The Winds have Laid Down

As if by magic, the winds drop to something fish-able for me. The bigger boats have been getting out, though with not all that great of success on average. There are still a few cobia coming to the dock, Chris caught one on the Walkabout II yesterday, and a sailfish here and there, but nothing to make the front page. We are in the transition from the winter fishery to summer, so that is not all that unusual. Respectable catches, but nothing wild and crazy.

We are in the middle of the moon now and have warmer water temperatures, so the snapper bite should start turning to great on the reef after this moon. The bigger fish should start moving to the reef to stage for the spawn. Tarpon is nearing its sweet spot. More big girls are coming to the leader so most of the kids are geared up for the tarpon bite. Not many offshore reports because of the past wind, but the few boats that have been out are getting into dolphin pretty good with black fin tuna and a few larger wahoo. I should start running offshore here in the next few weeks if the weather holds.

I did fish a half day the other day on the reef. The current and winds were fine, but the water was a little off still. So the reef was slow. In the channel we had a good bite with mainly Lane snapper and a few decent mangroves. Tons of grouper of course since the season is still closed. That opens up the first of May. May is starting to get booked pretty well with grouper hunters wanting to get back into the action. I am kinda Jonesing for some grouper in the box myself. This four month closure is for the birds!

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

Piece of Cake?

The fish made me look bad last trip. Cero mackerel cut my mutton baits off, the drift was too fast for some of the muttons, the fish on the reef found the rocks and a sailfish swam around in the slick, thumbing his nose at me. After running through my lists of excuses I guess I will blame the full moon. To soothe my bruised ego I baked a cake :)

Actually, Michele had a birthday. Since I am cheap, I baked her a Devils food, with chocolate chips, peanut butter icing and pecans with a little cocoa powder for garnish. Peanut butter icing? Hey, its her birthday not mine.

Anyway, I will brave the finicky fish filled seas tomorrow to try and redeem myself for the last poor performance. Shame though, we started with a keeper mutton on the first drop, just couldn't keep it going. Now if my customer had wanted Cero Mackerel, I would have been a hero, but such is life.

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

Windy Fishing this Week

It seems like every year blustery winds show up in time to make the Leon Shell Memorial Sailfish Tournament memorable. The last year I fished it, gust up to 65 knots came through while I was enjoying a prime rib sandwich at the dock. This year the winds were only 35 knots and I was having grits and eggs instead of prime rib.

A customer from New Jersey was down for a few days. Monday, I tried the rock piles in Hawk Channel with the winds only blowing 25 knots. The water was pretty messed up, so the bite was slow. We did manage a fair mess of good size lane snapper, but nothing to write home about.

Tuesday, I got with Captain Chris Moran and we tried the Sister Creek area where we were sheltered for the steady 30 knot winds with some sporty gusts. Even that was slower than normal, but we did manage a couple of keeper redfish and a rare for the creek Spotted Seatrout. The wind and the catch kind of reminded me of March in Jacksonville. Hiding in the creeks was pretty much all we could do from January to the end of March up there.

What was good catching up there is pretty disappointing down here. Tomorrow, if the weather guy is right, winds should be down to 10 to 15 knots. So I may be able to post a few more Keys worthy photos.

Other than me, not too many people braved or stupided the winds to fish. 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