Nearly a New Year with maybe some new regulations

 The big one for me will be Hogfish.  Right now they have to be 12 inches long and you get five per person.  Hook and line fishing for Hogfish has never been a slam dunk.  You get a few every now and again and on a slack current you can occasionally limit out, but that is pretty much a front page find of day.  Most Hogfish are taken by divers because they are just plain stupid, the Hogfish, and a diver with a commercial license could load up on a good day.  Now, the powers at be want to change the limits to one fish per person at least 16" long, which is really going to suck on a slow day when Porgies and Hogfish are about the only game in town.  When that goes into effect is up in the air and there might even be a closed season because people creating regulations don't really have much better to do.

 Grouper of course closes January 1 through April because Gag grouper are supposedly hammered someplace north of here and Red Grouper are under pressure north of here in the Gulf.  The closures are based on typical spawning times for the northern fish, but since spawning is driven by water temperature and moon phase, Keys fish wander down a different path spawning wise.  So as usual the regulation are designed for someplace else and enforced in the Keys where there is about 200 times as many charter and recreational anglers.  Since the regulators are sadistic little bastards, they close all grouper in the Keys pretty much because they can.

 So this is probably the last Red Grouper for a while.

When the regulators close seasons on some fish plus decrease bag limits and increase size limits all at the same time, that tends to shift pressure to other species meaning there are more landings of fish that normally don't have as many landings.  More fish landed to the regulators seems to mean that those fish are being depleted so they close their season as well.  Now if these regulatory geniuses picked one control method at a time instead of hitting the triple whammy button, they could actually do scientific stuff like surveys to determine if there needs to be more or less regulation and even define zones where regulations don't apply.  However, there appears to be a glut of liberal arts majors with crap math skills finding government jobs saving the world killing one fishing industry at a time.   So Yellowtail Snapper like the one above will probably be closed around November this year along with Porgies, Hogfish and just about any other kind of fish with tasty white meat, because people will catch more of the easier to catch fish. 

Now, "easier to catch" generally means that there are lots of fish, not a shortage of fish.  However, liberal arts majors, a guestimated quota based on landings during a bygone era of people just fishing isn't going to be that useful if you don't allow for the impact of knee jerk over regulation forcing a shift in fishing pressure. 

These Mangrove snapper have so far dodged the regulatory free for all so with any luck I will continue to be able to let customers catch enough for dinner. 

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

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, but renting a boat sucks

Since the winds are up but most of the guys down for the holidays have plenty of time to wait it out, I and taking a rare Christmas day off. 

Yesterday we fished from a 24 foot Hydrasports rental from All Aboard Boat Rentals with a 250 Yamaha.  The boat ran great and everything worked well enough to have fun.  However, there are plenty of boat renters that would have been aggravated by the time it takes to check out and the bottom finder not working perfectly at full throttle.

Electronics are quirky, probably by design to ensure job security.  So high dollar units, tweaked perfectly will pick up at full speed but most tend to have noise issues meaning so fine tuning and adjusting your speed is required most of the time.  Experienced boaters know that BOAT stands for Broke Or About To learn to deal with situation were you don't have 25 people waiting patiently for your tech support call.  So an "old salt" is much less likely to be disappointed by the quality of a rental boat provided it can make a round trip without sinking. 

Rank amateurs and people believing they should have been born with silver spoons up their butts tend to be much more critical of just about everything in life than people in the "know."   The main reason I guide is to show people how to have fun on the water without tearing stuff up and hurting themselves.  Every time I see a negative review of boat rental companies I know that there is a pretty good chance the complainer could have saved themselves some grief by hiring someone like me. 

I have been through this a few times with the Coast Guard and others, but a guide with just a bit of local knowledge and a crap load of boating experience is a good thing.  However, in our litigious society, "people in authority" think everyone in a "position of responsibility" has to be certified up the wazoo, bonded, drug tested and strip searched before they can be "trusted."  There are plenty of 13 year old kids with experience on the water that can save people time, pain, trouble and money. 

So since I am a bit of a PITA to many in "authority" my cards say "fishing consultant" and I do not present any documents other than driver's and fishing licenses when I function as a guide on a rental or private boat.  A guide, is a cheap date which means the average first time boat renter is more likely to take advantage of the service.  Renting a boat with a guide isn't a "charter" or any other kind of regulated action requiring fees so some fat assed got miner can get paid to dream up more regulations to prevent more people from enjoying a day on the water.  Some states are requiring boating licenses, which is fine, but the standard for getting a boating license is mainly having access to a boat, breathing and money to pay for the privileged.  Boating experience is required to actually know what a boater is supposed to know and having someone on board with experience, regardless of credentials, can seriously reduce the costs of gaining that experience.   

This rant is for all the warm and fuzzies that think Utopia is heavily regulated and that a "boat" is a privilege reserved for the wealthy elite. 

Now that that is out of the way, All Aboard, Quality Boat Rentals, Jerry's Boat Rentals, Captain Pips, Vacation Boat Rentals, Tropical Boat Rentals, Captain Hooks Boat Rentals, and a probably a dozen more I didn't mention in the Marathon area, all rent boats and are still in business, meaning the vast majority of renters had an enjoyable time on their rental boat without doing damage to the boat or themselves.  Each and every one has former customers with a gripe here and there because of BOAT and not being aware of what an enjoyable boat rental experience requires, like actually listening to during the checkout and reading the paperwork before signing.  If you don't know the area, try asking some questions ahead of time and think about either hiring a guide or asking one of the rental employees ride along with you for a quick check out.  Everyone wants you to have a good time and not tear their stuff up, so concentrate on that instead of the 15 minutes of time you are "wasting" during orientation if you happen to be a first time customer.

