The best fishing day trip from Miami is 90 minutes south.

The math is simple. Leave Miami or Miami Beach around 5:15 am, roll down the Turnpike to US-1, cross Jewfish Creek as the sun comes up, and step aboard a 55 foot Hatteras at mile marker 84 in time for the 7 am departure. You fish the edge and the humps that made Islamorada the sportfishing capital of the world, not a crowded party-boat lane.

The dock sits at Three Waters Resort and Marina, 84001 Overseas Highway, with parking on site. Your catch is cleaned and bagged at the dock, which travels perfectly in a cooler for the drive home, and the evening shark trip at 5 pm works as the reverse itinerary: beach all day, fight sharks at sunset, dinner in the Keys.

Make a day of it

Pair a morning half day with lunch at one of Islamorada's dockside fish houses, or bring the non-fishing half of your group and put them on the sunset cruise while you fish. One dock, four boats, everyone gets their day.