Sarah and I went out on a party boat (head boat, for you old timers) yesterday out of Islamorada, the "Sportfishing Capital of the World". The proximity of the reefs and wrecks to the dock was great; we only spent about 30 minutes puttering to the first site and spent maybe 10 minutes heading to each consecutive site. That made for a lot of fishing time over 7 hour day. We used the
Miss Islamorada. There were about 18-20 passengers and 5 crew, counting the captain. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people than we got on this trip. The boat limited out on Yellowtail Snapper at about the 2/3-day mark so lots and lots were getting released. Tons of White Grunts were being caught in sizes that blew away anything I had caught from land previously. King mackerel, Bonita, various Grouper, Red Snapper, Porgies, various other reef fish in bright colors, and 3 or 4 things I'm forgetting were caught. Sarah even got a 2.5" shark. The catching was constant enough that we had to just stop fishing every now and then so we could get a break for rest or food or water. I'm actually pretty sore today.
Yesterday (Nov 13) was the first day the boat had been able to run since 10/30, due to the winds generated by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Eta. The weather was around 80*F, split between cloudy and sunny, and had winds under 5mph max. Today is similar and I hope to have the energy to FINALLY get the kayaks launched at John Pennekamp State Park to explore the sound and the mangrove-lined canals.
Here's what you get when you don't bring your own gear. No telling how many thousands of fish these things have each caught over the years. Classic reel.
This was the pile of keepers for the day. It's safe to say that 3-4 times this amount went back to water.
