Rebecca Shoal and Marquesas Keys 2018

June 20, 2018 by cudamanadventures

It was nice to finally be able to go out and fish. After a car accident last year I was sent to the side lines and had to stay away from hard activities. I did my therapy exercises and and worked very hard on strengthening my back, but still was only able to fish 2 times and it was not pleasant once I got home. This time it was different, I went to catch the bait and felt good, I went fishing and did not spend weeks in bed suffering pain. I am very glad to now know my back is at least 95% good. For this trip our plan was to catch fresh gogs for the trip, make fresh chum, and hope for good weather to make a long trip as far as the Marquesas and perhaps as far as Rebecca Shoal near the Dry Tortugas Florida just in time for the grouper bite. We accomplished all.

As we got to the docks in Key West we loaded the coolers and got rid of a few, we had to play Tetris to get them in the 22′ Sea Cat. 4 fishing rods each, 3 tackle bags, 2 food and drinks coolers, 2 bait and chum coolers, and 2 coolers filled with ice for the fish is what we packed.

Once the boat was loaded we left the docks around 8am and got to our destination around 11 am. It was nice to ride on 1 foot seas so we went passed the Marquesas to near Rebecca Shoal area.

On the way there we were pleasantly surprised to see a school of young Tarpon migration through the distant shores, it was roughly 40 miles out near the Marquesas when we spotted them. We stopped, took a few pics and and threw a few casts but they just wanted to swim, below is a photo so you can get the idea.

Once we got far enough, well, as far as Bill the Captain had calculated we would have enough gas to get back, we looked for rock bottom and barely had any markings of fished but we tried anyways. It was about 11:25 am and to our surprise the fish showed up and started chewing like the was no tomorrow.

First up was Bill with this Porgy.

In second came this nice Black grouper,

We caught a couple of Mutton Sappers and then to my surprise after a big hurtful battle in came my Goliath grouper. I thought I was done after catching this fish but kept on fishing.

Below is one of Bill’s Mutton Snappers and a nice Scamp Grouper.

The fish were chewing well so I took out my slow jigging rod and my jigging depot slow pitch jigs. In came a Porgy, a few legal size mutton snappers of which I released a couple to let them grow bigger and a nice black grouper which I also released. Below are the pics:

After hooking up to a small Mahi Mahi using an H4L Wingman lure, things died down so we decided to go to a Public listed wreck around Rebeca Shoal that was in about 60 feet of water and it was Donkey King fighting all the way along with a few groupers and snappers. Below is my Amberjack which I released. I could not get a bait past the Amber Jacks so after this fish I decided it was time to take a break as I was hurting a bit.

Mario had caught a couple of Mutton Snappers already when he got the American Red Snapper below.

Bill saw the screen loaded with AJ marking and so decided to start speed jigging for them. He hooked up some nice fish along with a big Jack Crevale.

Mario was able to get a bait pass the Amber Jacks and hooked up this very nice Mutton Snapper.

In the end we were able to fill two 120 quart coolers with fish and no Amberjacks were kept. I got my limit on Mutton Snappers and groupers plus my porgy. It was a nice load. I have fish for quiet a bit now.

The main baits used were Google Eyes, Cigar Minnows and Flying fish. The gogs and cigar minnows were caught ahead of the trip, the flying fish just literally started jumping in the boat at night. Thank goodness for LED lights that attrack them and for the sharks and other fish that were scaring them enough to fly in our boat.

We butterflied the gogs as shown below:

I used an 8500H Calstar Rod. My reel was an Alutecnos Gorilla 12. My main line was 50 lb braid with 25 feet top shot of 80 lb test line. The top shot was already on my line and it wasn’t going to get in the way of catching mutton snappers but ideally it should have been 50 pound test mono line. The terminal tackle used was 5/0 4x Strong circle hooks with 10 to 15 feet of 50lb fluorocarbon leader. And yes, this is what I used to bring up that Goliath Grouper as well as the Amber Jacks.

As for the slow jigging I used my SJ& Shark and Cudaman jigging rod. My reel on this rod was an Accurate Valiant 400 2 speed loaded with 50lb test Daiawa J-Braid and 20 feet top shot of 50 lb flourocarbon leader. For the jigs I used http://www.jiggingdepot.com 230 grams slow pitch jigs. We were mainly fishing 180 to 300 feet of water and bare a knot of current. For my pitch rod I used a Calstar 8 foot rod and a Shimano Sustain 8000 with 30 lb test and H4L wingman lure. I did take a speed jigging rod with a narrow Alutecnos Gorilla 12 loaded with 70 lb test Daiwa J-Braid that I had to use to fish with after loosing the knob on my main reel. I gotta remember to use lock tight so this won’t happen again.

