Big Pine Key Back Country

For some reason we had two great weather days Sunday and Monday, but no one wanted to fish. So I went to Big Pine Key to sea trial a McKee Craft 16 foot skiff with my buddy Doc.

We launched at the Old Wooden Bridge fish camp and headed out Big Spanish channel. If you have never made that trip you need to put it on your list. It is one of the best boat rides you will ever take. The fishing can be outstanding for tarpon, permit and bonefish if you can get around in skinny water.

Big Spanish Channel ends on the Bayside at Harbor Key and is just a mile from the Content Keys. There is a mixture of sand and grass flats with deep channels in between. It is a back country fisherman's paradise. Near the islands there are a few spots you can catch Mangroves and even a keeper grouper if you aren't much into sports fishing. Bird watchers will have a ball in winter and spring.

We took a couple of rods but weren't serious about fishing. Since we were breaking in a new motor we didn't have that much time anyway. We did drift a few flats seeing mainly baracudas, sharks and mangroves. Now that the skiff is ready to run and we figured out a few things, I will make a few more serious scouting trips to areas I can't access with the bigger boats. Once we get the Pangler running, we should be able to run some top notch back country trips.

Speaking of the Pangler, that idea is placed on hold but not forgotten. With any luck that boat will be available for next season starting in November. That should give the economy enough time to turn around and Conchtiki should be making some money.

With the Pangler I will be able to fish everywhere in the Keys. For instance from Marathon, the Contents is a forty minute run by water. Flamingo is a little longer run, but there are several good areas to fish along the way. I will also be able to trailer to other areas to take advantage of the bite.

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

Small Boat Fishing in the Keys

There are a lot of people that like to trailer their small boat down to the Keys for their fishing vacation. There is a ton of great fishing you can do from a small boat or skiff in the Keys. Even when the wind blows you can find a place out of the wind to enjoy a day on the water.

To use your small boat to your best advantage don't forget that trailer. From Marathon you can launch on the north or south side of the island to avoid the wind. Marathon is also in the middle of the Keys. A short trip either east or west will take you to new fishing spots. Out of Big Pine or Cudjo Keys you have access to some of the finest flats fishing in the world. There is more than just bonefish tarpon and permit around the flats. The deeper water between the flats and around the back country islands hold snapper, grouper and even a cobia at times.

Navigating the waters can be intimidating. To make life simpler, have a GPS map system on your boat and a good chart of the area as a back up. Plan your trip in advance and have a float plan ready for a friend in case you get caught by the tides.

The small boat owner can have a great time exploring the back country and on calm days can fish the reef and near offshore waters. The Florida Bay is accessible on most days for the small boats and has some great fishing.

When fishing own your own, I recommend hiring a guide for your first day or two on the water. Navigating around Marathon is pretty easy, especially with a GPS map system. The back Country out of Islamarada and Big Pine Key to the west is a little trickier. Get a local guide for the area you are fishing. The everglades National Park has great fishing and some of the toughest navigation. A guide out of Key Largo, Taverner or Islamarada will make your trip productive and easier on your wallet.

I have good knowledge of the waters from Marathon to Key West. Still there are a few areas I would recommend a more local guide to get the best bang for your buck.

Another advantage of the GPS map system is that most of the boat ramps are listed and easy to find. I will try to add a few links to boat ramps in the near future. Right now I am heading to Big Pine for back country trip. The sun is high enough to read the water and spot the 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

New Boat Review: Cape Horn 21 Center Console

I have been fishing. The reports are like a broken record though with mackerel and snapper out back and at the bridges. So I thought I would give you a little boat review.

The Cape Horn 21 is great example of a well laid out center console. Cape Horn has always built a solid boat but now they are refining their design to improve fish ability with a cleaner look. One new feature is the Plexi-glass electronics box in the console. A great idea because the GPS and/or depth sounder can be mounted where they are easily viewed and accessed. When the electronics are mounted in tee top electronics boxes they are often difficult to see and adjust. The dash mount location is perfect, providing for a clean look.

The Cape Horn is a non-liner boat. With out a liner there is less weight and few parts and hardware to foul up. The lack of a liner can give a boat a flimsy flexibly at the gunwales. Not the case with the Cape Horn. A foam filled gunwale bolster, for lack of a better word, stiffens the hull along with the unique rub rail flare design. The rub rail flair is a 1 ½” counter lever molded into the gunwale cap around the boat. In the past, vertical ribs were added for stiffening the hull. While effective, the ribs were dirt catchers and toe knockers. Now the design is clean, clear and functional. This boat is built like that outhouse you have heard about.

Everything on this boat is through bolted except the deck mounted components for obvious reason. That includes the through bolted rub rail. That means less repairs in the future. The factory wiring is cleanly installed. It would be nice to have a little larger fuse block in the console. The standard fuse block has only one unused slot and one unused accessory switch (two without the spreader lights).

