Big Hoo Catches Big Mutton

OK so next Thursday I am going fishing in Key West with a few close friends; one of them you are already very familiar with if you read my blog, Juan Estevez Captain of the "Why Knot", the others you will hear more about in my next entry after the trip.


I did want to let you know however that Juan took his boat down to Key West this weekend because he is spending a weeks vacation there next week and dragging the boat along with everything else required to vacation in Key West for a week would have been a much greater burden than taking the boat down a week early; besides, he leaves his boat down there for the month anyway, so...

 




Juan decided to test the water today (saturday 5/22) just to gauge how the fish was biting and what we could expect next Thursday and Friday.  His report was encouraging, 7 Mutton (the largest you see pictured, estimated at 18lbs). 4 good size King Fish, 1 Flag Yellowtail (22") and a couple good size Bonito which will make excellent bait next week.


Juan does not take as many pictures as I do, but they did manage to take this one good shot of Big Julio with his Monster Mutton, and another picture of Juan with his Flag Yellowtail.


Enjoy the Picture and I hope I can have a lot more for you next weekend when I get back from Key West.  


Till then...

-The Reef Raider

Rough Seas

This past weekend my Friend Juan Estevez (Capt. of "Why Knot" charters) invited me to go fishing with him next week in Key West for the Mutton run. Of course I accepted, and as part of that deal I was to go with him this past weekend to catch some bait for that occasion. 

The Seas were very rough as the winds were sustained at around 22 knots, and gusting to more than 25, but since the plan was just to catch some Ballyhoo, I decided to bring my son along for the ride. 

We first went to government cut but the Ballyhoo weren't there, so we headed for Marker 21 and it was more of the same; there was nothing to do but head for Bug Light and see if we could find'em.  The Waters at Bug light were rough, and there were no Ballyhoo there either but plenty of Pilchards; so Juan asked me if I wanted to go off shore for a bit and I can never say no to fishing so we loaded up on Pilchards and headed offshore. 

It was not smooth going, the oceans were in the 5 to 7 range with some 8 mixed in for good measure.  We trotted along slowly until we found a depth we liked and put out the Kite.  The action was slow, and we saw many boats heading south, but for us it was going to happen here or not happen at all. 

A big Loggerhead happened by and it brought with it a Remora who decided the Pilchard we had swimming top water would make a tasty snack.  Not exactly the fish you want to catch, but my son had a good time reeling it in.  The action was pretty slow, but a bit later we had another fish on the line, nothing to mention though, a large needle fish had taken another Pilchard and once again my boy reeled it to the boat.

 

We were getting a little banged up from the seas, and were considering calling it quits when Juan saw the Bill of a Sail Fish come up and take the bait.  The Fish made a hard run south with the current, then made his first jump to try to pitch the hook; it didn't work and he started running hard again.  Soon after the big fish made another jump, this time high in the air and in a rolling motion that managed to get the line wrapped around it's body.  Then the fish Spread his sail against the hard north current and headed for the depths.  Eventually he broke us off, but not before my son had some fun reeling down on him and I was able to take some nice video. 

Anyway, like I've always said on here, the crappiest day fishing is still better than the best day working.  I found out a couple of important things too, first of all my son is not afraid of rough seas, he never complained, never seemed scared, or looked apprehensive; on the contrary, he was having a blast.  Secondly, and most importantly I found out that my son does not get sea sick; if those rough seas didn't bother him, I think he should never have a problem, because even the seasoned Captain of the vessel got a little green while tieing some knots.

If you want to see some cool fishing video go to YouTube and search "Why Knot" and you can find a few fishing videos I've made.   

Enjoy the Pictures.

Till next time...

Target: Mutton Snapper

Welcome back Reef Raider fans...

My Friend Juan Estevez called me in the middle of the week with an idea to Target the Mutton Snapper because of the full moon and in hopes of catching some early spawners.

 We put in out of Homestead Bayfront and anchored up just outside the markers to catch some Pin Fish for bait. I put my Pin Fish trap in the water but Juan was a little hasty about where to put it cause he doesn't think it works all that well. I did not have the numbers where I always nail the pins so we chose a random spot and dropped the cage.  It did not go well and further managed to shake Juan's confidence in the trap. Luckily we Anchored up some distance away at another spot and managed quite a few Pins on Sabiki. I'll just have to show him the video of how it works the next time I loaded up on that Mutton candy.


