Check out the hurtin my cousins put on the Grouper out west

Freddy and Hector you already know from the Reef Raider logs, now meet my younger cousins Kyle and Tyler and my friend Hector's daughter Kristy.

Apparently fishing skills run in the blood because these three youngsters managed to boat more than a dozen grouper in just couple of hours on a wreck about 25 miles west of Ft. Myers.

I don't have all the details because I was not part of the trip but here is what I do know from a telephone report. They left the Dock sometime after 7 AM; the plan was to drop a pin fish trap for a few and get some live bait but it was not necessary after my cuz Freddy spotted some Sardines, and being pretty adept at throwing the cast net they managed to load up on livies and head out sooner than expected.

They made the Run to the wreck offshore with nice weather, anchored up, and put out some lines. Kyle had his heart set on catching a Goliath grouper, and like Babe Ruth calling his shot this is what he boated.

Tyler, Freddy, and Kyle the Goliath slayer

(This Goliath Grouper was safely released after the Photo Opp)

Thereafter these youngsters managed to catch another 8 Keeper groupers, a Lane Snapper, and Mangrove Snapper to bring home for the fish fry. All in all a Great job by this next generation of anglers with some valuable tutelage from Freddy and Hector.

I was promised more pics and if they come I will post those as well, but this is what I have for now.

6 Reds, 2 Gags, 1 Lane, and 1 Mang

Kyle, Tyler, Kristy, Freddy and Hector

Correction / Retraction ;-)

Not long after my most recent post I got this note back from Jorge. Don't read anything into his tone, he is just busting balls, LOL!

"How dare you insult Bobby by calling that fish a Reef Donkey or an Amberjack. Anybody can catch an Amberjack that size; however, a Jack Crevalle, which is what Bobby caught, rarely are seen that big. We have never seen one that size in 30+ years of fishing. See id pics below. Bobby says to edit your blog or he will come after you with Internet crime charges."

j

My apologies to Bob for my misnomer calling his catch of a Giant Jack Crevalle a "Reef Donkey" otherwise know as the AmberJack. Truly a huge Cravalle, I too had never seen one that size, understandable that his Jorge would come to his defense.

Amberjack

Jack Crevalle

My Friends Can Fish Too

Check these out, two good friends of the Reef Raider, Bob and Jorge Interian and their weekend catch. I don't have all the details, so I will let the impressive pictures speak for themselves.

Bob Smiles as he hugs his Reef Donkey

Another View

Jorge wants credit for the catch cause he baited the hook for Bob

"You all know who really caught this baby"

38 Tails, 2 Mutton, 1 King Fish, and 1 Amber Jack,

not bad for just a couple hours of fishing

Another View with another Angler,

check out the tail in the lower left,

that's what we call a "FLAG"

Bob shows off a Bull

Two nice Dorado As Bod decides to let a friends and his

Brother hold some fish while he holds his daughter

Miles To Go Before I Fish

I'm back Reef Raider fans and have I got a story for you.

The Hammocks At Marathon

I reserved two days at my time share in Marathon for fathers day weekend, great little place just this side of the 7 mile bridge on the Gulf side. I invited two good friends to go along with me, the first is a guy you've heard me talk about before if you read this blog, Mike Murias of Migdalia's Awards ( http://www.migawards.com/ ) and more importantly (to me) the captain of Off Limits charters, ( http://www.offlimitscharters.com/ ). Like I told you many times before, the guy straight up knows his stuff like no one else I know.

The second guy is a life long friend, Alexis Cazañas, Principal of Coral Gables Adult Education Center. He's not a charter captain, but has logged enough hours on the ocean with a rod in his hands to be one.

With two straight up fishing machines on board I could not help but feel confident about our chances, and in Marathon which is a hot bed of fishing action, it all added up to a recipe for a full cooler, and we did not disappoint.

Mike and Alex arrived early, a little after 7:00 AM, I was already in the water waiting for them, we unloaded the few things they brought with them and headed out to catch some bait. I didn't find any really great spots for my awesome pin fish traps so I only put one out that I left overnight, we picked that up and it only had 10 or so small pins and a couple of crabs. A charter captain at the dock where I was staying told me there was a nice spot to bang up the Pins on the other side of the 7 mile bridge so we took off for that to see if we could improve on our live bait.