The 21 comes standard with 40 gallon circular live well in stern. This is becoming a must have feature in many areas if you are to have a successful fishing trip. Other standard features are: 10 Year Hull Warranty, Lifetime Transom Warranty, T-top w/electronics box, (2) spreader lights, fiberglass or aluminum leaning post, leaning post back rest, raw water wash down, Richie F-50 compass, console cushion, swim ladder, center mount hydraulic steering, bilge pump, low profile bow rail, 129 gallon fuel capacity, bronze thru hulls, 6’ - 300 qt. insulated fish box, 10 rod holders, large console storage and self-bailing cockpit. The rental version I test drove was delivered without the raw water wash down, spreader lights and T-top electronics box.


After taking the motor, a 2007 Yamaha 250 four stroke, through the five hour break-in, here is the performance scoop. 38 knots at 6000 RPM based on the GPS. At 4400 RPM, a comfortable 27 Knots. Tweaking the prop can improve performance. Depending on sea conditions and load, this should translate to about 2 miles per gallon. While the 21 is not a speed burner, this is good, economical performance for a 22 degree dead rise, deep V hull design. That deep V means a smooth ride in choppy seas. The bow flair and counter lever rub rail design provide for a dry ride.

There are not many negatives to report for the Cape Horn 21. The plastic hatch covers are one. While they are functional, they are prone to damage from ultra-violet light. From experience I know they tend to break. The anchor locker is a pain with its vertical hatch and the fish box hatches are a bit small for big fish.

The 21 has to be one of the easiest cleaning boat I have ever been aboard. The unique interior non-skid finish and lack of many hard corners makes this the case. The fish box can be a challenge to clean with the small hatches. The Cape Horn 21 is a solidly built fishing machine well worth a look if love to fish and hate boat cleaning.

Come on down and try fishing the Florida Keys in this Cape Horn for a fantastic fishing vacation.

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

DIY Boating Tips: The Joy of 5200.

DIY Tips for Boat Owners: The Joy of 5200

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) manufacturers a lot of great products but for the average boat owner none is better that 5200. This is the boat owner’s version of duct tape. Know it, love it and you won’t get enough of it.

Any properly fitted through hull fitting will be bedded in 5200. Silicon chalk and boats just don’t mix. So give that silicon crude non-boating neighbor. After you have spent a few dozen years working on boats you will learn that or you can just take it from a pro. This is a proven product for many marine applications.

Bedding through-hull fittings is the most common use for 5200. A through-hull fitting or a fitting that passes through the boat’s outside to its inside for you lubbers has to be watertight. 5200 applied to both the outside and the inside of the fitting makes that happen. A ¼ inch bead on both sides does the job if you drilled the hole right. And if you are drilling a hole in your hull you should have measured thrice and drilled once.

This magic chalk is great for bedding every thing but your wife. Screws in fiberglass tend to back out. A dap of 5200 helps stop that from happening. Take the offending screw out and put a dab in the hole and a dab on the screw and reinsert.

Does your topside stainless hardware tend to bleed rust? Get the 5200! Pull the hardware and put a thin coat of the magical 5200 on it where the hardware meets the fiberglass. Put a touch on the bolts near the base of the cleat or whatever is bleeding, then reinstall. Don’t worry about the 5200 that’s all over everything! I’ll tell you how to fix that in a sec.

Here’s another great 5200 tip. That bilge pump you have to replace and you don’t have all the fancy heat shrink tubing. Guess what? Put a dab of 5200 in a wire nut and wire it up! The connection will last longer than the bilge pump. Marine surveyors don’t like it, but I had one 5200 modified wire nut last three years in the bilge. Heck it was still fine the dang pump bit the bullet.

Now that you have tried 5200 you know the one draw back. All you have to do is look at it and it’s all over you and everything else. Ha! I laugh at that problem. Get the WD 40 out and spray it on the errant 5200 and wipe it away. Not only will WD 40 clean it up, its good for your sensitive sun burnt complexion.

One last tip, spray a little WD 40 in the end of the 5200 tube before replacing the cap. The tube will stay fresh much longer. When you find another 5200 project, just trash the first little bit out of the tube and go to it!

Until next tip, tight lines and good boating.

Capt.Dallas

Garmin GPSMAP 492C

With fuel cost causing issues in the charter business, I have been looking for a new charter boat that is more fuel efficient and versatile for the wide variety of fish here in the Florida Keys. While I haven’t purchased the boat, I have been shopping for new electronics. The boats that I am looking to buy are swallow draft center consoles. Center consoles have limited space making dual-purpose electronics very appealing. While I have never been a fan of most combination sounder/GPS machine. I recently had to change my mind.

The Garmin GPSMAP 492C impressed me. The compact unit combines Garman’s outstanding GPS equipment that I have used for years with a high quality color sounder. If you have used a Garmin, you know the ease of operation of the GPS units and the seamless nature of their chart plotters. While I have always preferred monochromatic displays, which were much easier to read with out digging out the glasses. The new color display was much easier to read that pervious models. With the backlight being adjustable from ultra dim for night fishing to high contrast for bright sunlight, I was able use the unit with no problems.

The sounder is a full 500 watts. Fishing in the Florida Keys, I may be fishing in fifteen foot of water in the bay one day and over 1000 foot past the wall the next. Having a sounder the can read 600 feet of bottom can make or break an offshore trip. If the striking fish aren’t biting a productive deep drop can put smiles on the crew.

