Sailor's Choice Fishing in Key Largo

    On the way back from our most recent fishing trip to the keys, Wenger and I noticed signs for fishing party boats. I knew of one, Sailor's Choice, that leaves out of Key Largo, which I had for a long time wanted to try out. So, before winter break ended, Wenger, his dad Andrew, and I, booked a morning trip. It was a relatively cold winter day, with high temps in the 60s. I woke up at around 5 am to get ready and head down to south Miami, seeing the sunrise on the way, so that we could all get going to Key Largo. Arriving on the boat, spirits were high. It was a beautiful, sunny day, if not a little cold. The water was extraordinarily clear and vibrant blue. We got set up with our rods rigged up with dropper loops, and we made our way to the first spot. Own the way, we saw a small blue-colored Mahi Mahi jump out of the water as it was feeding on baitfish. It was a good sign for the day and confirmed what I had already ben telling Wenger: the Keys are truly a fishing paradise.

    At the first spot, we dropped down our squid and I immediately felt some nibbles and hooked up on a fish. I reeled it in and caught a Sand Tilefish. A cool and colorful reef species with an elongated body, it was an interesting catch and a good way to start off the trip. However, after about 15-20 minutes, the bite was dead at the spot and we moved to another spot in search of more fish.

    Our second spot held more surprises for us. Not long after dropping our lines to the bottom, Andrew had a fish on. After a decent fight, he reeled up a Remora. This is a fish that I had never caught before. It was pretty cool to see such an interesting fish, sporting a suction cup on its head used to latch on to bigger fish like sharks. As if that catch wasn't surprising enough, soon after Andrew once again hooked on to what he originally thought was bottom. However, as he reeled it in, we saw that it was another Remora. The deckhands figured that it probably took the bait while latched on to a shark, hence the initial pull. At the same time, Wenger reeled in a Grunt. Before letting go of the Remora, one of the deckhands placed the suction-cup head of the fish to the boat, at which point the remora stuck to it. It was a cool thing to see in person after reeling this very cool species in. Soon after I caught one too, to make my 127th fish.

    The third spot did not have much excitement. We didn't move too far away, but the only fish we brought in was a Tomtate from Wenger. The whole boat wasn't catching much here, so it wasn't long before the captain decided to pick up and go to our next and final spot. It was an unusually cold day for south Florida, which we considered as a possible reason for the relative slowness of the fishing. The deckhands on the boat said that the fishing is normally more active on warmer days than that, which makes sense. That being said, we were still having a great time fishing together on such beautiful water on a pleasant day. And it wasn't finished...

    The next spot was promising because it was much shallower, and because of the absolute clarity of the water, you could see down to the reef and sandy patches on the bottom. We could also see schools of Bermuda Chub and other reef fish swimming by under us. As soon as we were anchored, we dropped our lines, eager to see what we could bring up. The colors of the water and the reef were truly stunning. I started off the catching with a Bluestriped Grunt, followed by a Grunt and then a keeper Yellowtail Snapper from Andrew. A deckhand offered me a jig I could use to bounce along the bottom to see what I could catch, and I gladly accepted it to change it up. After a few casts, I ended up with two White Grunts on the jig. I had my fun and Wenger wanted to try it out, so I gave him the rod with the ducktail jig, which he used to catch a grunt. Then the deckhands asked if we wanted to catch a Nurse Shark on the bottom. I had already caught one before but Wenger hadn't, so we gave him a heavier conventional setup with cut bait to drop to the bottom. Soon enough a big Nurse Shark took the bait and Wenger fought it hard to bring it up to the boat. It was huge! A very memorable fish to highlight a great day on the water. After releasing the shark we kept fishing, and Wenger caught two Chubs on the jig. After that, we kept getting nibbles but nothing that we could hook into. But the fight of the Nurse Shark and the many species we caught today supplied more than enough thrill. The boat made its way back at around 1 o'clock, and the deckhands filleted the Yellowtails that we kept. We drove back, very happy about our trip to the keys for this boat and excited to try it again, perhaps on a bit of a hotter day. However, while the cold made the wind when the boat was moving a little rough to deal with (I brought shorts not expecting it to be so cold) and the potential cause of less fish activity (although we were just fine with the amount we caught; it was a great time with some exciting action), it was pleasant to enjoy on the water especially with clear, blue, sunny skies. Considering how hot and humid it normally is around here, I'll always welcome a cold day like today - and if I wasn't fishing, I'd have wished I was. It was all in all a very fun and fulfilling day with good company and many memories made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If Nobody Got Me, Sabiki Got Me // 600th Fish

    Ryan, Wenger, and I have been fishing together, and while we've been having a good time, we wanted to expand a little in location and species. So, we planned to head down to the keys to see if we could catch anything with more variety or substance. We drove down to the Channel 5 bridge, stopping off for live shrimp along the way. It was a sunny day with a few clouds, and we were eager to start fishing. However, the fish did not seem to cooperate for much of the day. We dropped our baits down, but, facing a lot of current and general lack of luck, we weren't able to hook up into much. We would feel nibbles at times, waiting for a bite, only to see that the fish had stolen our bait or the school moved away from our bait entirely. Clearly, something needed to change. I went to my backpack and pulled out one of my sabiki rigs, tying it to the end of my line and tipping the hooks with pieces of cut shrimp. Figuring the fish nibbling at our bait might have mouths too small for the hook, and the multiple hooks increasing chances of a fish in the school getting hooked, I thought it was worth a try. I dropped it down with a bank sinker attached to the bottom, jigged it for a bit, and a few seconds later the rod was bending over and bumping up and down quickly. I reeled it in, and we caught a Porkfish! Finally we caught a new species, and it was nice to catch a colorful reef fish while looking out over the patch reefs and corals you could see through the clear water. I then baited the hooks again and gave the rod to Ryan, who dropped it down and also immediately hooked up with a Mangrove Snapper. It wasn't a new species, but at least it got us on the board. On top of that, it was my 600th fish - I'm happy to finally reach the milestone and looking forward to surpass it. It does make me think, however, about how busy I've been with school, away from lots of water, and how little I've been able to fish recently. It makes me sad, but I still fish whenever I can, and look forward to many more fishing experiences to come.

    Surprisingly though, there wasn't much after that. We caught one more Mangrove Snapper before moving on to the Channel 2 Bridge. There, we found more of the same, although we did have lots of nibbles. There was one time in which I felt a tug and reeled up a big, white round fish that seemed to be on the hook but came off right as it reached the surface. This really hurt because it seemed to me to look like a Permit, which have been known to frequent these Keys bridges and are on my bucket list. I guess we'll never know, and the search continues. I never would have guessed that one would take a sabiki rig (although a juvenile would be more likely, as this one probably was). The search for a Permit continues. Anyways, after that, we left and went to Robbie's for lunch, enjoying the great day out, the water, and the time we had fishing. My girlfriend and some of her friends were coming down for a trip, so Wenger and Ryan dropped me off at Key Largo with a suitcase and my fishing gear. Of course, they would not be arriving for a other two hours, so I did some quick research and made my way to the Adams Cut bridge with the leftover ballyhoo we used in addition to the shrimp. On the bank of the waterway, I found a spot and dropped my bait. There were people from different parts of the country there with whom I talked, sharing fishing stories and knowledge. It was a good time, and I was able to catch about 4 more Mangrove Snappers after finding a hole by the bank that had fish. I used a small, weighted jighead with ballyhoo to keep the bait closer to the bottom, especially in the current. I would also sometimes use split shot sinkers or an egg sinker. Soon enough I packed up and was picked up to continue the getaway in Key Largo.