When I think of the Florida Keys, the first places that come to mind are Key West, Key Largo and Islamorada. These towns are famous for being meccas for fishing, diving and simply living the island life, but buried deep in the heart of the Florida Keys is one of the best hidden gems of all, Lime Tree Bay Resort. Lime Tree is tucked away on the bay side of Long Key, halfway between Islamorada and Marathon. This upscale resort brags to have the best sunsets in all of the Keys. Recently, Captain Jimmy Nelson invited me to spend a few days there with him and fellow Salt Life pro-staffer Luiza Barros for some fishing. How could I resist?
Our first day was supposed to be all about the reef. A quick dive in the morning and then we slipped off the Cressi wetsuits and started looking for some quality meat sh to ll the Grizzly Coolers. One of my favorite parts of fishing the middle keys is the seemingly endless supply of patch reef structure. We were out with Two Conch Charters and they put us to work hauling in snapper, grouper and hog sh. As we neared the boat’s limit of each, the Captain suggested we pull anchor and look for cobia. I always get a little nervous leaving a perfectly good fishing hole to go find more sh, but it wasn’t my place to complain. We already had enough snapper in the Grizzly to feed us for a week, so what difference was it going to make? As it turned out, it made all the difference in the world.
I don’t think we travelled for 15 minutes when I heard the captain yell “Cobia straight ahead!” Jimmy, with a Yo- Zuri, and me with a weightless Mustad 8.0, pierced the nose of a freshly netted pin sh. We slowly approached what we quickly realized was an entire school of Cobia. My heart was racing as I flipped lunch out in front of the biggest cobia I could spot. I heard Jimmy’s drag start singing out and as I glanced over my shoulder in jealousy, I felt the solid tension of the start of my workout. As the sharpened point of the Mustad hook pierced the jaw of my cobia, the battle began. We battled with some quality cobia for what felt like just a few minutes but was probably more like a couple of hours. Just as quickly as it began, the battles were over, but not before we had the boat’s limit of Cobias. All I could think about as we headed back to the marina was how in the world are we going to top this day?
In the Florida Keys, every day promises the possibility of being the best day yet. On the second day, with the lactic acid still fresh in our muscles from the long relentless cobia fights from the day before, we headed down the road to meet up with Capt. Dave Jones of the Gimmie Jimmy. As we idled out, we excitedly told him the tales of the previous day’s adventures. He just smiled with that “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet” look and we planed off the boat and headed offshore.
In the keys, the reef line is just a few short miles from the comfort of the resort. Patch reefs, grass beds and scattered rock piles litter the sea floor between the islands and the reef and then it all gives way to the gulfstream, dropping off steadily from a few dozen feet to a few hundred. When it comes to Captains, Dave Jones is among the best of the best. We have often trusted him to guide us through the waters of the northern Caribbean and on this trip, as well as all others, he did not disappoint. Deep dropping has quickly become one of my favorite types of fishing. The mystery of 1,000+ feet depths creates an excitement rivaled only by the exuberance you experience when all your guesses of what is on the other end of the line give way to the answer as colors appear in the sea of blue. Queen Snapper, Tile sh and Grouper all call these depths home and Captain Dave is a pro at landing them all.
After hours of slinging these depth dwellers in the boat on to the SeaDek, we switched to the pursuit of the pelagics. A wahoo, sail sh and a school of dolphin, before squeezing in a few mutton snapper on the reef. Its hard to believe that we did it all in eight hours. We had an epic day of fishing offshore, or, as Dave would call it, an average day in the Florida Keys.
Back at the resort, we enjoyed evenings of pure relaxation. Lime Tree Bay Resort’s onsite restaurant treats its guests like royalty. The sh could not be fresher and the steak still makes my mouth water. My favorite thing is to sit out in the hammock by the coconut trees and I could be found there pretty much any time we were not eating or fishing. A good set of Wiley X glasses takes the edge off the sun and peace is just a light breeze away.
For some, the Florida Keys is a once in a lifetime checkbox on the bucket list. For others, it is a routine stop as a weekend get away. For me, the Keys have always felt a little like home. Whichever category you fall in, fall into the Lime Tree Bay Resort and experience the authentic Florida Keys’ lifestyle, with a little bit of luxury on the side. World-class fishing is a coconut’s throw away, and you will be able to enjoy some of the best island experiences the Keys have to offer.