With the center console I am planning to buy, the built in antenna means less rigging and money. Now there is no need for an expensive electronics box for the Tee Top. The 492 can be mounted on the dash by the compass. I like this because looking up at the box was always a pain in the neck. Dash mounted, access to the menu and control buttons is much easier.

All this was impressive until I found out that Bluechart comes installed with the unit. That saves $150 for the chart cost and $800 worth of aggravation keying in the 400 digit access code. If you are in the market for a new GPS for your center console, you need to checkout the Garmin GPSMAP 492C. Just look at the price.
Retail Price:$719.99 U.S.D.

Make fishing the Florida Keys your next vacation.

Getting Close!

I think the pangler issues are resolved. We located one with the leaning post live well. Also have a lead on a custom built fish box for the bow. This should make a great casting deck. Pull up cleat for the bow will clean it up nicely for my fly guys. The live well and the fishbox will also even out loading to reduce the wet foot problem. Adding ping pong ball scupper stops will help too. Going with a very simple Garmin combo GPS/sounder to keep it real clean looking. All of this will add a couple of grand to the price, but much less than I thought.

A bait cooler wil fit perfectly in front of motor splash well. The drink cooler will be the only thing really in the way. I may go with another custom cooler to clean that up a bit. Have a few really neat ideas for tackle storage. This boat is going to be the cat' ass.

Tight Lines

New boat Sea Trial

Just back from a sea trial, now I'm more confused. Drove a 26 Pangler around in Islamarada. The boat was powered by a 225 Merc four stroke, had roughly 75 gallons of fuel and two guys around 200 pounds each. The boat's ride was really nice, it gets on a plane in a heartbeat, will plane at 2500 RPM and was very dry for a center console and it was surprizingly stable. I didn't take a GPS, but in the corner she made an easy 45 Knots and at 4000 RPM she pushed 30 knots. The low plane at 2500, was close to 20 knots, but the low plane is a bit deceptive. There was no real bow rise getting on a plane, it just got there! That was pretty impressive. So I like the basic lined Panga concept. The fit and finish was typical of a production boat, nothing bedded so there are rust tracks, adequate but not impressive. The tee top was nice and should last, the leaning post with rocket lanchers and cooler storage beneath was well made. Wiring was above average quality and the instruments well laid out and all analog which I prefer.

I was a bit disappointed with the quality of construction. There were numerous gelcoat chips in the hull, a lot more than I would expect for boat with thirty hours serving as a demo. I have owned Anglers in the past and never seen chips like this. With Anglers use of foam to reduce flex as well a provide floatation, I was surprised at the chipping.

Big draw backs for what I do, charter fishing, is there is no easy way to install a leaning post live well. Installing a live well at the transom looks good, But the extra 240 pounds in the rear will make it a wet footed boat with three guys fishing in the back. There is very little storage, no fish box just an anchor locker, Cooler storage under the leaning post, a small area under the console seat and a small area under the console for batterys, life preservers, flare box and maybe some foul weather gear. The boat looks very roomy, but add a fish cooler, a bait cooler, your tackle bag and a live well. Things will get a bit cramped. So to make it really fishable, (at least to my standards) I need to have a custom fish box built for the bow area that would double as a casting deck, use the storage under the console seat for a bait cooler, the space under the leaning post for the drink cooler and go with a much smaller live well.

So if any of you Pangler owners that live bait for tarpon and also like to bring home a mess of big cobia, dolphin, grouper etc. would like to comment, I would appreciate the input.

Fishing the Florida Keys for a New Boat

It's boat shopping time again. Time for one of the two happiest days in a boat owners life, the day he buys and the day he sells. The reason is that the fishing competition in Marathon is changing. More captains are moving into larger sport fisherman and high end charters. The fishing is just too good down here to neglect the backcountry and bay wrecks. So I'm looking at 24' to 26' panga style open fisherman. These are clean enough for fly fishermen, not much foul their fly line and big enough for four anglers, six in a pinch with the 26 footer.

The fuel economy is the main draw these boats have for me. Every charter down here has a fuel surcharge built in right now. I hate that nickle and diming tactic. With one of these pangas, its $350 for a half day and $550 for a full day. No extras, no add ons, just get in the boat and go! The pangas have a high bow flare so just about any day is fish able. Tarpon trips, bay wrecks, gulf wrecks, offshore for sailfish, the panga is a good all around boat for this area. I haven't decided on which manufacturer yet, but I'm getting closer. When it gets real close, I'll post pictures and let you guys help me decide.

If you want to get in on a great investment click here for details.

The Fishing Reports is like this. All the Blackfin Tuna you want at the Marathon Hump along with good numbers of school dolphin and a few gaffers. Cobia still in the bay and mackerel are showing but agood way back to the north west. Lots of bait in the area of the 57 10 and further west. A few sails off the reef, but most of the action I've heard is closer to Aligator light than Sombrero. Tails, Muttons, Grouper and still good numbers of Mangroves on the reef.