I had run around a little the night before when I got to Marathon in the early evening so I suggested that we top off the gas tank just to be safe (that would turn out to be a prudent move on my part as you'll find out). We put out another trap and anchored up to catch some pins, we worked them hard for about 45 min and we finally felt we had enough so off we went.

Mike has a great little ledge in about 95 feet of water that is loaded with Tails and other predators, and where I caught a 30lb black grouper with him the Summer before last, so that was our target. The only negative was that the spot was about 13 miles South West of where we started so it would be a little bit of a run but that a small price to pay for a hot spot.

40 minutes later we were there, but Mike had said more that once already on the way that he did no like the color of the water, “GREEN WATER” he kept saying, “THIS SUCKS”. On top of that there was little to no current, and a charter boat camped right on the spot we were aiming for to boot. We cruised around pondering what to do for about 20 min. Alex and I put it on Mike to decide what to do; he said he had a spot a little further South, and said we needed to run and find some Blue Water and some current if we planned on making a day of it. He did not exactly tell me how far it was or I might have objected, my boat after all only has a 30 gallon tank.

We get to the spot Mike had picked out and wouldn't you know it, BLUE WATER, and a 3.5 knot current, a little stiff on the current, but workable. Mike pulled out a Deep water high speed jig so I followed suit and tied one on myself. We both dropped down and on the first drift Back there goes my Rod. O! O! Bonito says Mike... SUM BEAC! How could he know that? Sure enough, a few minutes later the ugly sister in the Tuna family gets a Gaff in the tide to be used as bait later. We pull up the lines ran back the the near ¾ mile that the hard current had taken us and set up to do it again.

Yellow Tail Bait

We dropped jigs again, and Boom, I'm on again with my nice little Laser Eye jig. “Bonito again” I said “nah” said Mike but probably a Reef Donkey (Amber Jack). SHEEESH! Not exactly though, it was a decent size Almaco Jack, so we put that one in the Cooler for Benny (Mike's buddy who likes Almaco) and the Skunk was off the boat.

Almaco

We picked up and made another pass at the wreck and Alex had rigged a long leader with a pin fish on it and he let it down on the front end of the wreck. As we approached the tail end of the wreck... Bang! His rod rips out and he's got a fish on, all sign point to something nice. “COLOR BABY I got Color here” he starts bragging, and sure enough, he brings in this nice 12 to 14 pound Mutton.

Color Baby! Str8 up H Town Mutton Killa

We worked that wreck for a while and managed another couple Donkeys and had a few lines cut off. We lost a couple jigs and then also the bigger lead we had for that depth so fishing the wreck was quickly becoming a lesser option. In the distance we could see three boats with close proximity to each other and we decided to head over and investigate. As we got a little closer, Mike recognized that they were Commercial Tailers, and he was a little excited as the prospect.

We circled and Mike said the Sounder looked hot, he figured out the drift and told Alex to drop the anchor. The Chum bag went in and we started to pound the tails right away; Smaller ones really but with plenty of size to get in the cooler. We recognized that the big ball of Tails was feeding hard behind the commercial guys, but we managed to get some over to us. Mike dropped some bait down while Alex and I hit the tails and he picked up a nice Yellow Jack, and a little later this nice size Mango Snapper.

I took a break to look on the Chart Plotter, and the closest spot I had marked near us was EYEGLASS just out side Key West. WHAT??? EYEGLASS! Holly crap just 11 miles from Key West, you do the math; we started out at Mile Marker 48 in Marathon and were now just 11 from Key West. I got to admit I was a little freaked out, we were under a Half tank of gas used and we were now 37 miles away from where we started.

There was also a tight line of summer squals just to our west and I told Mike we should probably go. He told me not to sweat it which made me feel a little better but I still felt starting the run back was our best option, and Mike agreed so the 37 mile trek back to port was on; I couldn't help but to have one eye on the fuel gage as we traveled, and I made mention of it once or twice. Mike told me that when the needle says empty you should still have 5 gallons or so in the tank; a little mental math, some calculations as to how much fuel we were burning and I felt better, but not exactly confident. Well that is why I have Boat US unlimited towing, if we do run out so be it, call it in and get hauled in by some help is the worst that could happen.

