More On Captain Gator

We got captain Gator loaded up for the trip to his new home near Hernado, Florida. He will be coming back to run fishing trips in season. That's one heck of a long commute, but that what he is going to do.

We have a windy weekend in store, but it is bringing a nice drop in temperatures. The temperature drop should fire the bay side up and hopefully start the Spanish Mackerel moving to our area. That is a fun time if you like a lot of action and fish dip.

There is a late season hurricane that has a chance of messing up a few days next week. It should stay well to our west but you never know with these storms. I have a trip scheduled for Monday that I really don't want to miss. At least we have a fall back day just in case.

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

More Full Moon Weirdness

This blog is supposed to be about fishing in the Keys but sometimes life in the Keys trumps fishing. I woke up at some ungodly hour this morning and craved a smoke. So I went over to Dion's to get a pack of the cheapest smokes they had and had I guess an alien encounter.

First homeless Steve was sitting on the curb playing his guitar. Since I didn't have much to do I talked to Steve for a while and played some blues while he told me about his getting thrown in jail for a few days.

Steve is one of those people that could really benefit from Chris Rock's how to not get your ass kicked by the police video. Steve was given a new medication that was a little more potent than he anticipated. A cop showed up and asked him if he was all right. Steve being from Jersey and not in full control of his faculties, told the cop that he was not all right, he was F'ed up and needed to be taken to F'ing hospital pretty F'ing fast. There is something about southern cops and the F bomb. Any hoo Steve got free room and board with grits and baloney for a few days.

Now Steve's tribulations with life is not that unusual, at least in the Keys anyway. The weird part was when this kid asked to bum a smoke off me. Smokes have become a pretty valuable commodity of late and bumming a smoke off a stranger normally results in a less than desirable result. My response was a simple hell no. The kid was persistent though so I gave him the last couple of drags. Then he couldn't get his car started. That is a bit abnormal. So he asks me to start his car. That is also abnormal. Anyway, after asking him what the hell he was on and how long he has been brain dead I started his car for him. Real difficult, put the key in, turn, start. So I am trying to figure out if the youngster was capable of driving. He appeared to be sober, but not the sharpest tack in the box. So I let him drive off after a cursory grilling.

Now it is not just the early morning derelict crowd that is weird. The fish have taken to weirdness too. The snapper have developed a case of the full moon lock jaw and the sailfish that have shown up are not feeding. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing sailfish follow your bait and not eat. Well, there is those times the significant other says, "we need to talk." I can handle the poor sailfish bite better than that.

In other news, the Native Son charter business is no more. Captain Pete sold the boat and returned to the real world. It is getting where I am one of the few idiots, er .. guides, still hanging out. Captain Gator at Pips is also pulling the plug and headed north. Little Chris with the walkabout charter boat is up north and may not make it back this season.

On the bright side some people are starting to invest some money in the Keys. Frosty's and Rum Bum's restaurants are both looking at new ownership by season. Herbie's restaurant which has been closed for three months is soon going to open again. The Rum Bum's location has a brand new tiki hut to expand their seating for a full liquor license which I highly approve of. Faro Blanco construction should start next year provided the sewer stays on schedule. We have a new West Marine building nearly finished and the number of for sale signs is starting to decrease. So things are starting to look up a bit.

As soon as we get this full moon behind us the fishing will pick up and all will be well in the Keys again. Until then I have a bottle of Scotch to tide me over. 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

Not Being Online Sucks

My current lack of internet access is really a pain in the butt. Especially when people are trying to get answers to Keys questions. So since I am not always able to get online I will put my phone number out there for guys with serious questions. It is (305) 395-1923.

A couple of recent questions are about where to stay in the Keys. The answer depends on what you and your significant other are looking for. Fishing up and down the Keys is fairly consistent.

The upper Keys has a large variety of top class restaurants and watering holes that attract many that want to party as does the Key West area. The Middle Keys are a bit more laid back party wise but offer easy access to all the Keys has to offer. Since I am kind of laid back I chose the Marathon area in the middle Keys for my home base.

One of the advantages of the middles Keys for first time visitors that want to do their own thing on the water is that it has the easiest water access. You can get to both the ocean side and bay side without having to navigate too much shallow water. In the winter when we have the most visitors and normally the worst weather for being on the water there are a lot of easily accessible areas to catch fish, snorkel or what ever on the water without getting you butt kicked in the process. Most of the Keys areas offer similar high wind fishing opportunities though it takes a little more training to avoided running aground and other boating mishaps.

The Key West area offers great foul weather fishing for a large variety of species. I chartered out of Key West for a couple years doing back country trips and it was hard not to impress the clients. It did take me a while to learn the area so I highly recommend a guide if you want to do the back country thing own your own. In winds over 30 knots you can still have a great day on the water. The scenery around the Bay Keys, Mud Keys, hell all of the uninhabited keys north of US 1 is pretty awesome as is the fishing. It is just a little tricky getting to them.

