key west without a guide?

[peter odell]

I'm heading to Key West for a few days - mostly have to work, but will have at least a couple of days of fishing.

 

It seems like every guide in town is booked on sunday  27 May, after polling a bunch of them.(peak season for tarpon)

 

Does anyone have a map similar to that great one of Fletchers for around Key West (I realize its an exponential amount of more water).  What I need is a kayak or rental boot and a place where I have a shot at some fish.

 

If you know a guide that I may have overlooked, please let me know.

[Charlie Church]

I just asked a buddy of mine (room mate from when i worked in alaska
this past summer). He guides down there in the off season and does
very well on tarpon/permit. I will let you know if he is open day or
could maybe squeeze in a half day or night trip(for tarpon) for you.

If not and you are willing to use gear instead of fly, I can almost
guarantee you some tarpon action off the old wooden bridge in Big Pine
Key.Let me know if you are interested and I will post up the details.

If not, I'd recommend renting a kayak from http://www.keyskayaktours.com/.
You should be able to get a kayak for a week for around 100-150. If
you don't have much experience fishing from a yak, I'd recommend
asking for the wilderness system rides that they have. Bill is an avid
kayak fisherman and can point you in the right direction depending on
what you are looking for. If you do go that route, I would recommend
just putting up ocean side on the flats in front of bahia honda bridge/
spanish harbor bridge and the islands between. That is where one of
the bigger worm hatches occurs and you should be down there at the
right time. At the very least you can expect to see a lot of tarpon
cruising on the top and a good amount of flats boats/kayaks ect
chasing them.