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

Chicago Joe and Detroit Dave

Updated to add a photo of one of the larger Cero Mackerel with Joe.

My Christmas season regular Chicago Joe is bake in town and we fished on a Detroit Dave rental boat.  With Chicago, Detroit and Dallas all on deck, by standers might have though a poker game was about to start.

Due to winds over 20 knots we fished in a few of my spots that are sheltered and caught a lot of fish thanks to having anglers that were real hungry for getting back on the water so they could forget about the snow.  While Mangroves and Porgies were the primary target, the Cero Mackerel proved to be the main event.  Unlike some of my other regulars, Chicago Joe and crew don't have to be convinced that fresh Mackerel is good eats.

Mangroves were a bit disappointing, but we did manage about ten nice sized fish and the only porgy we kept was a solid three pounds, also nice.  Frank, the chef in Joe's crew, also opted to keep plenty of grunts that were over 12 inches long and big enough to filet.

Frank also wanted to tangle with a big shark which proved to be more difficult than normal.  He had one shot at a big girl, but after that Ceros and smaller sharks took over.  We saw a few big ones passing through but for some reason they just didn't want to hang around.

Detroit Dave bought All Aboard boat rentals not too long ago which was news to me.  When we got back with a cooler overly filled with fish, Dave and everyone on the dock was pretty impressed so a lot of my cards got distributed.   Fishing in high winds can be pretty tough and we did have a pretty good day.

My phone played tricks on me so I have to hope the crew posts some they took so I can add a few to the post. 

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

Fun Fishing with the Boy Scouts

 Had back to back half days with a group of scouts down for the week.  We fished the Lil' Lady Catherine on the bay side and looked for the biggest mixed bag we could find.

We had to hunt a bit to find water that wasn't too churned up but managed two nice mixed boxes of lane mangrove and yellowtail snapper, speckled sea trout, spanish mackerel and were surprised by some large gaffstop sail catfish which are good on the table.  Added to the food fish were jack crevalle, ladyfish, bonnethead, lemon, sharpnose and blacktip sharks.  We managed to keep both groups pretty busy catching and hook enough larger fish to make it exciting.

The water temperature was 79 degrees according to the sonar so diving for lobster is still an option.  Either because of the warm water or the murkiness, the Spanish Mackerel were pretty finicky and wanted pretty much nothing but fresh whole ballyhoo.  Normally, any kind of strip bait will do but that produced next to nothing this time out.

It is still a bit windy on average so we haven't been temped to visit the ocean side in the smaller boat, but that side is producing for the larger boats.  Nothing is guaranteed but there have been some nice wahoo, tuna and dolphin brought to the dock along with plenty of yellowtail and mutton snapper plus good catches of grouper.  Sailfish had been a big story but haven't seen many reports the last few days, but some guys have found cobia to take up the slack. 

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

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the unofficial start of the Keys fishing season.  Cooler weather and scheduled vacation time gets folks in the mood for a little fishing in the Florida Keys, so I have four trips completed for the week. 

One of the big issues with fishing in the Keys after you are used to fishing anywhere else is the line issue.  Many folks are all braid all the time and clear water makes catching many keys species a lot tougher.  If you are not used to monofiliment, you are likely to get frustrated with its memory, but if you get rocked up a few dozen times, you should get over it.  Mono is much more versitile so at least one spinning outfit should be 15 to 20 pound clear mono to make your fishing in the Keys less stressful. 

Another is the circle hook versus J hook issue.  Thanks to regulations, circle hooks are required on the north side of US1 and no on the south side of US1.  Since the Keys are on US1, you need to have both in your box.

Circle hooks are one of those challenges in life.  You don't set circle hooks so if you are a bassmaster kind of angler, you are going to have to break yourself of your bass habits.  Depending on the species, circle hooks are the best things since sliced bread or just a PITA.  For dead stick fishing, when you set a rod on the rod holder and let it do the work, they are great.  Circle hooks were designed for long lines when there is no way to set a hook so they are great at doing what they were designed for.  Other stuff, not so much. 

I took a guy fishing that was on one of the fisheries boards and an advocate for circle hooks.  After we had gut hooked a third snapper with circle hooks, I mentioned that the guys making the rules were brain dead.  That is when he mentioned he was one of those guys.  If you look at the raw data on circles versus J hooks, for some species, mortality close to 9% for circles versus 28% for J hooks.  Other species it is closer to 1% for circles and 3% for J hooks.  So for some species it makes a big difference and for others not so much.  Now what that data does not include is how competent your angler might be.  If I am in a spot where the fish are small and I am a meat fishermen, I will frigging move to another spot.  There is zero mortality if I quit catching small stuff that has to be released.  If I am offshore looking to catch Dolphin for the box, I can have zero mortality for J hooks because 100% of the fish are going in the box.  If you are having a catch and release only adventure, go for circles, however, if you release enough fish, you are going to kill a whole hell of a lot more because there is more to consider than just the hook in figuring mortality.  Probably the largest cause of fish mortality is over regulation.  People end up catching a lot more fish than usual and handling 100s that have to be released from depths that would have a 50% mortality to begin with.  Do you really think that sticking holes in fish that are blown out heals them?   It is kind of like Obamacare for fish, poke a hole in their system and call it healthcare.

