FL Keys Report!!!

[Fisherwoman]

I know this is not our normal fishing report but thought I would share it with you all as we just got back from a week in the FL keys and we had a blast.

We did 4 charters while we were down there and our friends Pam and Joe Kearney went along on the trip with us. So here is how it went down.

Day one was our travel day, fly to miami, drive 1 1/2 hours to Tavernier which is between Key Largo and Islamarada. get to the house unload gear, head to grocery store and stock up hit sportsmans world and get a few rods as we took our reels with us. We were all set, the house is right on the canal so we could also fish behind the house on our off days of charters.

Trip one was with Pak and Jam charters capt Tom Norris, great guy, was a real pleasure to be out fishing with him and we were going to be out with him the next 2 charters as well, so he was trying to mix the fishing up for us each trip.

So we head to a reef in the bay as the ocean side was kicked up big time, winds were 20 -30 mph east. Even the bay had 4-5 footers. We get to a reef and anchor up, start chumming and we pick up a few smaller fish, Mangrove Snapper, and also got some blue runners which we were gonna use later for shark bait. Joe also got 2 Goliath grouper one at 20 lbs and the other around 30 lbs. we caught a few more small fish and headed out another 5 miles to go sharking. Anchored up and started chumming and it wasn't long before Pams reel goes screemin, Bull shark on!!!! Then my rod goes off, Bull shark on!!!. Pam's reel is screamin line and she is gonna be hooked up for a bit. My fish breeaks off, set up again and my rod goes off again, fight the fish for about 15 min and its a nice Goliath grouper around 65-70 lbs. Pam is still getting beat up by the Bull and after 40 min gets it to the boat its around 350 lbs and huge. She did an awesome job fighting that fish.

Now Bill and Joe are up and Bill's line goes off, Bull Shark screamin line. line breaks after a few minutes. Then he gets bit again and its a 7-8ft Nurse shark. They pull hard but don't scream off line like a bull shark. Then Joe gets bit and he also gets a nurse shark around 6 ft long. We had a choppy ride back 25 miles in heavy chop to get to the dock but we had a blast.

Trip number 2, winds are still kicking around 25 kts east so we decide to try and get out to the reef on the ocean side. by the time we hit the reef waves were already going over the bow in this 25 ft center consol so we headed back to bay side and went tarpon fishing under the 7 mile bridge. Get anchored up just ahead of the bridge and 2 of us at a time drifted crabs back in the current under the bridge, soon after getting set up, Pam hooks up and the chinese fire drill starts!!! Someone lets the anchor go the other rods gotta come in quick and you have to try and horse the tarpon "ya right" away from the bridge and pilings!!!! Pam is on for a few minues and then its gone. I hook up do the drill and gone broke off, Pam's on Again breaks off. this goes back and forth for 5 fish so we let the guys up for a shot and neither of them get bit. The tide goes slack and now we try for some smaller fish during slack, we get some nice Mutton Snapper, Mangrove snapper and then Bill Get bit and the line starts screamin, its a shark and he has it on for a good 15 min to no avail and it breaks off. tide turns and we are back at the bridge but no bites come our way for the end of the trip.

Trip 3, winds are still kicking but Capt tom wants to get us offshore for some Yellow tail snapper and some other reef species. We go and it is a choppy ride out. Big sea's but they are spread out a bit. so we anchor and get chummin, the yellow tails are everywhere, and they are big ones. Usually they are only around 12 inches long and a couple of pounds these were between 20 and 24 inches and hefty 4-6 lbs and they fight pretty dam good on light tackle, The key though is getting the yellow tail back to the boat before a shark gets it or a barracuda. This is total adrenaline fishing. you drift your bait back, get bit and reel like a pshyco back to the boat, well just so happens that those sharks are pretty dam fast. As hard as your reel you are screwed and the sharks got ya.

The cool thing is how beautiful the water is out there and you can see these big sharks coming for your fish. We hooked up to alot of Bull sharks, Black tip sharks, I was into one for quite a while and we ended up cutting him off as it was too rough to handle the shark at the boat as we were getting pounded in 6-8 ft seas. We had a great day with 44 keeper yellowtail which we brought home to eat. Bill also caught a Goliath Grouper around 70 lbs and a huge barracuda. we also caugth some rainbow runners we used for bait. It was a beat the %$%$%$%$ out of your body kind of day and we were beat but it was an awesome day offshore. the colors are absolutely beautiful out there.

