Getting up to Speed

As some of you may know, there has been a tropical storm Debbie in the Gulf of Mexico.  Debbie has made fishing conditions less than perfect meaning I have been sitting on my butt solving all the World's problems on the internet.  Some of the World's problem are a little closer to home than normal.

I recently was cited for not wearing my seat belt.  The friendly officer wrote out the citation while I sat about 30 feet from my home.  That kinda miffed me.  Instead of paying the fine, I actually took the time to go to court to see the powers that be.  I mentioned that having to pay a $116 fine for not wearing my seat belt in a 25 mhp speed zone because I had reached into my pocket to retrieve my lighter, requiring the temporary removal of the seat restraint that would probably save my life should a golf cart strike my vehicle, was a bit steep for someone on a rather tight budget.  The judge recommend that I contact my congressman and charge me an additional $90 for the privilege of speaking with him.  So I have been toying with the idea of doing the Gandhi thing and spending so time in jail to see just how much the state would like to punish and old fart for having a brain fart.


Just as I was ready to do my time, it appears the code enforcement lady from the city has determined that a "Work Bench" is not socially acceptable in paradise.  Noting the irony of my neighbor's bar that is completely visible to the public, I thought it would be best to convert my "Work Bench" into and "Bar" so that I might be socially acceptable.  It appears that old farts that have brain farts are also not allowed to have hobbies other than the consumption of alcohol in paradise.  


So the next time you get a chance to vote, try to figure out just what else old farts might do that would be socially unacceptable so that it can be made illegal.  


We will return to our normal fishing broadcast as soon as I figure out what normal really is.  

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

Toying with an Idea

Since a friend is trying to sell his home I did some basic picture uploads and stuff so they could email things to different agents.  Once that is done, it is nothing to creating a new blog, so I created one.  Water Front Homes for Sale in the Florida Keys.  For someone interested in selling water front homes in the Florida Keys, the title is kinda appropriate :)  So if you know of anyone selling or buying water front homes in the Florida Keys, let them know.  I can add listings or other stuff.  Since I am not a real estate agent, there is squat little else I can do, but who knows maybe someone knows someone that knows someone.

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

Elijah Catches Mutton and Some Other Stuff

Ken and his son Elijah are staying on Little Torch Key for summer vacation.   I showed them a few tips for catching with a smaller boat.  Most vacationers load just about every thing they can think of on their boats when they come down to the Keys.  Elijah's  first mutton snapper was caught on a 15 pound spinning outfit, with clear mono, a size 2/0 hook with a 1/2 ounce weight and live shrimp for bait.  No chum, no 45 foot leader, no gold plated reel on a high dollar rod.

Elijah's Cero Mackerel was caught on an eight pound spinning outfit, with clear mono, a size 2 hook with 10 inches of size 4 wire leader and a small live ballyhoo he caught at the same spot.  That is only about a 4 to 5 pound Cero, but on 8 pound test, Elijah seemed to have fun.

This is Elijah and his dad Ken on their boat.  Small boat, small angler, nice fish, nice time.  You really don't have to spend a fortune to have fun and catch dinner in the Keys.

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

Opps!  I forgot some of the other stuff :)

Content for the Blog

When I take folks fishing I rarely get enough good photos.  I am generally busy doing something when the action is going on.  I request that my customers send my some photos and a note later.  Most don't send photos.  So there are a bunch of trips that I don't write about because of the lack of evidence.  There are a few trips I don't write about because they were not very memorable, so often trips are lumped together as a week kinda update.  I just got a note from someone that wanted to submit a story for the blog.  That is not what I intended for the blog, but I told him if the story is interesting, why not.

There is a little bit of challenge with this.  Most folks don't want to write about a trip unless they were really inspired.  Pissed off is pretty inspirational, so most editorials are on the negative side, doncha know.  I don't have very many really bad trips, but there are a few that were definitely less stellar.  One I didn't write about in any depth was a very long boat ride to the Hump that resulted in excess sun tannage and over consumption.  Another that resulted in green customers, a chance to dive the wheel plus some prop polishing action.  No serious damage to the customers or equipment in either case.  Both of those crews could write much more memorable stories than I could from their perspective.  Most other customers would rather have their pictures tell their story.

So while I don't have a comment policy other than the typical spam as in porn links, pyramid scam links and such, I guess I have to now start a guest post policy.  In my typically thoughtful manner, that policy is, "go for it".

Fishing wise, things have been slow.  Tomorrow I have a guide trip out of Little Torch Key for the basics, so there should be a few fish photos, but it is fishing, I don't how things will go until they get going.  Kinda like the guess post policy :)

A reminder though, if you have photos you haven't sent to me think about it.  You can upload them to an album on Photobucket or Flickr and just post the link.  Same thing for videos, upload to YouTube and sent the link.

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