Going to the reef or offshore is not that hard out of Key West or any of the Keys really, if you pay close attention to the charts. I have seen times when the tides made it very difficult to fish out of the upper Keys in deeper draft boats. Generally getting to ocean side is pretty simple once you have studies the charts from where your boat is docked.

I do not recommend parts of the lower Keys for people that can't handle rough water and want their boat in the water. The Keys between Big Pine and Boca Chica have very limited access to the bay side for most boat operators. That severely limits your options in the winter season. If you are trailering a boat though this is a great area to stay. There is a link on my blog some where for the boat ramps in the Keys. For guys with a smaller boat this is the best way to experience the Keys. Do be careful though as the waters can be tricky.

The East side of Big Pine Key does provide easy access to both the bay and ocean sides. Accommodations though can be hard to come by in season. That is another of the reasons I like Marathon. You have a good variety of motels and rentals to choose from and easy access.

For the guys that want to sail I am not going to be much help. There are a few sailboats for rent in the Keys but I haven't a clue how good or bad they are. And the deeper keel of sail boats just makes it that much more difficult to navigate down here.

I want to thank the folks that hit my tip jar. It was a big help. I will try to lug the computer down more often to keep in touch with the world. Until then remember, 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

Hurry Up Season!

There is nothing more boring than the off season down here when you are short on cash. Most off seasons I have been set pretty good for cash and have a good time. This time it is just plain dead. About all i can do is aggravate Mikey and watch the tube. Boring a all hell it is.

Fishing wise the hot ticket is snapper. Yellowtails and Mangrove are just plain stupid right now. Lots of guys are reporting large numbers of large fish. They is plenty of live ballyhoo showing in the chum slick so the in shore sails should be here pretty soon.

Offshore the tuna bite is pretty consistent, but larger fish are a bit rare. Plenty of sailfish jumping tuna and dolphin baits for the guys trolling. Nice bonus as the dolphin bite is totally inconsistent.

Bridge fishermen are reaping the benefits of the stupid snapper as well. When they take live pin fish or pilchards they a hammering fat Mangrove at night on most of the bridges.

Until next time take it easy. If you accidentally drop some money in the tip jar I may just have to give you a discount on your next fishing trip. And remember, 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

New Premit Regulation Workshop?

The Florida Wildlife Commission is having a workshop to get input from area fishermen and divers on the need for further regulation of Permit the fish. It is really nice that they ask for input, but there is no data available online to see if there is even a need to have a workshop.

I found this kind of odd since fisheries management decisions should be base on detailed studies and complex math. Since I missed the previous meeting on the gag grouper closure,I think I need to dig a little deeper in how these stewards of our fishing environment come to their conclusions.

Ill informed is ill advised in my opinion so I think everyone that can should contact your local game wardens and fisheries commissions to have the data used to generate these decisions placed online for review prior to a call for these workshops. Since there is no apparent need to add regulation to a thriving and heavily regulated species like permit, I think review of the field data and methodology could be entertaining.

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

General Update

Not many boats fishing this time of years as is normal. The bite though is pretty steady on all fronts with the flats guys doing very well in the warm water and big tides. Daytime sword fishing is pretty good for those that have the gear and the boat to get out past the wall. That's out of range for most rental boats so a charter is the way to go if you want to tangle with a sword.

The real job thing is coming to an end at least at the Navy base so I may just have to take the Flatlines out to charge the batteries and collect a little fish fry while I take her down to Little Torch Key. May even take Mikey to collect a few bugs.

This season I plan to spend more time targeting snook. That is going to involve a lot more live Pilchards than I normally use. So fishing 101 is going to include a more intense cast netting portion than normal. So be ready to learn how to throw a larger cast net. Getting the snook to bite can be a challenge, but the by catch while hunting them can be pretty impressive.

Since snook and tarpon share the same areas I will be getting on more tarpon than I normally do since I rarely tarpon fish. Not that I don't know how to tarpon fish, I just find it boring as hell. With live pilchards instead of mullet there is a lot more action which is a good thing for me. If you want a pure bridge tarpon trip I will turn you on to Jeff Knapp or Jeff Shelar. They do the night trips which are more productive than the early or late trips I do. There are times when the morning bite is pretty hot so I am up for a few tarpon trips if the bite is right.

BTW here is a link to the Bahia Honda Bridge camera if you wonder why I like to fish the bridges here in the Keys. Watch it around slack tide for the best viewing.

I still haven't figured out the camera on my new cell phone so try to email me as many fish pictures as you can.

ETA I added a camera photo just to see how it looks. It's a cloudbow.

Also added a link to still photos at the bridge camera location.

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

ETA The link to Florida Sportsman fishing forum is now fixed. They changed the forum and had quite a few bugs to deal with but now it is up and running.