Fishing on Outta Control Florida Sportsman Trip August 2nd 2013

August 7, 2013 by cudamanadventures

THE FISHING TRIP: Florida Sportsman South Regional get together fishing trip
Aboard the “Outta Control IV” with Ralph Hawkins
The Spot : Fort Lauderdale to Islamorada Humps
Weather : Friday ESE up to 2 knots, Saturday SE up to 7 knots, Sunday SE up to 7 knot winds, rainy
Water: calm up to 1 foot seas Water color clear and strong currents at the beginning slowing down on Saturday afternoon.
Fish catches: Monster AJ, Monster Banded Rudder fish, Over 100 mangrove snappers
Biggest size Type : AJ upto 80 pounds
Techniques : Live bait and Vertical Jigging
Jigs : 80 to 300 gram, butterfly jigs, blue and pink jigs worked best.

This trip had been planed months ahead, I made all possible to be able to go on it. The plans started in the Floridasportsman forum by a member named Ryan (copout@castaways). many members have been in other outings but I had not. When I arrived I did not expect a bout full of joyful and great people. From the minute I got there it was all about comradery, helping one another load gear talk about the plans ahead and expectations on the trip. It all started to get together and then BAM! a bottle of Seagram’s and some Ginger soda hit the bait cutting table. OH BOY!!! Steve said and ain’t gonna touch that stuff, some one else said beer only for me. But it didn’t take long for everyone to become even friendlier. Yeap! the drinking did get started, the fishing stories were told, and then little by little some started talking on how they fish where we get bait what gear we use. As always the boat is spotless, the showers even have cold water and hot water, but you have to be careful on how hot you put it, it does get extremely hot.

We went to Bent bait and it seemed like it was drunker than many in the boat or was that the buzz? Well we were using plain sabikis but since there were no threadfin herrings or pilchards we tipped the sabikis with squid and off everyone went helping, some catching some de hooking some cutting bait and others, well drinking, what else? Not all fit in the back so why not let the other catch the bait. In the end everyone helped one way or the other. The bait caught was the good o’l mighty BooRunner (blue runners), a few pinfish, a few dozen spot tail grunts. We were set and off we went fishing.

A beautiful sunset over the Miami scene as we left the old Bent Marker

The first few stops did not yield much, a mutton snapper caught on pre frozen sardines caught by Ralph and winning the biggest snapper pool the as we moved and moved finaly there was a wreck closer to the keys where the AJ’s where hungry at night. Steve paid with the drinking and almost ran out of gas catching this AJ, the current helped the AJ fight stronger. Then as they stopped feeding the Captain moved to another spot, this time it was a sharkathon, all was shark after shark so he captain made a longer move, again , and again.

It was morning time and we arrived at Carysfort to try and get some yellow tails. The crew went on the mission of putting two 15 pound chum blocks (one blood and one tiny silversides), that rallied up some of the fish but the current was still going Bob Marley on us, it just kept JAMMING! i was able to get one yellow tail while another 2 muttons were landed. Then it was nothing at all. Carys Fort Reef Light is where we meet a very happy waving youngster, dad, and family moving next to the boat and drifting with their anchor all the way around to the propeller of their boat, wonder why it didn’t start and dad had to dive in the water for? Well they had their anchor rope wrapped around the bout and in between the propelers. Fellows be careful when renting a craft you do not know how to use, there are motorized crafts not bicycles. Well the Captain made a few more moves that were still pickings of small fish.

Night time came and what do I see? BANANAS? What? BANANAS? BANANAS IN A FISHING BOAT? YOU AIN’T GONNA CATCH NOTHING MAN!!! “No problem, I did not buy these bananas, the crew did” I think the trick is eat the banana while drinking water at the same time, the water sucks the bad mojo away. Then drink a beer an hour so you forget the banana bad luck thing.

Well, the very next morning while fishing for big AJ’s at the islamorada Humps he hooked up to a sailfish on a kingfish jig and let the sailfish go unharmed, so Karma got his back.

