Fishing Fun

Yesterday was a slow day fishing. We had a west wind which is generally not a good wind. We caught a few dolphin, but the bottom bite was not happening. The crew was a bunch of guys from England that where a riot. As they goofed on each other and me I started thinking of other slow trips I have had.

Off of Jacksonville, Florida I had one of the slowest trips ever. We had been trolling for 5 hours without a single bite. I looked at a new guy on the boat and told him check one of the baits. When he got the lure in I said, “No wonder we aren’t catching anything, the bait’s on backwards!” I then take the perfectly rigged lure and rig it backwards. As the new guy put the lure out we hook a good size dolphin.

A few months later I hear that the new guy got into a big argument with another crew during a big fishing tournament. He was telling them they didn’t know how to rig baits. I busted a gut laughing.

Slow bites and kids are a bad thing. They get discouraged pretty quick if they aren’t catching fish. On one trip I had two boys about nine years old. They started getting on my nerves so I told them the best way to get the fish to bite is to take a nap. They didn’t believe me of course, but I got them to go into the cabin. They popped back out about two minutes later saying that I was goofing them. I convinced them that they had to actually doze off for the trick to work.

A couple of hours later we got into a school of fish and I woke them up. They had a ball fighting the fish and as soon as the bite quit, they ran back into the cabin to get another bite going. Those two are a joy to fish with.

Some customers get on my nerves too. They get excited just like kids and get in my way while I am loading the boat. When they do that I tell them they need to get the emergency bait. The emergency bait is Dion’s fried chicken from the store across the street from the marina. The chicken has to be hot and fresh for it to work. Since Dion’s never has chicken out until eight o’clock, the customers are out of my way.

When it gets to around noon, I tell them it is time for the emergency bait. I take a bite of a piece of chicken and drop a small piece in the water. Then I take another piece and put it on a hook. Mangrove snapper love chicken so I almost always catch a snapper. That gets the crew fishing with chicken while I enjoy a nice lunch.

Yesterday with the bite dead slow, I switched to trolling on a color change from bottom fishing. The crew started getting a little rowdy so I told them the only way to get a bite going was to get the guide a beer. About half way into the beer, we hook up a dolphin.

Things like this inspired me to write a couple of articles, The Zen of Fishing and How to Catch More Fish: The Banana Myth and its Impact. Fishing is fishing. The main thing is to have fun and catch a few fish. So if you have a slow day, think about some of these tricks.


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