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.
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.