Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season..........

Another hurricane season is upon us. It begins June 1 and goes through November 30. The past few years it has always seemed worse towards the end of the season..... October and November. Last year hurricane Ike was heading directly for Islamorada in early September and we were in Missouri. As a last ditch effort to keep FF III safe, we searched around and found a captain who would take her to a marina where she could be pulled out and blocked up. About the time we got the boat moved Ike made a turn to the southeast and missed us. WHEW! However, the captain charged us $500 to move the boat about 10 miles and the marina charged us $500 to store the boat for a week. The boat got a small chip on a corner of the transom, a small scratch on the side, and the captain decided he needed the generator on for some reason and started it without the water turned on and burned up the impeller. So...this year we decided to pull it for safe keeping from mid August to the end of October. It will cost about the same as last year but a lot more coverage. So here is what she looks like out of the water.

From 2009-08-26

From 2009-08-26

Sad :(

CTM & CJM

The "Curse of the Jayhawk"

We took Thursday, August 13th, off from fishing as our Bahamas cruising buddies, John & Lori, sailed down from Miami and anchored up near Lorelei. They had just spent 10 days or so in Bimini. We enjoyed having some of our previous days catch cooked at Lorelei and listened to Steve Webb sing his Captain Morgan song for us. Decided to all go fishing the next day. Friday morning CJM picked up the Pomeroys while I got the boat ready. We headed out by 10AM or so and decided to start trolling in 300 feet of water or so as it was pretty rough, 3-5 foot seas and 10-15 knot winds. Found a weed line about 500 feet deep and trolled along it. It was a little scattered and very hard to follow into the sun so CJM soon had me take the wheel. Lots of birds working and sure enough we found some Mahi. One small one first that we had to measure. It was about 22 inches to the fork of the tail and they have to be 20 inches. We were hoping for at least a couple more so we would have enough for dinner. Still on the same weed line but had found a concentration of weeds and a little more debris. This time we hooked 3 fish at once and it was ON! Bigger fish too. John & Lori each had a fish, there was one more hooked but in the rod holder and I cleared the 4th line while CJM kept us out of tangles and trouble. We got John's in first and then he picked up the 3rd line and started working on it. We got all three in. Good job by all. We trolled around the same debris a couple more times and caught one other nice Mahi and had another bite or two that we didn't get. We caught most of the fish on rigged ballyhoo and a couple on Billy baits. We decided to start trolling in and again saw some birds working, probably on Tuna and sure enough, we hooked a really nice Blackfin Tuna. Lori handled this one and decided after landing it that she might need to start working out with weights if she was going to be doing much of that. All in all another great day of fishing in the Keys!

From John & Lori Dolphin & Tuna

By the way, the "Curse of the Jayhawk" seems to be real. In May we did not catch a Mahi while Scott Stinson was on the boat but had a great catch the very next day out after he left. And, the same when Kate was here..........only one little Mahi until the next day out after she left. Both of them being KU grads is the only explanation I can think of! Until next time....

CTM

And That's No Bull (And Cow)!!!!!

We took the rest of the day Tuesday, the 11th of August, off after Caldwell and Kate headed north in order to catch up on some laundry, boat chores, shopping, etc. When Wednesday rolled around CTM had had enough of the land lubber routine and was having the DF's bad so we decided to get up early Wednesday morning and head back out to the 409 Hump for another round of Blackfin Tuna fun. Lightly blackened Blackfin tuna barely seared for dinner sounded yummy so off we went. Well, what a difference a couple of days can make....no Blackfin....even with tons of birds working. O.K., we decided, let's head farther out into deeper water and see if we can find the Mahi (our favorite as far as fishing goes). We headed due south. After a while I told CTM that we were going to be in Cuba soon if we didn't turn around. Well, maybe a slight exaggeration but we were out about 28 miles. So....CTM at the helm and CJM relaxing in the back with a cold Bud Select we made a big sweeping turn to head in. That's when CTM spotted a flock of birds in a "feeding frenzy!" When we got to the birds he saw two streaks of blue and green headed to the baits....."FISH ON! TWO FISH ON!" We hooked both fish and the fight was on. It was a little like a Chinese fire drill in the cockpit of FF III...lots of yelling and screaming and ultimately high fiving! WE LANDED THEM BOTH!!!!! I got the bull and CTM got the cow. Ahhhhhhhh....kind of sad that we ruined that couple's day but I had to think of it like if we had only caught one of them that the mate left behind would have mourned itself to death so it was a dirty job but we had to catch them BOTH! Instead of lightly blackened barely seared Blackfin we had a huge platter full of Mahi deep fried in Andy's Seasoning. No problem with not being the BIGGEST LOSER at the next Fat Club Meeting!!!!!




