Rental Boat Humor

Working on the water in the Florida Keys has many moments. Many of those moments involve rental boat operators. One of the funniest happened recently. A rental boat operator calls in for help on the VHF radio. He complained that his boat was full of water and that alarms were sounding. While the rental boat company tried to calm the operator and talk him through the situation, there was no calming the rental boat operator.

The rental boat company sends a chase boat to help the operator. As the chase boat arrives, the captain sees the bright orange PFD clad boaters frantically bailing water. They had been bailing for nearly an hour and were making no headway. As the chase boat nears the stranded boat, the frantic boaters were screaming to get off their sinking vessel to board the chase boat. The frantic boaters were screaming, the engine alarm on the boat was blaring and the chase boat operator yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to shut up and stay put where they were. The chase boat driver then tells the renters to stop trying to bailout the live well and put the kill switch in to stop the damned alarm.

Now if you are a boater right now you will be chuckling. If you aren’t chuckling here is a little explanation. The kill switch is a safety switch that will kill the boat motor should the boater fall out of the boat. It works well if the boat operator remembers to clip the kill switch lanyard to his life vest. If the kill switch is not plugged in the boat won’t start and loud alarms sound when the key is turned on, hopefully reminding the boaters that the kill switch is not plugged in. Still not chuckling?

The particular boat that was rented has a below deck live well. Most of the live well is below the water line, so if the boat is in the water, water freely flows into the live well. The boaters looked in the live well, saw water and thought the boat was sinking. If you didn’t start chuckling during the second paragraph, I highly recommend you hire a guide before venturing out on your own in any 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

Palermo? No Problem.

The season has not started in earnest, though a few captains are getting out. Hurricane Palermo is south of Cuba and should not pose a threat to the Keys. The fishing reports I have been getting are pretty good. Sailfish are showing up on the reef with two boats reporting sailfish while fishing for yellow tails. Along with the sailfish are good number of Cero Mackerel and a few nice size king mackerel.

Cobia have been spotted cruising the tide line in Hawks channel. Nice size fish from twenty to fifty pounds. You have to be a little lucky to spot them. The grouper and big mangrove snapper bite has been a bit slow. Mutton snapper are helping fill that void which is nice. Bayside reports are a little inconsistent. The Spanish mackerel are moving in, but they don't want to eat every trip. The next cold front should fire them up. So get ready to make tons of fish dip and fish cakes. You can check out my recipes in the cooking lable on the side bar.

The fish cleaning table is getting close. We had a shipping error so a few are wandering around the Midwest. Once we get a few more delivered we will start the testing program. The tiki drawing are approved for Monroe County. So I will be spending some time selling tikis and tables. I will try to keep fishing open three or four days a week. This is going to make my schedule pretty weird so book in advance if you can.

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

Grouper Closure?

Yep, they are planning a closed season on grouper in the Keys because of the Atlantic Gag Grouper issue. I hate to say it but that will kill a lot of charters in the Keys. It really makes no sense. North of Marathon is the Florida Bay. South of Marathon is the Straits of Florida. There is no Atlantic Ocean here. So why are we being held to Atlantic Fisheries standard? The Keys are a unique fishery needing unique regulations. The Fisheries Management Councils need to learn how to read charts instead of screwing the Keys with every new regulation meant for other bodies of water.

It make no sense. Here is what does make sense. Send Secretary Gutierrez an old fashion letter. Whether you live in the Keys or just visit, drop him a line. That includes my English and Canadian fishermen also. I don't ask my readers to get viral often, but past this link or the address below around.

US Department of Commerce
Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
1401 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20230

(202)482-2000

Now that is out of the way how' fishing? Pretty damn good! The reef is the main story with plenty of Snapper and big King Mackerel. The Bay is pretty hot with Mangrove Snapper everywhere. You will have to wade through plenty of smaller Mangs to get the bigger fish, but plenty of action. Mackerel in the Bay a pretty thin, but should start showing after a few cold fronts. Offshore has been a little spotty, but there are still good size Dolphin, Wahoo, Tuna and some humongous Rainbow Runners.

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 Pilchards are here!

The Pilchards are here! The Pilchards are here! I am always harping on your bait makes your trip. Pilchards are the best all around bait in the Keys. Now that they are showing up things will bust loose down here. Sailfish, Cobia and the Mackerel will start getting thick feeding on these tasty white baits.

Pilchards can be caught hook and line with Sabiki rigs, but the best way is to use a cast net. If you don't know how to throw a cast net it's about time your learned. I or captain Jeff pictured will be glad to show you how.

I know money's tight right now. If you are Jonesing for a fishing trip keep checking my blog and I will let you know when you can get the best bang for your buck.

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

By the way I have added another charter to the list. Capt. Bo Sellers with Shallow Minded Charters. He does flats and backcountry in the lower Keys. Nice guy, check him out.

Mark's Custom Harley a Winner

With not to much going on with fishing this week with all the bikers in the Keys for the Phil Peterson poker run, I am going to talk about Mark Rowden's success yesterday at the bike show in Key West.

