Feast or Famine

I am always amazed just how imbalanced fishing bookings can be.  After a June that ranks up there with productively "normal", things have gotten back to the slower than "normal" side of things.  Part of that is because I have set aside a couple of weeks for fill in captaining. For whatever reason I thought the real charter boats would have been booked more solidly.  Then they did book but for the week after producing a bit of a conflict in scheduling.  So I have a guide customer that I will have to fit in around the charter boat schedule.  Everyone seems to like the the same back half of the weekend and not the front half.  I figured with the 4th being on a Friday that it would be the other way around.  So now I have days open that I could have booked and am overloaded after the holiday.  Typical weirdness.

After the Mutton struggle I ran into one of the crews that have been slaying the Mutton only they have been running pretty far to the West or pretty far to the East.  So I am not the only one that the ripping current off of the Seven Mile Bridge impacted.

More weirdness is the sudden surge of slammer dolphin.  We had a drought early in the month and now they have turned on, likely due to the same ripping current that has the reef bite on the iffy side.  One thing you learn quick in the Keys is that the currents are just about impossible to predict.  While I would have loved to put my guys on more Mutton last week, running 50 miles round trip per day to do it wasn't a serious option.   Now that the current appears to be returning to "normal", all the spots I hit should be fired up like they should have been.

On the equipment side of things I finally broke down and got a new GPS that I can actually read instead of brailing my way through.  That wasn't all that painful since I got a killer deal on an Ebay Auction for a change.  I also broke down and bought a vehicle and during the insurance and registration process was reminded why I didn't have a vehicle.  The tag agency has grown even more anal and it took three trips to make them happy and a couple of hour wait for the state computers to start working and then for those computers to realize that I didn't have a tag because they had previously said I wasn't trustworthy enough to hold my tag and not drive a vehicle that I didn't own.  I do believe though that the computer has finally given up on trying to get me to register a boat that I owned 30 years ago and gave away.  That is a good thing since the insurance, tag and registration cost about twice as much as I paid for the vehicle.

Yes, that is right sports fans, my new to me vehicle is a 1999 Taurus Wagon that cost a whopping $375 including delivery.  It drives, has a working A/C, lots of tread on the tires, no serious dings in the sheet metal and a kayak friendly luggage rack.  . It does have just enough project potential, in case I get bored, to make it interesting.  If it completely dies tomorrow I can almost get the purchase price back from any salvage yard.  The warm and friendly government required fees are of course a complete waste.  I think it will cover about three hours of bureaucratic butt sitting while the hive computers are down.

I also noted that the County Tag agency has gotten their 1 1/4 thick bullet proof glass yet.  Perhaps that is why registration fees are ridiculously high.

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

Gator Gets a Dolphin

I fill in on the Lady Catherine from time to time and occasionally someone fills in for me.  Captain "Gator" Gray Sr. answered the call from Captain David and my Facebook hint to come on back to the Keys for a few days and drive the bus.  This fish is 59" long and 41 pounds.

While I was visiting with Captain Gator, David mentioned that the fish that pulled the hooks on us a week or so ago was bigger than this one.  So there are plenty more out there for those willing to spend some time offshore.

Give Captain David a call at (305) 723-9867 to book or check out the Dive and Fish Marathon website.  The Lady Catherine is an inspected vessel allowing her to carry more than 6 passengers should you have a large group or family fishing expedition planned.

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

Finally! Joe Got His Mutton Snapper.

After three and a half days of struggling with weird currents and calm conditions I finally guessed right and got a current that the Muttons liked.   We only boated one but it was a nice one.  Today was mainly Yellowtail Snapper catching while in search of Mutton.

Grant got another nice big ocean Triggerfish plus sneaked plenty of bait grunts in the box.

This is one of those you should have been here next week trips.  At least Windfinder is indicating that we will have more normal 5 to 10 knot winds with scattered thunder storms more like normal for this time of year.

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

Weird Day when you Catch Flying Fish

From top to bottom we have Grant with an Amberjack, Jordan with a large Little Tunny, Joseph with his carbon copy Little Tunny and then something different, Jordan with one of the 6 flying fish we caught hook and line on the reef edge.  Not a normal catch.

Flying fish are like mullet with wings.  You don't catch many mullet hook and line either.  That just goes to show what a weird day it was.