CJM

Fishing In The Keys (Finally!)

This is our first fishing trip since the Bahamas in May and first time fishing the Keys since Friday the 13th of March and only the second time fishing here since January. Had a couple new fishermen along, Caldwell & Kate. Caldwell not new to fishing with us just new to fishing on Feeding Frenzy III.

Got in really late on Wednesday night, August 5th, around 2:00 AM. Did not get a very early start on Thursday as we had to get the boat all ready to go and pick up some supplies, so it was early afternoon before we got out. A little rough, seas about 3-5 feet with 10-15 knot winds. Trolled out only to around 500 feet of water. Very slow bite for us, only caught one little skinny Barracuda. Still nice to get out and stretch our sea legs and knock the barnacles off of the bottom.

Friday , August 7th, we got out early, before 8 AM, and went to the reef for a while. Searched high and low for some structure and found a small patch and anchored up. Anchoring is always an issue....especially if you are trying to set your boat over a small patch of structure in 50 or so feet of water and 2-4 foot seas. Having 2 Captains on board also does not help. After a couple tries, we thought we were set on the structure. Got the chum out and the current was working good and running off the stern of the boat. Had a little action early. Kate caught what we think was in the Triggerfish family but not sure. Maybe Dr. Geroff can advise us. Cal caught a nice Gray Snapper and we caught a couple more small Yellowtail Snappers. Decided we had drifted off our spot so pulled up the anchor and went offshore for a little while. Saw some small weeds and a few birds, but no fish. Added some Lobster tails from Mr. Lobster, the fish market/marina across the canal from us and cooked in.

From Caldwell & Kate Islamorada

Saturday, August 8th, we decided to do some lobstering ourselves. We turned right out of our canal and found some clear water near some rocky shores, thinking there might be some bugs around. Kate & Cal donned their snorkeling gear and hit the water. They found an abandoned lobster trap which was loaded with Lobster. Thinking they were going to die if left in the trap they decided to free them and if any happened to be big enough, they might slip in our fish box. You see, it is illegal to take Lobsters from anything man made that you find in the ocean. It must be from natural structure. Oh well, the only one we thought would measure slipped through Cal's hands and got away. No Lobsters, but fun to watch them wrestle with the trap. From there we stopped by Alligator Light House, a marine sanctuary, for a Little snorkeling. It is illegal to take anything from there, but OK to look at. They even have mooring balls inside the sanctuary so you don't anchor on the coral reef. Kate & Cal hit the water again and saw hundreds of fish but were soon run out of the water by hundreds of jelly fish. Not sure why they were there. We have not encountered that before in that area. Making a full day of it we went fishing from there. We trolled out in deeper water this time. Caught a nice Dolphin along some scattered weeds. Then we had a good bite from a 20# Wahoo and the fight was on. Caldell wrestled him in and after a couple of stabs at him, I was able to sink the gaff in him. How sweet it was. And........how delicious it was cooked by Chef Lupe at Lazy Day's restaurant. Kate said she thinks it is her new favorite fish! CJM learned a valuable lesson about picture taking....don't take the camera out of the cool cabin into the sweltering heat of the Florida Keys in August.... As you can see the lens fogged up so the picture of the wahoo and dolphin are a little on the hazy side, but hopefully you will get the idea!



Sunday, August 9th, one of Caldwell's fraternity buddies, Mike Delano and his wife Mary joined us. They all had breakfast at Mangrove Mike's while CJM and I readied the boat. We got out by 10AM or so. We decided to head way off shore this time and try for some Blackfin Tuna on the hump. It was the wildest feeding frenzy of birds and bait fish I think I have ever seen there. I think Kate said she saw 12 Frigates (war birds) at one time. The bite was fast and furious. We had three fish on at once several times. Everyone got in on the action. The girls were both worn down from fighting fish by the end of the day and the rest of us were in about the same shape. We kept 10 very nice Blackfins and threw back at least as many Bonitas and smaller Blackfins. And what troopers Mary & Mike were. Mary got sick on the way out, but it soon passed after we "patched" her and also helped when we got into the fish. All of the "ocean motion" caught up to Mike near the end of the day, but he survived. All in all it was a GREAT day! By the way the bait of the day was a blue & white or silver Billy Bait.

From Cal, Kate, Mike, Mary...Blackfin

Monday, August 10th, we decided to take the day off from fishing and go shopping and happy houring. Caldwell and Kate then left on Tuesday, the 11th. More later on our adventures after they headed north......



CTM