Mark and Johnny at Captain Pips started a little custom bike shop called the Little Shop of Choppers. Over the past few years Mark has gotten pretty good shooting paint and building bikes.

While his bikes have done well in shows, this is the first time one of his bikes took first place in the Sportster division. He enter another bike in the Softtail division and that one took second place. Pretty dang impressive if you ask me.

I write for Associated Content so I did a little interview with Mark that I have published there.

Key West Poker Run: Mark Rowden Built Custom Chopper is a Winner
Phil Peterson's 36th annual Key West poker run was special for the Little Shop of Choppers in Marathon Florida. Mark Rowden and E. R. Burk entered custom Harley Davidson bikes they built and walked away with first and second place plaques.
View more »

If you like custom bikes, check out the article and give him a call.

Fishing has mainly been Yellowtail Snapper and Cero Mackerel time. The offshore bite has been slow since the full moon. There are Dolphin around they are just finicky. The dolphin bite should pick up some, but we are in the tween time when the snowbird fish haven't moved in and the summer fish haven't moved out. So offshore will be a little slow for a while.

The Bayside has been pretty good. Nice catches of mangroves, starting to see more Mackerel and we have been jumping some Black Tip sharks that are a bunch of fun. The bridge has been a little flaky due to the moon and Ike's winds. It is still worth a shot, but the bite is slower than normal.

I expect my Hawk Channel spots to start heating up pretty soon. When that happens you should see plenty of good eating 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

Yellowtail Fishing Techniques

Fishing for yellowtail snapper on the reef is probably the most popular type of fishing in the Florida Keys. They are good eating, generally easy to catch and you never know what else will show up to make things exciting.

While fishing for 'tails I have caught Grouper, Mutton Snapper, King Mackerel, Cero Mackerel, Hogfish, Dolphin, Cobia, Sailfish, Tuna, Amberjack, Wahoo and even had a shot at a 200 plus pound Yellowfin Tuna. So don't underestimate the potential of a little Yellowtail fishing trip.

The by-catch pictured above are common though the size of the Amberjack is a bit bigger than average. The 75 pound Amberjack for example ate a twenty inch 'tail right behind the boat and was landed on a twenty pound yellowtail rod with a size 2 yellowtail hook. Hogfish are mainly caught with shrimp on the bottom in sand patches around heads.

There is a good post on the Florida Sportsman Fishing Forum here. This link is broken due to changes at FSFF. I will try to fix it asap. Later today I will start picking out some of the more interesting points and compare them with my post on Yellowtail fishing. So stay tuned.

ETA. Bait size depends on the conditions. Slower currents with clear water generally means smaller baits, but I will mix it up a bit to see what they want. I generally start with 3/4" strips or whole Silverside minnows. When I have small Pichard sardines alive or dead I will try them whole from time to time. This is mainly to pick up muttons or big Mangroves, but flag Yellowtails like them too. If there are a lot of mackerel in the area smaller baits help reduce mackerel cut offs

Flourocarbon leaders is never a bad thing. A whole reel spooled with Flourocarbon tends to not be that good. I don't know why, but Flouro tends to be prone to nicks at least when freeline fishing for 'tails. I don't start with the long Flouro leader. Three feet is plenty unless you are fishing trained fish. I like dumb fish because they make me look smarter and reduce rigging. Still you have to be ready to adjust to the bite.

Heavy chumming to start and putting around the area chumming before anchoring are good ideas. To make it easier I leave a box or two of chum out of the cooler to partially thaw on the way out. The big mesh bag is a must in deeper water and a good idea any time. A smaller mesh bag can work just fine in shallower water at a trained spot. I do tend to use less chum than most unless I am targeting flag 'tails. By targeting 17" to 20" average 'tails you can use less chum and still have a fine catch.

The soaked rolled oats trick can work wonders. It can be a bit messy so I avoid it and sand balling whenever I can. To do that I will often fish coral heads that have had less pressure so the fish are not trained. The bite starts slower, but you have better odds of picking up Grouper, big Muttons and Mangs. I always have a few trained spots in case I need a plan b.

Fishing a faster current I will use a swivel at times to add weight and reduce line twist. In a faster current getting the fish close to the boat takes a lot more chum and time. The swivel trick sometimes lets you start catching fish faster. Varying hook sizes can also help adjust your sink rate for the current. Finding the right combination of hook, jig head, weight, drift rate and bait size is key to filling the box. So don't be afraid to experiment.

Drift rate that keeps the bait in the chum cloud is what you want 90% of the time. The other 10% is when you have a mix of small and larger 'tails. Starting your drift before making the chum cloud will sometime help get the bait past the hoard of small fish that inhale the chum.

Training fish really means fishing the same spot all the time. While it would seem that fishing the same spot all the time would fish it out, that is not the case with the yellowtails. Fishing a trained area will reduce your chances for keeper grouper and muttons that tend to be more territorial. Trained areas also mean predators can be a problem. Here is the link to my older Yellowtail post. I will update that soon to mention the Gulf regulation changes that apply more out of the Key West area than here in Marathon.

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