We caught the Little Tunny on pinfish on the bottom in 200 foot of water searching for Mutton Snapper.  No luck at all with the Muttons so we head to the reef for Yellowtail Snapper.  We got the 'tails up fast and boated a couple then a Porpoise aka Bottlenose Dolphin, move in to eat the one we hooked.  The Porpoise must not like big ocean Triggerfish since he/she let us get two of those for the box.  These Triggerfish  were big enough that they broke three of our hooks.  Just broke the hooks ring at the base of the barb.

Well, we have one more day in search of Mutton but it is beginning to look like the Snapper won this trip.

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

Captain Pips Fishing Adventure

Captain Pips is the place I started fishing the Fishing the Florida Keys blogging and now they have new owners.

 The new owners have add some new attractions.

 And kept a lot of the the original attractions.

 I am fishing four days out of Pips with some regulars, 14 years worth of regular, and so far they are just as pleased as all get out with the state of Pips.  So if you are a Pips regular, you should be pleasantly surprised on your next visit with the fresh paint and fresh equipment.

So far the trips haven't produced exceptionally photogenic fish, just a  mixed bag of Dolphin, Snapper, Porgies, Toros, 'Cudas, Jacks and Sharks.  We have been skunked so far on Muttons and keeper Grouper, which hopefully will change tomorrow.

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

Martinis Ocean Side

The Martini fishing team is back down for a little Fishing 102 on the ocean side this year.  They have fun regardless of the conditions though I rather they have fun sweating with the biggies.  We had a very slow morning though other than Dolphin that were mainly throw backs which we caught trolling from one bottom spot to the next.  The dolphin were inside of two hundred foot and just about every where.  We did manage one little bull that was a gaffer.  The game plan though was for muttons.

On the Mutton spots it is not all that unusual to get an Amberjack or two but for Dad, it is pretty unusual so he had a grand time with his.   We also managed a large little Tunny for the area on a pinfish on the bottom in 200 foot of water.  That is a bit unusual and well received by the crew.  Unfortunately, the Mutton bite East of the light sucked big time.  We marked plenty of fish but they just didn't like the tide or temperature or something else.  Even the Yellowtail on the reef didn't want to play so we spent most of the day playing ultralight tackle dolphin catch and release.  Not what I envisioned first thing this morning and after the monsoons of yesterday, but it was a fine day with a fine crew anywho.

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

Tough Fishing

With all the Dolphin frolicking out on the ocean side I was kinda surprised how tough the Bay Side fishing is with the current conditions.  Generally, this time of year the Bay Side is pretty steady with smaller but legal size Mangroves, plenty of jacks, a few Sea Trout, the occasional Cero Mackerel  and various sharks.  The past two days though have been tough close to Marathon.  Today I did a do over trip, my GPS batteries died so we were flying blind, and we had to go west to the Blue Fish Bank to get a respectable but short lived bite started.  Another group had slower than normal action at the Elbow Bank area and one of my honey holes on the Jack Bank was totally dead.  

The bridge, old reliable normally, has an incoming current most of the day and the fish don't seem to like that all that much.  So instead of seeing lots of fish in the chum slick you might not see any until the tide gets right.  That looks like first thing in the morning or late in the evening for then next day or two then there should be a pretty good morning bite.

The Bay Side report is due to slightly higher winds and slightly smaller boats.  Ocean side is still fired up if you don't mind a little bit lumpy seas.  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

Full Moon Friday the 13th Fishing Trip

Photo Update: The crew sent me some better photos of their Dolphin 101 excursion.

Well, we done okay.  The pictures didn't come out and we only went one for two on the bigger fish, but the guys caught fish.

Today was a finish up half day because we lost an engine on the boat yesterday and couldn't get offshore.   We found the fish right off the bat in 700 foot of water which is about 12 miles south of Sombrero Light.  Since this was a fishing 101, the first fish, a bull around 17 pounds was lost at the boat during gaff training.  That miss may have left an impression since the second fish was stuck right in the middle and lifted in the boat properly.  Other than those two gaffers there was mainly schoolies that had to be measured.  The guys dropped me off at Burdines and after a burger and fries will head back out on their own.

The 12th turned into a reef trip after the motor died.  Not much to speak of box wise, but lots of baby amberjacks, a couple of strawberry grouper, a hand full of yellowtail and several nice fish that got away or got eaten by bigger critters.

