Florida 2014 Participation! II

A continuation of my summary of our week in Marathon, Florida...

Wednesday "Altar Ego II" or "Adrift"

Unfortunately, the wind continued and intensified.  Some white water was washing over my aptly-named shoal area, but there was a fair amount of action making bait.   When I landed a nice bonnethead shark of about 3 feet, which provided a single run followed by a dogged, if unspectacular fight, I thought maybe my luck had turned for the better.   But as I completed my photo session with her, I noticed the angle of the boat had changed relative to the seas; and then I realized I was adrift.  At first I thought the anchor had simply lost its hold, but in fact I had lost the anchor. I was unable to determine whether the splice had untied or if the line had sawn through on rough bottom, but it was simply too rough to stay; and while Father J had not shown himself on time to make bait, I got the call that he was interested in going fishing again. And, on the way in I was fortunate enough to see the only manatee of the trip within a few hundred feet of our house.

My first ever Bonnethead Shark ate a free-lined live ballyhoo in the morning.

Shortly thereafter I returned to the Atlantic side with Father J and Mom for some high speed (to me) trolling. I explained that we were "Going Big" and that we might get skunked; but that we had a legitimate shot at some mackerel; and if we found some Kings, they could get up to 60 pounds.  It was too rough to go outside Hawk's Channel, but by concentrating on the edges we pretty quickly went 2 for 2 on nice Spanish Macks.   It's pretty cool when the rod goes at 5 mph; the macks would provide  a screaming run before coming to the boat pretty compliantly.  Each hit a Rapala X-Rap 15 bonito  trolled on my Shimano Cardiff with 50-pound braid on a planer board rod along the 30-foot edge.  After an hour or more of "nothing" else happening, we tried drifting and power trolling live ballyhoo around edges and shoals, but (surprisingly) to no avail.

Father J tightens up on our first trolling fish...

...a Hawk's Channel Spanish Mackerel.  Another first!

This Spanish hit a Rapala X-Rap 15 trolled at about 5 mph.

More choppers!

Seas continued to build, and so we returned to get a new anchor and totally reset for the next day.  I knew it was simply too rough for me to fish on the Atlantic side alone. I needed to formulate a game plan on the Gulf side, and I knew I had to get away from the bridge.

I saw a pod of dolphins working a school of mullet in Boot Key Harbor on my way to get $100 of gas. That was pretty cool.  And upon my return, we all enjoyed a very nice family dinner at a fine local restaurant.


Thursday  "Sweet 16" or "Marathon Marathon"

Red 16 Marker

I had chosen Marathon as a destination in part because of the diverse fisheries and the opportunities it afforded to fish safely/comfortably in most conditions.  At this point of the trip, I'd rather have been building on experience than seeking new venues; but with the continued wind, I knew I shouldn't continue to fight it, but rather embrace the bay-side opportunities.  Although I'm more interested in, and comfortable with, the Atlantic side, even I realize I can only beat myself up so much. Plus, I had to admit  real safety concerns about being alone in considerable seas.  Fortunately, this day pretty much validated my choice of Marathon.  I picked my way offshore to marker "Red 16" spot by spot.  Despite the wind, seas were only a foot or so, and quite manageable.   I first tried trolling shallow cranks to locate some Spanish,  but it was quickly obvious that there was simply too much grass to continue doing this.  There was virtually nobody else out here except crabbers and dive boats going offshore; maybe it had been a waste of gas to come out here.  But when I anchored up near the current-washed marker and started chumming, I was greeted with almost immediate action.  At first it was pin-fish, leatherjacks and tiny yellowtails, but soon there were mangroves to be caught, small sharks in and around the chum bag,  and visible mackerel activity.  Other visitors included sharksucker remoras and hardheaded catfish.  I was clearly building a visible food chain with great potential for surprises.  With visible sharks, I swam a live pin-fish behind the boat for a couple of hours while I free-lined shrimp or ballyhoo chunks back to snappers and Spanish.  Surprised not to have any action on the livey, I cut the pin-fish in half and trimmed her spikey fins; and quickly found out that a 1/2 pin-fish is better than a whole.   Within a couple of minutes my bait rod bent over and the drag started screaming.  Several surface commotions and long runs interspersed with determined bottom hugging finally brought an approximate 4-foot Caribbean Reef Shark (I believe) to the boat's side.  I was super pleased with the performance of my SaltStriker/Penn  SSV 4500 spinning combo in handling/whuppin' this fish.  And I was even more pleased when a succession of smaller sharks and big Spanish continued to eat pin-fish heads, all while I continued to pound mangroves, yellowtails and Spanish on the shrimp/ballyhoo rods, too.

