Tasty Tuna

I had trip today out of Tavernier. Chuck and his bride Nancy from Cincinatti, Ohio, were down for a little R&R. With the usual delays getting started, we did a Tavernier style fishing 101.

The usual delays are finishing the boat paperwork stuff and me trying to read street signs through leaves. We managed to throw enough stuff together to get out and catch some fish.

Fishing out of Tavernier on a weekend is a little different. You can just look for boat parking lots offshore and know where just about everyone is fishing. Parking lot number 1 was the Islamarada hump.

There was only seven boats there when we arrived around 11:30. We saw one bird, a lost seagull, which is not a sign of a killer bite. Since I was teaching Chuck and Nancy how to make fishing simple, we only had two lines out and left the outriggers tucked in store mode. I tend to be fond of Dallas Darts, since I make them, so that was my selected lure of the day.

On our second troll of the upside of the hump, we score a double of Black fin tuna. Not big but respectable 5 to 6 pounders. After spending some time trying to find a clear path to that spot, we scored a single that was a little smaller. The next pass we pulled the hook on one. Of the boats that we saw fishing the hump, one hooked up twice and the rest nada. One boat was deep jigging pretty steady, but we never saw a rod bend.

The next parking lot was a weed line a couple miles inshore of the Hump. One of the best weed lines I have seen in a while. Probably one of the best the 20 some odd boats fishing it had seen as well. I trolled down this line more to show Chuck what to look for than actually fish, we still managed a couple of six pound school dolphin and jumped another off.

We went back to the reef so I could show them the chum thing. This was not a parking lot. Since the current was pretty weak, I imagine most everyone had given up on yellowtail fishing. The Ballyhoo did show up, which was part of the program and we caught one short tail.

Not too exciting huh? Well, for about 45 minutes of tuna fishing, about 45 minutes of dolphin kinda fishing and about 45 minutes of chumming on the reef, we are all eating pretty good. Chuck and Nancy have the basics they need to catch fish, so now all they have to do is figure out how many to keep. After some fresh tuna on the grill, they may decide to take some home.

Oh, the weekends do get a bit crowded with the South Florida guys running down for some fishing. During the week, it is not so crowded, though the Islamarada hump does get a work out anytime the weather is good and the fish are biting.

Marathon or Tavernier, 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