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

Back to the Bus - Part II

This is the new rear leaf spring hanger with the existing shackle installed.  I was going to make a new shackle but it takes forever to drill 3/4" holes in 1/4 inch steel.  I did have to weld some more metal on one side of the shackle which is why it looks so lumpy.  This whole project could have been much easier had I lived next to a heavy truck grave yard, but I don't so I welded up a section of frame instead of welding in a section of frame cut off another truck.

In this view you can see more butt ugly but strong welds.  The weakest link in all this should end up being the shackle which is pretty substantial still.  The fit under the bus is nice and tight with about a 1/16 of an inch wiggle room side to side and 3/16 of an inch fore and aft.  I plan on welding it in but if worse comes to worse I have enough over lap to bolt it in place if need be.  Not pretty by any means but it should do the job.

update:

It slid right into place kinda like it was meant to :)  Now I have to replace the broken hydraulic line to the port side leveling jack and get that extended before welding and/or bolting the frame/hanger in place.
The V-20 Project is on hold until this gets off the work bench but that isn't really a problem.  The motor for the V-20 should be getting down here in a coupled of months.  I am bartering out a few trips for the motor and controls so that part of the price is right.

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

Back to the Bus - Part I

Since no one called to save me from today's project here is what I am up against.  The large chunk of metal with the orange strap on it is the bus port side leveling jack while I have already welded an insert so that I could slide the jack into the existing rectangular tubing that runs to the starboard side leveling jack.  The gaping hole in the rusted frame is where the rear spring shackel used to be firmly attached to the frame.  Since this area just happens to be below the bathroom and the bus just happens to be an aluminum frame setting on a steel frame once you add a little water thanks to polybutylene plumbing fixtures that have a tendancy to leak you get some wicked electrolytic corrosion.   I unfortunately missed out on the class action lawsuit seeking damages due to faulty Polybutylene plumbing failures so I am going to "fix" this myself.

Here is a view from the wheel well.  The severest of the damage is limited to a section about 16 inch long that includes the jack, spring shackle, spring hanger and bathroom floor support.  Now you can see why welding in a better light.

The plan today is to cut out most of the bad stuff and put together a frame section with spring hanger that I can weld bad in place.  Since I have to go that far I am going to fabricate my own spring shackle as well.  This stuff being replaced is what many consider "heavy duty" which is why I have been burning lots and lots of welding rods practicing.  I now can make welds that look like real welds but not quite the $25 per hour welds.  I guess I would be more of a $15 an hour kinda hobby welder right now.

In case you are wondering, the rust on the springs and rest of the frame is pretty extensive thanks to Wilma but the metal is still mighty damn thick in spite of that bitch.  I have a couple of gallons of Krud Kutter rust converter, a phosphoric acid mixture that actually does a pretty fair job of stabilizing rust that I will use to pretty things up after the grinding, welding and cussing is done.  I also have two 3 ton jack stands and two 20 ton hydraulic jacks strategically located to keep the frame in place and the bus in the air, while I am performing the heavy duty surgery.

 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

Tons for Fish Just Can be Tough to Boat the Big One.

Fished yesterday and today and had no problem finding fish just problems with the bigger ones.  Wednesday we hook a variety of fish that were respectable but nada in the box other than a summer time assortment of reef dwellers, Toro, Yellowtail, Mangrove, Triggers, respectable Strawberry Grouper plus a dolphin for a partial afternoon offshore tour.  We didn't have live bait though which likely would have perked the bite up.  As a BTW, a laundry/ice basket makes a usable live bait keep for next to nothing if the place you are staying doesn't have one.  Just add a Fun Noodle for flotation and a trashcan lid to keep the birds out.  You can catch Pinfish and Tomtate Grunts at most of the docks this time of year and keep them in the bait keep for a little extra ammunition.

Today was an offshore only trip where we could have filled a number of boxes with legal dolphin but we were after Mr. Big Fish not Mr. Big Mess of Fish.  The seas were a bit rougher than yesterday and there was so much Sargasso Weed that I probably fished 11 weed lines.  The birds, including Frigate birds were more active today than they have been the last few trips but so were the schoolie Dolphin.

I am not sure if I am taking a trip tomorrow or not.  If not,

If the wood is dry enough I can work on the transom some more.  Or any of the other projects I have piling up.  One thing good about Murphy's law, if I have projects there will always be someone wanting to go fishing :) 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

Rainy Day Blues

I was planning on either fishing or boat restoration today but the rain kill both thoughts.   Yesterday I made a Home Depot run to get resin and some more clamps.

