Week Number 5 and a Day

Week number five is on us already. Our time is drawing to an end. Time to catch some fish with Cal & Kate. Not so fast. Our offshore fishing woes continued. We ran to Little Harbour and fished our way back 20 miles or so to the North Man-O-War cut one day and then decided to try it again the next day fishing the opposite direction so we could cover the same ground at different times of the day in case that made a difference. We found weedlines, color changes, slicks and birds. All the classic signs where you should also find fish. No luck. We took the next day off to tour the lighthouse and move to Treasure Cay and let Cal & Kate check out one of the top ten beaches in the world, or so they say. I do have to say I believe it is the nicest beach I have ever been on, but you couldn't fish there so I was ready to get back after them the next day. We went to Stumpy's "can't miss" reef spot the next day and the reason they finally quit biting there the last time we were there is that we must have caught the very last fish on the reef. It was terrible. We weren't able to take Stumpy as we were moving on to Green Turtle which was a mistake. I know we were on the right spot, on the incoming tide with the same bait, but they just did not bite. We finished up the day trolling a couple hours and then moving on to Green Turtle. We had a great afternoon there, bar hopping and moved on to the West End the next day. We had a decent day on the reef there and then we said goodbye to the kids and moved on to Bimini. I'm sure the curse of the Jayhawk must have been part of the problem as CJM did let me troll along a weedline near Bimini long enough to catch one nice Dolphin which we ate on for a couple days, but that was all. One last day fishing with Freddie and a rest day and day 36 of our cruise found us on the way home:(:(

All total we cruised 1310 nm which equates to a little over 1500 regular miles. According to our trip meter our average speed was 10.0 knots and our maximum speed was 33.5 knots. I don't remember the 33.5 but it must have been one of those times CJM made me reel up and head in and I wasn't quite ready. Approximately 640 of those miles were spent fishing and 670 were spent moving from port to port. Obviously we need to spend more time fishing next year. One final note on the fishing, as we were approaching Key Biscayne, in about 1000 feet of water we came upon a great weedline, with birds really working it hard and a boat or two catching fish, I'm sure. I looked at CJM and she gave me a really dirty look and we drove on by:(

Today is the last day in Islamorada for us. We will finish cleaning FF III and getting her ready to sit patiently tied up at our slip for the next fishing trip. I was about to unload the charts and cruising guides to take home and CJM said, "you don't need to take those, we won't be thinking about another trip that soon." Really! While she wasn't looking, I slipped a couple cruising guides in my bag. It took about a year to get ready for this trip, I may as well start planning for 2012 right away. Let's see, how does this sound, Cat Island, San Salvador, Rum Cay (CJM should really like this island) and Long Island.

For now, we are both ready to get home. Summer is in full swing at the lake. Time to hang out on the lake with all our friends and of course see Matt & Jabet. But the most important is to spend time with Lola and Oscar :)

CTM