So with that out of the way how was fishing?  Okay.  The yellowtail bite if you can get the wind and current together is great.  With the cooling water, Grouper are moving a little deeper so some of the rock piles and wrecks are loaded with keepers.  Mackerel are still a bit spotty.  Ceros and Kings are pretty plentiful on the ocean side but Spanish are inconsistent on the bay side as of this week.  Water temperatures have dropped enough though that they should be getting thicker in the bay.

Mixed bag fishing for reef species is great and thanks to living on an island can be done in just about any weather.  In case you don't know, mixed bag fishing with knocker rigs and fresh bait is just plain fun.  Lots of action, plenty of fish for dinner and you still have a shot at something to brag about.

Sailfish, dolphin and even big tuna are being caught but nothing is super hot consistently.  So if you have the boat or the weather, it is definitely worth a shot but be ready for plan B just in case.  

I have plenty of openings except for Christmas - New Years which will be pretty packed trying to fit folks in with the weather. 

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

Nice day

Windfinder was off and there is a super full moon, but it was a nice day anyway.  I was fishing with a client from Louisiana who definitely knows fishing.  The goal was just to tune up some techniques on Yellowtail Snapper fishing and get familiar with some new areas.

With the full moon tide, you have to hunt a bit to find a fishable current and with the wind blowing closer to 20 knots than the predicted 10 knots, that means the west side of the bridge.  We hit one spot on the east side just to check, but it was dead.  The water was much cleaner to the west which made the fish a lot happier.

In the channel, plenty of keeper but not big Mangrove Snapper and a few mystery fish, like Goliath Grouper eating the Mangroves we hooked.  On the reef proper, it took no time to get the Yellowtail up in the 32 foot depth.  They were a mixed size ranging from barely legal to 16 inches, not great but great action.  They were balled up right behind the boat and hangry.

Tomorrow is planned to be a mainly a bay trip in search of Spanish Mackerel, Mangroves and the usual suspects.  I have heard there might be a little algae problem back there so that might be more interesting that normal.

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 a little News

It has been a slower than normal off season.  Only one bay side trip for Mangroves in October and had to resort to raising a sunk boat for something to do.  But that was October.  November is shaping up better with a few trips booked and the Spanish Mackerel showing up in the bay.

On the ocean side, there has been a fair run of sailfish with a few dolphin and tuna mixed in here and there.  Not great catching but still worth a trip.  For the guys that have been getting to the patches there have been some nice red grouper catches.  Snapper are steady on both sides if you get the wind and current right.

With the winds being iffy and the customers slow, several locals have taken to bridge fishing just to get out and have been having a ball with jacks and the sharks.  Yellowjacks, which most find good to eat have been mentioned pretty regularly lately.  The locals most often don't really want to fight the sharks, but when you let a jack struggle around the boat for a while, watching the bigger bull sharks try to catch a jack is pretty fun. 

Only two more days and we can get this crazy election behind us.  A buddy said that Hillary pulled the wool over his eyes and then he found out it was 60% cotton.  Still waiting to see the trilla in vanilla when Biden and Trump fight it out though.

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

I have been getting a lot more Yellowtail catching calls.  Some turn into trips which I like but a lot just turn into fishing for information.  I don't mind that, but I also like to make a little cash every now and then.  So I have posted a lot of information on the blog about fishing basics and added a paypal button so you can make a little donation to the poor captain's fund (me) if you find it helpful. 

The biggest thing I seem to do is teach people how to operate their electronics.  Setting your gain on your sonar is a huge part of the job.  If you set your gain too high, you think fish are everywhere.  Too low and you never seem to find fish.  Since every boat is set up different I have gotten into a bit of an old school habit of looking for structure, changes in the bottom more than looking for "fish" which can be real fish, bait, noise or something splattered on the bottom finder screen. 

Knowing something about the area you are fishing and the types of fish you are likely to find is a huge help.  This is local knowledge which helps me "calibrate" your bottom finder.  Fishing out of Marathon mostly, I have a dozen or so "public" numbers I share more to learn about what is going on than actually limiting out on fish.  Catching Grouper and big Mangroves on these "public" spots is pretty hard because they get hit hard.  Yellowtail though tend to be trainable along with smaller Mangroves and various bait fish so you still get plenty of action most of the time.  The object though is to show you what you are looking for structure wise.

Flag Yellowtail are very popular but also not exactly easy to hammer for a new comer.  "Generally", they are in deeper water, 70 to 100 foot and like a coral head, wreck or ledge for their home base.  When they are active, it is hard to mistake the mark they make on your sonar.  However, they tend to like a particular current to get active and how much current and what direction depends on their mood and the area. 

I did a trip on the Harvest Moon a few days ago and the bite was very slow and the fish didn't mark up like they were active.  I knew that ahead of time and had told the crew that it would be slow and that when we got a bite going, it would not last as long as "normal".  We never got the 'tails fired up but caught enough for dinner plus a bragging size Mangrove, keeper Red Grouper and a nice Porgie and missed a few larger fish that caught the guys off guard.  It was a slow day but productive, so if you have to fish the full moon, just be aware that the bite will be a little more funky than normal and put some other baits out for quality fish that aren't Yellowtail.  It is all good.

Off Marathon, the flags generally like a moderate current flowing toward deeper water.  However, if they are holding on a head or wreck, just having a current is enough provide you anchor up current of that head so your chum is working the right spot. 

