Dan that I took out last week wanted to learn how to catch sailfish and throw a castnet on live ballyhoo. From the pictures it looks like he listens pretty good.
Dan if you like you can leave a comment on your photos.
Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
I got some outstanding reports from yesterday. Bobby on the Pips 36 got into nice size wahoo to 40 pounds or so plus some nice snapper and a keeper red grouper. The wahoo were caught in 100 to 150 feet of water right out front. Paul and Dave on the Papa Pips when offshore and got a nice dolphin and some blackfins so offshore is still a bit slow but some fish what to play out there.
Down to the west near Bahia Honda the sailfish action picked back up for the guys with live bait. They were sight fishing for the sails in the 100 plus foot range. Bayside James a commercial fishing friend reported that the Spanish Mackerel are showing in good numbers. So that fishery should really start cracking with the next cool front.
At the bridge Jeff Knapp and Sam Nelson guided the Wild Welshman to a nice 120 pound tarpon plus a couple of juvies. That is pretty good for this time of the year indicating a great tarpon season should be on the way. I have already been seeing mullet in the boat basin and the pilchard are pretty thick as well. Bally hoo are just about everywhere as long as you can get the wind with the current.
Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
Friday was a great day with Dan a fairly regular client. Dan wanted to learn a few things like how to throw a castnet and catch sailfish. The plan was to catch balleyhoo on the reef then hit the 100 to 200 foot range for sailfish. That was the plan anyway.
Well the wind was against the current so we couldn't get the balley hoo behind the boat at the first spot. We tried another with the same results. balleyhoo were everywhere except where I could get a net on them. Finally, I moved further to the west where we had a little more forgiving current. Dan wasn't into catching mangrove snapper but did enjoy playing with a good size Goliath Group AKA Jewfish. So I caught nice size mangroves for bait.
Dan hooked the Jewfish up twice but couldn't get him off the bottom. The first time the Jewfish pull his mangrove off the hook and a small amberjack hit the bear hook. Dan was pretty amazed at the bear hook thing and the fact we could have caught nice size mangroves all day long if he had wanted to. Anyway we finally caught a few live balley hoo and headed for the sailfish zone. We had an almost immediate strike but didn't hook up. With the cloud cover we could not identify what kind of fish it was but the bait was still intact. Then another strike on the same bait. The second strike was a toothy critter.
We finished that drift with no more action then came back for another drift after seeing a Frigate bird working on the edge of the reef. No strikes this time until we got ready to try another drift. Then Dan spotted something behind one of the baits. It turned out to be a Mola Mola or sunfish trying to eat the balley hoo. This was the smallest Mola I have ever seen only about 20 inches long. It was pretty comical watching the Mola try to catch the live bait. Dan got a picture which I hope he will email me.
After a couple more fruitless drifts we called it a day and headed back to the barn. After getting in I got some reports that the sails were biting good way to the West and way to the East. So Marathon got the short end of the bite on Friday. Things change every day so with any luck Dan should get a shot at a sail this week. I just hope they move into the sand again for him. It is a pretty amazing sight seeing sails busting bait in 30 foot of water.
Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
The sailfish bite has fired off in Marathon. Bob Manske on the Pips 36 had a couple shots but the clients wanted to bottom fish so he spent a couple hours beside himself as the sails crashed bait all around the boat. Been there done that so I know the feeling.
While Bobbby was watching sails I discovered that a shovel really doesn't fit my hand anymore. But to help cover a small debt I back filled a ditch. About thirty years ago that would not have been a big deal. Now I am just a touch slower. So come on down and go fishing so I can get back to what I do pretty well. Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
Yesterday was a short guide trip to show Mr. Nico J. de Boer and his lovely lady the Marathon area and Captain Pip's. We targeted fish that would hit artificials and flies during a short half day trip as he had another appointment in the afternoon. With the cold front the fish were a bit lethargic so the bite was slow. The afternoon would have been better as the sun warmed the waters up a bit around the flats. As it was we had to head out to the reef to get the barracuda for his photos.
We spotted several 'cuda's, sharks and some permit, but they just wouldn't take the artificial baits. So I had to resort to live bait to produce a decent size fish. Despite the slow bite they seemed to have had a great time and spoke highly of the Pip's experience. The clear water that it took me a while to find showed them the potential of the area's fishing.
The drop in temperature should push the Spanish Mackerel down withing the week and as mentioned in my last post the Mangroves are fat and hungry in the Bay. So later this week the bite should really heat up.
We saw several other boats fishing yesterday which has be a rarity of late. So things seem to really be picking up. No reports yet from the other guys out yesterday. I will fill that in later. Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
Photo thanks to Ray.
The wind cut us some slack yesterday and we actually got to fish. The water was still churned up around the bridge so the bay side was the only place to go. About eight miles back in the bay the water was clear enough to get a decent mangrove bite. Closer in the water was still off color with a weak bite.
The mangroves we got were very respectable in the 2.5 to nearly 4 pound range. We lost several larger fish to the wreck which would have made it a great trip had we boated them. Other than the Mangroves we had a few porgies, cero mackerel and jacks to pull the lines. The balleyhoo were thick and that was the bait that caught the bigger fish as usual.
We did have a first yesterday. One of my clients fell overboard. While there was abundant beer on board the cause of the MOB appeared to be more excitement related that alcohol related. Scott of course had his cell phone in his pocket.
The bite that we had ended as soon as the current started to slow down and the wind shifted to the west. So the afternoon part of the trip sucked other than poking fun at Scott.
Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
