Keys Fishing - New Species and Catching live bait
 

Every day is different here in the Keys. You never know what you are going to catch. Today we returned to a spot on the reef that has been very good to us but only thing there was some beautiful blue tang fish. No pics:( I am sorry to say. As pretty as these fish were they were also a pain in the butt. They are similar to trigger fish in that they are good at stealing your bait but we did catch a few. My wife deemed them way too pretty to keep so I didn't bother with doing a quick search on my phone to check the regs or see if they were edible. I do remember something about them having some sort of poisonous skin though.

We are constantly catching something new and different. Here is a pic of a Glasseye Snapper. Caught a few of these. Very cool looking fish...
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/...photo-02-1.jpg


Another cool and unusual fish....a Black Margate:
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/...photo-03-1.jpg

The Grouper bite is still a daily event especially since we have gotten much better at catching and keeping live bait. Here is beautiful Red Grouper that my wife Dawn caught today:
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/...photo-01-1.jpg

Caught a few Sea Trout in the back country (Gulf). I carefully instructed each of them to head north to the Chesapeake Bay as we released them:
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/...1/photo-04.jpg

Finally I am getting the hang of using a cast net. I have been using a cheapy 4' (8' diameter) net I picked up at Walmart a number of years ago but this year I broke down and bought a professional quality 6' (12' diameter) Betts net. A well made net does a much better job of opening up fully and gets the job done quicker. We now have a pen full of pinfish and plenty of salted, frozen ballyhoo. Here is a pic of a portion of some fresh ballyhoo we picked up on the reef today:
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/...1/photo-05.jpg

Probably going to have to keep the Hunter at dock the next few days as they are forecasting some higher winds:mad:. But looking on the bright side....this will allow us to get to happy hour on time for once.:D

Keep livin the good life:D
5th

You ain't never coming back :D

Living the dream Don, glad you are enjoying it.:)