Thanks to Captain Bill for a great fishing trip!

Thanks for visiting my humbled blog. I hope you at least enjoyed the pictures. Until next time.

Tight lines!

Jetty Fishing- Sebastian Inlet Quick Guide

September 14, 2014 by cudamanadventures

I have been asked before and was asked recently to provide information as far as what good times to go fishing, what gear, and what bait can work at Sebastian Inlet Jetties and near shore areas. In many reports of other fishing sites I have posted the same information, but as the years have passed some forum sites no longer exist or others have done upgrades loosing a lot of data. This day I was approached by a boatlessfishing.com forum member by the forum name of Chevy Juan he had the same questions so I realized it was too much to send over text and since this can help others I told him I would write the information on a blog post. So I am going to give him credit for inspiring me to share this bit of knowledge with others. But please understand I can not give all the details and secrets but I am giving you all you will need to catch some nice fish. Perhaps I will give you too much information. My experience comes from fishing these areas on my old boat in the early 90’s and yearly trips there after. I give credit to retired old man Coast Guard Dave from the Newport pier for telling me about this place in the early 80’s. May you rest in peace Dave! I also participated in a couple of CPR tournaments (Catch Photo Release) on the boatlesfishing forum. Most my fish came from this inlet. Pompano, Snook, Redfish, Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, Jack Crevales, Sheepshead, Black Margates, Black Drums, etc… As I find those pictures I will upload on my blog. I wrote the information I am sharing in a few hours today so I hope it helps the many that will read this post. You can leave comments if you like.

The Sebastian Inlet State Park is located at:

9700 S. State Road A1A
Melbourne Beach, Florida 32951

The best time of year:

So let’s start with what are the good time to go fishing at Sebastian Inlet and let’s add what time of year is best. All year round is great fishing in Sebastian Inlet. You can see this information at:

Click to access sbi-sebastianfishbait.pdf

On the above image from the State public records you can see that Redfish and Snook are there almost year round, but do congregate more in the fall and the same is with many other species. This is because of the annual mullet run. This is no secret but if you didn’t know, now you do. Another factor that determines a good time to fish Sebastian as many other places is to fish there right before or after a storm or a cold front. The change in Barometric pressure makes just about all fish feed more than normal. Again this is no secret.

The best time to go:

as with any inlet and any bridge the best time to go is before the change of tides and stay until at least a couple of hours after the tide changed. If time is in your hands then fish as much as you can all day and all night but ensure that your bait is in the water during the peak times (tide changes). Sebastian is a great place to fish, specially if you want to fish with artificial lures. You will see many people favor big silver spoons and chartreuse flarehawks (a bullet type jig also used in partyboats to catch king Mackerel Fish). This has not changed in over 20 years.

What tackle is best?

Sincerely it all depends on what you are fishing for. In Sebastian Inlet you will see all kinds of tackle getting the jib done. Now days you will see many that go with just one spinning reel that holds 50 lb braid and they put a small piece of mono on it with a 5/0 to 7/0 hook and a small weight just before the hook to guide the bait to the bottom where snook and redfish feed, many call this rig a “Knocker Rig” some will do this the old way, on a spinning or conventional reel using 20 to 30 lb test monofilament line with a free moving sinker, main line tied to a swivel, and a 40 to 50 lb leader to a 5/0 to 7/0 hook . This rig is also known as a “fish finder rig” which is basically a “Carolina Rig”. When fishing for big bull redfish, snook, permit or any other big fish I would recommend an 8 foot rod or longer. When fishing for Pompano and flounder the usual long surf rod can do the job. Some areas of the jetty have under the bridge catwalks where you can use short rods.

What bait for what species?

It is obvious that it is the mullet run in the fall so many fish will be fixed on eating mullet, so bring a casting net and catch a few and have a live-well ready for them. Many other baits work as well and all depends on the species you are after. Stopping by the local Bait and Tackle shop will ensure that you have the right knowledge to know what bait is best during the time of year you go.

Snook and Redfish: You can catch these during the out going or incoming tide from the catwalks to the end of the jetties. Fish the inlet side.

