"THAT MAGICAL PIECE OF DEBRIS"

I guess I should say "magical pieces of debris," quoting Captain Skip Bradeen. We had some classic finds on this trip. Depending on how much time we had, we liked to start trolling in 300 feet of water and head for the humps, sea mounts, pinnacles, whatever you like to call them. It is amazing to me that you can be in 800 feet of water with a mountain that stands 400 feet or so and still have an affect on the fishing at the surface, but it does. There was a mass migration of sardines through our area on this trip which brought in birds from all over. We saw the largest presence of frigates or war birds that we have ever seen. Usually if you see one you get cold chills all over because he is usually on a big fish. This time we ran all over chasing large groups of birds, mostly frigates.

Most of the fish CJM and I caught before GP & CP got there were blackfin tuna and were pretty scattered. We had a few thin weed lines and lots of birds, but nothing magical. When the P's got there, our luck changed. Our first day we found an old tire floating with lots of barnacles and bait fish on it. We were fairly shallow, maybe 400 feet or so, and with each pass by (at least 19 by CJM's count) we caught something. Not always something we wanted, but something. We ended up with 4 Hoos, 4 Mahi, a Trippletail and a BF tuna. The best bait of the day was blue & white Billy Baits as when Kate & Cal were with us.

The next day was the best. We left a little earlier and didn't start fishing until we were almost at the hump and then trolled on out to about 24 miles off shore. We saw something just a little farther out from where we were and checked it out. It was a bucket in a pretty nice weed line. We immediately caught a nice Dolphin. A little past the bucket we found a blue barrel that was loaded with bait fish. The fight/bite was on. Every pass by we would catch from one to three fish. It was truly a "feeding frenzy". They were hitting everything we had out, but the best was probably a blue & mauve Billy and a rigged ballyhoo with orange skirt. The coolest catch of the day was next. We decided we had plenty of fish so thought we would back up to the barrel and try deep dropping some spoons. I have tried this a time or two before, but CJM had no confidence so we never did it very long and had not caught anything in the past. With GP by my side, CJM showed a little more tolerance for my theory and let us try it a little longer. Low and behold, we caught two very nice Wahoo. Along with reeling up the Hoos came a whole school of Mahi. We had a blast. We ended up keeping 2 or 3 Mahi off the barrel but caught several others. We also had something bite the hooks off GP's spoon. What a day!! (See CJM's picures in the previous post....the sink full of filets was from this day!)

After all the action we took the next day off. We then fished the next two days. We had very good luck those days also keeping all we could eat plus some. The baits and the routine were similar with similar results. Even dropped spoons another time or two, but no luck this time. By the way, if you are ever unsure about how sharp a Wahoo's teeth are and how hard they can bite, you need to check out the spoons we were using. There were gouges in these metal spoons as though you used a chisel on them. I never fail to be amazed at what I see out on the ocean. Besides all the fish, birds, etc., we were entertained and surprised by a couple fighter jets on a training mission. They were flying really low. After the first sonic boom CJM sent me below to make sure our engines hadn't exploded. Afer CP suggested we were hearing sonic booms we were relieved to know it wasn't pirates shooting at us. We had another real surprise.

Our last day out we had pretty rough seas. Had caught a few fish but had decided not to go out too far when a boat approached us. We steered away but it kept coming toward us. Thinking "pirates" again they pulled along side and stopped. The captain told us there was a weedline about 3 miles out. I about fell out of my chair. Usually when other captains get that close they are trying to steal a school of fish from us. I guess all captains aren't a#$h&%es!

Another great trip. Can't wait until the next.

CTM

"AN EMBARRASSMENT OF MAHI, WAHOO, & BLACKFIN"

For those of you who have read the book....you will understand without any explanation of quantity of our catch. For those of you who haven't here goes.....

We fished offshore 4 of the last 5 days the Petersons were with us in Islamorada. Caught a total of 1 trippletail, 25 mahi, 5 blackfin tuna, and 6 wahoo. Now....this is what we kept. We threw back tons of skipjack tuna, bonita, schoolie mahi and toward the end even some mahi that measured! We sort of cringed when we did that but since we had close to 60 pounds of filets already we kept repeating, "How many do we really need?" Not sure who we were trying to convince!

I think this trip we saw some of the most unusual things we have ever seen. Apparently there were schools of sardines moving though our area and the frigate bird action was unreal. The sardines were balled up in schools that looked like a big green wad of snot just under the surface and the frigates were having a "feeding frenzy!" It was awesome! Something you would see in a Guy Harvey painting. And....when we cleaned some of the nice blackfin we caught around this sardine/frigate action they were filled with sardines. Here is a sampling of pics for your enjoyment!



To make a really long story short....we had a FABULOUS fishing trip, drank lots of Bud Select, MGD 64, Michelob Ultra, Bud Light Lime, rum and diet coke, rum and fruit punch, rum and lemonade, vodka tonics, margaritas, and pina coladas. Just before going through security at the airport in Key West there was a warning about swine flu and the symptoms. We all died laughing because we had played so hard the last 8 days that at one time or another I think we had all experienced these symptoms! As they say in the Keys....."We were salt cured on the outside and pickled on the inside!" It was time to go home.....

CJM
p.s. I will let CTM elaborate on the fishing details next....

ONE DAY AT MM 0...ALL WE COULD TAKE!

