Feast or Famine

I am always amazed just how imbalanced fishing bookings can be.  After a June that ranks up there with productively "normal", things have gotten back to the slower than "normal" side of things.  Part of that is because I have set aside a couple of weeks for fill in captaining. For whatever reason I thought the real charter boats would have been booked more solidly.  Then they did book but for the week after producing a bit of a conflict in scheduling.  So I have a guide customer that I will have to fit in around the charter boat schedule.  Everyone seems to like the the same back half of the weekend and not the front half.  I figured with the 4th being on a Friday that it would be the other way around.  So now I have days open that I could have booked and am overloaded after the holiday.  Typical weirdness.

After the Mutton struggle I ran into one of the crews that have been slaying the Mutton only they have been running pretty far to the West or pretty far to the East.  So I am not the only one that the ripping current off of the Seven Mile Bridge impacted.

More weirdness is the sudden surge of slammer dolphin.  We had a drought early in the month and now they have turned on, likely due to the same ripping current that has the reef bite on the iffy side.  One thing you learn quick in the Keys is that the currents are just about impossible to predict.  While I would have loved to put my guys on more Mutton last week, running 50 miles round trip per day to do it wasn't a serious option.   Now that the current appears to be returning to "normal", all the spots I hit should be fired up like they should have been.

On the equipment side of things I finally broke down and got a new GPS that I can actually read instead of brailing my way through.  That wasn't all that painful since I got a killer deal on an Ebay Auction for a change.  I also broke down and bought a vehicle and during the insurance and registration process was reminded why I didn't have a vehicle.  The tag agency has grown even more anal and it took three trips to make them happy and a couple of hour wait for the state computers to start working and then for those computers to realize that I didn't have a tag because they had previously said I wasn't trustworthy enough to hold my tag and not drive a vehicle that I didn't own.  I do believe though that the computer has finally given up on trying to get me to register a boat that I owned 30 years ago and gave away.  That is a good thing since the insurance, tag and registration cost about twice as much as I paid for the vehicle.

Yes, that is right sports fans, my new to me vehicle is a 1999 Taurus Wagon that cost a whopping $375 including delivery.  It drives, has a working A/C, lots of tread on the tires, no serious dings in the sheet metal and a kayak friendly luggage rack.  . It does have just enough project potential, in case I get bored, to make it interesting.  If it completely dies tomorrow I can almost get the purchase price back from any salvage yard.  The warm and friendly government required fees are of course a complete waste.  I think it will cover about three hours of bureaucratic butt sitting while the hive computers are down.

I also noted that the County Tag agency has gotten their 1 1/4 thick bullet proof glass yet.  Perhaps that is why registration fees are ridiculously high.

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

Gator Gets a Dolphin

I fill in on the Lady Catherine from time to time and occasionally someone fills in for me.  Captain "Gator" Gray Sr. answered the call from Captain David and my Facebook hint to come on back to the Keys for a few days and drive the bus.  This fish is 59" long and 41 pounds.

While I was visiting with Captain Gator, David mentioned that the fish that pulled the hooks on us a week or so ago was bigger than this one.  So there are plenty more out there for those willing to spend some time offshore.

Give Captain David a call at (305) 723-9867 to book or check out the Dive and Fish Marathon website.  The Lady Catherine is an inspected vessel allowing her to carry more than 6 passengers should you have a large group or family fishing expedition planned.

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

Finally! Joe Got His Mutton Snapper.

After three and a half days of struggling with weird currents and calm conditions I finally guessed right and got a current that the Muttons liked.   We only boated one but it was a nice one.  Today was mainly Yellowtail Snapper catching while in search of Mutton.

Grant got another nice big ocean Triggerfish plus sneaked plenty of bait grunts in the box.

This is one of those you should have been here next week trips.  At least Windfinder is indicating that we will have more normal 5 to 10 knot winds with scattered thunder storms more like normal for this time of year.

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

Weird Day when you Catch Flying Fish

From top to bottom we have Grant with an Amberjack, Jordan with a large Little Tunny, Joseph with his carbon copy Little Tunny and then something different, Jordan with one of the 6 flying fish we caught hook and line on the reef edge.  Not a normal catch.

Flying fish are like mullet with wings.  You don't catch many mullet hook and line either.  That just goes to show what a weird day it was.

We caught the Little Tunny on pinfish on the bottom in 200 foot of water searching for Mutton Snapper.  No luck at all with the Muttons so we head to the reef for Yellowtail Snapper.  We got the 'tails up fast and boated a couple then a Porpoise aka Bottlenose Dolphin, move in to eat the one we hooked.  The Porpoise must not like big ocean Triggerfish since he/she let us get two of those for the box.  These Triggerfish  were big enough that they broke three of our hooks.  Just broke the hooks ring at the base of the barb.

Well, we have one more day in search of Mutton but it is beginning to look like the Snapper won this trip.

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

Captain Pips Fishing Adventure

Captain Pips is the place I started fishing the Fishing the Florida Keys blogging and now they have new owners.

 The new owners have add some new attractions.

 And kept a lot of the the original attractions.

 I am fishing four days out of Pips with some regulars, 14 years worth of regular, and so far they are just as pleased as all get out with the state of Pips.  So if you are a Pips regular, you should be pleasantly surprised on your next visit with the fresh paint and fresh equipment.

So far the trips haven't produced exceptionally photogenic fish, just a  mixed bag of Dolphin, Snapper, Porgies, Toros, 'Cudas, Jacks and Sharks.  We have been skunked so far on Muttons and keeper Grouper, which hopefully will change tomorrow.

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

Martinis Ocean Side

The Martini fishing team is back down for a little Fishing 102 on the ocean side this year.  They have fun regardless of the conditions though I rather they have fun sweating with the biggies.  We had a very slow morning though other than Dolphin that were mainly throw backs which we caught trolling from one bottom spot to the next.  The dolphin were inside of two hundred foot and just about every where.  We did manage one little bull that was a gaffer.  The game plan though was for muttons.

On the Mutton spots it is not all that unusual to get an Amberjack or two but for Dad, it is pretty unusual so he had a grand time with his.   We also managed a large little Tunny for the area on a pinfish on the bottom in 200 foot of water.  That is a bit unusual and well received by the crew.  Unfortunately, the Mutton bite East of the light sucked big time.  We marked plenty of fish but they just didn't like the tide or temperature or something else.  Even the Yellowtail on the reef didn't want to play so we spent most of the day playing ultralight tackle dolphin catch and release.  Not what I envisioned first thing this morning and after the monsoons of yesterday, but it was a fine day with a fine crew anywho.

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