Shrimp – Stop at the Bait shop and ask for the largest shrimps you can get. Ask for hand picked shrimp, some of the local shops do sell tiger shrimps which are larger than the normal shrimps.
Croacker – you will need to catch these your self. You can use sabiki rigs with small pieces of shrimp. Right before you get to the bridge you will see the river banks on the side. You can get croackers there. You can also catch them a few feet from the shore, just toss your small pieces of shrimp in the trough (the area between the shoreline and the sand bar).
Pinfish – same as above but you can also use squid.
Mullet – certain times of the year finger mullets are not allowed to be sold at tackle shops but you can cast net them yourself at the river banks
Pigfish (tomtate grunts) catch them at the river banks with squid or shrimp.
Artificial – snook can be caught with bucktail jigs right along the edges of the jetty bouncing them on the bottom and also casting towards the middle of the cut and also bouncing the jigs along the bottom. Redfish can be caught on artificial lures along the shorelines of the river.

Pompano: You can catch these from the bend of the North jetty to the second bend just cast towards the North.

Shrimp – Stop at the Bait shop and ask for live clams, if no live clams ask for frozen clams. Do take a few sandfleas if you can but the clams will work best.

Shepshead: You can catch these from the second bend to the end of the jetty fishing on the ocean side.

Fiddler crabs – Stop at the Bait shop and ask for live fiddler crabs
Shrimp – You can actually stop at Publix and get fresh peeled shrimp, place it in salt to make it a little tuffer and use the headless pieces with 3/0 hooks and a “fish finder rig”

Snappers: Fish directly under the jetty where the water seems to get deeper until you find them. On ocean side and inlet side.

Shrimp – Stop at the Bait shop and ask for live shrimp.
White bait: Go on the catwalks with a casting net and try to catch sardines and thread-fin herrings. Cut the tail off and use them with “knocker rigs” or “Fish Finder rigs” You can use them live and this way you might catch snook and tarpons as well.

Gulf Flounder: Fish the catwalks on both sides and from the rocky areas at the begining of the jetty (riverside). Also on the south jetty all around the tip and towards the beach. Flounder usually starts with the mullet run and start to get thick in November and December but it is a mad house out there so I usually avoid fishing because of that. Use a fish finder rig with a short leader, make sure you have a loose drag but not too loose as flounders have a soft mouth.

Finger mullet – certain times of the year finger mullets are not allowed to be sold at tackle shops but you can cast net them yourself at the river banks.
Mud minnows – Stop at the Bait shop and ask for live mud minnows
Shrimp – use whole live shrimps
Artificial – use scented shrimp like or mullet like artificial lures along the shore lines of the river. You can suspend them under a cork/float while wading in the river. You can also get both species with hardbait artificial lures, just cast toward unusual moving waters in the shallows.

Black Margate: Fish the end of the jetty on the ocean side, these like the snappers are usually right next to the jetty. No need to cast out far.

Shrimp – use whole live small shrimps or cut shrimps
Squid chunks, about 1/2″ size

Black Drum: this is another crowd gatherer in Sebastian inlet as you can catch Black Drums in the 10 pound range and above, but most will be smaller in size. Use a “Fish Finder Rig”.

Shrimp – use whole live shrimps and cut shrimps
Squid – 1 inch wide chunks
Clams, fresh or frozen

Spotted Seatrout: Not at the jetty but at the river bank you will notice that after sunrise many will be wading in the river right before you get to the park. Use a float and shrimp under it. The bottom of the river has massive amounts of algae. if you decide to wade be prepared to get stuck in the sandy mud.

Shrimp – use whole live shrimps
Pigfish (tomtate grunts) catch them at the river banks with squid or shrimp
Finger muller – certain times of the year finger mullets are not allowed to be sold at tackle shops but you can cast net them yourself at the river banks.
Artificial – trout love artificial baits – Anything that looks like a shrimp or a sardine/finger mullet

All the bait above can work for many other species such as Jack Crevales and Bluefish. So tossing your bait out will be the best way to find out what is biting out there as one day the fishing will be excellent and the next it will just be sit and wait. Blue crabs work well with many of the species mentioned. Cut mullet will also work.