We had over 30 pins in the bait well, some decent ones but mostly small ones; in any case we decided to get going, we had a long run south of Carysfort Light for our bounty, and the seas were a little rough.  We ran for nearly 25 miles before we found the hole Juan was targeting and soon we were anchored and lines were in the water.


I missed a strike early and while I stopped to re-rig Juan was on with a fish, He landed the first Mutton, a nice size and a good sign. Juan sent down a big strip of Bonito on a troll right and he was on a fish, he caught a nice Margate, they are good eating and always welcomed into the cooler.  I got my bait back in the water and after some time I finally got a repeat strike on my rod. I pulled in a nice Mutton and the skunk was off me.


Juan hooked a large fish that ran him too hard to be a Mutton, at first we though it might be a big Black, but soon realized that was not the species either. After a hard battle Juan brought up a very nice Yellow Jack; he says Yellow Jack is some of the best eating fish there is, but since I don’t eat fish I will just have to take his word for it.


We moved from that spot and anchored up again some distance north and BANG! Right away the rod bent over furiously, we were on a wreck so it’s almost a logical conclusion that when that happens, you are likely in for a hard battle with an AJ.  Juan worked the big Donk to the boat, and we boated it for some video while Juan took a few minutes to catch his breath.  We released the AJ in good shape, and not long after I was on another Donk myself; near the boat a big shadow came up from the depth and bit my AJ about two thirds of the way up his tail, leaving mostly head for me to real in.  After a couple of AJ’s and two exhausted anglers we decided to find another spot.


It was late in the day now and Juan decided to do a few drifts; we set up our tackle, found our bearing and made the first pass.  Almost immediately I had a nice strike, a great sign that the spot was hot.  I caught another nice Mutton, and soon after Juan’s rod was bent over as well.  He caught another Mutton and noticed that on the pass there was what appeared to be a nice ball of bait on the Depth Finders screen.  Juan decided that it would be a good idea to anchor up, but it didn’t work out and we had caught our last Mutton.  We headed home with a nice mixed bag; 4 Mutton, 1 Margate, 1 Yellow Jack, and we released a big AJ and sent another down for the sharks to finish.  OH Yeah, and a couple of Trigger Fish; my wife loves trigger fish, but they are a mission to filet.

Mutton Number 1

Margate

Mutton number II

Let's see what pulls this hard over a wreck?

Oh! Yeah a Reef Donkey

Damn another Donk (except it comes up Half a Donk)

Nice size Strawberry Grouper

Pretty Fish, and tasty I'm told

Friends of the Reef Raider

I like posting pictures of my friends and their catches on my Blog; check out these pictures of my Friend Marcel Moreno and his boys tearing it up inside Government Cut.

In his own words...

"All were on drifts in government cut. Live shrimp during shrimp run. During the cold nights, the fish were feeding in the cut because the water was three to 4 degrees warmer. Snook and snapper were a bit deeper than the tarpon and were caught on 1/4 to 1/2 inch troll right jigs with shrimp hooked thru the horn. It's been some of the best fishing I've experienced. Most nights, we hook up on over 12 tarpon. I went 6/7 on tarpon with the biggest being about 50 lbs. Also fought a 130 lber for about 45 min before 50 lb leader gave out on one of my smaller rods. We also caught many snapper over 18 inches with several over 20 inches. The cubera was also caught in the cut. I also added a cooling canal tarpon picture, Fish was well over 100 lbs."

The Reef Raider is back again

Hi there Reef Raider fans.

Well wrestling season is over and thus my fishing season begins. I had the good fortune this past weekend to go fishing with my good friend Juan Estevez, captain of the Why Knot (29 ft Sea Vee) and sole proprietor of Why Knot Charters.