This would be a legitimate Flag Yellowtail.  We didn't weigh it but it was in the 6 pound range and over 25" long.  We lost several larger fish, which happens to be best of anglers but a lot more often when you are learning to catch Flag Yellowtail.  If you lose one or two of the really big girls, you bite can run off with the lost fish.  So if you hook one, you want to get it to the boat if you plan on catching a mess.

To do that you want to have a larger hook, heavier leader and a tighter drag setting.  However, you cannot go too large, too heavy or too tight, so you need a reasonable starting point.  That is a 2/0 hook, 20 pound leader and about 10 pounds of drag.  If the water is crystal clear and the current light, this probably won't work so you have to adjust lighter until you find your combination for that spot on that day.

I also recommend leaving the braided line on the dock if you are serious about Yellowtail.  Old fashion clear monofiliment is the best all around line with a fairly long fluorocarbon leader if the water is clear.  Some people are dedicated to coffee colored or bronze hooks, certain model feathers or jigs, the perfect bait and double top secret chum recipes, but technique tends to be the real secret.  That means finding the right combination of weight, leader, bait size, bait type and drift rate.  I could make it super complicated, but just starting off with the normal combination and adjusting to conditions is a lot easier to remember. 

Spinning tackle also makes life simpler.  You can use a "trout" rod (bait caster), but if you get a hard hit you are likely to get a backlash and you have to spend more time stripping line.  If you want to use your "ultralight" with braid, you can use that also, but you need a very long leader most of the time and if the fish rocks you up, that just mean lots more leader trashing up the reef.  Using clean mono with a shorter leader or no leader at all, not only makes life simpler it also is more reef friendly.  So having a dedicated Yellowtail outfit, spinning combo with a nice comfortable rod loaded with clear mono or fluorocarbon in the 15# to 20# range makes you look like a trained professional.

This time of year I get more last minute calls because of weather and I get a surprisingly large number of calls from locals looking to fine tune their methods and find a few closer to home spots so they can get in some after or before work fishing.  So if you are interested, call me (305) 304-8656 or you can check some of the fishing basic posts and if you find something helpful, think about that captain's tip jar.

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

Still Fishing - Snapper and Grouper

 I don't get many trips this time of year and we have had a couple of tropical systems that got more press than they deserved, but even a blind hog gets an acorn once in a while.  This trip wasa dead on the harvest moon and the bite was slow, but still nice fish and some respectable action.  My crew wasn't into Cero Mackerel which were biting nicely so we had to hunt around a while to find a current for the snapper and grouper.

As is often the case, we had to head to the west in order to get the bridge current so things were more behind the boat than the other way around.  There were some misses that could have made the trip real good, but slow and steady still worked for some nice fish, just not many.

The yellowtail never really fired up so we just peaked away for enough for appetizers and had to settle for Mangrove and Red Grouper for the main course.  An afternoon trip would most likely have been more productive with the current going deeper instead of shallow, but it was what it was.

I was disappointed with the porgie bite which is generally pretty good on a full moon and not a single hogfish which is a bit unusual.  Still, the crew learned a few things, caught some nice fish, and missed a few big boys that got them talking.  Nice day on the water.

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

Update:  I just got a text from the guys and they limited out on 'tails after the currents got a little more "normal" following the peak of the moon.  There is joy in Yellowtailingville :)

No accent fishing 101

Not everyday I get to fish with a crew that knows how to speak proper southern English, but today was such a day, complete with southern belles.

Fishing wasn't up to snuff unfortunately since I didn't get to a few spots I wanted to visit, but the crew saw things they wouldn't normally see, caught fish and learned a thing or two.  It was a catch and release day anyway so the box being light wasn't a problem. 

Since it is the week of the Fourth, plenty of folks are on the water and the majority were likely enjoying the day rather than slaying fish.  Not much to report other than the Mangrove fishing at the Seven Mile Bridge is a bit tough.  For whatever reason the fish are there but spookier than normal.  I could be that releasing fish under such conditions had something to do with that.

As a reminder, it is a bit sunny and warm out there so make sure you have plenty of water to go with your adult refreshments.  I missed out on a night trip this evening because I was a bit more drained than usual, but from the reports, the night Mangrove fishing on the reef is getting into full swing.  That is a great way to beat the heat while filling the cooler if you are so inclined.  Unfortunately, it looks like the tarpon bite at the 7 mile bridge might be about done with.  I didn't get a chance to check out some of the flats I wanted because of other fisherman, but  most of the usual spots didn't have much indication of fish and the water was close to gin clear. 

I saw a couple reports from offshore that weren't very impressive but it appears the wrecks are still loaded with mutton snapper, a few amberjack and the occasional tuna.  Everyday some boat offshore is finding a nice fish or two so it isn't a complete waste, but I wouldn't expect to fill the cooler right now.

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

Bay Side and Shark Week

 This time of year most folks come down to chase Dolphin or hit the reef and wrecks for snapper and grouper.  The bay side can be a lot of fun though and still produce a pretty good mess of Mangrove Snapper with the occasion Cero Mackerel and a few other species. 

Just about any place you set up for fishing on the bay side is likely to be visited by a pretty large number of sharks.  Today I fished on the Little Lady Catherine and we had a tiger shark playing around the chum slick plus a few sharp nose.  Sometimes its Lemons, Black Tips, Bulls, Hammerheads or just Nurse sharks, but if seeing sharks is pretty rare where you fish, you might find yourself enjoying the show.

