The charter left the dock around 9:00 AM we were merely 5 hours from our first fishing spot, so patience is key. Most of the crew lay down for a nap after the long drive from Miami to Ft. Myers; but not me, I just can seem to sleep, be it the anticipation or otherwise, sleep just does not come.
I did just lay there for some time, unlike Hector who could probably fall asleep atop broken glass. Mundi got some sleep too; it seems anything on the boat is cake compared to the 2 week old that is keeping up at night these days. Danny put on his headphones and sacked out, and Rene seemed to be able to catch so Z’sss as well. Paul is more like me; he lay down with his eyes close but confessed to getting no sleep either.
Finally at around 1:30 we had lines in the water, “a warm up spot” crowed the captain, “I Just want to check this place out, there is a nice ledge here and we’ll probably end up back here tonight but let’s see what comes up now”.
Bang! Two lines take off and both Danny and I are on with big fish, after 10 or so minutes of fighting we both had our fish boat side, and it was then that we realized that this 80 or so pound Goliath had swallowed both our baits and we tag teamed him. Unfortunately Goliath Grouper are banned from being harvested, so we released him back to the sea.
The bite was slow and we picked up lines and moved out another hour west into deeper water. We arrived at the next spot and soon the lines were tight again. Both Mundi and Rene hooked up on nice Red Groupers, both over 20 pounds, some Mangs came over the side as well, and when the bite died down we moved again.
That was our basic procedure, find a spot the captained liked pull out some grouper and some Mangrove snapper and if the bite died out for more than 20 minutes we’d move somewhere else.
We all caught fish, no one got skunked and everyone caught something they could brag about.
The only thing that troubled us the whole trip was that unfortunately Danny got sea sick. Not your regular type seas sick, but scary sea sick. The poor guy spent most of the 24 hours heaving, dry heaving and cramping. We never told him but we were all legitimately worried for him because dehydration can be a big problem 60 mile out to sea. Let me tell you what a trooper this guy is, Navy seal courage, the guy never complained, never said can we go back, and never asked how much longer, he even did some fishing while he battled the green gill. Hats off to Danny for throwing himself on that grenade while the rest of us selfishly fished; you better wear the patch next time bro.
We were back at the dock at 7:00 AM the next morning, the trip cut a little short, but we had lots of fish in the box, and we spared Danny two hours of misery.
Check out our catch, and enjoy the pictures. I’ll hopefully get to do some fishing here in Miami this week, and if I do I will of course update the blog.
Till then…
I did just lay there for some time, unlike Hector who could probably fall asleep atop broken glass. Mundi got some sleep too; it seems anything on the boat is cake compared to the 2 week old that is keeping up at night these days. Danny put on his headphones and sacked out, and Rene seemed to be able to catch so Z’sss as well. Paul is more like me; he lay down with his eyes close but confessed to getting no sleep either.
Finally at around 1:30 we had lines in the water, “a warm up spot” crowed the captain, “I Just want to check this place out, there is a nice ledge here and we’ll probably end up back here tonight but let’s see what comes up now”.
Bang! Two lines take off and both Danny and I are on with big fish, after 10 or so minutes of fighting we both had our fish boat side, and it was then that we realized that this 80 or so pound Goliath had swallowed both our baits and we tag teamed him. Unfortunately Goliath Grouper are banned from being harvested, so we released him back to the sea.
The bite was slow and we picked up lines and moved out another hour west into deeper water. We arrived at the next spot and soon the lines were tight again. Both Mundi and Rene hooked up on nice Red Groupers, both over 20 pounds, some Mangs came over the side as well, and when the bite died down we moved again.
That was our basic procedure, find a spot the captained liked pull out some grouper and some Mangrove snapper and if the bite died out for more than 20 minutes we’d move somewhere else.
We all caught fish, no one got skunked and everyone caught something they could brag about.
The only thing that troubled us the whole trip was that unfortunately Danny got sea sick. Not your regular type seas sick, but scary sea sick. The poor guy spent most of the 24 hours heaving, dry heaving and cramping. We never told him but we were all legitimately worried for him because dehydration can be a big problem 60 mile out to sea. Let me tell you what a trooper this guy is, Navy seal courage, the guy never complained, never said can we go back, and never asked how much longer, he even did some fishing while he battled the green gill. Hats off to Danny for throwing himself on that grenade while the rest of us selfishly fished; you better wear the patch next time bro.
We were back at the dock at 7:00 AM the next morning, the trip cut a little short, but we had lots of fish in the box, and we spared Danny two hours of misery.
Check out our catch, and enjoy the pictures. I’ll hopefully get to do some fishing here in Miami this week, and if I do I will of course update the blog.
Till then…
Check out Goliath
First 2 Reds on board
Danny takes a vomit break to pose for a pic
Caught this one jigging
Grouper smiles
I caught this one
Paul Shows off a Red Grouper
Hector, Paulie, Rene, and Mundi
Nick the Mate (He's Awesome)
The Kill
Line'em up for a nice Pic
Check out the 9 pound Mang
Line O Reds
Line O Gags
The Catch
Another angle 
3 Big Reds
3 Big Gags
The Team
Hector shows of a Red
Paulie is strong
Mundi needs to work out more, lol!
Like the cat that swallowed the Canary
Rene Shows off his Red
Mundi shows off his Red
Hector poses with a Gag
Hector and paulie with a mixed bag
That's me and my monster Mang
I did not catch this Red but I took a picture with it anyway
What I took home
Nick hands out the Filet's
CHEEK Burgers
Like Butter 
White meat
I wonder if McDonals has ever thought of the McGrouper Sandwhich
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