One cool thing was when we got back to the dock, ever day we got on the boat you could see tarpon rolling around the boat, well they come in and eat the scraps they throw in the water while filleting fish. Pam had hooked up to 2 of them our 1st trip back but they rapped her up in the pilings and see ya later buy. Well this trip she hooked up and landed a nice 80 lb tarpon right off the back of the boat docked in the slip. Capt Tom was a pleasure to be out on the water with and we look forward to trying to get out with him again next winter.

Our last trip was with Greg Poland a flats guide out of Lorelei, and Pam and Joe did another offshore trip with Alex Alder from Bud & Mary's marina.

Bill & I really wanted to get out and get some tarpon on the flats, we saw at least 25 Tarpon all morning long, we were using live mullet and pilchards and the tarpon just would not eat. So Greg only charged us for a 1/2 day trip as I don't care how good a Captain you are if the fish are not eating, you can not make them eat. We also saw a sting ray come 4 ft out of the water, that was cool and it was neat seeing all these tarpon cruising the ocean side as they are migrating south to Key west right now. Greg was a great guide and very much like Bill and I when it comes to taking care of clients. We look forward to getting back out with him again on our next trip.

Pam and Joe did pretty well as Pam got her 1st Sailfish around 70 lbs, Joe had one bite his bait, but spit it out. They caught a few small cobia and King fish and had a great day out with Alex, who also is a class act.

We also fished behind the house for a few days. the 1st day we caught around 12 sharks, 10 nurse sharks, 2 scalloped hammer head sharks and Pam landed a nice 23 lb grouper and I lost one in the coral. We also caught a bunch of mangrove snapper. The second day we did not catch as many but its a great way to spend the day off you back porch.

We had a ball, are a little beat up from the rough water but what a great experience it was as that is the 1st time we had been down to the keys and have wanted to get down there for many years. All I can say is Life is good in FL!!!!

I will put up some of the video clips we took and some pictures for you all to enjoy!!!!
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Bill & Jules\ Boat & Shore Fishing Specialists
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[CaptMike]

That's a great area of the keys. The reefs can be pretty fun.

[JoeBass]

Wow. Amazing trip. Thanks for the play by plays. You guys were really into them.

[Raven]

Sounds like a great trip ! How are you going to surpass that action?

[fish4striper]

Great trip Jules! We only caught small stuff on our trip but we had a blast just being there.

[JohnR]

Sweet

[Squibby17]

This makes me so jealous. I was down there in early March with my Girl friend at the time. We only had two days and I really wanted to go fishing but she want to go dancing and drinking in Key West. Driving over the 7 mile bridge was a huge tease. Well I never did get to fish and I wasn't too happy about it. When we got back to Boston I realized I needed a new girl friend. So needless to say I'm single now with plenty of time to fish.

[MarshCappa]

Great report. Sound wonderful.

[Bobbike]

Thanks for the post, I've been waitng for your report. Sounds like a great time. See ya soon on the flats soon.

[JoeBass]

I was in Key West at the end of Feb for a week. Each night my son and I fished off a deserted dock that had a small lamppost lit on it. The light attracted shrimp, the shrimp attracted dozens of Tarpon. sometimes 6 footers would drift right up to the dock. maybe 2 feet away. We chucked bass plugs at them, and my son got 5 hooked up. some were huge, but came unbuttoned. He finally landed about a 30 lber. It was some of the most exciting fishing ever.

[BasicPatrick]

very nice

[Fisherwoman]

Thanks guys, it is definatley a tease but at least our fishing is getting started otherwise it would have been awefully hard to come home. The water down there is absolutely beautiful, especially ocean side out beyond the reef, unreal colors of blue!!! I am gonna put up the pictures and video's I have on our web site as I cannot figure out how to shrink the dam things for on here. I will email some to JohnR and if you have time buddy maybe you can put a few up here for me.

I really wish we had bull sharks up here, I mean if you know how hard a bluefin can scream line, you would be amazed how fast the line can scream off with a 300lb+ Bull shark in 15 ft of water. YEE HAA

Also that bridge fishin for Tarpon is the balls, but you have about a 1 in 9 shot at actually landing them with all the structure around but they are some awesome fishing machines.

All I can say is it was a blast, I definatly want to go back, in our off season and try more of the flats fishing as we did not get much time for that and I really want a tarpon in that shallow water. So that will be our next mission, but for now I am still trying to get my freakin knees and shoulders from hurting so bad from the pounding we took with all the wind and rippin lips.

One funny little story for ya was when we booked the charters, I had told the captain that we were really looking forward to rippin some lips with him down there. Well the day we went offshore for the yellow tail snappers I actually ended up gettin bit by sharks trying to get the yellow tails back to the boat, well twice I ended up with just a pair of lips left on the hook!!! LOL