Cow Key
24.56°N · 81.74°W
Species
Now 77 · 1 PM EDT
14-Day Forecast
Data from: ECMWF + GFS + BlueCaster24-Hour Conditions
All times EDT
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Why this score
Current regulations
In effect nowWhat you can keep at this spot today
- Daily limit
- 5 per day
- Possession
- Not published
- Size
- Minimum 18"
- Gear
- Reef fish gear requirements apply
- Annual quota
- Not published
- Other
- 18" TL. 5 per person within the 10 snapper aggregate. Special regulations apply in Biscayne National Park.
Source: FWC · Florida Keys State Waters: Southwest Region · synced today
Seasonality
52-week view · today highlightedWhen Mutton Snapper is best at this spot
SPOT PROFILE
Nearby Spots
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About Cow Key
Cow Key is an exposed drop-off on the southwest edge of Key West, where a mixed bottom falls away across depths from the shallows to about 20 feet. Yellowtail Snapper peak from May through July, Mutton Snapper from March through June, and Gray Snapper and Hogfish hold along the same broken bottom. Winter shifts the focus to Black Grouper, which peak in January and February, and to Great Barracuda, which run strongest from December through February, while King Mackerel round out the species list. Chumming and drifting with chum blocks, glass minnows, and live pilchards pulls yellowtail up off the edge, and bottom fishing with cut ballyhoo or live pinfish works the drop-off for mutton snapper and grouper. Barracuda patrol the shallower margin, where casting tube lures and topwater plugs draws strikes.
Cow Key is one of the spots we track around Key West. More spots in Key West · All of Florida.
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