I’ve just returned from what was an interesting and enjoyable trip to the Middle and Lower Keys with my objective, to catch a Goliath Grouper, achieved. A ‘tick in the box’ on that account but I have to say not an experience I’d necessarily want to repeat without adequate harness!
So to the detail. But, if you want to switch straight to the pictures, there’re some on this link - http://www.flickr.com/photos/d…72157621782843340/?page=4 . (The first few on that page though are shots of a decent Tarpon that had been attacked by a Bull Shark. Um ... I don’t think I would have got in the water like Dave Irving and his guide Paul with the ‘chum trail’ and the shark still cruising around for the rest of its meal!)
Travel Details and Accommodation
We flew Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow - Virgin unlike BA still allow you the free sporting goods allowance, our rod tubes – and stayed overnight close to the airport on Le Jeune Blvd having arranged to pick up our hire car the following morning. That I find gives you an opportunity to unwind after the flight and not immediately have to face Miami’s rush hour. And there’re a couple of restaurants in Miami I particularly like and tend to alternate between – one’s, Joe’s Stone Crab, on the ‘Beach’ - http://www.joesstonecrab.com/ - great food - and the Catch of the Day - http://www.catchofthedayrestaurant.com/ - on Le Jeune itself. And this trip it was the latter we used. Whilst I’d score the food as reasonable the atmosphere’s great. The waitresses are all Hispanic – seriously all seem to speak a modicum of English to varying degrees - and there’s live music, usually with a Cuban bent, every night and ‘Happy Hour’ extends through to 7:00pm – beer being served by the Pitcher, or bottles in a bucket.
Given our time clocks were out of kilter we picked the car up just before six and it was that easy drive down onto the ‘Keys – breakfast en route – using the Dolphin Expressway (SR 836) Westwards and the Turnpike South. First stop, apart from breakfast, was of course World Wide Sportsman (part of BassPro - http://www.basspro.com/homepage.html) in Islamorada. If you’ve never been there it’s worth a visit just to see the marine fish tank and the replica of Ernest Hemmingway’s famous game boat - Pilar. And out back you’ve got the Islamorada Fish Factory, we were too early for lunch that day, and a chance to view the ‘resident’ Tarpon idly cruising around waiting for ‘freebies’.
Then just down the road to Robbies - http://www.robbies.com/ - to feed the Tarpon and for the first beer of the day. (A word of warning here, we found the chemical toilet facilities disgusting. Definitely find somewhere else, especially if accompanied by your girlfriend, wife and children.) Finally we ‘drifted’ down, everything’s relaxed on the ‘Keys, to Grassy Key where the three of us were staying at the Gulf View Resort - http://www.gulfviewwaterfrontresort.com/. (Grassy Key’s just North of Marathon.) Prices were very reasonable and the resort offered complimentary kayaks, canoes and paddle boats. So opportunities if you wanted to go out fishing by yourself – remember you’d need a Florida State licence – for species like juvenile Tarpon that frequent areas of the bay.
The room we had, a two bedroom efficiency, had full cooking facilities but there’re also complementary gas fired barbeques in the grounds and, if you don’t fancy cooking and don’t wish to drive, the Wreck – a bar and grill – is just a few yards North of the resort on US1. That had a great atmosphere with as many locals as tourists using it.
The Fishing
Our first day out, the four of us – Dave (a Brit currently resident in Miami), Steve, Stewart and myself – had elected for a day’s wreck fishing way out in the Gulf of Mexico with Jeff Rella. Jeff operates out of Captain Hook’s marina in Marathon, alternating based on weather and charter between a 27’ Whitewater and his 34’ Sea Vee, Superfish. Both are (very) fast offshore centre console vessels – loads of room for stand-up fishing. (Jeff’s web site is http://www.marathonoffshorefishing.com and the marina’s http://www.captainhooks.com/. You can get hire boats from the marina.)