The day started off great; we set out from Matheson Hammock and headed directly toward Bug Light to catch some live bait. The boats were thick out there as everyone that hit the water out of Miami that day seemed to have the same intentions. We found a bait ball and Juan expertly tossed his 12ft cast net and it came up big. With a loaded bait well we started a run south towards Pacific Reef with Snapper in mind.

The wind was blowing a little and the seas were choppy so Juan to an inside route closer to shore to avoid the bigger swells. 45 minutes or so later we were at the spot Juan had chosen to try first. We anchored just south of the Whistle Buoy, rigged a few rods and dropped the Chum bag in the water. We were targeting Yellowtail, but Juan also put out a line on the bottom in case any stray Mutton Snapper or Grouper happened by. We managed a few Tails on slow action, and then the bottom rod ripped away and Juan attacked the stick to bring in a Nice Mutton.

After several hours we had managed 9 Yellowtail and a Mutton Snapper so Juan decided to pick up and find some deeper water so we could drift a few productive ledges that he knows in the area.

We set up for the first drift and right away we were battling another Mutton Snapper. We picked up the lines and ran back to do the same drift once again. As it turns out we hooked fish on every pass through that area managing 5 more Mutton, 1 more big Yellowtail that ate a large Pilchard, and a Dolphin. I failed to land a rather large Sail Fish that ran off half the spool on a Baitrunner 6500B, and we failed to land a Slammer Dolphin at boat side for lack of a Gaff.

I must say that we had a great time not to mention a great day of fishing especially considering the chatter we were hearing on the radio. Reports from other boats on the day were mostly of people maxing out on Barracuda and Bonito but not much else. By comparison our catch was a windfall with a snapper aggregate of 16 and a Dolphin for good measure.

I did not take too many picture because I was trying out a new video camera and in fact made a nice video that is posted on YouTube, here is the link so you can check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuH5vsiKGT0 .

I do have a few pictures of already cleaned fish so enjoy those and check back now and then for my new additions to the blog.

Filet of Dolphin (Mahi)

Mutton Snapper

Bigger Mutton Snapper

You gotta check out this website

Hey Reefraider fans,

Unfortunately the Reefraider is on hiatus as my Depth Finder is having problems with the software so I sent it in for warranty repair.

Anyway, a good friend of mine Omar Chavez turned me on to this site http://teens4oceans.org/webcam/ggrp/camer1.html (copy the address and paste it onto your address bar and press enter). You will be able to view two underwater cameras with live streaming video, one from Bahia Honda, and the other from Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. It is really mesmerizing, I have been able to catalog at least 20 different species of fish, not the least of which are the 10 or so individual Goliath grouper that hang out in front of the camera leisurely swimming against the current at the Bahia Honda site. There are also many Permit, Snook, tons of Tarpon, schools of Yellow Tail and Mangrove snapper, as well as several different varieties of Shark. At the Fort Jefferson site, Snook and Tarpon are also common, but in the mornings you can also see thousands of schooling pilchards and other fish.

I hope you enjoy this site as much as I have, and if you have the means please order a Tee-Shirt or send a donation to the Teens4Oceans team to help fund their research.

I have added a link just above he most recent post for easier navigation, just click where it says TEEN 4 OCEANS and you will be directed to the website.

Till next time...

A Marathon in Marathon

So I had this big trip to Marathon planned this past week and it did not shape up to be anything like what I had hoped. Like the saying goes, if it were easy they'd call it catching not fishing.

Here are the facts, Full Moon in August (the Mangrove Snapper are spawning), in one of the best places in the world to fish for snapper, with one of the most successful and knowledgeable captains in South Florida (Mike Murias) and his 29 SeeVee, accompanied by two experienced snapper fisherman (Myself and Alex Cazañas) and one rookie (Mike Castro), fresh bait, 4 dozen live Pin Fish, and some of the best tackle that money can buy.

I had a two bedroom suite at the Hammocks in Marathon for two days of what I thought was going to be killer fishing. So we set out early Thursday morning, conditions weren't great by any means, with a stiff 15 to 20 knot wind, sea's 3 to 5 with a 6 here and there, and thunderstorms harassing us most of the day. Mike's SeeVee handles like a champ even in rough weather, and I've been with him in some really bad stuff so this was not a really big deal other than it made get situated difficult.