The Mangroves we caught were a little smaller on average because so many have moved out to the reef for spawn, but we still had a decent catch with a few in the 16 inch range.  The bigger ones tend to prefer fresh Pinfish or ballyhoo chunks and you will probably need to break out the 12 pound fluorocarbon leader, but they will bite.  Bigger chunks also help cut down on the number of undersized fish, but there are so many some will be unavoidable.

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

Pretty nice Yellowtail

Imagine that, the camera worked and the lens wasn't completely covered with crude.  Anywho, that is a 25" Yellowtail with is pretty nice.  I haven't seen many over 20 inches for a while so this is a good sign.

It was caught on a reef 101 after we hit a few other spots.  Plenty of Mangroves and Yellowtail every where, but there are so many barely legals you have to work a bit to find the bigger ones.

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 and Bananas

I have gotten two messages about fishing on the full moon today.  The full moon is a PITA for a variety of reasons, especially in the summer.  Just about everything down here spawns around the full moon when the water temperatures are right.  So you can have some critter that you don't fish for like sponge worms spawn, screwing up your bucket list tarpon trip.  Then you can have Grouper or Snapper move to a different area to spawns show you don't find them in their usual places.  Plus with the faster than normal currents you can have a bite that doesn't last as long for some species and longer for another.  There can be so many things happening that you have trouble finding the right combination.

To keep things simple, planning a trip for the quarter moons is the way to go unless you are looking for spawn fish and you know where they are.  You can kill plenty of fish if you fish at one spot at a particular time of day and on a particular tide.   That particular time seems to be late, at night and/or early, but fish love making a liar out of folks so you never know for sure.

I am not a fan of hammering spawn fish so I avoid that, but there are some fish that are more than plentiful enough to hammer once or twice a year, so it doesn't bother me much.  Night time Mangroves, they are pretty plentiful, but I have noticed years when perhaps a bit too much hammering occurred.  Mutton snapper are also plentiful, but that is subject to change as more and more people figure out that combination.  They will bounce back as long as just hook and line fishing is used and the coral pretty much eliminate serious net fishing so they are good to go.  Amberjack were hit really hard about 15 years ago by commercial semi-long liners using 20 to 50 hook rigs with live bait, but most of the serious depletion has been with nets which are heavily regulated now.

Luckily, the Keys has a huge variety of targets and lots of fishing styles so even on a full moon you will likely have better fishing than you are used to back home, but magic trips are more likely around the quarter moons.    For example if you want to catch yellowtail snapper finding a good current that last long enough to really work them is tougher on a full or new moon than it is on a quarter moon.  You can still peak away at them, but that huge ball of fat yellowtails is more common and bite lasts longer when the current is just right.

If you are stuck with a full or new moon in your schedule, then plans C and D might be in order, but you can find something willing to bite.  This is a great time to forget bananas completely and don't forget your lucky fish hat or whatever just in case.

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

Let the Dolphin Whining Begin

This year's offshore season is a bit different than most years.  We had a mild winter thanks to El Nino and sea surface temperatures have been warmer in shore so it is hard to find a normal temperature break.  The Gulf Stream has been close to missing in action off Marathon so the usual spots are not having the usual up welling currents.  And since inshore waters have been warm, the winds have been a bit different.  Blah, blah blah, there are plenty of excuses.  The result is just it is harder to find fish.   There are still fish out there and still plenty of gaffers, just you cannot run out an fill the fish box as often.  So you need to have your plan Bs and Cs in order.

Deep dropping and Mutton on the 150 to 250 foot wrecks are the main plan B for guys that have good numbers and the right gear.  I have mentioned trolling off the reef in these depths with your sonar tweaked in to find a few spots if you don't have magic numbers.  You also have artificial reefs that might be a bit more crowded than normal when the other bites are slow.  The 70 foot to 90 foot ledge on the reef only runs a few hundred miles and has been known from time to time to produce a few fish.  then there is the reef proper, patches, rock piles, bridges and flats so you have a few more options than just running offshore and slaying dolphin.

Yesterday we found two beautiful floaters loaded with bait that should have been loaded with fish, but were not.  So we gave up on Dolphin a little before noon and hit the back up plans.  Since we are close to a full moon, the bite was weird meaning you have to work harder, chum heavier and move more often to get a respectable box of fish.  For locals, this is pretty weird stuff so you might hear a few words a bit more often than normal.

The real challenge with a slow bite is that lighter tackle is often needed get things going and of course Murphy's law requires big fish hammering your light tackle.  You also need better quality bait than normal and live shrimp in summer might require magnifying glasses, so don't forget fresh or frozen shrimp which have saved more than one trip and fresh or live pin fish, ballyhoo or whatever other bait you can find..

One interesting thing about the warmer than normal waters is that bigger than normal fish are common.  As usual in summer, early, late and night fishing gets increases in popularity.  So in that hot middle of the day time, trolling a little faster than normal kicks the A/C up a notch and is a great time to look for some new to you fishing spots.  Just plan on going with the flow and Marathon in the Florida Keys still a great 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

Update on the Cheap Spinning Combos

I bought the first cheap combos for kid friendly charters.  These were Aires AS60 reels with a seven foot contour graphite rod.  Nice and light with a cork handle that is easy for kids to use.   I really didn't expect the reels to last a full year, but thought the rods would be pretty rugged.  Surprisingly, the reels lasted nearly two years before the first one bit the dust.  One rod broke, which was also a surprise.  The one reel that is still working has a spritz of WD 40 after a little soap and water so it is still going strong.

