Last Day of 2014 Grouper Season

We only managed one keeper Red Grouper but had a few we had to measure a couple of times they we so close.  Hogfish and Progies filled the grouper void in the box.

Once again it was a slower than normal bite but we able to pick away to make a respectable box.  Still lost a couple of heart breakers due to hooks getting straighten or lines parting in weird places.

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

Painfully Slow - But it was a Beautiful Day

Everything was slow.  We didn't get any bait up.  Then on the very first spot I see one of the local charter captains already hunting for a trip saver.  We went offshore with visions of glossy magazine adventures and end up fighting not to get skunked.  The black grouper top just missed the mark.  The Porgie and Hogfish were nice, but that was about it.  We had hooks straighten out on a couple of fish that could have made it a decent day, but no such Karma.  That is beautiful day syndrome.

Tomorrow though is another day and the final day of grouper season, so we are going to double down and hit as many holes as possible.
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

A Little Slow but We Did Alright

On the rock piles again this morning and it was a lot slower than yesterday.  Still we managed to get a pretty good box of Yellowtail, Lane Snapper, and one nice Red Grouper.  We tried the Bay Side for a couple of hours in the afternoon and it was slow as well.  We did get one good Mangrove Snapper for the box and one Spanish Mackerel for nuggets, but there were more jacks and Bluefish than normal. Most of the mackerel boats on the Bay Side were a few miles further North, but  since we had to turn in the boat, we just settle for what we got instead of making the longer run.

On the whole Chicago Joe's crew had a pretty fair fishing part of this years vacation.

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 Fish Won, but We Got a Few

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The fish kind of won today.  We picked up a few nice fish, a Mutton, some porgies and a few Mangroves but.....

 There were some other hungry critters that took more than their fair share.  So we lost a lot of very nice fish to the bottom and sharks.

Since this was a family fun day, we changed crews and tried the bridge and the rock piles so we could stay close to Burdines to drop off and pick up.  One of the test spinning outfits met more than its match today and a rod broke.  Bummer, I like the light weight graphite rod but as is common, they tend to be a bit delicate for my kind of fishing.

Tomorrow, there is a serious grudge match brewing with some of the critters that got away and got away with dinner.  Conditions btw are pretty nice, it is a bit sloppy out front but not bad once you are at anchor, provided you don't get a sloppy one over the bow.

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

Average Day of Catching

Now that the Holiday stuff is out of the way time for more fishing.  Mixed bag today with fewer Hogfish than I expected and zero keeper grouper.  We got one grouper that was close but no cigar.  I was planning on staying on the patches all day and picking way at the Hogfish,Porgies and Grouper but the current was a bit of a pain early in the day.  So most of the catching was done on the rock piles.  There were several mystery fish and a short Cobia, but on the whole just an average day of catching.

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

Know Yo Bait

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The new Cell Number

The European pilchard, Sardina pilchardus

While the winds are marginal, my crew in town are waiting till after Christmas for their Fishing adventure.  The weather isn't bad, but taking a day or two to spend with the family is generally good for martial relations.  So while I am doing not on the water stuff I thought I should post some pictures of bait.  The Pilchard aka Scaled Sardine, Spanish Sardine etc. etc. is a prime bait for just about anything.  The larger ones, over four inches are great offshore and the small ones are like snapper candy.  Having a live well full of these guys is serious fishing ammunition.  They can piss off the Pope though.  One day they are a no brainer to catch and the next you can waste most of your fuel for nothing.  So if you are down for a while, it is a good thing to have a bait keep in the water close so you can load up in the good times.  Some of the canals are not all that great for keeping bait especially if there is a lot of dead sea grass floating.  So you might have to locate your keep away from the dock in some sheltered spot hoping that no one wanders off with your keep.  For that reason, you will rarely see a ton of money thrown in making the bait keep to end all bait keeps. In a pinch, a garbage can with lots of holes drilled in it works fine as long as you don't over load it with bait.  Strapping a fun noodle to the top keeps it floating and a bungie will keep the lid in place.

