Cayo Vida Marina

Our family fished with Captain Fred from Cayo Vida Marina for two days during our Florida vacation. The first day we did a six hour reef fishing + deep sea tour and caught an assortment of reef fish (yellow tail and grunt) as well as a couple of big tunas. The second day we did a four hour reef tour and caught huge amber jacks, yellow tail and grouper. Captain Fred made our fishing trips so enjoyable and successful - equipping us with all the right tools and bait we needed to catch our fish. He also had a wealth of knowledge on the ecosystem in which were were surrounded, and was able to help four of us, who were fishing simultaneously, with ease. When the bites were slow, Captain Fred changed our tactics and made sure the action was non-stop. The only point of frustration we experienced on our entire trip happened when a big bull shark sliced our big black fin tuna in half! After returning to the marina, Captain Fred expertly filleted our fish and we were excited to get home for dinner. Many thanks to Don and Captain Fred at Cayo Vida for their warm hospitality and a great time fishing in Islamorada! We highly recommend this fishing charter experience to individuals and families looking for an easy and fun day exploring ocean and wildlife beauty. Our family can't wait to come back!

Great selection and quality of live bait. Super nice people who are eager to please. Good selection of tackle needs. Charters are available as well.

Cayo Vida Charters was one of the recommendations we received from a Facebook post about who to hire while in the Keys to show us how to fish in the Atlantic. After looking at several websites and making several calls, we chose Cayo Vida based on the following: they called back (most never did) and their website and marketing was one of the more impressive (great pictures sell fisherman every time!). We drove 38 miles north from Marathon and met Captain Mike who took us out on the 26’ catamaran. There were four of us and the captain; we hired him to take us on the 8 hour trip with the desire to go for tuna, mahi and grouper. We were in the Keys for mini lobster season (end of July). I’m not sure if it’s normal this time of year, but no one on the islands had live bait. We stopped to catch cigar minnow on the way out; the first hour was spent catching bait. Captain Mike did exactly what we requested; he put us on tuna right away, then mahi, then we dropped for grouper. We had a big tuna on the line and lost it at the top. The mahi weren’t interested in the ballyhoos nor the skirts; we saw a school but couldn’t hook up. We lost several rigs on big fish deep dropping; had some monsters on the line more than once. We came home with a 40+ lb yellow jack. It was a long, hot day and Captain Mike was great. We learned a lot about how to fish the Atlantic. He was happy to show us how to rig (he does all the rigging for you; we specifically asked to see how he did it), his knots and openly discussed tips throughout the day. Captain Mike is a good guy and knows how to put you on fish. Make sure to bring plenty of water (at least 1/person/hour), food, sunscreen and a hat; he’s got the rest. Note that the 26’ cat boat does not have a bathroom. It’s not a fancy boat, but it’s a really smooth ride. You will be fishing two at a time most of the time, so the smaller the group the better to keep people in action. Great trip and happy to come home with a big fish! We tried it several ways; some liked it deep fried, it was also good sliced and seasoned for tacos, but my favorite was seared ahi style. We tipped 20% and recommend Captain Mike and Cayo Vida! Thanks for a great day!

Captain Fred delivered