Before inserting the plywood I wanted to glass the splash well glass to the front side of the transom glass.  I was going to use some PC7 epoxy but since our local Home Depot doesn't stock about half of what Home Depot sells, I just bit the bullet and figured on glassing them together.  Not a lot of difference structurally, but the epoxy is quicker and makes less mess.

 After this trial fit with the clamps I had on hand, I figured on six more clamps.  That all went well, but the rain got to the plywood I had laminated so I need to wait for that to dry out before sticking the whole transom back together.  Then I will have a 1 3/4 inch thick transom with 3/4 inch of that being solid glass.  Since it is hard to figure out how well the 30 plus year old glass with get along with the new stuff I will install a full inch cap down into the old transom space and finish with about 1/4 inch for the top of the cap.  With less than a 150 horsepower motor I doubt things will be under built.

On the Welding front, also delayed by rain, I have been practicing with E6011 3/32 inch electrodes for the bus frame welding project.  The 6011s will have better penetration than the 6013 rods with the 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 3/16 inch angle iron I ordered and had shipped by UPS.  Believe it or not, having the metal shipped, 40 foot of angle and flat stock, was about the same price of buying the 20 foot I needed locally.  So I reckon I have another welding project to dream up after the bus stuff.  For some very odd reason though, Home Depot had the resin at a reasonable price but wants 4 bucks a foot for plain Jane angle iron.

After doing all the modifications to the little welder by the way, I am getting a full 100 amps out of a welder rated for 65 amps and a 15% duty cycle.  I burned through a half dozed rods this afternoon and never tripped the thermal overload.  If I add a cooling fan and a 25 amp breaker I may be able to do some TIG welding.  Then the V-20 might get some fancy stainless top of some type or another.  Who knows?

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

Rates and Dates

With the winds up today I have been playing with my toy welder and dickering on craigslist.  I have added an ad in services which I will probably forget to update, but for now it is up.  So to go with that ad I am posting my rates and general Fishing 101 details.

My advertised rate is $175 per day for just the basics.  I no longer care to do tournaments so don't worry about that.  Basic Fishing 101 is just that, the basics on how to safely, productively fish in the Florida Keys.  If I have a specialty it is nasty weather vacation saving trips.  Living on an island there is always a lee side and almost always a fish ready to bite.  If you just want information I have several posts on fishing basics.  For those of you that have some experience fishing in the Keys but not as much catching as you like, spending a little time reading fishing basics is probably all you need.  The biggest tip for the Keys is keep is simple and keep it light.

Most of my trips are out of Marathon but I have guided from Key Largo to Key West.  I generally try to recommend a more local captain if you are more than 20 miles from Marathon, but do pretty well anywhere in the Keys.

Nasty weather options are normally the bay side, Hawks Channel and bridges. In my opinion, these are some of the most productive and least appreciate areas to fish for tourists and locals alike.  The most popular trips I have are reef and patch reef trips for snapper and grouper.  With Yellowtail Snapper you can be a hero or a zero so I try to show how to take advantage of the catching opportunities that present themselves instead of getting stuck on a one species type trip.  Something is almost always biting, you just need to go with the flow.

I am making this a sticky for a while so new posts will be under this one.  BTW, that is not me in the photo, just one of my satisfied customers.  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

The Schooly Tormentor

Since Captain Dave likes to pull teasers, I have rigged him a lure with knots tied in the good ole US of A that I think should be called a tormentor.  As mentioned previously we have had a spout of equipment failures related to imported crimped hooks.  Not mentioned is that the schoolies tend to knock the heck out of the teasers resulting in knock downs without hook ups.  What may be the solution is a dart tandem with hooks in both lures.  This type of thing is often done for Spanish Mackerel trolling up in North Florida but not so much down here in the Keys.

Right now it is looking like a busy June provided the weather lets me put some money in my clothes.  I already have five trips booked through the 15th and generally I get a few twofers when the fish are biting ;like now.  If you are looking to put meat in the freezer, the dolphin have moved in closer and while there are plenty of peanuts, most of the fish are legal with a good number of gaffers.  How long that is going to last is anyone's guess.

I am trying to sneak up to the Home Depot to get some epoxy and resin for the transom but the phone has been ringing pretty solid so far today.  If I get the stuff this may be a two post kinda day.

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