Word of advice:

Do not take so much tackle that you cannot keep track of. If you fish more than one rod be aware of them at all times as your gear will find a way to walk to the parking lot and get inside of someones car. Unfortunately this is something that has not changed in so many years. If you did not understand then; There is a lot of theft in this Jetty as many people from all walks of life go there and sometimes only go there once or twice a year. But do not misunderstand, most people are very nice and will even give you advise or offer you some bait, just watch your gear for the rest.

Below you can see where the fish are biting. In this case I believe it was Black Drums and Sheepsheads. It will not take long to figure out what is biting and what bait is working best. This happens at most piers as people follow the schools of fish, but sometimes people just think there is only one spot where the fish will bite.

Below I am catching the baits mentioned to be caught on the river side.

Below are nice size Bull Redfish caught from the North Jetty at Sebastian Inlet around 2007 and 2008 in winter and fall.

Below are a couple of small sheepshead caught one in the river the other at the North Jetty in the Winter.

Here are some links you can use to get some information on what is biting at Sebastian Inlet Jetties.

http://www.sebastianinletcam.com/

http://www.sebastianinletdistrict.com/

http://www.sebastianinletdistrict.com/fishing.jhtml?method=list

Boatless On a Partyboat – Charter On the Reward Won 6-1-14

June 2, 2014 by cudamanadventures

Many months ago during the boatlessfishing forum BBQ, we spoke about a private fishing charter just for boatlessfishing members. Nothing happened until after I went fishing on an Ironman trip ( ten hours fishing on the Reward Won). The trip was an all day fishing trip, jigging, kite fishing, trolling for dolphin, bottom fishing for snappers and groupers and king fish flat lining; “A mixed trip”. So I asked Captain Wayne how much a private charter like this would cost. After finding out the cost of the trip I suggested to fish on this boat, the boat can have 15 people while drift fishing but I suggested to have a maximum of 12 to give us all plenty of elbow room to fish comfortably and with less people there would be more chances for everyone to catch a fish. I started the thread about the trip. Some members wanted to fish vertical jigs, some wanted to fish with live baits, and a couple of them were interested on king mackerels (kingfish). We set a date but later found out one of the Captains was not available to fish on that day and Captain Wayne had another private charter booked, so we moved it a day over. Lady luck was on our side as the fishing trip got us some trophy fish.

The original intent was to fish live bottom for snappers and groupers, troll in between spots, and then a few wrecks to vertical jig for big amberjacks. When the captain got there he explained that the commercial fishermen had already wiped out the amberjacks and so that would be hard to do, so I asked him to take us where the fish were. I have fished with Captain Wayne at the helm for many years, sometimes once or twice a year and some years up to ten times so I trust his judgement anytime. When he starts to give advise I listen even if I know about it or had done it before, you never know when he will say something I’ve haven’t heard before or give a twist to something I already know. As we waited for everyone to arrive and finish unloading (by this time it was 6 am) he gathered us to give us the fishing plan for the day: We were to go catch pinfish on the way out, fish some ledges, rock piles, wrecks, live bottom and some deep water on the way to Fowey Rocks light house. If we made good time we would meet Jimmy the bait man and get some white baits, all depending on how everything went.

Below on the left is Captain Wayne Conn giving the plan, on the right boatless members talking about their adventures as we are heading out on the boat, it was about 6:20 am.

Below on the left catching pinfish for bait. On the right it was 7:30 am when passing by the new South Beach pier (almost completed).

On the way out I told everyone to take turns on the trolling rods. One was mine, the other was Richard’s and the another was the boat’s. The ride was not as time consuming as catching bait was, we got to the fishing grounds and were in about 130 to 150 feet of water when the Captain said “I am going to adjust the boat for the drift”. Everyone started to drop the baits as the engine shut off and I jigged for that first drop along with Ron, Victor and a few others. A few minutes after the baits were dropped the first rod bends were observed.

It was 8:06 am when Jessie had his bent rod fighting a super nice Gag grouper and only 3 minutes later Robert “ffishermen” was fighting a very nice Mutton snapper. The bar was set high at the very start of this trip.

Below is Jessie with his first ever a very nice 21 pound Gag Grouper.

Below is Robert “ffishermen” with his nice 12 to 14 pound Mutton Snapper.

As the boat drifted away and nothing else on the bite the Captain decided to do a second pass on the same spot. At 8:48 am my son Seth was the first to hook up and then Raul at 8:51, both brought in gag groupers.

My son Seth and his Gag Grouper.

Raul and his Gag Grouper.

