 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, shoals 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 sunglasses 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 belt, 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 Glasses. “To see like a local,” Mangrove 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 Everglades National Park: 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 South Florida National Parks Trust: or vermilion lenses. “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 Mangroves 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 = Shoal 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 Key Largo 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 Totten Key Old Rhodes 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 BARNES SOUND L Carysfort Sou Northwest Cape ng Lo 905 Reef Legend Little Thursday Trout Blackwater Pt Sound C Alligator 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 CORAL 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 Canal 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 Tern 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 Umbrella 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 Park Key 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 Pelican 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 Calusa 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 boater’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.