June 30, 2008

My good friend John Ingersol from Ocean City, brought his family down to the Keys for a visit last week. They were totaly amazed at how nice it is down here in the summer, most people think of the Keys as a winter only destination but like everywhere else the fishing is actually better here in the summer.

John has two young sons so we went looking for Yellowtail. We looked around the reef for about 10 minutes and found a huge school of the tails. We droped the anchor and put in the chum bags and within minutes they were right at the transom in staggering numbers after beating up on them for a couple of hours the Ingersols got into the water with the fish and had a blast. John's sons Alex, 8 and Sam, 5 said it was the coolest thing they had ever seen. We posted the photos in our gallery - you can see pictures of John and his family completly surronded by thousands of Yellowtails by clicking on the link for Yellowtail Trip 2008.

We can duplicate this experience for your family, you'll definetly never forget it. Just give us a call.

June 29, 2008

We fished offshore twice this week, and slammed big Dolphin both trips. Finally the big fish are here and are here in huge numbers. We found the big boys from 10 to 14 miles offshore under birds.

On Friday we fished Tommy and Bob from Pasadena Maryland and brought home a 35lb and a 25 lb Dolphin. It was a little rough with seas in the 6 to 8 foot range, but even with the sporty conditions Tommy and Bob (who had never caught a fish) were able to boat the 2 big fish and had a great trip, we look forward to fishing those guys again!

On sunday we fished our good clients from Naples Florida, The group from Shoreline Flooring and West Bay Homes. We fish these guys and their lovley wives a couple of times a year and they are always a lot of fun. We started out catching some schoolies in about 100 feet of water and caught them all the way out to about 14 miles offshore. Again the sea conditions were a little sporty but the fishing was so good it didn't faze the crew and we whaled the fish all day long.

At the end of the day we had 26 nice fish in the box and a very happy crew. When we put the fillets in the cooler there wasn't much room for ice!! They invited me to dinner Sunday night at Castaways Restaurant were my boat is located. They cooked up a real feast. We are going to Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas on Tuesday and will let you know how we did. Until Later Tight Lines Capt. Fuzzy

June 2, 2008

Today was an extremely good day on the reef just South of Marathon. We marked up a huge school of Yellow Tails in about 70' of water, dropped the anchor up wind of them and ended up right on top of them. There was almost no current for the first 2 hours and all we caught were some tiny tails in the 8 to 10 " range.

Onboard were Jeff Rosa and his friend Steve and Steve's son Jason. Rosa has fished with us many times and charters with us at least 10 times a year. Steve fished with us in December. Around 10:30 the tails rose to the top as soon as the current started to run and it was game on. After putting 10 or 15 in the box the sharks started to eat us up. I put on a wire rig and hooked up a 100lb Black Tip or Spinner Shark which put on an incredible ariel show and one hell of a fight but Steve finaly won and we put him on ice.

The tails came back right away and we put 10 more or so in the box, until Black Tip #2 came up. So we put a hook in him too and took him for a boat ride. Again the tails popped right back up this time a school of about 10 Yellow Jacks came up with them. If you've never had Yellow Jack let me assure you this is some good eating fish, espically for Sushi. We managed to put 2 of those on ice in the 15 to 20lb range. Just as I was putting the second one in the box about a 15 pound Dolphin swam right up our chum slick. I flipped out a pin fish and we put him on ice too. We also kept Rosa busy all day dropping pinfish down on a jig on 20lb spin tackle. He managed to fill out the box a little more with an 18lb, 28lb and 32lb Black Groupers.

At 2:30 we pulled anchor and headed to my super secret spot for Permit - The Marathon Rubble Pile, courtesy of actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. Once there the Permit were easy to spot on the surface with their backs 4" out of the water. We managed to feed them some Blue Crab and landed 2 out of 7 that we hooked. One weighed 34lb and the other weighed 39lbs. After that we made our way back to the dock to get all the fish filleted up before it got dark.

What a day !!!!!! Until later Tight Lines Capt. Fuzzy

May 29, 2008

The wind unexpectedly laid down this morning, the sun came out and the fish cooperated. We were making a television show with Alan Warren of Alan Warren Outdoors, which will be played on the Outdoor Channel and Versus. We started the day in 97' of water on the reef. Within 3 minutes of the chum bag hitting the water the Yellow Tails were up and they were hungry.

After beating up on the Tails for about 3 hours and getting lots of great footage, we decided to move on and look for some bigger game. We moved in to 70' of water and found a great color change. My mate Bret Norris put out one of his " World Famous Spreads " and within about 10 minutes we hooked up with a nice Sailfish. Deana from New Jersy said she was up for the job and it was a fact. After 18 jumps and about 25 minutes the fish was at the transom and still raising hell - again more great footage and a classic release.