Again no more bites as the boat drifted and many were already with only 1/4 of a spool left as we leave our reels in free spool trying to maintain the bait in the bite zone (where the boat turned the engines off for us to first drop our bait). This is what many of us call long lining. The Captain decided to do a third drift where fishman Joe AKA Gruntking got another Gag Grouper at 9:06 am.

The captain made the decision to move the boat to deeper water looking for the better fish populated spots. No one was trolling anymore so I decided to put my trolling rod out but there were no takers. We were now in the 200′ to 240′ and many had to up their weights from 6 to 8 ounces to 12 or 16 ounces, some doubling up on sinkers as we did not bring those specific weights. It was all pick a fish here and there and we started to see some scamps come up.

Below is Chris with a nice scamp at 10:55 am. I know he will enjoy it very much.

Below is Jessie with his first ever American Red Snapper at 11:00 am. This was the only one caught on this trip.

Ron and Victor where jigging and got a few almaco jacks but not many more fish were picked up on several drifts so Captain Wayne decided to go even deeper. No one was trolling anymore as no fish had fallen for the trolling skirt I was using. I had told Richard to use a pink trolling skirt I had brought and then offered it to others but the lure was left on the bench as trolling was not giving results. I understood why no one wanted to do so, as you do have to pay attention to the rod and have to make sure to bring the line in every time the captain slowed down the boat and made a few turns around the wrecks looking for fish on the sonar.

Ron fighting an almaco jack on a jig at 11:15 am.

On the way to one of the spots someone saw a school of peanut Mahi Mahi’s around a vertically floating piece of bamboo and so everyone tossed bait at them. Raul and I were some of the lucky ones to get one that was of legal measurement but the rest would have to throw back a few and so did I. The boat was drifting and since no more fish were taken, I decided I would rig the pink trolling skirt on my rod. Perhaps I could get lucky and get one more dolphin fish I thought. I took the black, purple, and blue skirt that I rigged using 10 feet of 250 lb test wire cable off the 500 lb snap swivel (makes it easy to switch trolling rigs). I use that trolling skirt to target toothy fish like wahoo and blackfin tunas, but sometimes Mahi Mahi get hooked on it as well. I snapped the pink skirt rig on, I had used 10 feet of 100 lb test fluorocarbon leader to a 11/0 3x strong live bait Mustad hook. As the boat turned the engines on and started to move I let out the trolling rig and as I snapped the release clip on, I looked to the right I heard a scream and saw my rod bending, I picked it up and let the fish run a bit. I tightened the drag and started to fight the fish, I saw a big wide flash and screamed BIG DOLPHIN! (Mahi), but there was not a jump during the fight, then the mate says “IT’S A WAHOO! IT’S TURNING! BACK THE DRAG OUT!” So I did, this allowed the fish to run and wear it self out and prevented it from breaking or snapping my line. These fish have power and very sharp teeth. The fish made an additional small run and I was able to get it close to the boat for the gaffing. I was lucky the fish did not cut through the fluorocarbon leader. On my boat and while on fishing party boats on the way to Bimini back in the late 80’s and early 90’s I would always get them no bigger than 15 pounds and this time I was able to get double that weight.

Me fighting the wahoo at 12:30 pm.

Below are pics of my wahoo. One to show the nice fish.

And one to show size comparison.

The Captain continued stopping where the fish were but the fish were not cooperating and so he went even deeper. This time to 400 feet where a couple of fish were landed. Jessie again nailed another fish as we has getting ready to bring the bait back on the boat he felt a tug and in the middle of a tangle he was able to land it. And yet again another first ever for him, a Snowy Grouper!

Many could not reach bottom as the current started to rip faster and faster as we went deeper, so the Captain told us he would move the boat to shallow water to give us a chance at snappers, more groupers and perhaps a chance at kingfish mackerel as well.

It was now 1:40 pm when we were in 150′ of water and Robert got a very nice 6 pound Ocean Talley while fishing for king mackerel.

Some of the last to hook up to a fish on the trip were Richard and Peter. This happened at 2:10 and 2:15 pm when they hooked to a black tip shark. Richard fought one and as he was bringing it in it broke off, then Peter fought his all the way to the boat. They both did great on the fights.

It was over, no more bites 3:00 pm was here already and some water spouts began to form. We got rained on and the Captain called it quits, we headed back to port. Again I stressed for someone to let the trolling line out and someone did but there were no takers.

The water spout at 3:35 pm.

