East coast of FL

Norm said:

Tired of spending winter here so since I'm semi retired I'm wanting to rent a condo or such for 6 months out of the year. I've fished the west coast and TX gulf quite a bit but never the Atlantic side of Florida. I've got a salt water boat so a place with a slip would be nice. Key Largo is as far south as I want to go. Any hints on what you would do if you were me.

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Cant help, but make sure its got a Guest room with a Bar fridge please:becky:

Norm,
A lot of the answer is what type of fishing you want to do, skinny water, bottom, trolling?
What type of boat do you have?
There are lots of choices but an idea of what you are looking to do we can start pointing you in the right direction.
Marty

Your best would be to find a real estate agent in that area. I have sent an email to someone in the biz to try and get a contact for that area.
I'll let you know what comes back.

You can also check out VRBO Norm. (vacation rentals by owner)

VRBO/HomeAway were going to be my suggestions. A lot of owners will list their place for several months at a time for "snowbirds" looking for refuge. I have used them several times for family vacations and really recommend it.

We used VRBO for the last two vacations and we were very pleased.

Norm said:

Tired of spending winter here so since I'm semi retired I'm wanting to rent a condo or such for 6 months out of the year. I've fished the west coast and TX gulf quite a bit but never the Atlantic side of Florida. I've got a salt water boat so a place with a slip would be nice. Key Largo is as far south as I want to go. Any hints on what you would do if you were me.

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The fishing is just not nearly as good on the Atlantic side as in the gulf. I spent a lot of time surf and pier fishing and did some party boat trips on the gulf side and if you know the TX gulf (which I also fished) I think you will get the same impression of the Atlantic side that I got.

Really, everything north of Miami beach is 99% retirees, it's crowded, it's jammed, it is just really not very nice. And it's expensive as hell. I would say, if you're willing to go down south, either go south of Miami as far as you can or go far north from Palm Beach as you can.

The gulf side is a lot more flexible because it's so much shallower. I've been more than a half mile offshore wadefishing and I was in like *maybe* 3 feet of water. Watch the tides, when they pull you better be back on shore.

I think about the only good fishing I ever saw on the Atlantic side was some night shrimping off the piers in Lantana (?) and Lake Worth / Palm Beach areas. If you have a boat and you can get out aways you might do a lot better- I did not have the chance, but I believe there should be some good sailfish and other trophy fish out there. From the beaches you can pull in mullet all day but when I grew up those were baitfish and chum and to this day I won't eat them. Have no idea if they're good or not...

If you have a choice I think renting a place in Texas: Anything from Matagorda (damn good fishing) down through Corpus Christi or even points south would be better from almost every possible angle (pun intended.) Better fishing, better beaches, more even population distribution, cheaper, better eatin', less crime. Just plain better. And you can drive your truck on the beach and throw up a tent and barbecue.. to my recollection you cannot on the Atlantic side of Florida and maybe not the gulf side either. When we were kids I believe we did camp out and cook on the gulf side but maybe things changed in 50 years...

And don't forget, Texas BBQ and seafood is as good as it gets. You can get a belly full for not much money.

I have not spent much time in Alabama but it might be another option. Should be cheaper and less crowded than either Texas or Florida and my buddies from Lousiana said it's damn good fishing. But you won't have the advantages of the Texas gulf which just kinda has everything.

Oh and the other thing I forgot to mention is winter is high season in Florida. Every problem is magnified a thousand times and the prices and crowds are much worse than usual. In Texas, winter is off season.

Yes, the gulf is really, really shallow. In Texas it's worse than Florida, but you have to really get out there. I think one time we were out about 20 miles out of Galveston and in 100 feet of water. On the other hand, for guys like me that didn't have a boat, there was a lot of action in surf, wading, and pier fishing.

I did not spend much time in the Dallas area. But from what little I know the saltwater fishing there is a lot worse than the other areas we talked about on the other hand if you can go a little bit east you can get into some mighty good catfish country.

LOL don't get me started on the Mason Dixon stuff! I lived all over so I'm kinda homeless.

I'm one a them thar migrant IT workers. Just kinda got sick of where my beloved country was going about 20 or so years ago so up and left and have been living in various place. Hasn't been fun but it's been an adventure.

Yes, the Czechs are great people. Damn fine hosts. Couldn't ask for better.

Thanks a lot. It's a little hard to get the most out of the site without a membership but at this point I have too many hobbies and not enough time or money..

Any progress on your winter plans? I'm getting a little uncomfortable about smoking my neighbors out (damn apartment living) now that it's really getting hot and everybody has the windows open. I may have to push off the grilling season to wintertime.

I just got a made-in-China "Lodge" dutch oven table. I haven't set it up on the balcony yet but the tabletop itself seems real solid. Unfortunately the doggone black coating is more of a suggestion. It's smudging off on anything that touches it. I'm going to haul it into the bathtub and wash it and see if it stops. We don't have a lot of options over here. Petromax has good service and stuff arrives quickly. But their tables have to be put together and taken apart whenever you want to use them. The Lodge has folding legs and clips on the backside (bottom) of the table for the screen. It is more of a folding table which is exactly what I wanted than the Petromax is. Let's see how it goes. I also got one of their wrought iron pans which I was real curious about. This looks like an awful nice pan.

Had a big bunch of stuff arrive Friday afternoon. Will try to post some pics of the goodies I got one of these days.

Thanks, I'll keep me eye on it

If you head to the so-called Gold Coast (Atlantic side, around Boca/Delray) lemme know and I'll point you at some barbecue joints. If they're still open, that is.