The wreck, the wreck of a Shrimp trawler laying in just 33’ of water, was some 40 miles offshore and, given the nature of the surrounding sea bed, was a ‘magnet’ for fish. Even though the Whitewater topped out at 50 mph we elected to leave the marina at 6:15 with the first job to stock up the bait well with Pinfish. Jeff maintains three traps close to the marina baiting them with the ubiquitous block of frozen chum. It’s amazing just how many voracious Pinfish manage to fit into each trap!
Down went the anchor and we baited smallish jigs with Pinfish on powerful Ugly Sticks matched to 18000 and 20000 Stellas loaded with braid. I can distinctly remember Stewart saying ‘How do I know when I’ve got a bite?’ when, within literally seconds, his rod just bent over as the Grouper powered back into the wreck; not fast just unstoppable. That was one of loads of bites that morning albut three ended up with the fish ‘winning’! We managed to ‘extract’ two Goliaths around 25 & 50lbs and an undersized Gag Grouper. The rest were just too powerful for the end tackle we were using. Locking up the reel – it was the only way - I was straightening hooks and pulling links off the jigs.
The other species though that we were catching on these rigs, as well as on free-lined Pinfish were Cobia. They similarly were hard fighters and we ended up with 11, up to around 30lbs. (The technique differed slightly in that as soon as you saw the line angling up, denoting a Cobia, you’d back the drag off a tad.
What else was there? A large pod of almost uncatchable Barracuda kept cruising around the boat – more of that later – and there were also Permit who’d aggregated offshore on the structure as a prelude to spawning. And of course Sharks and, I understand, massive Rays on the bottom.
Any rate it was the Permit that Dave and I in particular wanted to target. That involved, tackled up with a pelagic crab on a small jig – to provide casting weight – on spin gear, standing on the bow waiting for them to appear within casting range. The fish we caught were in the 20 to 25lb range and, when casting, you needed to lead them by say 4’ or so. It was then just a case of feathering the spool and, if successful, you’d feel them ‘crunching’ the crab. That day we released three out of our six hook-ups; the others were ‘taken’ by Sharks or ..... ‘ums’.
The ‘Ums’? Dave was playing one of the Permit, one we successfully released, when part way through the fight two Goliaths eased into view. One was enormous, easily the size of a small car! Just a snack for one of those I imagine! And it’s no wonder most of those earlier Grouper bites had proved unstoppable.
Now Stewart had never caught a Shark and was keen to try. And, as the tide slackened, we saw a small Tiger Shark around 250lbs or so. Bait was at a premium so we used the head of one of the Cobia we’d retained – they’re superb eating – attempting to use its guts for chum.
We couldn’t attract it and I rummaged around in Jeff’s gear looking for a lure to target the Barracuda. Sharks really do go crazy for the obnoxious ‘scent’ trail of Barracuda. The only thing I could find that was vaguely suitable was a popper, but I didn’t have the heart to break off its plastic vanes. And as is often the case despite casting 20’ ahead of them and cranking fast I couldn’t provoke any interest. Our skipper though had another idea. He started thrashing the water close to the gunwale to a foam with a long handled gaff and one of the curious ‘Cuda ventured just a tad too close. Jeff free gaffed it. There was our bait and the butterfly-ed carcass was the attractant.
Almost immediately the demeanour of the Sharks, there were now two 200lb plus Lemons close to the surface, changed. They came rushing aggressively in but a Black Tip around 100lbs beat them to it and, after several attempts at leadering without gloves, Stewart released his first Shark.
So, apart from several more Cobia and another Permit, that ended that first day. In case you didn’t view the images earlier, here’s the link - http://www.flickr.com/photos/d…72157621782843340/?page=4.
Costs? Jeff's normal rate trolling or fishing the 'Hump' Atlantic side is 850$US but because of the extra fuel he was using we gave him another 150$ plus a 200$ tip. That worked out to 300$US a head.
I’ll try and finish the report tomorrow. What’s left? Two days fishing at Key West, a half day’s Party Boat fishing – a first for me – another more successful day out on that wreck and a day targeting Tarpon.