We fished with John Brownlee from Salt Water Sportsman down here in Florida with the big SWS Sweepstakes winner Pat White and a few of his buddies.
Thursday we spent the day reef fishing. The winds were not really allowing us to do any deep fishing. We had a great time catching and releasing plenty of short Red Groupers with a few Black Groupers mixed in. The Yellow tails seemed to want to eat too. It was tough with the lack of any current but we managed. The big ones however seemed to elude us. Mostly 1 ½ to 2 pound fish about 15 inches. The mangroves I believe have made their move back to the gulf; we were not nearly as productive with them as we were in the last few weeks. Also, we had one of the guys work the old Gotcha lure and again very productive with the Ceros and small Kings.
Fishing group and crew
Islamorada Sailfish Bud n’ Mary’s Marina
Friday we spent catching a few snappers in the AM for dinner and they tried to do some Sail fishing. I had noticed them showering bait inside us. We putted our way inside to 25 feet of water and there they were, great action for those who have never seen it before. The first two fish swam right up to the transom. Andrew pitched bait out and handed it to Pat and they all got to watch the fish do its thing, nature at its finest. Pat came tight and off we went. We didn’t have much time as the fish only seemed to stay inside to feed for a short time. After a safe release I ran back inside and found another one, pitched out bait and got another release….perfect. We then decided to head out to some deeper water and try some deep drops for a large Mutton or Grouper. Unfortunately that did not work out. Now we slipped back in on the reef edge and tried for another Sail but instead we found a handful of 10lb King Mack’s. Overall we had a great time and the guys had LOTS to eat!! Thanks to John Brownlee for the pictures!!!
Islamorada yellowtail fishing
Sunday we fished the Ladies, “Lets Go Fishing” Club!! Had a picture perfect day….Sunny and Calm, however the conditions were anything but in our favor. The water temps were a perfect 79 but we had no current and the water visibility was near 100 feet. This made for lots of stops, which we made work out pretty good considering it was like fishing in a fish tank!! The Ladies caught plenty of small Red and Black Groupers and the Yellow tails bit a little, just enough to gather up a nice dinner or two. They also found themselves tangled up with just a few Mangrove snappers.
Sail fishing was slow at best today, the last few days it was very good. I believe the lack of current up and down the reef edge was the big issue as this means one thing….no movement in the water flow, no fish!
Captain John Oughton