The first big, well I should say monster AJ came on board. it was Doc’s first ever big fish and he was happy to have caught it and was undisputed for the big fish pool. After this fish he was ready for another when most people would just sit down.

It was BBQ king Doug’s turn and this time he had an AJ on a small jig and was very happy for the battle and chose to continue as well. brave people I tell you most would just rest.

Then came my turn and Jeff’s turn to get into the AJ’s and were reward with some nice decent size fish.

Coming back from the Humps Captain Ralph decided to anchor by Alligator Reef light and catch bait plus what ever mangrove snappers we could catch. We loaded with mangrove snappers and bait and as we were doing so Jimmy caught another sailfish, DO NOT FREAK OUT!!! This was the second Sailfish of the trip. Jimmy thought it was a flying fish, looked at it closely and realized it was a sailfish after he took it out of the dip net. Took a quick pick and released it.

After the bait gathering and getting the boat’s limit on mangrove snappers it was off to the Isla Morada’s humps again. Where the battles began. We caught many fish on jigs but some were still trying to land a MONSTER AJ. Ernie took his turn with the kingfish jig and had a great battle with a big fish. We all thought it was a wahoo until the line came back up all frayed. Hmmm wahoo got very shark teeth, may be a shark but better think the boat was following a big wahoooooo. below is the Captain guiding the Co-Captain to following the fish.

My skipjack on a jig

Lots of rare size (for Florida waters) Banded rudder fish were caught. below is the one I caught on a vertical Jig.

Eddie is below showing off his AJ and in the background the rest of the fish caught by all 14 anglers.

For more pictures you can go to the main report written by Ryan, he is the one that set up this trip. We were all very thankful for him taking this long awaited task on his shoulders.

http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?123765-Outta-Control-IV-48hr-FSFF-trip-8-2-4-Absolutely-wide-open-fun!-PIC-HEAVY

Fishing with Phil Pica July 27th 2013

August 1, 2013 by cudamanadventures

Fishing with Phil Pica

THE FISHING TRIP: In search for permit and groupers while jigging
Aboard the “Unknown” with Captain Phil Pica
The Spot : Fort Myers shallow water wrecks
Weather : 0 to 5 knot winds, Fair weather
Water: calm at first then 1 to 2 foot seas
Fish catches: Gag groupers, Permit, Snappers, Cobias
Biggest size Type : Cobia around 30 pounds
Techniques : Vertical Jigging produced two tiny cobias and live bait everything else
Jigs : 100 gram, butterfly jigs

Well we wanted to venture out in the Fort Myers are of the Gulf. The plan we were told was to fish in 60 to 80 foot deep wrecks but the captain spotted large schools of Permit circling shallow wrecks so he changed the plans to head towards those wrecks first. We arrived early at the dock to watch the big Snook and catfish being fed the prior day dead shrimp. We waited for the captain to arrive at 8:00 am but he was a bit late and got there at 9:00 am. He had already the crabs and some backup shrimp in case the snappers were hot. We all loaded our gear and the captain was like “are you guys thinking we are going on a multi day trip or what?” We had brought three rods for each and our own tackle, must captains are used to catching the fish and handing the rods down to their customers but we were not there for that and the Captain knew about it, so all he did was shake his head.

On to the bait catching we went, the excess water from Lake Okeechobee was being let out from the canals and all youcould see was brackish water for about ten miles. When we hit the color change from brackish to the usual green turquoise waters we spotted many schools of herrings being chased by Jack Crevales and Spanish Mackerels. The Threadfin Herrings were trying to swim towards the beaches but kept going back into the green waters to get pounded by their predators. We brought only one light tackle rod to catch bait so the captain decided to use the cast net instead. As we got closer the captain saw an opportunity to pickup from the boiling schools of bait and after a few tries he succeed with a nice net of a couple dozen Threadfin Herrings.