On the run back we went over the spot we started out for earlier in the day and so a break in our run back to see if we could manage to entice some tails was the order. There was now a little current but the water was still Green. A few minutes later we were catching tails, none of significant scale, most went back in the atlantic, but we did put a few in the cooler. I put a Pin down but nothing seemed interested in it. Mike rigged up a Side Winder plug and boated a couple of nice Kings. By now the evening was approaching, and we called it a day, still with a 13 mile run and the needle about half way between the ¼ tank mark and the Empty line.

We made it on what I would have sworn were fumes, but when I filled the tank Sunday morning I pumped exactly 25 gallons, so we still had another 5 Gallons to get us home. I had never pushed my little boat like that, but I'm glad I did because now I know it's range. Actually pretty damn efficient, Mike estimates that all in all we traveled around 100 miles, and we never cut the engine off except while anchored up for the tails. So figure we were getting around 4 miles to the Gallon, which is pretty damn good, especially with the cost of fuel now a days. Mike was pretty impressed with my little boat as most people tend to be, and I was once again gratified that my boat performed to the call of duty.

Enjoy the picture, and as always if you have a few seconds, visit some of my sponsors, they pay me pennies if you click on their link and take a look at their stuff, and I'll get a check from them when I break the $100 dollar mark, I've accumulated almost $40, so maybe by this time next year I'll get a check from Goggle. Thanks again for reading my blog, and please feel free to post your impressions down there in the comments section.

Till next time...

Abusador Coño! LOL!

Full Cooler

Gutted

Another Angle after the cleaning

Line'em up nice for a Pic

Another angle

My Friends Can Catch Too

Well Reef Raider fans the weather and my schedule has kept me off the water, but I have some pictures here of the catch that some of my good friends put on this weekend.  I will dispense with the long winded play by play since I did not make this trip and I don't have all the details; but suffice it to say these guys braved storms, semi rough seas,  and a slow start to an early morning.  Still, in the end they caught their targeted species, and still had time to anchor up over some nice fresh bottom to pull in a few almost requisite Tails.  Enjoy the Pics. 

Here's Danny with his catch and the prize of the day

Same fish back on land (can't count Danny's ribs in this shot, LOL!)

"Hey it looks bigger like this right?"

The Captain is all smiles, after all he did put the boys on the fish

They caught'em but I found'em

Mundi shows them off

Check out the Tails on the left, the Captains favorite 

Here are the Totals, I see at least 4 Dolphin and 3 or more Tails, not too bad

Nice Job guys!

Friends Catch

Like I told you in the last post, we should have killed the tails at my friends spot offshore. Here is what Juan and Humberto caught in under 2 hours at the same place where we were.

The Mutton were not caught there, they were caught at eyeglass just outside Key West.

Humberto Shows off King and Tails

Mutton Run May 09'

Day 1

OK Fans the Reef Raider is back with more adventures and fish tales, and I got a doozy for you right from the get go. 

As you probably know I try to make a yearly pilgrimage to catch the Mutton Snapper which spawn during the full moons of May and June.  In the past I have been to Bimini and also to Key west for this yearly assault on that species, but this would be my first time doing it on the Reef Raider (my boat). 

The crew consisted of some familiar characters, Myself of course, my cousin Freddy, my good friend Hector, and back as First Mate my infamous Brother. We also picked up another angler for the second day, an old friend who just got back in the groove, Alex Cazañas.

We Left Miami Thursday around 1:30 and made the trip quickly and uneventfully, and actually had the boat in the water by 5:30PM. Since most of the day was gone, the plan was to hit the Yellowtails for a little while and then target the Mutton later in the evening.  We put the Chum bag in the water and it was not long before we were fishing.  Just peanuts at first, there was no current which is never good for Yellowtailing, or for any other fish for that matter, but still we had a bite. Freddy is always the sour puss and frustration with small fish and lack of current caused him to hang up the rod early on.  My brother (“The Mate”) doesn't fish so he maned the bait and chum duties along with the Camera. 

 

This is how Fred feels about small tails and no current

Hector and I kept plugging along and though the bite was slow and the fish were small we still managed to get 17 tails in the ice chest. Hectors persistence also paid off with a prized Muttton that we put in the 8 to 10 pound range. Check it out.