We picked up our good friends, the Petersons, in Key West last Tuesday. (Having so much fun haven't had time to post!) Naturally we spent the rest of the day doing what you do in Key West.....rum at happy hour at Cypress House, then on to Mallory Square for some entertainment by street performers while sipping rum (CTM got to be part of the show), some rum while listening to Cuban music, and finishing out the evening with more rum at Irish Kevin's. Those of you who know us have heard the story about being thrown out of Irish Kevin's at Thanksgiving I'm sure. I swore I would never darken their door again. But, just couldn't resist the music and it was a hoppin' place so it was our last stop (thank goodness) before heading back to Dave's. Did I mention eating anywhere??? O.K...now I know what the problem was...... Wednesday we had lunch at B.O.'s Fish Wagon before heading over to Schooner Wharf Bar for our Michael McCloud fix. We were told that B.O.'s 70th birthday was the day before and there had been a private celebration. A few minutes after we sat down we heard a guy say to the gal behind the counter, "I woke up this morning and there were women all around me." Tim and I about broke our necks to see who's familar voice it was. Well, guess who? PAT DAILEY!!!! He then mosied on down the street. He had come down for B.O.'s birthday party. We have actually seen him at B.O.'s a couple of times before, one time with Roger and Lanell. If you get a chance, be sure to ask Lanell about getting "up close and personal" with Pat! We made a quick stop at Margaritaville for a few purchases before heading back north to Islamorada.

From 2009-09-19, Feeding Frenzy in Boat Yard and Blackfin

From 2009-09-19, Feeding Frenzy in Boat Yard and Blackfin

Fishing report next.....and what a fishing report we have!!!!! Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

OH DEAR....

I just checked the National Hurriacane Center website and there is a big orange blob out there.....will have to keep watch on it.... Don't like it when they are orange.....

FISHING REPORT.....

O.K....so after all of the boat waxing and repairs and a/c repair we got to go fishing. The first day (Friday) was sort of ho hum.....we caught a ton of skipjack tuna but nothing to eat. Skipjack tuna have a real strong taste so nobody here keeps them or eats them. According to our "Sport Fish of Florida" book the food value says, "Dark flesh...good but not to most tastes." However, when we were in Tobago they wouldn't let Tim and Dr. Geroff throw anything back so we had to eat them. In Tobago they put enough curry on them so you can't taste the fish so it works. We don't care for curry and don't have any in our spice rack so back in the drink the skipjack went. Saturday we pulled out fairly early hoping to find some mahi. We ended up with a nice catch of blackfin tuna. Blackfin is sushi grade tuna so they are AWESOME! Here is a pic.....

From 2009-09-13, Feeding Frenzy in Boat Yard and Blackfin

Today (Sunday) we kind of slept in. After the Mizzou win CTM was so pumped he couldn't go to sleep until well after midnight so early fishing was not gonna happen. We headed out around 10:30. The seas were choppy so we had high hopes of a dolphin catch. Captain Skip Bradeen says you need some "chop" in order to catch dolphin. Well.....it turned to be more than "chop!" When we were heading out a storm blew up behind us. We just kept heading out and outran it. O.K....we were thinking we were good to go. However, we have XM weather on our GPS and we continued to watch the storms blow up and they were all between us and home. As Roger Long would say....GEEZ! After trolling for a few hours and dodging storms and no catch we saw an opening between two storms and decided to make a run for it. We were headed toward the Channel 5 Bridge and couldn't see it so we kind of hung out until we saw a break and headed in. Nothing but rain. We could hear thunder but couldn't see any lightening so that was a good thing. And....wouldn't you know it....we are now back in safe and sound and sitting on the porch having cocktails and all of the weather has moved on and it is beautiful and sunny! Figures.....

CJM

O.K ......NO A/C AND WELL OVER 50 YEARS OLD DO NOT MIX!

This is UNBELIEVABLE!!!! When we arrived on Wednesday we had NO a/c in the condo! Yikes! When you are WELL over 50 no a/c just doesn't work. I called as soon as we got here (like 6p.m. ish) and low and behold someone answered and said they would be out first thing the next day. O.K....that worked for me. I had to spend only one night under the ceiling fan with the door open, which in Keys heat doesn't really help too much. Thankfully there was a decent breeze. Anyway, less than 24 hours and$221 later we were back in business....PHEW! O.K....so we spent the rest of that day waxing the boat in the boat yard and got it finally put in the water late on Thursday. Well, when we got it in the water guess what.....the a/c in the master stateroom DID NOT WORK! How can this be??? It must be some kind of conspiracy I am thinking! We determined that for some reason the water was not circulating through it and cooling it off so it kept shutting down. To make a long story short...two hours of tinkering with it it is now up and running. PHEW AGAIN! I maintain something crawled up in that drainage hole and built a nest while it was in the boat yard and CTM says it could have just been an air vapor lock in the line. Either way we now have a/c in the boat again and CTM saved us a $221 (or probably more) service call! You know that BOAT saying...Break Out Another Thousand.....

Gone fishin' in my NOW air conditioned Feeding Frenzy III!

CJM

WHERE ARE ALL THE MATES?

Isn't the Captain supposed to be sitting back and drinking beer and shouting orders to the mates? Where are you, Caldwell, Matt, and Gabe?

From Recently Updated

From Recently Updated

CJM