The Winds have Laid Down

As if by magic, the winds drop to something fish-able for me. The bigger boats have been getting out, though with not all that great of success on average. There are still a few cobia coming to the dock, Chris caught one on the Walkabout II yesterday, and a sailfish here and there, but nothing to make the front page. We are in the transition from the winter fishery to summer, so that is not all that unusual. Respectable catches, but nothing wild and crazy.

We are in the middle of the moon now and have warmer water temperatures, so the snapper bite should start turning to great on the reef after this moon. The bigger fish should start moving to the reef to stage for the spawn. Tarpon is nearing its sweet spot. More big girls are coming to the leader so most of the kids are geared up for the tarpon bite. Not many offshore reports because of the past wind, but the few boats that have been out are getting into dolphin pretty good with black fin tuna and a few larger wahoo. I should start running offshore here in the next few weeks if the weather holds.

I did fish a half day the other day on the reef. The current and winds were fine, but the water was a little off still. So the reef was slow. In the channel we had a good bite with mainly Lane snapper and a few decent mangroves. Tons of grouper of course since the season is still closed. That opens up the first of May. May is starting to get booked pretty well with grouper hunters wanting to get back into the action. I am kinda Jonesing for some grouper in the box myself. This four month closure is for the birds!

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

Piece of Cake?

The fish made me look bad last trip. Cero mackerel cut my mutton baits off, the drift was too fast for some of the muttons, the fish on the reef found the rocks and a sailfish swam around in the slick, thumbing his nose at me. After running through my lists of excuses I guess I will blame the full moon. To soothe my bruised ego I baked a cake :)

Actually, Michele had a birthday. Since I am cheap, I baked her a Devils food, with chocolate chips, peanut butter icing and pecans with a little cocoa powder for garnish. Peanut butter icing? Hey, its her birthday not mine.

Anyway, I will brave the finicky fish filled seas tomorrow to try and redeem myself for the last poor performance. Shame though, we started with a keeper mutton on the first drop, just couldn't keep it going. Now if my customer had wanted Cero Mackerel, I would have been a hero, but such is life.

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

Windy Fishing this Week

It seems like every year blustery winds show up in time to make the Leon Shell Memorial Sailfish Tournament memorable. The last year I fished it, gust up to 65 knots came through while I was enjoying a prime rib sandwich at the dock. This year the winds were only 35 knots and I was having grits and eggs instead of prime rib.

A customer from New Jersey was down for a few days. Monday, I tried the rock piles in Hawk Channel with the winds only blowing 25 knots. The water was pretty messed up, so the bite was slow. We did manage a fair mess of good size lane snapper, but nothing to write home about.

Tuesday, I got with Captain Chris Moran and we tried the Sister Creek area where we were sheltered for the steady 30 knot winds with some sporty gusts. Even that was slower than normal, but we did manage a couple of keeper redfish and a rare for the creek Spotted Seatrout. The wind and the catch kind of reminded me of March in Jacksonville. Hiding in the creeks was pretty much all we could do from January to the end of March up there.

What was good catching up there is pretty disappointing down here. Tomorrow, if the weather guy is right, winds should be down to 10 to 15 knots. So I may be able to post a few more Keys worthy photos.

Other than me, not too many people braved or stupided the winds to 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

You Go-Girl!

People give me stuff they think might be useful for fishing. Go-Girl was the latest product that has arrived for my evaluation. I am not really qualified for that job, but I will pass the information along.

Go-girl is a compact urination aid for the ladies. So that ladies can pee standing. I find that being able to pee standing is pretty convenient. So the ladies in the crowd might also find peeing standing a bit more convenient than paying a visit to the rather cramped head available on most boats. So if you or someone you know might be interested, check out Go-Girl.com.

Fishing wise, yesterday I was the only boat in the marina to fish because of the winds. Pretty nasty conditions, but the couple from Wisconsin seemed to enjoy a little bridge fishing. Slower than normal, but they had a good mess of fat Porgies for dinner and one mystery fish that found the boat running gear after a pretty good fight. Not sure what it was, but it was pretty healthy. I suspected at big Jack at first, but it didn't fight quite like one. Don't know, but it was a good one that will have them talking for some time.

Today the boat is getting all prettied up. We just replaced the Isinglass so she will be looking good for the dolphin season coming 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

More Muttons

After seeing our catch yesterday, Dennis decided to give Walk About a go. Someone seems to have misplaced the scales at the marina, but that mutton should be in the 15 to 17 pound range. Not a bad fish.

I don't have a report, just wanted to post this picture before I clear my phone memory

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 Slow Day, but We Did Alright

I sure like it better when the fish do what I expect, but some times they make me work for a living. Chris wanted to make sure I know what I am doing so he mated for me today. Now I am sure Chris has more experience catching Mutton Snapper, since I typically don't target just one species, but I think I do a good job when I set my mind to it.

By the way, Mutton Snapper can get hammered pretty hard down here. I personally would like to have a few around in case I might need one, so I don't hammer them. A few off of one spot and let that one rest for a while is all I plan on doing. No, these particular numbers are not something I tend to share. I you are willing to put in a little time hunting you can find a spot or two in the 110 foot to 300 foot range that will produce a few decent fish like these.

Weather wise, today was another beautiful day, though I may want to turn on the A/C this evening :) Fishing the reef was a little messed up. If you hit the right spot you did good, if not, you got to see a bunch of fish with lock jaw. Grouper season is still closed so we released a couple of rather nice size red grouper about 26" long and a bunch of shorts.

There are pretty nice size King Mackerel on the ocean side in the 120 to 150 foot range if that is your cup of tea. The Mangrove bite at the bridges is still going strong as well. Spanish Mackerel on the Bay Side are still pretty easy to target and the Tarpon are getting thicker at the bridge. With the mild winter, I kinda expect the dolphin bite to be off the hook this season. As long as fuel prices don't go through the roof, I may be able to put some dolphin specials together for the die hard freezer fillers.

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

Walk About
Fishing the Keys