The ballyhoo or bally, Hemiramphus brasiliensis

The ballyhoo is another great bait in the Keys alive or dead.  That is a good thing since they tend to prefer the dead state.  You can keep ballyhoo alive in a good live well for about 6 hours if you really watch them.  Just like pilchards they can be a piece of cake to catch one day and non existent the next.  Most of the time they are pretty easy to catch so that is a plus.  While waiting for them to show up in your chum slick, you can add a few menu items like snapper, porgies, hog fish etc. to the box if you pick a good spot.  

These are the two main sailfish baits for the winter season down here.  You can catch both with small hooks, size 10, a small piece of bait just about as big as the gap in the hook and a small float like for fresh water panfish will help especially for the ballyhoo.  Pilchards will also take a Sabiki rig but a cast net is the way to go for both species.

If you can throw an eight foot radius cast net you can throw a 12 footer.  Guides will normally use a 12 foot net.  For the occasional angler a 7 of 8 foot net works just fine. Size does matter but technique is important as well.   A seven foot net with an extra long lease can be just the ticket for spooky ballyhoo.  With just a little practice anyone can wing a net for bait.

pinfish, Lagodon rhomboides

Pinfish are the easiest bait to catch with hook and line or with a trap.  They are more of a challenge with a cast net than you might think, so I normally stick to hook and line.  Pinfish are not the go to bait for sailfish but I have caught a few that didn't read the rules very well.  It is better to have something than nothing, so having a few dozen in the live well is a good thing.

In addition to these basics you can have goggle eyes, threadfin herring, blue runners, small snapper, just about anything that wiggles.  I have caught sailfish on all of them.

The reason for this post is a lot of my trips are devoted more to bait catching instead of fishing.  Catching bait is a fishing basic and I am a basic kind of guy.  It makes it easier if you know what you are looking for.

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

Porgies and Hogfish

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And I actually remembered to take some pictures.

This trip was out of Bahia Honda State Park.  The yellowtail bite was off so we hit the patches and the rock piles.  Nice weather today.

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

Conch Tiki and the Phone

(305) 304-8656

Now that things have calmed down I guess it is time for the real story behind the Communications Glitch.  My old number was for Conch Tiki, a small company originally intended to sell plastic Tiki thatch for Tiki roofing so people could have good looking Tiki buildings that didn't shed old thatch in their yards or pools and didn't catch fire and burn down their neighborhood.  Well, the thatch didn't catch on because it was plastic meaning it wasn't "All Natural", wouldn't shed or catch fire and burn like bonfire like the "real thing".  

To promote the thatch that people wouldn't buy we ran radio spots and invented a fish cleaning table to use for displays.  Since I was local, I was the radio personality for the spots which generated more fishing calls than Tiki thatch or fish cleaning table calls.  The phone that was provided for the thatch calls, (305) 395-1923 ended up becoming my default fishing phone because no one would ever called my real phone anymore.

After around 10 years of not selling anything, the plug got pulled on Conch Tiki.  I talked to the service provider and I can get that number in 45 days if I like, but there was no quick any easy transition at least from my end of things.  Since the phone was for business, I got free phone service until a couple of days ago.

So the new phone number marks the end of one era and the beginning of a new one.   I had no clue what was going to happen from one day to the next in the old one and I doubt that will change, but for era accounting purposes we have a new one anyhow. So up top is my new, maybe temporary, phone number.

Now, with that out of the way.  Michele has become an Obama Care junkie with rotor cuff surgery and lots of physical therapy visits over the past couple of months and has another visit or ten scheduled while she has met her out of pocket.  After Tuesday, Colon endoscopy day, I should be back to fishing and fixing things.

My next sorta scheduled trip is Wednesday which Windfinder says should be 5-10 out of the Northeast doing classic reef fishing out of Big Pine Key.  That will be followed up by the Christmas crews so hopefully I will get some nice Grouper Snapper pictures to post up to Jan, 1st when of course grouper closes thanks to our fearless fishing leaders.

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

Communications Glitch

There is a shift in the cellphone situation.  I have a new number (305) 304-8656 so Michele doesn't get hit with my calls.  I managed to get my phone address book transferred so I will start calling or messaging with the change.

Pardon the inconvenience, but things may stay normal for a while.  I delete the previous post and revised the side bar with the new number.  Happy Holidays!

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