With the bait loaded we headed to the first wreck, there were dozens of schools of Spade Fish and dozens of Permit fish as well. We were in only 30 feet of water so we did not even try to vertical jig that shallow. The captain says set up for permit! So he starts setting up with 20 pound test, he said that the fish were very spooky and anything thicker would not allow for a bite. So I picked my light tackle set up and the others did the same so out went three crabs. Adam decided he wanted the grouper instead and so he fished with a live Threadfin herring, great choice as he was rewarded later on. The first hit came on Phil’s uncle a small permit it was and then Ed’s rod started to scream with another small permit, and then my rod gets hits but as I am fighting it it took me towards the wreck where I was broken off but not by the wreck, it was the fish mouth which was abrasive enough to cut through the 20 pound test line. We were wondering what it was when Adam got a nice hit on his rod, he was using 60 pound test leader so he was able to catch the culprit, a nice 30 pound cobia. the cobia had a follower since Phil was ready with a bottom rod he tossed a live Threadfin herring in the water. I had no time to do that so I took my jigging rod, took off the jig, and out another live Threadfin Herring went, but it was Phil’s bait that was chosen as he was on the bottom and my bait was just free lined on the top water. Phil’s cobia came up to a nice almost 25 pound size.

Of to deeper wrecks we went, this time in 45 feet, we all decided still too shallow for jigging but still tried it and since it was shallow were were basically just yo-yoing the jigs, so we switched to bait. I did not bring a bottom rod as the original plan was to jig so i had to use one of my jigging rods to do so. So I setup a rod in wich I had 70 pound test Jerry Brown and 80 pound test leader I added a swivel to the end of it and decided to go light on the leader using only 50 pound test and a 7/0 circle hook, the only one I had in my bag. Off the Threadfin Herrings went, BAM! I get a hit and immediately it goes straight to the wreck as I was fighting it BAM! Phil gets hooked up on his bottom rod and he starts to reel in but seems that his fish was giving up faster than mines, as it came up closer we knew it was a Jewfish so I decided to tighten the drag and pull the line as much as I could to snap the line. I did not want to be on Phil’s way since his fish was closer to the top. Up came the 150 pounder to the surface where he was greeted for a few photo ops. Since we knew what lurked there we made a move to another spot.

This time we went deeper and again the captain’s avid eye spotted more permits in the mix with dozens of Spade fish. This is where Ed again nailed another Permit. This time we were in about 54 feet so me and Phil started to jig. Ed decided to change it up and threw down a live Threadfin Herring and almost instantly he hooked up with a small cobia that was followed by many others of a smaller size. We tossed some biat at the but since the followers were to small we pulled the bait out. Phil and I hooked up on the jigs with tiny cobes so back in the water they went, none of the bigger ones took our offer of beautiful expensive metals. We took our lines out of the water because these were too small. One more move to about the same depth and on the first drop Adam and Ed get their lines tight and up came the first Gag grouper and then the second while my bait gets hit and WHAT DO I GET? A SHARK!!! Wow my luck hasn’t got any better as the second fish i hooked up was another shark and they got another Gag grouper at the same time. Oh well, it is what it is and got to take what the seas offered us.

After a few mishaps with the bottom machine the captain was able to rig it to start functioning well so after that there was time for one more move. Here we went back to the first wreck to see if the permit fish were hungry again. The Captains spots the Permit fish hanging under some barracudas and this time they were in bigger sizes and bigger schools so HMMMM, wait, wait, nothing happened so I switched to a shrimp and got a small keeper mangrove, Adam got a lane snapper (but i think it was on the stop before this one), and another snapper was landed by Phil’s uncle. That was it, it was time to go back to the dock where the fish was split. i didn’t catch anything worth it but was able to get some filets for a few dinners with my wife and family.