Back at the dock the fish were laid out on the deck.

And we took the group picture.

The only thing we missed was the big amberjacks and bait to go on the kite, it would have been an awesome addition to this trip. But it was not needed as this trip was considered epic by some since many personal best were attained. I hope we can do this again.

Here is the end summary of my fishing report:

THE FISHING TRIP: Private Charter Boatlessfishing.com 10 Hour Fishing Trip.
Aboard the “Reward Won” with Captain Wayne Conn of the Reward Fishing Fleet
The Spot : Off Key Biscayne Cape Light House, FL
Weather Forecast: Cloudy with afternoon showers and thunder storms, Sunday SouthEast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet with occasional seas to 5 feet. The real weather was: Earlier seas 2 to 3 feet in the morning and 2 to 4 later in the day with occasional 5 foot rolling waves, cloudy skies and storms after 3pm.
Water: Choppy and slow current in the morning strong currents in the afternoon as we got closer to Fowey Rocks Light House.
Fish catches: Small Dolphins, 1 mutton snapper 12 to 14 pounds, 1 mangrove snapper,1 Red American Snapper, 4 Gag groupers 1 @ 21 pounds, 1 Snowie Grouper, 3 or 4 scamp groupers, 1 wahoo, almaco jacks, a couple of bonitos.
Biggest size Type : Wahoo around 32 pounds on the scale
Techniques : live bait, dead bait, and some Vertical Jigging
Jigs : 80 to 400 grams

Alligator Reef Light House Area Fishing 9-28-13 to 9-29-13

October 1, 2013 by cudamanadventures

THE FISHING TRIP: Fishing in the Alligator Reef Light House Area
Aboard a friend’s boat. Yellow Tailing
The Spot : Alligator Reef Light House Area close to Tavernier and Islamorada Florida
Weather : Saturday night ESE up to 10 to 15 knots, Sunday morning ESE up to 17 knots, some rain
Water: Up to 4 foot seas in the cloud covered area is my guess. Up to 2 feet in the outside of the rain clouds. Water color clear and barely any current
Fish catches: Yellow tail snappers, mangrove snappers, mutton snappers, groupers, and the usual bait fish
Biggest size Type : 24.25″ Gag Grouper
Techniques : Live bait, dead bait and unfortunately no Vertical Jigging

Menhaden oil, cracked corn, oats, and glass minnows

Well, it’s been a while since I last went fishing I think that was August 6th. so I was itching for a fishing trip, The Reward Fleet in Miami called me and told me there was an Ironman trip scheduled for the 28th but unfortunately it did not happen. A couple of friends called me and told me they wanted to go yellow tail fishing and so here another fishing trip was well on the way. Jeff one of them owns a double wide trailer home on the water in Tavernier Key and as he is updates his vacation home and converts it into a weekend rental home he goes fishing on the weekends when he has no plans to work on the trailer) so I went on my way in the afternoon, I stopped at Jacks Bait and Tackle where I saw some not so fresh threadfin herrings you know if they are fresh when the scales are visible and their eyes still have white around them, when these are too long in a brine solution (more than a couple of days) and people constantly move them they loose their scales and become very greyish. Well it was a big NOOOO on the threadfin herring I then looked to right and saw another cooler with so called fresh scaled sardines and I liked the color of the eyes and the fish still had scales on the, so I sifted through as many scaled sardines that I could find. I ended taking about 24 or so. I also got two blocks of tournament chum (the brand) and a dozen or fresh ballyhoo. The fresh ballyhoo at Jacks are always a surprise because you don’t see them until they give them to you. So I will tell you, be courteous to the attendants and put something on the tip jar and ask them to give you some fresh ones and they will pick them for you, very quickly but you will get a few fresher than the rest. I got a dozen of them. I kept driving on my way to Tavernier Key and stopped in Key Largo at this new bait shop called Captain Bad, they had a sign that read fresh speedos that caught my attention and so I went there and asked for 5 speedos ($3.50 each as if these were gogs!), guy walks in to the freezer where they had a cooler filled with ice and says “never been frozen just brined and kept in ice” I told him “don’t worry these are just backup baits anyways.I walked around the shop and looks like they have all the basic need for real fishing situations. I did like the place and the people were very friendly. I will go back again. My friends called me and asked me what they should add to the chum they were making, they already had cracked corn and glass minnows so I told them to get menhaden oil and oats. As I got there Jeff had started the mix in a 5 gallon bucket and the proceeded to use a power drill to finish it off. I told him not to use all the glass minnows and add a block of them at the end. The mix looked good and smelled like fish and not a rotten mix to attract all sorts of sharks and thrash fish. Some people love nasty smelly chum, I rather use menhaden oily chums, a few dollars more to make or buy but it is worth it in my opinion. We had some time left to finish setting up the rods and catch some bait at the dock. There were a few dork jacks (tiny jack crevales) and a couple of pinfish that were not so plentiful this year. I remember a couple of years back there was an outbreak of pinfish to the point that they were caught just about anywhere they would normally not be and all of a sudden they went back to the same old numbers and almost vanished in some areas.

