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