Middle Keys Fishing Reports

IM CHUMMING · Post by **IM CHUMMING** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:41 pm

thanks guys!

BRunner346 · Post by **BRunner346** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:46 pm

nice fish emily! lol j/p eeli is more like it! wish i coulda made it there with you

IM CHUMMING · Post by **IM CHUMMING** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:51 pm

i KNEW u were going to that warren.

PhishingPhanatic · Post by **PhishingPhanatic** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:27 am

Does that mean it's illegal to use wrasses (aka Slippery Dicks) for bait? The definition of "Ornamental Tropical Fish" is pretty vague in the regs.

BRunner346 · Post by **BRunner346** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 1:27 pm

Rijkaard wrote:
BRunner346 wrote:nice fish emily! lol j/p eeli is more like it! wish i coulda made it there with you
thanks for saying hi to me when speaking at the phone with Eli, hope to meet ya personally soon

yeah we can head down one of these days

IM CHUMMING · Post by **IM CHUMMING** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 1:44 pm

what i dont understand is.... why is it called "hog snapper" too? i always thought they were snappers until ricardo told me.

mikeypbg · Post by **mikeypbg** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:19 pm

Anyone heading down this weekend?

Perz Man · Post by **Perz Man** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:39 pm

PaulieBoy wrote:and tomorrow am going with Baitwetter and PA till Friday!!!!

damn bro your lucky!! 3 days thats awesome...im heading down way south this thursday, hopefully run into some good fish

PhishingPhanatic · Post by **PhishingPhanatic** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:41 pm

PaulieBoy wrote:went with PA Sunday and Monday and met the crazy canuck from Canada down there, and tomorrow am going with Baitwetter and PA till Friday!!!!

Nice, I wish I was able to get down this weekend, I think the girlfriend won't be too happy if I go out 3 weeks in a row though. I think a few of us are going to do a 2-3 day trip the weekend after though. Catch em up.

frentals · Post by **frentals** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:26 pm

PaulieBoy wrote:Gio and I already attacked ALL the chips they brought with them....bags were empty the first night! And for the record this is my last fishing trip for a long long time so I am going all out before I hang up my rods!!!!

baitwetter · Post by **baitwetter** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:08 am

PaulieBoy wrote:Gio and I already attacked ALL the chips they brought with them....bags were empty the first night!

WHAT????

You guys didn't save any for me!?!

Thats it. Your a$$ is getting tied to the roof rack of my van for the ride down!

No love for the big guy.

Perz Man · Post by **Perz Man** » Thu May 01, 2008 10:47 pm

Slow but relaxing day today for me and my friend in the lower keys. fished from 12pm-5pm using live and buterflied pinfish, and live shrimp. fished 8 rods with both top and bottom setups, but seemed as if nothing was interested. the water was pretty clear all day and it didnt have much current to it, but it was windy as hell. we didnt see much bait either. i heard reports of tarpon being thick in the area, but i didnt see any out there. not much action, but my friend did manage this jack(not sure whether its a yellow or bar)

hell of a lot better than the usual thursdays being stuck in school or work

PhishingPhanatic · Post by **PhishingPhanatic** » Fri May 02, 2008 9:10 am

Yellow jack...tasty.

Gotcha · Post by **Gotcha** » Fri May 02, 2008 12:07 pm

wrong bridge for tarpon go north.

Perz Man · Post by **Perz Man** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:16 pm

yea Phishing i heard they were good eating also, i'll find out for myself tonight...and thanks for the heads up Gotcha

Captain Stabbin' · Post by **Captain Stabbin'** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:12 pm

Hey guys the captain is back after a loooong lay off. im ready to get my rod wet once again

firebeforice · Post by **firebeforice** » Mon May 12, 2008 6:01 am

Perz Man wrote:
hell of a lot better than the usual thursdays being stuck in school or work

yeah, dude nothing is better than fishing when everyone else is working

Perz Man · Post by **Perz Man** » Mon May 12, 2008 5:29 pm

yea it was a lot of fun doing that while it lasted...now with school back, i'll have to wait a while for my thursday fishing trips

anubis10111 · Post by **anubis10111** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:57 pm

I went fishing at channel 5 on saturday afternoon, got there like around 3. It was hot, and nothing was bitting at this time. Like around 7 i got 2 lookdowns and 3 mangroves pretty big size, legal to take home. By the way there were this three guys fishing when i got there, I guess since the morning but i don't think they had caught anything so they were piss off. I feel sorry for them because i guess that they don't know that when you go fishing, there will be times that you catch and some that you don't, and if you don't have patience fishing is not for you. I also got pictures from the time i went to skyway fishing pier two weeks ago, but i don't know how to post them.