The trip was well worth it, I had a shot at many fish but was unlucky. I sure will try to go again but next time I will only bring my bottom fishing gear. There will not be excuses next time. I hope I will get redemption on my next 3 day trip. I just hope 😦

Fishing in Flamingo Everglades National Park, FL 7-14-13

July 14, 2013 by cudamanadventures

THE FISHING TRIP: Flats Fishing
Aboard: Code Red Charters with Captain Ryan 786-505-4831
The Spot : Flamingo Everglades National Park, FL
Weather : 10 to 15 knot winds, overcast weather, did not rain
Water: Clear water on flats, dirty water at outgoing tide
Fish catches: Redfish (Red Drum), Sea Trout, Snook, Mangrove Snapper, Lady Fish
Biggest size Type : Redfish 27″
Techniques : Artificial Lures only
Jigs : Artificial lures used were shrimp imitation and assassin sea shads that had white or chartreuse

This weekend I had planned fishing in the Dry Tortugas on the Yankee Capts boat with Ed, a vertical jigging friend, but the trip was canceled. I then planned fishing right after a tropical storm on Newport Pier, but the storm dissipated and became rain and thunder storms. Then Ryan an old friend of mines turned Charter Captain gave me an offer I could not refuse and so I booked a trip with him and called Ed to see if he wanted to go. We met at Don’s Bait and Tackle before going to Flamingo. Ryan had all the equipment necessary for the trip including all the artificial lures we needed to use. Our target fish were Redfish ( Red Drums), Cpatain Bollywood (Ryan) had already prepared the tackle, leaders, and lures for us and so it was a quick drop of the boat and off we went fishing for Redfish, a short 20 minute ride and we were at one of the Bights. In Flamingo Everglades National Park, Fl these are a series of natural areas that have a “c” shape formation and are located East of the main park ramp. Captain Bollywood position the boat with the current and wind and began poling in about a foot of water as we all looked for signs of redfish. A few wakes were seeing and so Ed had a first shot at them, he had a first hit as you could hear DAMN! I missed it! We then saw the fish moving fast the opposite direction. After a few more of our cursing words Ed again had another shot and this time DAMN! his line went slack and we noticed the fish cut him off. 15 pound test leaders could get cut off quickly if the fish swallows the whole lure, but you get more bites that way. Well the leader was raised to 20 I believe and so we went on to look for more redfish. In our drift direction there was another skinny water boat poling the flats so the Captain decided to go to another spot. This time he took us closer to the Bight’s mangrove tree lines as he was polling at casting a few shots of his own we spotted a snook that had no interest in being pulled by any ones line, the a few small lemon sharks passed by the boat, and then a redfish that paid no mind to anything we threw at it, even a jack crevalle passed by and had not even looked at out lures, I guess we missed sending them the invitation to come out and play with us.

We had to move and so we moved to another Bight, this time the tide was going out and the water looked a bit better since the wind had died down and we were able to see the current acting up in certain areas signaling for higher grounds. As we got closer and closer we began stalking or targets and this time there were quite a few, we missed a lonely redfish as he said good bye to us and then we fixed ourselves into a scholl that kept on going and coming. We had fresh shrimp imitation lures fresh leaders and so we got closer to the school and closer then it looked like the bell rang and all went running out of class. Ryan threw his cast, I threw my cast, we had a double! The Ed is like DAMN! I missed it! NO, NO, IT’S STILL ON! It now was a hell of a triple hookup! and so we reeled in our target species after a few almost tangles that didn’t happen. We took a few pics and off we went thinking of a new target, this time spotted sea trout were in the mind of the Captain. We got rid of the shrimp imitations and used some Assassin Sea Shad lures. This time the target was easily found as the Captain already had a spot he knew where they would be and we did not have to stalk them nor polling the flats was involved. We simply cast our lines and a few spotted sea trout would gladly and furiously hit our lures, it was one after another non stop action. We had fun until fun was no more, too much repetitive fishing and it gets boring. So we decided to accept the Captain’s recommendation to get out from the inshore waters and go to the inland lake for some snook or tarpons. We went 1 of 3 on the snook and 0 for 3 on the Tarpon, as we were going for those species Ed kept on hooking trout and the Captaion and I got some Lady fish which I kept for later fishing outings. It was a lot of fun fishing with the guys and was nice to do it all on artificial lures only. If you need an affordable Charter to Isla Morada or Flamingo Everglades National Park you can contact Code Red Backcountry Charters at 786-505-4831, Captain Ryan says he guarantees the target fish or you do not have to pay. The full day Charter is only $350 up to two people.