The big problem with cheap tackle isn't so much that they break but when they break.  You really don't want gear breaking on your fish of a lifetime.  However, if you are targeting dinner or wanting a five year old to fish without constant supervision, you are a bit more tolerant of things breaking and going overboard if they aren't expensive.  So you have some trade offs to consider.

I did put the cheap stuff to quite a few tests on big fish, and that is really more of a drag test than anything else.  The drag design for most of the cheap reels is similar to Daiwa BG series drags.  Not a great drag system, but pretty reliable as long as the washers are reasonably clean and you don't make a habit of hammering your drag down.  I go a bit heavy on my drags but not over 50% of line rating.  Since I use mono and not braid, that is considered light drag to many.

Part of my test was to not do anything other than rinsing the reels off with fresh water.  Just off the shelf and in the water which is pretty common for vacationing do it yourselfers.  Had I broken the reels down and added some quality lube, I am pretty sure both would still be in action.

Since I expected the reels to die early, I bought a few super cheap Chinese reels for back ups.  These no name reels are a complete crap shoot.  One brand I bought sucked big time but another actually has potential provided I do the break down, lube and grease drill.  both cost less than $15 which is pretty much ultra cheap.  Handles and the anti-reverses are the major issues.  These are both things that need oil more than grease or the buildup is just about as bad as the corrosion.  This could mean a revival of old school Vaseline which protects and lubricates without buildup only with the need for regular application plus knowledge of how to spray WD 40 on things that are supposed to move.  Even the ultra cheap can do a good job with a little TLC.  The sad part of this test was that the cheap stuff, less than $30 isn't that much worse than the mid range stuff, $50 to $100.  

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

May '16 Roundup

I try to avoid tarpon trips mainly because of this.  You get out there sometimes and you get to see thousands of tarpon not wanting to bite.  If you fish tarpon a lot you get into the crazy bites, but just going once and a while and during the normal 8:00 to 4:00 schedule you can get skunked.  I believe the bite on this day started around 6:00 which is pretty normal, a strong bite from 8:00 to 4:00 is fairly abnormal, but you get to see plenty of fish that are not biting.

Since most of my clients rent boats and rental boats are not allowed out after dark, I rarely get a chance to fish the peak times for tarpon.  When I get to change the schedule I do all right, but I have had a large number of crack of dawn starts turn into crack of noon starts thanks to Duval Street and finding lots of live bait not being so lively, a lot like the clients that did the Duval Crawl.

In any case, the tarpon bite has been hot for them that are dedicated to fishing for tarpon.  Crabs are the primary bait now that it is May, but when they are biting they will eat just about anything.

As usual most of my trips were more generic catching/drinking excursions designed to avoid rough water.  Thanks to the luck of the draw, I didn't get offshore the past two weeks which has also been a pretty good bite provided you are willing to travel a good bit.  The Gulf Stream has been spending more time well South than normal so some of the "hot" spots aren't.  I heard the Islamarada Hump was dead for a few days so the Islamarada gang was fishing the 409 hump and the Marathon gang was having to go a bit past the wall.  There are plenty of fish in closer but you have to be a bit luckier than normal when the current is dead.  Because of this a lot of charters are doing the deep drop routine or hitting Mutton wrecks to make their day.  Nothing wrong with having plans b through d to fall back on.

Booking has been a torment as usual.  More walk-ups than prebooks but such is life.  We are moving into the "easy" offshore season when the ocean seems to be full of schoolie dolphin.  My last few offshore trips have been nothing but gaffers, meaning not a lot of fish but a lot of good fish, and now it will become lots of fish and not a lot of "good" fish requiring a gaff to get into the boat.  Its all good.

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

Fun Offshore

While everyone else is fishing for grouper it seems, we had an offshore trip yesterday.  Over all it was slow but the fish were worth it.  In spite of losing two dolphin that would have gone over 20 pounds, we still ended up with four nice dolphin to twenty, all gaffers, a pair of Skipjack tuna, one nice Blackfin tuna and a tripletail.  One of the dolphin was caught on a fly rod while trying to get tripletail.

We saw a good number of fish following lures that didn't eat and it was just rough enough to make it a challenge.  We had a bit of Bermuda Triangle phone and camera day so about 30 minutes of video was lost along with one of the 20+ pound dolphin being fought on light spinning tackle.  Even the first set of photos at the dock didn't take but the customers did get a few which they said they will email me :)  We'll see, but it is pretty rare for them to remember.

The electronics issues were likely due to salt spray.  While it wasn't really rough the wind and seas were sporty enough to keep everyone fairly wet during the day.  The little Lady Catherine is a dry boat most of the time but with the front coming through the southwest winds proved there is no such thing a dry center console.  The highlight of the trip was a white 55 gallon drum that had nothing but large Tripletail holding on it that we found on the way in.  We managed to hook one of the Tripletails before a school of gaffer dolphin mugged us.  Damn the bad luck :)

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

It's not all fishing

Hey, sometimes they want to swim with the fishes.  The water temperature isn't over 80 yet so most of the swimmers are tourists.  Visibility was okay, about 40 foot or so.  They got about two hours at Sombrero Key Light, then an hour at Molasses Key Beach for lunch and cruise along the Seven Mile Bridge aboard the Little Lady Catherine.  I thought the fish would show better in the photo, but what the heck.

The weather is getting a bit more predictable and the fish along with it, so I should get busier pretty soon.

