key west

got back sunday morning about 2 am Brrrr man what a temp change! didnt eat any cheeseburgers but had a lot of fish! man its like fishing in an aquarium the water was so clear. the best baits was a 1/4 0z chartruse jig tipped with fresh cut fish either ballyhoo or grunts, threadfin herring live is best but didnt bring a cast net, i think thats the only thing i didnt bring

some of the speices caught:

grunts (bait)
mangrove snapper
yellow tail snapper
lane snapper
nurse sharks
ciro mackerel (made 65.00 for biggest fish on head boat)
snowy grouper (short by 2" wife was pissed ha ha)
tarpon (wife was pissed again jig straighted out as i was trying to get it up on the pier. she had a nice fight on my light rod with 10 lbs FL crystal line about a 30lbs fish!)
yellow tail jack

grilled up the keeper yellow tail and mackerel at the resort, first time eating mackerel very tasty

[surfdog]

more pix:

[Shady]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. I need to get down there one of these days to fish...

[Grilled]

awesome pics!

next meet n' greet..................key west!!!lol

[mytmouse]

Great report Surfdog!! I must admit I write that with jealousy... LOL!!

MYT

[CB kayak 02]

How you like Bud N Mary's? MY family was looking at going down there during xmas time.

[jffoley]

awesome pics!

next meet n' greet..................key west!!!lol

+1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Surf, Looks like a great time. Nice pics.

Where were those tarpon schooled up? I was in the Keys some years ago and there was a marina maybe halfway to Key West where they fed them. They'd show up on schedule like koi goldfish! Was very cool.

[mmanolis2001]

ahh you lucky dog.

Thanks for the pics it brings back fond memmories form my trips their in the past. Its been too long i need to get back down there.

Did you fish the old 7 mile bridge? It looks like you where their in one of the pics.

How much skin did you lose on your hand feeding the tarpon?
I had one chomp my hand up to the wrist when i was not looking. Scared the crap outa me.

[surfdog]

meet and greet. i'm in it was pretty sweet but you need 2 weeks to get every thing done that you want to do!

Matt, bud and marys is cool there is a hampton inn next door we stayed at 1 night on the way to KW, nice place with an Outback inside

John, the tarpon were feeding behind the head boat as the mate cleaned the catch, awsome cant tell from the pix but they were huge some pushing 175lbs and close to 6 feet, wouldnt let us fish for them though in the morning before we went out there was a huge barracuda we fed some ballyhoo to that was cool. the marina is next to the tortuga ferry.

mann. didnt fish the bridge that was a pier on white st. its big with 2 walk way bridges with solid concrete between and a large concrete end, every thing passes around that pier, snook, tarpon, yellow tail and sharks. we could see tarpon and snook go by in the shadow/light at night.

lazy dog outfitters does kayak rentals and is a hobie dealer but didnt rent any yaks by the time they opened it was too hot and the family was in sight seeing mode or pool and rum runner mode i fished from 6 am till around 9 by then it was blazing hot and humid then went out again after dark temp change only 10* different at night but the suns not cooking you

miami international sucks if you have a lot of luggage you have to walk a long way get on a train then walk some more dragging your crap as you go

did i bring too much stuff?

[tufnik]

Welcome back on the net. I like that tarpon. Was it good table fare?

Hey, you got to get that yak out again!

[mmanolis2001]

I only see 5 rods there. I don't think you brought enough...

I made the mistake of flying into marathon key one year with 10 1 piece rods in one of those Plano bazooka tube rod cases. All was well until we landed on the island in one of those puddle jumpers and found out our rods were to long to fit into the cargo hold. We had to drive down to Key west to pick them up.

It was a very nice drive though and we hit a couple bars while down there.

Those mangrove snappers are tough little buggers. The large ones hanging around the docks are some of the smartest fish i have ever come across along with the big old barracudas. I swear they can see 2lb mono on a hook embedded in a shrimp. Drop the shrimp piece in by its self and they gobble it up.

[surfdog]

i also brought my 11wt fly rod but got not hits on my flies. we saw a lot of cool tiki bars on the way down. went to the hogfish b&g to get some refreshment, cool place but saw a charter boat that goes to the dry Tortuga's for 2,3 or 4 day charters loading to go out, i had read about this charter but forgot about it till i saw the boat and it was the last day there. would have liked to do the 2 day trip.

tuff, tarpon aren't very tasty and no one eats them usually C&R or they get mounted for the wall. the cerio mac. was very good marinated in olive oil,white wine, basil and garlic. and grilled. i liked it more than the yellow tail but they are very good too. definitely sushi grade.