Dolphin time in the Keys
 

As some of you might know by now, my wife and I took the plunge and have relocated to the Keys. Settled on our home a few weeks ago and have been doing nothing but working on the place since we signed the papers.

Today we had our first fishing trip and decided to head offshore and go after some mahi-mahi. Left our canal right at sunrise and, with the gulf stream only 10 miles out, we were fishing shortly thereafter. Had a pretty steady bite with the schoolies but did have one or two good hits that didn't stick. Here is typically what everyone has been catching....good aerobatic fighters.

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Well one of those good hits finally did stick. Pretty nice showing for a couple of beginners. 21 pounds and 41" to the fork of the tail.

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We really didn't expect such a nice fish and as a result we had only brought the regular cooler. Sure wish we had brought the bigger cooler.

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Going to take a couple more of these trips to make up for having to miss this past Trophy season on the Bay, but we are off to a good start.

Don

Mother F*cker - you don't even say goodbye. :D

Guess that explains you not answering calls on VHF last few days.

Congrats on the move - Dawn knows she can not keep the Manatee , right ?

We are planning to buy a smaller home in Maryland once our home there sells so we haven't left Maryland entirely. I will be looking to HO with you guys when I am back in Maryland. The Hunter will probably just stay down here.

Dawn knows she can't keep any Manatees but she is running up our water bill every time one of them shows up in our canal; and water is expensive as hell here in the Keys.

Hmmmm , I got a boat in Md - you got a boat in Fla. , think we can work something out.

Guess its not worth posting picks of the numerous 18 to 20 stripers I caught this evening, going to keep the picks of the perch too...

Dam Don thst is one hell of a Mahi....

You getting it cooked up at that restaraunt tonight ?

Congratulations on the fish and the new house. Hope to see you sometime this summer when you are up.

Wow, Don... That is awesome! Let me know when you are in MD and need a ride... And I will let you know when I am in the keys! I always did want to go fishing there :-)

Nice bull!! So we cried enough about the cold winter that it forced you to move? :D Awesome!! I'm happy for ya!

We fell in love with the neighborhood we stayed in this past winter. A house across the canal went on the market. Not exactly what we wanted but the neighbors are awesome, the canal is full of life and healthy and it had a boat lift:D. It is a fixer-upper and that is all we have been doing.....fixing it up. That bull dolphin was the perfect reward for many weeks of work.

Nice fish Don.

Very cool. Never gonna catch one of them in the Chesapeake:cool:

So do I need to bring my own boat or plan on going out on yours??? 😃

Plenty of room on the Hunter....

Don

Dag! Good move! Congratulations!

Kate and I would lovbe to HO with you some time.

Don

Ditto
 

That's what I'm thinking......

John

Just got back from a week in Islamorada. Rented a boat and got out at least once every day. Weather was fantastic and were able to get 4-5 offshore trips in as well as the usual reef excursions. Fishing was so-so. Got dolphin every time we fished the deep, but not in the numbers I was hoping for. All they wanted was skirted ballyhoo - nothing on lures. Finally found a nice piece of debris the last trip and pulled a fish off it and were preparing to chunk the fish up when we took our eyes off it and could not relocate. Surely would have loaded the boat. Oh well. Did manage one really nice bull in the middle of the week. Guestimate is 55 inches and 45-50 lbs. Put on quite a show, jumping 15-20 times. All in, can't complain and had fish for lunch and dinner every day!

Definitely jealous of you living down there now -- tremendous fishery.

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That is one very nice fish....congrats! I am back in Md for a few weeks but my fishing buddies in Marathon tell me the dolphin bite has let up a bit. The night fishing on the reef is heating up though.