So off we went and arrived at the spot being careful to stay as far away as possible from that dotted line in the GPS that marked the imaginary sanctuary line. We sure did not want trouble with the authorities. Looking at the depth finder we chose an area with some fish markings near the hard bottom and we were lucky that the current was taking some of the chum all over the place. We could see the chum slick zigzagging all over the area. We started using the scaled sardines and then the ballyhoo, when things slowed down I decided to break out the speedos. I took the first one out and crap! It was a freaking popsicle, LOL I still remembered the guy saying “never been frozen just brined and kept in ice” LMAO!!! WHAT HAPPNS NEXT? NO FREAKING KNIFE IN THE BOAT!!!! Oh no, had to cut the frozen speedos with my bait scissors!!! Jeff was like but you always bring one in your bag, I was like, not this time! Not good, not good, but got over it. Fishing was steady the yellow tails were cooperating one after another kept coming in, I let my line out every time we threw a scoop of the glass minnow mix and in came a yellow tail, Jeff did the same and then worked the bottom catching some mangrove snappers, Victor was freelining and got some tails but many were small. We put out a regular chum bag that was kept in the water at all times. Unfortunately some remoras came to visit but left, then it was ladyfish and we got some of them and used them for bait and they worked quite nice. I put a head out and got the grouper and then some tails and mangrove snappers like the lady fish as well. Every time the bite died down we switched our baits, sardines, ballyho, speedo, ladyfish, dork jacks and picked more fish but it all became a sifting process. So many 12 inch yellow tails, we only kept 12.5 inches and above to ensure that when these shrunk in the ice they would still be a bit bigger than 12 inches and so the same we did with the mangroves even though those only had to be 10 inches. Yeah, I know fish weren’t flags but to Jeff and Victor it would be a nice weekend meal. In the end we went back to shore got more supplies and a knife. Daylight was here and the day looked very promising but the bite was not there so we moved to 150 feet with no luck and decided to try the ledge in 96 to 100 feet. We anchored in a sandy spot away from the hard bottom and let our line on top of the drop. We set out the chum and almost immediately a swarm of speedos came by. I ran to get sabikis but left the bigger ones at home since I wanted to downsize and not take everything with me. I always keep thinking “don’t do it, every time you do it you leave something you will really need” and I did, I left the right size sabikis at home. Well tons of ballyhoos joined the party so I cast the net and landed a few but the speedos were like, well, speeding out of the way of course. I tried the small sabikies but the ballyhoo were nailing the sabikis hard and would not let the speedos even look at it. The dam ballyhoos ended wrapping themselves so quick in my sabikis that I lost three of them. We prepared small hooks with bait and let it drift in the water and the dam ballyhoos would eat it all, LOL sometimes I wish I had fresh ballyhoos. This time I had too many. Well I tried a few live ones and a few plugs, then a few chunks but no bites it was mostly small fish under us. Jeff was the only one that hooked a mangrove that was a keeper and we also hooked and released several baby mutton snappers and some 15 and 3/4″ muttons, not a single one was a keeper all of them were tiny muffins getting ready to grow in the oven. Midday came and we decided to call it the quits. In the end we got 15 yellow tails, 5 mangrove snappers, and a decent size gag grouper. We had not time to go jigging I wish I had tried but we were too shallow for doing so. Here are a few pics of some of the fish caught and some of the surrounding areas we navigated by.

Victor and a sifter yellow tail

My gag

A marker and Alligator Reef light.

Getting the bait close to the boat

Jeff and a throw back muffing mutton snapper

Jeff and his mangrove snapper

Well until next time, I hope to go fishing again very soon. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments

ShoreBound Adventures

Fishing, fun, reports, and some reviews

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