How Fishing Regulations Work

Since I am having issues with my own videos I thought this one might fill the posting void.

With the new moon right now tides are crazy high meaning the currents are a bit weird.  We had a combo fish and snorkel 1/2 day just the other day that was mainly snorkel due to the wind against the current.  Now I am back to projects with a big Labor Day week shaping up so far.

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

Boy it's Hot Out There

Since it is so hot we left the dock at 6:30 to beat the heat.  This was a fishing 101 so we didn't stay on these Yellowtail Snapper long but there were a few in the 18 inch range willing to bite.  Had to wade through a lot of barely legals though.  Mangroves were about the same, lots and lots of barely legal fish on most spots with the big ones not all that aggressive on the morning tide.  The bigger tide is this afternoon/evening so the guys will likely do better on the turn around.

We stopped to play with one large Jack Crevalle, about 15 pounds I guess, that is headed to the smoker.  Not one of my preferred fish, but smoke does wonders and they do know how to fight.

This attempt at editing a video of the Jack Crevalle isn't all that great but at least some of it seems to have uploaded.  I might work on it later.

The action on the rock piles was a little off, but a few nice porgies went in the box along with a Yellowtail.  Not a single grouper today on the rock piles and the Hogfish were short.  On the whole an okay fishing 101, but I would like to see the bigger 'tails get more aggressive so you don't have to deal with so many barely legal 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

Cabo Catches

 While I have been sidelined with Doctor's visits and RV lot beautification Capt. David and the Cabo have been catching fish.  I popped down to the Marina to see what's up and they are nice Dolphin aka mahi out there biting if you look hard enough.  These nice gaffers where found in 900 foot of water pretty late in the day.  Full moons tend to make fish act funny so there is no telling if afternoon is the bite or not, it just was today.  Along with the gaffers they found plenty of legal schoolies and tons of tiny peanuts which makes the search for the bigger guys a bit more challenging.

I have to throw in a pic of owner Dick with a little bigger than normal smile.  Capt. David and I have been trying to put them on bigger fish for a while with limited success.  Now that David is healthy again and bug mania is dying down, maybe I can get a few more big boat reports.  While I am stuck beautifying, the Bonnie B and crew will be hunting tuna for the lady of the boat.  The Blackfin and Skippies may not be monsters on the line but they are slammers on the plate.

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

So what's up with Dat Free Gaffed Tuna at the Dock?

This video has gone viral on Facebook.

Keysinfonet has a short article and a better photo for the fish identification purists.  I have never gaffed a big Yellowfin Tuna in a canal, but I have seen 200 pound class Yellowfin Tuna in my Yellowtail slick in 30 foot of water and hooked a few freight trains on the reef that were likely big Yellowfin.  So the story is likely true.  I wouldn't plan a Keys trip to dock fish for Tuna or Sailfish inside Hawks Channel, but great fishing stories are common in the Keys.

A few months ago I showed a new local how to fish the bridge after work.  His first trip on his own he hooked a Wahoo twice at the bridge and managed to lose it both times.  I have also seen small sword fish on the flats plus had the meat on my thumb about burned off passing a rod with a Spanish Mackerel hooked up to a customer just when a big Marlin decided to get hungry.  That is pretty much the reason I am in the Keys, you never know what you might tangle with.

Now back to projects.

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

Katelynn Slam

Living pretty much in the tropics, tropical weather includes potential tropical storms.  Yesterday we stayed at the dock thanks to tropical weather with lots of fireworks.  Today there wasn't as much fireworks so we fished.  The Yellowtail bite sucked thanks to wind and current direction shifting during the day but luckily there are patches and rock piles with things other than Yellowtails.

Ms Katelynn seemed to be happy with her slam of Red Grouper, Hogfish and Yellowtail snapper and the action on the patches which include Triggerfish, Porkfish, Yellowtail Snapper and the ever present Grunts.

We had planned some offshore trolling but opted for the closer inshore stuff due to a very large, nasty looking black cloud.  With any luck this system will move North or West or East or any place else other than here in the next day or two.

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

PS, here is a full crew photo.