Look at that big Mutton and even bigger Smile

Day 2

This is where the trip got interesting, my good friend Juan Estevez was in Key West for the Mutton all week, and as good a fisherman as he is he also found the Mutton bite rather slow. He managed to boat 12 to 15 during the week, but when you are Mutton fishing during Spawn you expect twice that many in a single night.   

Anyway, Juan gave me some top secret numbers to a Yellowtail spot he has well off shore (about 20 miles) that harbors some exceptional Yellowtail action.  He and another good friend of mine Humberto Miret had fished there on Tuesday and had absolutely hammered the tails, and even had a nice size King to show off.

That's Humberto with one of the Tails 

caught at the Yellowtail hole a couple days earlier

Here is Juan (Papo) with a King caught at that same spot

So anyway, with the GPS numbers to the location provided by Juan in hand, the crew pumped to slay the tails, and another avid angler in Cazañas on board, we set out for the long run in my little boat, which by the way handled amazingly when you consider it is merely 18' in length with a 140 Suzuki and transported 5 anglers and all their bait and tackle on a trek of more than 40 miles and used only 16 gallons of fuel.

So we get near the numbers and low and behold there are two other boats there, one we were expecting, as we are aware that the commercial guys fish out here, but the other, a Dive boat was a bit of a surprise. We went around their bow, made a wide pass around the back and then moved in to find our location. The guys on the dive boat were waving as if they were not to happy we were there, but they don't own the ocean, and I felt that our distance from their boat was both reasonable and acceptable.

The Depth finder was marking huge balls of fish which we expected, and excitement was in the air as we knew we were going to do well in this spot. “Wait what's up did the current change?” “Damn! We are adrift, we must have come loose, let me check the rope and re-anchor if we have to.”  so I proceeded to the Bow to check the rope, and as I pulled it in the rope came all the way up and but at the end there was no anchor, just the clamp the ties to it.  I was a little dumbfounded to tell you the truth, I had not checked the clamp in some time and it's possible that vibrations could have caused it to come lose, but my instincts were telling me it was sabotage.  

The crew talked me out of it, which avoided confrontation with the Dive boat, but I still felt something was wrong. We were not there 5 minutes and after a 1 hour run we were distraught at the fact that now we had to head back without even attempting to fish the area. As I drove back I pondered the circumstances that may have caused my anchor clamp to come loose, certainly not an impossibility as many on the boat said, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. We had traveled about 8 miles when it hit me. Those sons of bitches had purposefully unfastened the clamp on my anchor underwater, and here is how I figured it out. See I have a Plow anchor (which works great in both sand and rock) the anchor much like a Grappling anchor for rocks has and eyelet opening in the front and another on the shaft or rear of the anchor. I tie the clamp to the front and then secure the chain to the shaft with a tie wrap. What this does is it allows the anchor to set as expected but should it become lodged in the rock, a quick engine burst will cause the tie wrap to pop and the anchor will easily be dislodged from whatever obstruction was holding it.  So you see if the clamp did in fact come loose which is possible, the chain secured to the anchor with the tie wrap show still have brought the anchor up. There is no way both fasteners would have failed simultaneously, therefore I concluded those Sons of bitches had sabotaged us.

Our instinct was to turn around and go kick ass, but we were already 8 miles out nearly half way back and we debated the serious repercussions that a high seas altercation could bring upon us, so leveler heads prevailed and we continued back to the mainland, but still fantasizing about running into that same vessel back on land.

Anyway, to make a long story short, we bought a new anchor, reloaded on gas, and headed back out to see if we could hit some Mutton. We fished for a couple hours and the current was absolutely dead. I had one good run while my rod was leaning up against the gunnel so I missed the bite.  Later I hooked into a nice one, but my line got wrapped on my cousin Freddy's and I was broken off.  We were super bummed about the circumstances that had befallen us on that day, but still thrilled with just being out to sea with friends and family and enjoying the many adventures we always seem to have on the  REEF RAIDER

Here are the rest of the pictures, enjoy

Sunset In Key west, What a beautiful site

Thats my brother doing his thing

Freddy with a tiny tail

Hector (The Yoyo Man)

That's me

Freddy Shows off Hectors Mutton

The Tails I kept

Take a closer look...

YES! That's a Pirate

Not a Somali Pirate,  a Key West Pirate

Look Closer!

Yes it's a dog, and it sat on his shoulder the whole time like a Parrot.

LOL!!!