Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Fishing Biscayne Bay with the crew

This past weekend we had the opportunity to have several visitors in from out of town.  Our friend Chris arrived for a few days from snowy Cleveland.  Our other friends Jamie and Stefan came up from Key West where they live during the winter months.

Everyone arrived Saturday afternoon and we had a great barbecue with awesome steak, pasta and salad on the menu.  No fish today as the plan was to catch plenty of fish early the next day.  Weather reports looked favorable so the plan after stuffing everyone with huge rib eye steaks was to hit the water around 7am.

Early morning Sunday, Stefan's alarm on his new iPhone goes off like an air raid siren!  Clearly the most obnoxious sound anyone has every woken up to.  After getting every ones heart back in their chests, the buoy reports are checked and of course, different than forecasts, Fowey rocks reports East winds in excess of 17mph with gusts to 20mph.  This results in a quick call to the other half of the crew sleeping on the Hatteras to delay our departure until 9am.

Coconut Grove from the water
After picking up 2 boxes of Tournament chum from Crook & Crook, we head to Dinner Key to begin our fishing expedition.  Upon arrival, we prepare the boat and leave the dock, moderate winds in Biscayne Bay, sun and 75 or so, we begin trolling the channel.  This channel trolling always seems to be a good indicator of the fishing for the day.  This day would prove to be as the fishing in the channel was, very good.

Stefan removing on of the many fish caught in the channel
Given the wind conditions, we choose to go to one of our favorite Biscayne Bay spots versus heading out in the ocean and beating everyone up.  As we slowly troll across the bay, we enjoy the sights and sounds of the wonderful bay. 
Biscayne Bay - A great place to boat in any conditions
At the spot, we set the anchor and get the rods ready.  Once ready, we bring out the most important part of Bay fishing, the chum!  This stuff drags in the bait fish and the bait fish drag in the hungry predators.  We have noted during our recent trips that the fishing is best when we can call in the Ballyhoo.  This time, the Ballyhoo were thick once the chum had time to work.

Part of the motley crew getting ready for the battle! 
Not long after the bait arrived, we began catching the fish.  One of the first fish in the boat, caught by Vivian on the best lure for Biscyane bay (Rapala Skitterwalk), was a hungry Bluefish.  Shortly after this, the entire team began catching Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel at a crazy pace.  The fishing was fun and athletic at this point.  Two rigs were working, the Rapala and Cajun Thunder corks with salted pilchard suspended underneath. 

Me with a smaller Spanish Mackerel
So the fishing was crazy for a few hours, then slowly the fishermen began to tire.  Notice I said "fishermen" because the girls, Vivian and Jamie, kept cranking.  Eventually, Vivian began to slow twitch the Rapala, resulting in a great strike from a really nice 16 inch Sea Trout!

Vivian with a beautiful 16" Sea Trout
After this great fish, Jamie hooks into a huge Spanish Mackerel.  She fights it like a champ, doesn't get cut off and we swing it into the boat.  No photos for now but I will update later with the shots, great fish!

Vivian then gets back to the fishing with the same slow twitch style, she hooks something which is strong and different than the large Spanish or Bluefish.  This time, she fights and lands a very large 20" Sea Trout.  We swing this guy in the boat and get some nice shots.

Vivian with the crew sporting an awesome 20" Sea Trout!
So, we burned the bait out of the cooler, caught a few more fish for dinner and then packed it up.  Total tally for the day is unknown but we had a big job cleaning the catch back at the dock.

Now that's a day of catching!
Back at the dock, after giving the boat a quick cleaning, we broke out the drinks and fillet knives.  After the fish were filleted, it was time to chill and enjoy the end of the day.  It was a great day with friends and turned out to be a very productive day of fishing as well.

Not a bad way to spend a day!
So that was the day.  It turned out great and our new spot did not fail us.  More to come, next time it will be back to kayak fishing as the Hatteras is heading for Fort Myers Beach!  Maybe there will be kayaking and hopefully some red fish catching from San Carlos pass soon!