Next we ran 10 miles to the West and found a huge school of Permit in 110' of water. Alan, Deana and Bret all managed to hook up. We headed back to the dock to clean some fish for dinner. Alan said he got some great footage and it would make a very interesting show. I can't wait to see the results. Until Later Tight Lines Capt. Fuzzy

May 25, 2008

We left the dock at 8 this morning and ran out 28 miles South of Marathon. On board were John Bird Daniel and Ben Porter of Shellmans Bluff Georgia and my mate for the day Ricky Alford. We got the perfect combination of rig and drift and got 5 bites in 5 drifts. We landed one Swordy, and fought 2 others that we pulled the hooks on.

Ben Porter finally got to kill his first Swordfish in the daytime fishery. The fish we landed fought fairly hard on the way up and decided he didn't really like the surface once we got him up. After 4 or 5 tries at leadering the fish we were finally able to slide him through the transom door and into the fish box.

If you would like to experience the rush of dropping a bait to the bottom in 1700' of water and fighting a SwordFish during daylight hours when you can see everything - unlike when you catch them at night, email or give us a call and we will see if we can't get you hooked up. Until later Tight Lines. Capt. Fuzzy

May 19, 2008

This is my favorite time of year to be a charter Capt in Marathon - truly the Sport Fishing Capital of the Keys. Right now the fish are all gathering on the reef in huge numbers. The mangroves can be found in the Whip Grass and on the Patch Reefs in 20' to 40' of water. Move out a little further and you'll find the muttons in 80 to 130' of water on the hard bottom of the reef. They are also plentifull on the artificial reefs and the wrecks to about 250'.

The Yellow tails have been on the reef spawning all month and are here in awesome numbers with the largest concentrations in 80' to 90' of water. Tarpon are here in force and can be gotten at any of the usual spots such as Biha Honda Bridge, Long Key Bridge and of course Seven Mile Bridge. We're using crabs and Mullet. I much perfer Mullett over Crabs as I think being able to see the spectacular bite on the top of the water is the best.

Last but not least, let's get to the Dolphin. They are starting to pour through in good numbers from 650' to 800'. There are a lot of nice schoolies, heavy lifters and gaffers. We will be fishing alot through the Memorial Day weekend and I'll let you know how we do. We will also be fishing out of Bimini for the month of July. The fishing is always spectacular there in the summer. Until Later Tight Lines Capt. Fuzzy

April 29, 2008

It was a beautiful morning - full pinfish traps and flat calm water. These are just 2 ingredients to a great far Gulf fishing trip. Add great clients and hungry fish and you have a perfect day.

We started the day with a 35 mile run to a wreck in 30 feet of water on the gulf side of Marathon. We put in the chum bag and it was on! It was one COBIA, one after another. We hooked 8 and boated 7 releasing 3. The King Fish were also hungry - I was running 100 miles an hour between the gaff, the net and tying on rigs. Final score was 4 Cobia and 2 Smoker Kings in the box.

We left around 1:00 and ran to a wreck 20 miles towards home. We stayed there for an hour and released 2 Jew Fish, 2 Groupers and a mess of mangroves. The day was over except for a beautiful ride in and some good conversation with the guys. The group was a pleasure to fish with. Tight Lines Capt Fuzzy

April 27, 2008

We headed offshore this weekend in search of Tuna and were not dissapointed. We set up on the West side of the hump, dropped down our Butterfly Jigs and hooked up right away. The Tuna were in the 8 to 15 pound class and were hungry. We did about 10 drifts and put 22 fish in the box.

On the the way home we found a nice tight weed line in 700' of water with a clean edge and put out a Dolphin and Wahoo spread. After about 1/2 hour of trolling we hooked up and put 5 nice Dolphin in the box. Last week we found a big ball of tangled rope in the same area and were able to hook up 2 nice Wahoo.

We made our way back to the barn (Castaways Restaurant), to clean up the fish and the boat. My crew for the the day had John the owner of Castaways make up some of their fish for dinner. It dosen't get any fresher or better then that. If you like warm weather, great fishing and good food come on down and see us. The fishing in the Keys goes all year long, the bite is always on ! Tight Lines Capt Fuzzy

April 26, 2008

Fishing on the reef off of Marathon has been great for the last week! On Friday we went out in front of Bahia Honda in about 85 feet of water, dropped 2 bags over the sides and it was on! Yellow tail in the 3 to 5 pound range were at the transom in no time. We drifted back shrimp on 1/16 oz jigs (the good ones made by Mike at Z's Jigs). These are the secret weapon - the fish just pile on them. We were able to put about 20 fish in the box in the 3 to 6 pound class.

Up the reef further on the Rubble Pile we found large numbers of hungry Permit right on the surface. Again 1/4 oz Z's jigs and Blue crabs did the trick. The Permit were in the 20 to 25 lb class and put up one hell of a fight. I have found the perfect combination for these fish; Shimano Trevalla Rod fitted with a Spheros 8000 spooled up with 30 lb Power Pro and a 30 lb Flurocarbon leader. After beating up on the Permit for a while we made our way back to the dock to clean some fish and consume some frosty beverages. My anglers were a great group from the Naples Fishing Club. Tight Lines Capt Fuzzy