Florida Keys
 

It looks like Mike and I picked a good week to visit Don in Marathon. I envy his ability to get up in the morning, walk thirty feet to the boat, and fish as long as he wishes:D

Mike has a bunch of photos and will probably add to the thread later.

We fished all five days:eek: the weather was perfect (80* and light winds). We did have a slight shower the day we arrived, but other than that, it was perfect.

Here is an example of the weather.

That first day, we caught a bunch of good eating fish. I think the photo will show a Mutton Snapper (we caught so many different species that I have forgotten which name goes to which fish:D).

We kept the larger fish and had a local restaurant cook them and we had a wonderful first day.
I think we kept snapper and yellowtail for dinner.

We fished both backwater and ocean water. Many of the fish we caught in the gulf side were eclipsed in size by the same species in the ocean side.
This is a photo of a small Hound Fish (I think) from the gulf side.

Mike and I each caught one of the following species. Mike was overboard swimming and using his GoPro camera in the water. It takes amazing video in such clear water. While he was swimming, he lost some money (bills) out of his pockets. The money was floating away and we started yelling to Mike, trying to tell him his money was floating away. When he finally heard us yelling, he hightailed it back to the boat. Never saw Mike move so fast:eek:

The highlight of the day was when we saw birds working, fish busting, and bait leaping out of the water to avoid being eaten:D
Turns out there was a large school of these chasing bait.

All our fish were caught on light tackle, mostly 12 pound line with 20 pound leader. A few, were caught on 17 pound line. Luckily, Don did have one rod set up with 30 pound line and I caught this fish on that rod. I was able to muscle this one in knowing I had enough tackle to get the job done:).

Mike has a bunch of photos taken with a better grade of fish caught off a reef in the ocean. I'm sure he will post a couple pics.

Stay tune to see what Mike hooked up on 12 pound test and fought for about 20 minutes. It is a species you normally associate with catching while trolling:D


In the mean time, here is a photo of a small grouper. We caught many of them, but they are out of season (unfortunately).

Here is another example of the weather. This was out in the ocean on a deep reef. The water is beautiful. We saw sea turtles eating Portugeese Man of War:eek:

Just a wonderful time. Thanks Don for the invitation:D

I can't wait for spring:eek:
5th (Marty)

Sure looks and sounds like you boys had fun down there. And you left poor Don behind to stay there for awhile longer? Man do I feel for him. It looks absolutely beautiful!

Glad you made it back safe and sound, now rest up for TriState. 3 shows I've had to pass Capt John without picking up a rig so you could sell it to me in Deale.

You guys really lucked into 5 great days of beautiful weather and we took full advantage of it. Had a blast. Hopefully Mike is able to upload some of the pics he took. Even though we weren't able to keep any grouper we did catch a few that would have been keepers. Never did catch any keeper size Mutton (16") as they tend to be out a bit deeper. From my memory we caught various kinds of snapper, various kinds of grunts, both Cero and Spanish Mackerel, Red Grouper, Black Grouper, Gag Grouper, Parrot Fish, Gray Trigger fish, Squirrel Fish, Hound Fish, Blue Runner, Barracuda, Shark, and Jack (Crevalle).

Here is one of the trigger fish caught by my wife Dawn:
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/...203_115156.jpg

Only other pic I had on my phone is Mike and Marty sporting their convertible and Coronas in front of my favorite palm tree in our front yard:
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/...203_164205.jpg

You guys picked a good time to go. Wonder if Don will ever be willing to leave?

Yes, the bigger mutton are out deeper, but it's still only about 8-10 miles off the beach.

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/z...40c3544d06.jpg

Did you guys have trouble with the dolphin stealing your fish off the hook?

We had very little problem with bait stealers. What little problem we had, we thought was caused by Triggerfish. They have such a small mouth. We would downsize and catch them:D

We caught Grunts, Yellowtail, Snapper, Grouper, Triggerfish, Parrot Fish, Squirrel Fish, Hound Fish, Sharks, Amberjack, Bonita, and several other species.

One day, we caught 14 different species:eek:

Mike or Don will have to fill in the others I can't remember:)

5th

I didn't mind chipping ice, shoveling snow, freezing my a** off and sitting behind a desk while you were catching 14 species, driving a convertable in 80 deg. weather and drinking Coronas. No,I didn't mind at all :mad:.
Sounds like you guys had a great time. Welcome back to reality:D

bhl (Bruce)

I just remembered; add both Spanish and Cero Mackeral to that list:D

Watching the Mackerel rip through bait fish, with pelicans diving, is a sight to see:eek:
Another neat sight was watching big sea turtles slowly swim past the boat, and eat Portuguese Man of Wars;). It's no wonder that plastic bags or boloons are a danger to turtles:mad:
We saw so many neat things out on the water. It was a great trip.
5th

These are the last of the pics from me; Mike may have more:D

Another pic

I have two more

Last picture from me:)

Two guys in a convertible in the Keys - :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Sounds like an awesome time - thanks for photos.

We got above freezing twice this week - but maybe more snow Weds.

Glad you guys had a great trip, sure looks nice.

I was in Marathon in October, and we had a dolphin that would hang out around the boat. Everytime we caught something, especially yellowtail, we had to quickly bring the fish in, otherwise the dolphin would come over and steal it. One minute you are fighting a fish, the next minute the line is just dumping off the reel. The tug of war only lasted a few minutes. The dolphin would never get hooked.

Snapper
 

Day one little bit of rain, but catching fish makes everything better...

A very rare moment....Don relaxed !

25 minute or so fight on 12lb test !

Bonita !

How could a trip to the Keys be a great trip withhout a shark or two...?

:)

Parrots in the ocean ?

They were all gorgeous fish....

Don pulled in the lone squirell fish of the trip....The eyes were so weird...

Every grouper had a great fight to it...I can't tell you how many times we cussed up a storm when they would find a hole and our rigs went with them...

Grunts here, Grunts there, Grunts were everywhere !

Two ole pros fishin in the sun.

:)

Brought in lots of Cero and Spanish...Another positive on our first rainy day...

Marty with a sunny day Mac...

Yellow tail snapper...Lots of fun catching the mangrove, yellow tail, and mutton snapper...Sure is one heck of an art to it...

Chum really pulled in a group of nice Trigger's one day...We all enjoyed catching them for a while...Tough to catch since they don't bite big or hard...

LOL, I just said big or hard....

:)

OK, you guys are killing me. Sunny day, no ice on the water, beautiful blue water, cold Coronas. Why in the hell did you come back:confused: I'm going crazy not being able to get out.
I'm going to visit my sister in Northern Florida after the trophy season and we may have to make a detour to the keys. Last trip with my wife, we caught some Mahi and had Lazy Days cook them up 3 different ways and ate out on the balcony. It doesn't get any better;).

bhl (Bruce)

Bruce.....Lazy Days is our favorite 'hook & cook' restaurant. We had our catch cooked up there their first night here (Mutton, Yellowtail and Mangrove Snapper). Did the same and had ours done 3 ways as well...'Lazy Days Style', Coconut-Fried and Matecumbe style. But Mr. Mike opted out in favor of a hamburger...OMG:eek:

Bruce, did it look something like this?

Yes, the way life should be !!

Wait a minute, Mike opted for a burger:eek:

Even upside down that looks awesome!! Maybe today's current weather is making it look extra good though!

Mike.....Have you had time to edit those underwater videos?:confused:

Also, I have started using a new user name