Jetty Fishing- Snook Madness at Juno Inlet Jetty July 7th 2013

July 7, 2013 by cudamanadventures

THE FISHING TRIP: Jetty Snook Fishing
Aboard no boat this was a shore bound trip
The Spot : Jupiter Inlet Jetty (AKA Juno Inlet)
Weather : 20 knot winds, Fair weather, some rain clouds
Water: Inlet water was rough, canal water started coming in around 9:30 a.m.
Fish catches: Snook
Biggest size Type : Snook around 40″
Techniques : Live and dead bait
Jigs : no jigs, artificial lures used but no success (hawk Flares and Mullet imitation lures)

I wanted to squeeze some fishing this weekend and decided to make it count so I wanted to go to Juno Pier for some snook catch and release. Rory an old fishing friend told me that the fish were not close to the beach the day before and that the inlet had been better so my wife and I decided to go to the Jupiter South Jetty. The plan was to leave at midnight for our 3 hour drive and get to Blue Heron Bridge for some bait catching and then to Loxahatchee river for some mullet. Blue heron only had small pilchards, spanish sardines, and tiny threadfin herring. Well sometimes you have to get what nature offers and so we went to the river but not a ripple in the water so no mullet to be caught. Oh well I had to go with plans of only using crabs and what ever bait I could get my hands on. I got there around 4 a.m and were greeted by some guys that were taking super morning swims and drinking a few beers. They told us “man, there ain’t nothing out there but catfish people have been using shrimp and only catching catfish and anyways the waves are coming over the jetty, almost all of it”. I thanked them for their advise and continued to unload and on our way we were. The entire jetty was wet, perhaps the rain clouds blew some heavy wind and did have a few waves come over the jetty, but that had gone past. We set up and out the crabs went. I looked for left over shrimp and clams and found a few, so I tried to secure bait with that. Around 6 a.m. came the first hit, I was hoping for a permit since it hit a crab but instead it was an almost blind pissed off snook that gave me a nice little encouraging fight. Later on a fisherman arrived at the jetty and setup camp under my rods that were on my fishing cart and lines were in the water. I paid no attention as he started to cast in between my lines, he got a nice pompano and so I thought the day would be better than expected. Then came the rest of regulars whom also setup camp under my lines. I paid no mind they were avid at casting and positioning the lines accordingly to not intrude my lines that were in the water, but looks like the first guy kind of got offended that the others setup camp right next to him and so he moved. Well, after that pompano out came a whole bunch of palometas, mojarras, and croackers. I checked my lines and recasted or placed a new crab on my hooks. Waited and waited and BARABAMMMM!!!!! My rod is bent like it was elastic, I picked it up and had a nice fight that took me to carefully hopping on the rocks and after gaining line loosing line gaining line I was finally able to see what it was, a nice size permit. I was relieved to see it floating upside down a sign that the fight was over and then PLUP! WTF HAPPNED? I see the fish floating away with the tide. I reel in my line and what do I see? Another case of a broken hook! Yeap! Another broken hook loosing a nice fish. Kicked my self for not getting rid of those darn hooks and I swear they will be gone this week. No more cheap hooks. I had thrown away many of them but kept a few, no more. They are going in the garbage, no more fleabay hooks! Only from known sources from now on. After that we took an opportunity for a nice sunrise photo opt.

As the morning came to light the Charter and party boats pass by the inlet on their way to a rough day of fishing.

I lost two snooks to the rocks so I upped my leader to 60 pound test, that seemed to do the trick as I did not loose any more to the rocks. So off a big fellow went out to fetch me a another snook.

That big fellow swam for two hours until it got hit but the snook were just playing with it it, they would pick it up and would drop it. So out a smaller croacker went to the water, this time at 9 a.m. it got swallowed by a snook. Thanks to a kind kid that came to me and said “here mister, catch a big snook”

Ten Minutes had passed and my rod bends again, another nice snook, as my wife went to get my casting net I caught and released two more snooks.