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 Tuna

I don't know why the Gulf Stream had to wander 36 nm south of the light but it sure made getting a Black Fin Tuna request filled today.

Plenty of small Skip Jack around and a few good size skippies, but only one Black Fin Tuna at the Marathon Hump.  Found a couple of great floaters with nothing happening.  I had hoped to get Mr. Black Fin out of the way early and try some of the Mutton Snapper spots, but such is life.  Anywho, scratch Black Fin Tuna off one bucket list.

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

Fishing 101 Student Photos

Ray and crew set some photos of their latest trips.  Lots of Tuna, nice reef mixed bag and some AJs.


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 Slammer Dolphin search continues

We worked all the way out to the wall, over 1000 feet of water yesterday and nary a sign of big dolphin.   I noticed that a few charter boats found one or two in close while fishing for other things but I didn't see enough weeds and floaters offshore to really target the big fish quite yet.

We hit the Marathon hump again with two boats pulling darts and combined for about 20 tuna.  The Blackfin are mixed in with the Skippies.  There were around 30 boats fishing the Hump and yesterday most were hooking up.  I worked the top of the Hump for a while since the boats out there yesterday were a bit more organized and the other boat worked the outside.  We did a little better but not enough to write home about.  We also found tuna a few miles west of the Hump under birds so if you don't want to fight the crowd you can do your own thing and save a little fuel.

I noticed that all the tuna caught were filled with krill so it might be fun to drift some shrimp on light spinning gear if you  want some exercise.  If you are really looking for a workout, yesterday you could have hooked up with a fly rod without too much trouble.  For bigger fish though, live white bait in 200 to 300 foot of water is probably your best bet.  I am a fan of easy so unless I can get bait quick, dragging lures works just fine.

Since we have an iffy weather forecast and the gang will be here all week, I probably won't fish today.  A number of the crew have tarpon on their bucket lists and right now the tarpon bite is pretty spectacular, so they are likely to give that a shot this evening.  Pinfish have hooked most of the tarpon from what I hear but there are mullet around which are never a bad thing to have tarpon fishing.

As usual, I managed to not get any good photos and as usual I have been promised plenty, but time will tell.

 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

Offshore - Tuna

I was really hoping to find a nice big Dolphin aka mahi, but I must have zigged when I should have zagged.  In any case, the tuna bite was pretty good and we lost a couple of bragging size fish to either sharks or tail wrap.

Most of the bite was at or near the hump and we put a baker's dozen in the box mainly, skippies with black fin and a few were most likely skippies but had very faded markings.  A bit different and I should have taken a few photos, but forgot.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another calm day so we may do another hump trip or play around closer in looking for sails etc.

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

Busy again

This season is definitely holiday driven so far.  I have been on the water the past few days doing Bay half days and sight seeing/snorkeling trips.  Today I finally got a half day on the reef and patches with a family from LA, lower Alabama that didn't have much fishing experience.  This trip was last minute booking on the lil Lady Catherine so I had to act like a real captain and everything.  Mom showed 'em how to git 'er done with some nice Lane Snapper to 18 inches and released a 23" black grouper.  Bit slow on the reef with mainly just undersized 'tail and then a Needle fish invasion. Did manage a couple of respectable Progies, but I think we missed the main bite a little earlier in the morning.

Offshore has been interesting with a few big dolphin caught in close along with a good Wahoo here and there.  Hit the right day and sailfish have been tailing which is always fun.  Tarpon have also fired off early this year.  I will be fishing the next four or five days on larger boats so maybe I will get some first hand offshore info.

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 lil Lady Catherine

With the Island Hopper bound for Hawaii, the 26 foot sailfish is the new Lady Cathrine.  David and I fished with 5 anglers today and she done good.  Of course you don't really need a captain and mate on a 26 footer, but 5 and 6 anglers can be pretty tough on one guy.

I considered today as kind of a check out for the sailfish.  With 7 pretty hefty guys, full of fuel and loaded with gear, she ran great and rode nice and stable.  The bite was a bit slow with the current being very weak, but after finding a friendlier current when caught a nice mess of yeloowtail snapper and big eye snapper or toro.  The toro isn't in the same family as snapper, but they do eat about as well.  We also kept enough good sized grunts for an appetizer.

The pork fish in the photo is the only picture I took on my phone, but the crew took quite a few and might share them later.  I probably need to take more photos of the sailfish center console for my next post.  I am not sure what all the rates are going to be or what kind of discounts I can finangle.,but I will try to set up something for the off season.

Most everyone is doing good fishing and there are some good offshore reports for tuna and dolphin.  I noticed that Bucko boated his first Tarpon of the season and the Lil Lady Catherine will be available for Tarpon trips.
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

Looks like the Lady Catherine is headed to Hawaii

Yesterday may have been the last two trips for the Lady Catherine 30 foot Island Hopper in the Florida Keys.  She done good if if was with a nice mess of Hogfish, Mangroves, Yellowtail, one nice mutton, a load of Yellowjacks, a Goliath Grouper (Jewfish) and Gag Grouper release plus a few others.

It seems that thanks to regulation it is easier for a dive operator in Hawaii to by a certified boat in the Keys, build a trailer to haul it to California then ship it to Hawaii than it is to find a boat locally.  Once there, the Lady Catherine should be a shark cage dive boat.

 Kinda fitting that the last day started with a morning half and ended with a combined fishing and sunset cruise and a profit for a change.  As is usual, it ain't over until the check clears, but it looks like the Sailfish center console will be the new charter boat.

