by Captain Terry Fisher
August usually is the closing month for my annual summertime fishing trips to the Florida Keys. 1st Mate Vicki, 2nd Mate Moby Dick (Chocolate Lab) spent a week there a couple of months ago to celebrate Vicki’s birthday fishing for dorado and yellowtail. We had good weather and successful week fishing the Atlantic. I had not been back home here in Cape Coral very long before I had the desire to plan another week in either Marathon or Key West to run a couple of charters and to bring home some more fish.
It wasn’t long before I had a couple of ‘midwestern’ fisherman ‘biting’ to join me in a ‘last’ minute decision to accompany me on a journey. They arrived in Ft. Myers Airport late on Sunday night August 10th and we departed early the next morning for the four (4) hour, ‘boat-in-tow’ ride down to Marathon. I chose Marathon instead of Key West as I wanted to have the Marathon Humps as an option for tuna and wahoo if the winds permitted, not to mention that I have a couple of pretty good yellowtail spots. I rented a house with a boat dock for the week with a late checkout on the following Saturday. Perfect setup.
As I frequently do, we stopped for lunch at the Keys Fisheries in Key Largo. I wanted to introduce the ‘Missouri Boys’ to Cracked Conch and other lunch options. We got the boat launched mid-afternoon and was unpacked and settled in by 4pm. We loaded up on gas, ice, baits, food and drinks for lunches on the boat as well as other condiments and snacks throughout the week. Our plan was to eat our daily catches every evening.
Another adventure that we were considering undertaking was to use Bully Nets for lobster. We did one night time excursion in search of those spiny lobsters. We did see some but was not able to get as many as we were hoping for. Frankly, I found that most all of the night time recreational lobster men and women had their vessels set up with lots of lights to spot and net them and it gets very crowded out there. It was more of a novelty experience for us, as our focus was on fishing. I abandoned the lobster expedition shortly after mid-night so as to get back to the house and get ready to go offshore early that morning.
I was excited about this August run to the keys as I was accompanied by a couple of experienced fishermen with just enough offshore knowledge to work. They also had a desire to learn which made it better for a successful trip. Too many experienced fishermen on board can lead to chaotic trips and compromises over which ‘set-ups’ and equipment to utilize.
I was also excited to try some ‘old-school’ trolling with a rig loaded with a coated ‘wire’ line that I purchased last year to run baits deeper for Wahoo and bigger dorado (dolphin). This rig is much bigger and heavier and too much for my 1st Mate wife to want to deal with on the boat. It was used and the results were very good. As a matter of fact, we had more strikes on that set up than the monofilament rigs loaded with ballyhoo!
Tuesday morning, we departed for a twenty (20) mile run to troll and pitch to dorado in 600-700 feet. Unfortunately, it was slow going as the winds were blustery at fifteen (15) plus mph with occasional gust of 18 or so (not for the faint of heart) in a 26ft. bay boat. I am always a proponent of some chop on the high seas for better results and fortunately we did very well on the dorado and a couple of other species. Our plan was to go out the next morning and repeat but sunrise changed my mind as the winds picked up out of the SE at 20 miles per hour. I wanted no part of that! We took the afternoon to look for lobster locations and prepared for the lobster adventure with Bully Nets that night as mentioned above.
Thursday we were out at day-break with another successful trip along with a few barracuda which the anglers did not mind at all. Nice size dorado. Seven hundred and fifty feet (750 ft.) of water mid-afternoon, we hooked up on wahoo. I was trolling along with no birds or weed line and decided to back off the throttle and bring in the lines. About that time the long line (down the middle) started ‘screaming’! I saw color and knew we had a winner wahoo. Twenty minutes later it was landed.
Friday morning was a repeat for dorado but we decided to change it up for yellowtail snapper that afternoon. Weather had calmed down and had a successful outing. Our last day Saturday we again focused on yellowtail in about one hundred feet (100 ft.) of water. Took the catches to the house to clean and pack for the four (4) hour trip back to Cape Coral. Great week! The boys have committed to another week next summer.