Then the rest of people decided to join the fun, Fausto a nice gentleman that gave me a few croackers he caught with a cast net also joined and got a few nice snooks

At 10:05 a.m came up another one of my snooks, got some pics since my wife came back and released it was.

At 10:26 Fausto got another one along with a crowd rant for holding the snook the way he did, but he released it quickly.

I kept on hooking up and releasing more then Rory passed by to say high and toss a few lures in the water. I had ran out of bait so I asked Fausto once again for a small croacker as I sent the dead croacker others were instantly hooking up with live ones. I knew I had to wait and just twich the rod every now and then to make it look somewhat live and at 10:30 a.m out a beauty of a snook momma just made me dance hoping from rock to rock like a teenager skipping stones, she came close to a nice gap of rocks and then she would just go out again, doing so 3 or 4 times but she gave up and decided it was time to come up. As I was picking her up and unhooking her she slipped out of my hands and fell in the water but between rocks and she could not get out so I had to hop to the rocks down below to retrieve her, my wife took a quick picture from far away and off to the water momma snook went. She swam so fast that as soon as she hit the water there was no sign of her.

It was a great day of catch and release (except the bait off course) at the Jupiter Inlet South Jetty (AKA Juno Inlet Jetty). My fingers are torn to pieces literally and my whole body hurts like I have been to the gym for hours on end. Those rocks sure made me pay a toll for not being young or better said way out of shape, but I say it again “I will start on Monday”. It was nice to see and chat with Rory, hope he makes it out again to have some fun fishing.

Anglins Pier – 4th of July

July 6, 2013 by cudamanadventures

My wife and I decided to go to the beach, do a little fishing, and then watch the fireworks from Anglins pier at Lauderdale By The Sea. We got close to it and the lines for a parking space got going until I finally got to the pier’s parking area.

Fireworks seeing from Anglins Pier at Lauderdale By The Sea

Well, I forgot that they raise the parking rate when there is a special occasion such as watching the fireworks to celebrate the independence of our great nation the United States of America. And they do so by doubling the regular price. It was $20 bucks!!!! Oh my it is still hurting my pockets! I could have bought a nice lure or a couple of leader wheels. Well, thinking about it it was well worth the increase if you count a mile walking to the the pier in the middle of intoxicated people asking “hey man, are you going fishing to the pier?” I got a couple to ask that question at the parking lot and as I was already in the pier. I wonder what made the ask that question? Was it the fishing cart and the fishing rods in it? Or was it the alcohol or who knows what that makes people ask the weirdest questions? LOL, people were having fun and so I really don’t mind as long as they don’t start touching my stuff asking if they can fish with it. By the way entrance to fish at the pier is $7.00 and if you forget your weights then for a 5 ounce weight it is $2.00 so don’t forget any terminal tackle or be ready to pay a premium for it. Well, we got to the pier and saw how windy it was so we decided to head straight to the pier and skip the crowded beach. As we entered the pier I asked my wife to stop for a second so we could snap some pictures. The crowd was rolling in the high waves on one side and on the other the surfers were enjoying the waves. What a nice day for shark fishing and here I was with mackerel and snapper gear 😦

…

Once we got pass the middle shelter we started fishing for bait. There was no white bait only dork jacks a few small blue runners and some spottail pinfish. I spoke with some of the kids that frequent the pier looking for some toothy critters with fins and they said it had been slow for the past couple of days. As we kept on getting bait my wife got some moonfish that were released and as I kept getting more we decided to move to the T. Some very happily cocktail drinking tourists were there and this particular one kept on saying “this man is ganna catch a biiig one, hip! Just look, look he is fishing with shiners, hip! He is gonna catch a biiig fiiish!” I smiled and explained that I was fishing with dork jacks and was looking to get some bonitos or maybe some summer bluefish and as I was saying so my reel started going, but it ended being a vicious hound fish. It had swallowed the whole dork jack.