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

Fishing and Getting Hooked

I was asked by one young couple to perform their wedding and I get asked that from time to time.  To make a union legal in most states all that is required is a notary to stamp the license with the appropriate signatures.  Now if you happen to be a member of some religious groups, things get a bit more complicated.

Different religious organizations can have lots of rules and regulations based on their traditions.  If one family is a member of one group and the other a different group, one of the two groups is going to lay claim to the union.  If that is your thing you need to stick with a traditional ceremony.

More people are getting away from "tradition" in order to get traditional.  If a man a woman wants to get married all that is required is consent from the brides family but it never hurts to have consent from both.  Then they can exchange their promises and tokens if they like, in front of a witness and in the eyes of the people really involved, they are hitched.  Most like to have some written record of the event which in the US most often were family bibles.

In the US, marriage licenses were not widely available until the mid 19th century.  Some cities and states started issuing marriage licenses as early as the 1600s, but those required "Church" approval in most cases.  If you wanted to marry outside of the Church, you were on your own.

Once the State got involved, you had to have a license if you wanted to be recognized as joined in the legal bonds of matrimony.  If you opted not to get a license, most states have common law marriage laws so if either party has some issues, you are hitched anyway.

In Florida, to be legally married you just need a license and a Notary Public plus one witness and you are hitched as soon as the license is filed.  You can have any kind of ceremony you like or none at all and you are still hitched.

Where I come in is some like to have a different kind of ceremony.  You can use Vic Dunaway's Baits Tackle and Rigging as your "bible", make up your own vows, use traditional vows, hand signals whatever you like then jump brooms, stomp glasses, jump into the ocean, whatever you like to commemorate your day, as long as you file the legal paperwork you are legally married.  You can also get in a bit of fishing before during and after or just enjoy a day in the tropics.

Some captains have paid their fees so they can be a recognized Notary Public and some are even ordained by some organization of sorts to add a bit of legal looking pomp to the circumstance, but I am not yet institutionalized and hope not to be any time soon.  I tend to believe it is a personal thing and as long as two people of age want to get hitched and have the support of at least one family, it really shouldn't be anyone else's business.  If they file papers, then they are legal outside their circle of friends and family meaning health insurance companies, IRS and all those other parasites are happy.

On the fishing side, the bite is a bit irregular.  It has been just windy enough that I haven't ventured out front much but Bay Side has legal but not impressive mangroves along with a steady Spanish Mackerel bite.  Pilchards are not to hard to find, we chummed some up in less than an hour the other day though Bluefish ate most of them.  Live Shrimp and fresh bait strips have been producing most of the better quality fish we have been getting.  Bigger boats have been doing well on the wrecks but even they are fishing rock piles more than normal because of the East wind.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips, wedding or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas

Crazy Day

Hey, it's a white boat with a center console.  I started off by stealing a boat from Shelter Bay in mucho frio temperatures.  Well, not stealing, just test driving.  Anyway, I had a boat to pick up and deliver but I jumped on the wrong boat.  I figured out it was the wrong boat, returned and got the right on and finished that job.  The guys at Shelter Bay probably are still laughing.

On the way to steal the boat, I got Captain David to help and we used his van for the road part of things.  His van was having a bad day so after stalling a few times, he made it to NAPA to get some hoses to fix things.

We had a late half day with a crew from China.  Almost all my jokes are not in Chinese so when we hit a slow bite I had to resort to more gestures than normal.  While the bite was slow we caught enough fish for dinner and had a better than average sunset.  That sunset was followed by cleaning the boat and gear in the dark which seems to take a bit longer.

Not much to report other than how easy it is to steal boats down here.  The cold snap has dropped the water temperatures enough to fire off a bit of a sailfish bite if you happen to be able to stand some sporty seas and pushed the Spanish Mackerel down closer to the island.  The Snapper bite inside the reef is a bit slow because of the rapid temperature change but it should be pretty hot on the reef, again with pretty sporty seas.  The shrimp are running so they are pretty much a must have bait to get things started in shore if you want Snapper.  Grouper are of course still closed so expect to hook plenty of them.

BTW, 'spaining to the Chinese that their biggest fish had to go back was pretty entertaining.  They were a good crew though and enjoyed the variety they caught.

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

Holiday Rush

I should have posted a couple of days ago but I was bushed.  I fished 10 days in a row which 10 years ago would not have been a big deal, I have done 45 days in a row, but now it is a little more challenging.

I got most of the people in that wanted to go but unfortunately had to pass on one regular thanks to a local captain doing something totally weird and thinking he was entitle to a little vacation time hisself.  One of the ten days was actually calm enough to do ocean side with a crew that was new to the snapper catching thing.  They also had to release two formerly legal red grouper because of Uncle Sugar's Grinch Grouper Policy.  Both of those were caught on 12 pound test which made for a pretty good show especially when young Noah (about 9 I guess) managed to land his first ever.

With the wind howling and pretty steady rain for the past two days I have caught up on my nap time as well as my bills.  Not to worry though, the forecast looks pretty good for the next week though I may have to wear more clothes than normal.

Booking wise I have a few new customers along with many of the older gang coming back which is good but most of the calendar is open which is about normal with weather being a bit iffy.  I do need to work with the Lady Catherine to get a more reliable supply of live bait.  The dock she is at tends to be marginal for keeping bait and the bait boat is located on the Bay Side making things a bit of a challenge.  Live bait would mainly be for sailfish which have just been trickling in but could fire off any 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