4-footer subdued; plus, I got the hook out, too!

Selfie with a 3-footer.

Another shark falls to the old half-pin-fish ploy.

Unbelievably strong jaws on these mangroves!

A perfectly- (if only through luck) hooked Spanish Mackerel.

After about 5 hours at anchor in the same spot, I was out of chum and almost out of bait.  I had a confident take on the last pin-fish head as I was cleaning up the boat and storing gear, and I was shocked when I led an approximate 8-foot (what had to have been a bull) shark to within leadering distance of the boat.  When this fish sensed the boat, it took off like crazy!  There was no way to stop it with 40-pound braid, and so when it appeared as though I was about to get totally spooled (with the fish having barely slowed, if at all), I locked down the drag and broke her off.  I saved all my line and I was further pleased to see that the leader had parted at the fluoro/wire connection; everything else had held against the biggest fish I'd ever "caught."

It was, in retrospect, one of the best fishing sessions I've ever enjoyed.  I'd have limited out on mangroves and Spanish (had I chosen to do so), I'd found the spot myself, made some proper decisions, had recorded several Firsts and Bests, and technically, I'd caught my largest fish ever.  Biggest aside, I'd have to say that my favorites were the Spanish on light tackle, free-lining fresh shrimp mixed with chunked ballyhoo.  Their cut-offs were a bit irksome, but simply part of the game.   (The cut-offs were somewhat minimized by bumping up to 20 and 25-pound fluorocarbon leaders.)  Given the amount of action, I was willing to tolerate these interruptions.  I also enjoyed noting, and taking advantage off, the fact that the better fish were biting further back in the slick.   Finally, I'd like to note that my Loomis steelhead spinner rod paired with my Abu Revo 40 Inshore spinning reel and 12-pound Trilene XL made a light, powerful, effective stick that was a joy to fish with.   My Shimano/Pfleuger President combo (so awesome for drop-shotting) was just a little too slow and soft; still fun, but a bit less effective.

I kept a couple of Spanish Mackerel for potential shark bait.

Of course, I chose to push things by continuing on the Atlantic side with some more  trolling cranks in 5-plus seas.   I may have had one momentary hit, but it could have been a crab pot.  As the afternoon wore on, I realized I was alone, in green water with no real offshore prospects.   But trolling with the wind was pretty pleasant,  and I was "doing it."  And, you just never know...


Friday "What Have You Done for me Lately?"

With one last day of fishing, I tried to repeat Thursday's success on Friday morning with A and M.   Conditions were very similar, but the day offered only a fraction of the success and excitement of the previous day.  And yet the girls didn't know that, and they were totally happy with the fish we encountered.  Wrasse? Mangrove? Pin-fish?  Yellowtail?  It didn't much matter, and while they enjoyed success with these smaller fish, we got sharked, 'cuda'd and macked enough to keep it exciting for all.  We had trouble staying on spot and in our slick (my bad; I need to pay more attention to specific anchoring details, especially when it's not my equipment!) and so the great fishing just never really materialized.   While I was mildly disappointed (I'd love to share an awesome fishing day!), they liked it, we stayed comfortable, and we didn't push it.

M caught this legal mangrove all by herself!

Mangrove action was divided about equally between shrimp and ballyhoo chunks.

M really wanted a shark, but we fell just a bit short several times, this day.

(Important Note to self; why do I have the least patience with those I love most?) 

After a nice ride back in, it was time for another $120 in gas; and to clean up/return AmyBaby 22.  I couldn't help but notice that the wind was now clearly fading; that my body was a wreck between lack of sleep, pin-cushion hands, 1000 cuts and bruises; that I was sun-drained, dehydrated and truly malodorous; and that I knew I needed a fuel efficient center console with a T-top in my future.  I also knew I'd had a heck of a week, even without the pelagics that had originally drawn my attention.  This was all more than good enough for me.