The second fish hit a small morsel on my light rod, I was fishing with a Troll Right jig and a piece of a spottail pinfish. It was intended for any snapper under the pier. Well, it wasn’t no snapper. After a small run a Tarpon jumped halfway out the water and shook the jig off as some of the tourists were going “woooow!” I guess not many get to see a Tarpon jumping mid air. So I decided to play a little and setup my 30 pound test rod and reel with a barbless circle hook, I place a nice size spottail pinfish on it and sent it on it’s way. My wife was ready with the camera and was trying to snap a few pics but it just wouldn’t take them since the camera was on auto and it was getting dark. As the Tarpon took the bait and jumped 3 times we could hear the tourists going uuuuuuhhhh!!!! ahhhhhh!!! woooow!!! The only pic my wife was able to get was a pic of the Tarpon’s behind saying good bye to us.

It was a great day at the pier, we had some fun talking to the tourist from other states and to the local tourists as well. We enjoyed the fireworks and took some video of it. Below is a small quick video of the fireworks so you get the idea.

Fishing with a friend around Molasses Reef 6-29-13

June 30, 2013 by cudamanadventures

THE FISHING TRIP: Trolling for Dolphin and jigging
Aboard the “Seaquest ” a friend’s boat
The Spot : Islamorada to Tavernier
Weather : 15 knot winds, Fair weather, some rain clouds
Water: 2 to 4 foot seas
Fish catches: Amberjack
Biggest size Type : Small AJ, no big fish found
Techniques : Vertical Jigging produced and cut bait did not
Jigs : 250 gram, butterfly jigs

I was supposed to go fishing the Florida Keys bridges yesterday since the mangrove snapper and permit action has been good, but a friend called me letting me know he would be working on his trailer in Tavernier Key, which is just before Islamorada. He said he wanted to go fishing and try and catch some Dorados (mahi mahi), so I accepted the invitation. My first stop on the way was at Jacks Bait and Tackle in Florida city to buy some ballyhoo and ice. The ballyhoo where on the big side but look like had been brined for too long. I got to Tavernier around 2:30 am and started to rig some ballyhoo and get the stuff ready for the fishing trip. After a few trips to the gas station to fill the boat up we left with about 1/4 of a tank which is about 20 gallons of gas. We noticed it was very windy, according to the weather channel and some websites the wind was supposed to be less than 10 knots and 1 to 2 foot seas but the wind was about 15 knots, at first we thought it was because of some rain clouds passing by but as we headed out we figured it was not the wind was just blowing a bit harder than it should have been and the waves were about 2 to 4 fot seas with some higher rolloers in between, but were not choppy so it was all good for fishing. Hmmm, we noticed that not many boats were heading out, there was no sewaeed stacked, there were no birds, but we kept on trolling towards the Islamorada humps (basically an under water mountain on the sea floor). As we got to 380 feet deep the seas were getting higher and higher so we were forced to head shallower where the waters are much calmer and headed towards the Molasses Reef area, we kept trolling and finally were able to see some birds but had no luck the birds were moving too fast circling and moving, circling and moving fast (sometimes a sign they are following bonito or blackfins). I put on a small squid on one trolling rod and a ballyhoo on the other, but still no luck. I usually get the small blackfins on the small plastic squids and even get small dolphins on them as well. Since the birds just disappeared into the sun we decided to head to the wrecks close to Molasses Reef. On the first wrecks I set down a jig and BAM!!! almost get pulled into the water and was hooked up to a nice fight, so I figured the big amber jacks are still hanging around but then, slaaaack! Oh well let the jig back down and started jigging again then Bam! I get hooked up again, but this time it was a small amber jack, I unhooked it and released it after a few pics. There were lots of bait in the water and all of a sudded they all disappeared and with the the hits. My friend Jeff tried fishing with cut ballyhoo and with squid but it did not work out. We moved to another wreck and as a diving boat approached we decided to go to another one but the action just died and so we decided to head back to the docks. It’s fishing not catching. The luck has not improved but I will keep on trying.

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