We headed out for the first target and when we got there Mike glumly stated. GREEN WATER, and no current to boot. Now come on, really a full moon and no current, not a good sign starting out. So we didn't even waste any time there, we ran to another spot and needless to say it was more of the same. We ran around for a few hours and didn't do much fishing, much less catching save for a Bonita. We ran back in to pull the pin fish trap for the night target of Mangroves, when Alex came up with the best suggestion of the weekend, "Lets get a Burger before we head out. So we found this place near the Sombrero bridge Marina called Burdines and I must say the food was delicious.

SO with full stomachs, some improvement in the weather to 10 knots and some renewed optimism we set out again. This time Mike suggested that we run North to see if we could find some better water and some current. We pulled up and there was some good news, BLUE WATER, however, there was still little to no current.

Lines went in the water and it was not long before we had a few tails in the boat. THe night fell and the Mangroves turned on, the short of it is we caught some 12 Mangs and 8 or 9 Tails, no the slaughter we (I) had anticipated, but at least we did not get skunked. It was nearly 11:00 PM and we had worked hard to get what we had and we were all pretty much exhausted. We headed home and by the time we took the boat out, unloaded the equipment, showered, and hit the bed it was nearly 4:00 AM. That's right, we put in about 17 hours on the water of hard core fishing.

So on Friday we slept in, the plan was to fish the afternoon anyway, the weather was much improved and optimism once again was ours. We headed out about 4:00 PM and ran south once again, we pulled up at the same spot as the day before and still the water was green, and the current was non-existent. No big deal, we were planning on heading further south anyway. We ran the 30 mile to our target and Mike and I immediately started Jigging. Immediately we both had bent rods, and things looked awesome. What ever fish I had on was big enough that it made it back to the wreck we were over, and I was cut off. Mike had a similar experience expect whatever cut him off had teeth. We ran back to the wreck and tried it again and again we had fish hooked, this time Alex and I were both on with fish, but the result was the same, some bigger and with teeth was taking our bounty. We must have drifted over the wreck some 6 or 8 times and had big fish on every time only to be bested but some larger predator. on one of our last drifts I managed to get a Bonito boat side just 10 feet from the boat when a large Shark (Lemon said Mike, in the 250lb class) came in like a bolt of lightning and ran off with my fish. Not a big deal, he can have the Bonito, but I would have liked to get back my Butterfly Jig so I handed Mike (Castro) the rod so he could experience a real fight and hopefully get my jig back. after about 20 min the shark was visible, but with one last thrash and a frayed line it took my Butterfly Jig and the Bonito and headed back to his Lair.

So we left the wreck with nothing, we decided to try for some snapper but what we found was the where the water was Blue and the current was Ripping and impossible to get the chum or the bait down to our target, when we found less current we were in Green water, and the fish bite was so off that we could not even get grunts to bite on the bottom with Squid for bait, really, that is unheard of.

Anyway, we finally gave up and ran home empty handed, but as always, we had one last ditch effort to save the trip. I advised Mike of a secret location that I have where the Lobster love to hang out, and though it was now 3:00 AM, we went for it anyway. Mike and Mike suited up and in less than an hour they had managed to pull out 14 nice Lobster, not to mention the 30 or so we released because they were a hair under legal and we did not want to keep anything even close.

I know I have probably said this before, it seems to be a common enough theme, especially when things don't go as planned; but the worst day of fishing is better than the best day of working. In the end we had spent some great hours talking, Ribbing each other as good friends tend to do, and battling the fish and the elements. Fishing is awesome, fishing with friends is priceless, and some of the best stories ever told come from the worst trips.

Till next time Reef Raider fans...

Enjoy the Pics.

OK Mikie here's a Shark, handle it (LOL!!!)

The Shark makes his run

Still Running

"DAMN!"

"WOW! I'm hurting"

"H Town Baby"

"ENTONCE!"

"I got this Mikie"

"Suerte Principal"

Still Running

Turned around and Realin Down

"It's almost over Mikie"

Three of the best people I know

The boys are hurtin

Check out the room and the equipment

The bugs that saved the day

Lobster on ice is always a pretty site