PhishingPhanatic · Post by **PhishingPhanatic** » Tue May 27, 2008 10:04 am

So I went down to Ch 2 for the day on Monday with one mission: to try and catch some big cudas and hopefully a permit to get some points for the tourney. I knew I was asking for trouble going to the Keys on Memorial Day, but I was going stir crazy and had to get out.

Got setup by 8:30 or so and saw some cuda candy swimming by. Quickly got some big houndfish over the rail and I was psyched. Freeline the first on the 6/0, a bruiser cuda comes out of nowhere and attacks it as I was dropping it back. Unfortunately he just ate the first 2/3 of it and missed the hook. Rigged another one with a stinger and the cudas would come up right to it, look at it and turn away.

At this point the tide had turned to outgoing, so I was fishing facing the driving bridge. The traffic was so bad that cars were stopped on the bridge, people were getting out, some guy was fishing off the driving bridge. I started playing around with a tube lure on a Stradic 4000 with 12 lb line. Big mistake. A monster cuda came out from under the bridge, grabbed it and took off under the bridge. Usually I find cuda's don't fight very hard, but this guy looked every bit of 5 feet and my Stradic was singing. I was able to work him out from under the bridge after 15 minutes, much to the delight of the cheering section on the driving bridge, but my 12 lb mono was just too frayed from rubbing the bridge and popped, in addition to losing the cuda I lost my only tube.

Turned my attention to permit, put out a spread of 3 crabs. Soon a reel started screaming and I set up, the permit took off under the driving bridge taking about 150 yards with him. I kept the drag loose as to not pull the hook, and stayed patient. Eventually he tired and unbelievably came back through the same set of pilons he went out of. Got him straight up and down and it was a nice permit, looked every bit of 20 lbs. By this point there were about 10 people who had abandoned their cars and were watching me, I was privy to important insight and advice like: "You're not going to kill that beautiful creature, are you?" and "Man, thats a whopper tuna you got yourself there."

I was the only one out on the bridge, and knew netting this fish by myself would not be easy. Holding the rod with one hand, I started lowering the net and maneuvering it. The fish did not like this idea one bit, and upon seeing the net took off under the fishing bridge. Apparently my line had frayed rubbing against the driving bridge and that was all it took. At that point I was feeling pretty bad, 2 nice fish, both lost to ineptitude.

Fishing solo isn't easy, especially for landing big fish, but my good luck doing so in the past caught up to me today. Bolo and everyone else fishing the tourney, you're safe...until next weekend (and I won't be alone!)

Oh, and the drive home took FOREVER. I left Ch 2 at 6:30 and didn't make it to Miami until 11:30 (Normally a 2 hour drive)

I got a couple pics I'll post later.

bolo · Post by **bolo** » Tue May 27, 2008 10:41 am

PhishingPhanatic wrote:Bolo and everyone else fishing the tourney, you're safe...until next weekend (and I won't be alone!)

Tourney or not I still would love to see you land that permit. I lost a big one at Tom's. I pulled too hard fighting the fish and hook came out.

Frogfish101 · Post by **Frogfish101** » Tue May 27, 2008 12:15 pm

PhishingPhanatic wrote:
Oh, and the drive home took FOREVER. I left Ch 2 at 6:30 and didn't make it to Miami until 11:30 (Normally a 2 hour drive)

I got a couple pics I'll post later.

Nice report PhishingPhanatic. Sorry about the bad luck. Dude, it took us 6 hours to reach Ch2 from Ft. Lauderdale when we went in January. That is what we got for not taking the tollway.

PhishingPhanatic · Post by **PhishingPhanatic** » Tue May 27, 2008 12:43 pm

Here are a couple of (non-catching) pics.

Horrible traffic...I wanted to get a pic of the guy who hopped out of his truck to fish but didn't have time

Decent houndy, fun on a 2500 Stradic

Cuda aftermath

Look at all the freaking cudas!

Frogfish101 · Post by **Frogfish101** » Tue May 27, 2008 1:23 pm

Dude, you have throw a ghost X-rap into that! That would be CRAZY!

mikeypbg · Post by **mikeypbg** » Tue May 27, 2008 2:52 pm

ARGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! Yeah Marcus, we shoulda gone there but then woulda been stuck in that traffic!