Well it's finally here. making the big move to the keys tmrw. going to miss this site and the people on it. can't thank John enough for the friends i've made through here. but i'll be sure to check in from time to time. If anyone can make it down, you know who you are, the door is always open. hope everyone has a great rest of the season and i'll catch you on the flip side. tight lines!

Rob Bartolini

Best of luck Rob and make sure you send LOTS of pics :hee:

What Salty said.

Reds,bones,tarpon,specks,dorado and my fav the snook to just name a few.Have a blast.

Good Luck Rob...have fun and be safe....

Good luck Bart - thanks!

Too Friekin' Cold To Fish Night will now be Too Friekin' Warm Not To Fish Night down the keys :tooth:

good luck and tight lines!

to you............... (bart)

until we meet again....

screw fish pics take some of

the ladies on the beaches.... :btu:

good luck down there

Best of luck. keep in touch. :cputin:

Good luck bro! Cant beat moving to the keys with sweet women there waiting for you at a house on a canal

Good luck down there, Bart.

Post lots of pics! :D

Hey, you could always be the official (or unofficial) S-B Keys correspondant -

best of luck to ya man. Please post pics of keys-caught fish in the winter to make us all jealous

good luck

Good Luck Bart....Enjoy

Best of luck Bart! :cheers2:

dont forget grouper (yum). Best wishes!

Best of luck Bart

Bart it's been two weeks



















got any pictures? :tooth:

Talked to him tonight. Hes doing great and loves it down there. He has been fishing a bridge near his house. Last night he had a 100lb or so tarpon hooked for a bit , but it jumped and through the hook. Rob said this bridge is one of the best to fish from the keys. ALso he was saying another guy had a good barracuda, but the line snapped when hauling it up the bridge. I guess he found work at one of the top resorts down there that owns an island 3 miles out from the keys. He has no computer access down there so im not sure when he will post pix.

yoyo! finally got on my girl's comp. chef is right on, i'm doing well and having a blast down here. been fishing this one particular bridge that holds big tarpon year round. also has some huge sharks, cudas, snapper, and permit. even saw some big bones cruisin the flats on one side of the bridge. i've been using my freshwater rod and a sabiki rig tipped with shrimp to catch bait(pinfish) then throwing them on a beastly 8ft unknown custom spinner i had laying around. i have my 706 on it with 35# fireline connected to a super long 65 # fluoro leader. so far i have hooked 4 tarpon between 60-100lbs and i have not felt under gunned at all. however i have not been able to land one. i've fought them for a minute or 2 and then they spit the hook when they jump. still trying to get the hang of circle hooks. guy on the bridge last night walked a really big shark down the whole length of the bridge but i never got a good look at it. i had 2 big cudas destroy my bait on a couple occasions but they bite through the flouro like its nothing. if i had 2 set-ups i'd fish one with a steel leader for them. its really amazing, these fish are well trained. they wait for someone on the bridge to catch a small snapper or something and as soon as its released a big tarpon or cuda engulfs the thing. we basically try to imitate the same thing. we hook the pinfish then slam it down off the water so that it is stunned. most of the time abig fish will come up after it but don't always take it. still trying to figure this thing out, presentation really seems to be the key( no pun intended).

other than that i've been working the front desk at little palm resort it's most exclusive resorts in the keys, and ranked 11 in the world. i've also been snorkeling, mtn biking, jumping off bridges into canals, and next week im getting dive certified.

hope all is well with everyone. once i get the internet situation sorted out ill post pics. tight lines :cheers:

you go bart.....go....:humpty:
hows the heat??

sounds like a ball. ah to be young and care free

You Suck!

you go bart.....go....:humpty:
hows the heat??

what's up matt? the heat is brutal but im starting to get acclimated. consistently in the low 90s and humid. but i deal with it..

so this morning i landed my first good sized cuda. the thing was probably 4 ft. long. man what a fight. the circle hook landed right in the corner of its mouth so it couldn't bite the leader. unfortunately i didn't get a pic because i was by myself and was trying to get the thing up over the bridge. i had gloves on and wrapped the braid around my hands and hoisted it up. not a pleasant experience. tmrw i will be investing in some sort of bridge net to lower down to the fish. as a side a guy down the bridge from me hooked into a big fish that spooled him. i would have thought it was a shark but the guy was convinced it was a goliath grouper. who knows. lots of cool fish swimming around these waters.

i'm going back in the morning to try for tarpon. hopefully i'll land one and get some pics!