Rod Bustin' Action

I like nothing better than introducing people to fish that will whip their butt. So busted rods, smoked reels and rapid line loss is not all that uncommon. The past two weeks fish have claimed three of my customers rods. The multi-piece traveling rods most commonly fall victim to Keys fish. The one pictured above was classic. The rod broke in three places.

As for the fishing it was a little off today. The yellowtail trip quickly turned into what ever the heck we could catch trip with no current on the reef. A few big Jacks and a couple of smoker Kings provided the big fish action. Porgies, big Lane Snapper, a few Mangroves and about a dozen tails provided dinner for 30 or more.. Anyhow, we filled the box and there were smiling faces. The suspected rod busting culprit is a cobia. Not that I saw the fish, just that it acted like a cobe with big shoulders.

Now that the wind has laid down we have a Gulf wreck trip in the works for tomorrow. Bubba, my 100 pound outfit with the drag delicately adjusted with a hammer is making the trip. While the main goal of the trip is big Cobia, a little pain may be in the forecast. I tell everyone that when Bubba bents over double be careful. You may be opening a can of whupp ass you can't close if you pick it up.

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

Bayside Mack Attack

My crew from Virginia had me hustling most of the day Monday. We went through at least thirty wire rigs. I ran out of wire about two hours before the normal end of the trip. But that wasn't a big deal because the fish box was full. It was almost all macs with one nice Mangrove snapper. We lost one very nice seatrout and a few bigger fish on the light tackle during chaotic bite. With three or four fish on at a time. I don't know what the final count was but we hooked up at least 100 fish in about five hours.

If you want to load your freezer with Mackerel, right now is a good time to do it. After the crew tried my fish dip recipe, they are planning on doing just that. If you check my cooking label you can find the fish dip and fish cake recipes that are pretty tasty. I recommend grilling or smoking the mackerel before freezing. The meat keeps a lot better that way. The crew should email me some pictures pretty soon then I will post them up.

In other fishing the sail bite has been slow but seems to be improving. Dolphin and wahoo along with a few Blackfin tuna are off shore. The reef has been red hot when the wind is with the current. Bridge fishing has been a little slow but the rock piles in Hawk Channel have been very productive. Come on down and do a little catching.

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

Tight lines,

Capt. Dallas

A Fishing Milestone?

With a cold front coming through I spent most of the day telling and listening to war stories about fishing trips down here in the Keys. You know stuff like nasty weather we got caught in and pretending that everything is just fine for the customer's while you are hoping like hell that you can keep the shiny side up on the boat or avoid getting nailed by lightning.

Since this season is starting a little slow I started thinking about how many trips I am running versus how many I have run in the past. I have run a lot of trips. For a couple years I ran mainly two half days a day for nearly three hundred days a year. That is a lot of trips so I started estimating how many trips I have run in the past ten years. My best guess is three thousand trips. That is a good number of trips for ten years.

Then I started thinking about how many of those trips sucked. The best I can figure is that about ninety sucked. That is three percent. That is not a bad percentage. Every trip that sucked is burned into my mind because I hate disappointing people. When I starting thinking about trips that were great it got difficult. I have had a lot of trips I felt were great, but there are a lot more that the customers felt were great that I thought were so so. Splitting the difference I estimate 700 trips could be considered great. That's about 25% of my trips. That sounds good to me.

Then I had to think about the 72% of the trips that were just average. I don't care much for average. To me average sucks, but when I compare average trips to trips that really sucked, average starts looking better. Getting skunked sucks. Catching thirty to fifty fish or more in shore but not getting a big one is average. Offshore ten fish can be closer to average. The trips I feel that sucked were not all skunks but dang close.

So without rambling on too much you have a 25% change of having a great trip fishing with me. I haven't talked to many other guides about this, but that may be a good percentage to keep in mind. Since I am going to be blown out for the next two days with this front, I may just have to put together something about trips I thought were great and trips my customers thought were great.

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

Kelly and the Box Cutter

I have good trips bad trips average trips and some times weird trips. Today was a weird trip. My angler Kelly from the great white north is vacationing in the Keys for a couple months. Smart guy. He rented a boat and wanted a little fishing 101 trip. His rods and reels are perfect for brim and crappie, but just a touch light for saltwater. Since we were doing a Bayside Spanish Mackerel and usual suspects trip I brought along one of my 12 pound spinning outfits just to make sure something came to the boat.

The first spot we hit was a bit closer in than I normally fish. Nice spot, plenty of bait and we saw mackerel but they were not feeding very actively. So we relocated a little further out and started over. Despite the wind against the current there were plenty of mackerel there. Kelly had lost a few with his light rod so I had him fishing my outfit. No mackerel bites at all.

I am beginning to get a little ticked off. I tell Kelly that if I put out his ultra light outfit I guarantee a mack will hit and since his line is old and the drag (it was a rear adjust drag reel) it will break the line. Sure enough, four casts four hits four lost fish. Luckily, the fish ripping line off his reel cleaned the drag washers enough the I could set a fairly reliable drag. After that the light rod got hit every cast and we actually boat good size fish.

So what is the moral of this story? Murphy's law of tackle: The biggest fish will always hit the weakest, lightest and most neglected rod. An old customer of mine used to bring a high end ultralight outfit down. After he got his butt handed to him a few dozen times I told him that he had brought a knife to a gun fight. He responded that he didn't even have a knife, only a box cutter. Kelly brought a box cutter too.


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

Fridged Weather Gone Finally!

The last couple of days have been as cold as a witch's tatas in a brass bra! Now things are getting back to normal and we should have a great week or so for fishing. Not much to report this week because the front kept most of the boats close to home. Monday the reef bite was pretty good despite the west wind and the dolphin were still biting offshore. Sailfishing has been slow, but the front should change that.

Business is a little off from last year but starting to pick up a little. That is good for you guys that want to plan a fast trip to take advantage of the good weather between fronts.

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

Double Line and Leader using the Spider Hitch and Noname Knots

Here is a video by another captain showing how to tie the Spider Hitch.



The video did not show the Hitch being lubricated before tightening. That is important to get the maximum knot strength. Watch closely how the small loop is formed and the direction the main loop is passed through the small loop. Five wraps is my recommendation, though for light lines (under 15 pounds) six is a good idea. There is some dispute over the strength of the knot since some people use four or even three wraps. With five wraps, well lubricated and very tightly snugged, my tests came out to nearly 96% of the main line. Of course I didn't have any fancy testing equipment, just a spring scale and my eyeballs.

Now the only reason I tie a Spider Hitch is to allow me to tie a heavier leader to the double line. The knot I use for that is the Bristol or Noname Knot. I may have to make my own diagram for the Bristol Knot I tie because it is a little different than the standard and a little easier to tie. Check back later.



Okay, the diagram is pretty crappy, but will have to do for now. The loop of the double line is pretty clear. The leader line requires a little explanation. From the left, the first hump is the leader line coming up through and back down through the double line. I use my left thumb to hold that loop in place. The next seven humps are wraps around the double line then the tag end of the leader goes through the loop held in place by my thumb. Holding the tag end and the leader draw the knot snug after lubrication. Finish by tugging the leader tight and then the tag end tight. Clip the tag end close to the finished knot.

The length of the leader and double line depends on what you are doing. For spinning rods and casting, I limit the double line to five feet and the leader to about six feet. For trolling I extend the leader to 10 to 15 feet.

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