Base mothership near Marquesas atoll offer room and comfort for tiered anglers.

For many who visit Key West, watching the sun set over the water at Mallory Square is a major attraction. You feel like you’re at the end of the world. For anglers, however, it’s not the sun but a crescent-moon formation of islands that tugs the imagination westward: the Marquesas Keys.

Getting to this subtropical wilderness has always been an adventure in itself. Twenty four miles is a long ride in a flats skiff; if the distance alone doesn’t make you raise an eyebrow, consider the potentially treacherous Boca Grand Channel: a 7-mile-wide river of water, 30 feet deep in spots, bridging the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. On a postcard morning, with no wind, departing Key West and crossing the channel is no big deal. But, if the wind picks up and the tide changes, such that waves and water are in opposition, it’s a harrowing experience. Veteran skiff guides prepare for these situations by planning crossings around the tide—and on many days the practical demands of marine navigation can eat away at fishing time.

Probably the best way to fish the Marquesas is in the company of a bigger cabin boat, one with space for sleeping and showering, and provisions for a few days of camping afloat. Mooney Harbor, inside the crescent of the islands, is a protected anchorage that’s perfect for this approach. If you don’t have access to a rig like this, you can charter a mothership from several sources in the Keys. Camping on the islands is prohibited by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the area.

With a traveling home base, you’re in charge of your fishing schedule, ducking the need to make a twice-daily crossing. With a few days, you’ll have time to really explore the fishery. Best of all, I think, is that you’ll have the luxury of fishing the “dark side” at the beginning and end of a day: sunrise and sunset, when many fish are most active.

Last summer I experienced the Marquesas from the deck of the Playmate, a 60-foot dive boat run by a husband and wife team. The boat served as a hotel, restaurant, boat dock and launching point for a group of eight anglers and their flats boats.

The convenience of waking at a decent hour and hitting the water at sunup with a belly full of hot breakfast was only matched by the end of the day, where freshwater showers, ice-cold libations and fresh-caught seafood dinners awaited us. In between was a choice of box lunch on the water, or a noon meal in the air-conditioned galley, followed by a nap. Who says a fishing trip shouldn’t be comfortable?

Over three days, we explored a range of fishing opportunities. Tarpon, bonefish, permit, sharks, barracuda and even year-round redfish are available on the flats. Skiffs as well as offshore boats can fish the close-by wrecks north and west of the islands; these spots (numbers of which are available on many charts) offer great fishing for cobia, permit, snapper and grouper. South of the Marquesas, the Atlantic edge drops off into a fantastic tuna fishery, as well as plenty of sailfish and dolphin.

We mostly stuck to the flats, planning our days around the 2-hour difference between exterior and internal flats.

Where did you say those bonefish were yesterday? This skiff is good to go.

Permit represent a year-round fishery, limited only by tropical storms and hard cold fronts. Local lore has it that permit go offshore in April to spawn and aren’t likely to be found on the flats that month. The prior month of March, though, is great, as are all summer months from May through September.