Captain Keysmon

Creek Critters

2012-02-09T14:52:00.001-05:00

John is holding a few of the large shrimp he caught last night. He shrimped with Glen and Faust.

What Is That?

2012-02-09T06:59:00.001-05:00

It looks like this halibut just ate another fish.

ALASKA TRIP

2012-02-09T06:49:00.000-05:00

Scott and Phyllis took a trip to Alaska this past summer to do some fishing. Phyllis caught the big halibut that weighed in at 135 pounds. The other fish are ling cod.

Shrimp Catch

2012-02-09T06:46:00.000-05:00

We got a lot of shrimp last night. Many real big ones for eating and of course many of them went in to my shrimp motel to use for bait.

Exercise The Keys Way

2012-02-09T06:43:00.002-05:00

Scott, Phyllis and Pat got a workout last night shrimping in the creek.

2012-02-09T06:40:00.000-05:00

Scott Reyburn holds up a few of the fish he and his wife Phyllis caught while fishing in Tavernier Creek Yesterday.

From The Past

2012-02-06T09:13:00.003-05:00

This photo was taken about 5 years ago on Guy and Sue Leekey's dock.

This approximately 30 lbs and 30 inch long Jewfish was caught off the Leekey's dock by Mason Leekey. Mason was very excited. Also sorry that it was a catch and release but understands the rules. He would like to thank the Keysmon as Mason said that the Keysmon was the person that taught him how to bait the rod. He cut the pinfish's tail to make him bleed and then hooked him. He hooked the grouper right away. Sue Leekey

PERMIT

2012-02-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

Captain Charley Best caught this fish a few days ago while fishing the backcountry with a few friends from Canada. It took Charley 30 minutes to land it.

31 INCH BONE

2012-02-03T09:15:00.001-05:00

I caught this bonefish a view years ago near the little island on the ocean side of Tavernier Creek. That area is now a no fishing zone.

HUGE MUTTON

2012-02-01T08:09:00.002-05:00

Captain Dave Perkins is back in the Keys and doing a lot of fishing. This snapper and a lot of other fish were caught by Dave and his clients off the Key Largo patch reefs.
Check out Dave's website. www.captaindaveperkins.net

Small Gag

2012-01-23T16:24:00.001-05:00

Today I fished with Ernie from Washington State and Jimmie from Pompano. Ernie caught this small gag grouper. We also caught about 20 snapper, all an inch short except for one 14 incher. It was a beautiful day on the water.

Harper Lake Pike

2012-01-22T20:49:00.000-05:00

Captain Bob Randell did some cold weather fishing off his deck and caught two nice pike. Bob should be making his way down to the Keys in another month or so to do some warm weather fishing.

Captain Dave Perkins

2012-01-22T20:31:00.002-05:00

Captain Dave Perkins is back in the Keys for a few months and is lining up quite a few charters. If you want to have a good experience fishing the backcountry or offshore give Dave a call at 305-298-6932
In the top photo Dave is holding a flag yellow tail he caught a few days ago.
The middle photo is of Dan from Homestead Air force Base and his Dad holding a few of the many trout they caught fishing Flimingo with Captain Perkins.
The bottom photo is a snook that was caught on a backcountry trip today.
Check out Dave's site www.captaindaveperkins.net

25 POUND GROUPER

2012-01-20T16:39:00.001-05:00

Captain Glen Warrington caught this black grouper while fishing aboard "WAHOO VIII with Captain Gus Ramirez and Captain Carlos. Grouper season is closed right now so he had to put this beauty back.

Girl"s Charter

2012-01-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

First Mates Norma Warrington and Sonia Ramirez show off their catch of mahi, kingfish and a large mutton snapper.

Snook Master

2012-01-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

Captain Glenn Warington aka the snook master is back in the Keys. The captain developed a new method for catching snook last year and it worked very well. Hopefully it will work this year also.

Cold Weather Fishing

2012-01-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

Bob Randall is holding a 9 pound coho salmon and a 9 pound steel head he caught on New Years Day.
The ice fishing will be starting as soon as the lakes freeze up.

KING FISH

2012-01-02T11:41:00.000-05:00

Capt Gus is holding a 30 pound king fish he caught the other day.

Patch Reef Snapper

2011-12-31T17:26:00.000-05:00

Ian and Roy from Aberdeen Court caught their New Year's Eve dinner today. They rented a boat at Snappers and fished the patch reefs. They caught a lot of fish including all kinds of under sized grouper. By the way, today was the last day you can keep grouper for a few months.

MASON

2011-12-31T15:26:00.001-05:00

Mason Leekey got to try out his new spear gun today while diving with his dad Jerry and Jerry's friend Joe. He speared 6 hogs and also netted a lobster.

Smoked King Fish

2011-12-31T13:07:00.000-05:00

The king fish is done but it doesn't look as pretty after I took it off the grille. It stuck to the grille and got a little messed up, but it tastes good.

Gotta Go Catch

2011-12-31T12:31:00.001-05:00

Captain Gus Ramirez and Captain Jimmy Canata had a busy day yesterday catching a few king fish and a mess of dolphin. They fished aboard Jimmy's Contender "Gotta Go." Gus caught the 30 pound king fish which I have in my smoker right now.

11 Pound Steelhead

2011-12-27T15:28:00.000-05:00

Big Fish Bob Randall went fishing Christmas Day and caught this 11 pound Steelhead.

Gag Grouper

2011-12-22T10:36:00.000-05:00

Gary Salyers Jr. from Camelot and his friend hold up a few Gag Grouper they caught recently.

Oh No!!!

2011-12-22T10:22:00.005-05:00

Look what Gary Salyers and his son netted in Gary's canal on Westminster. A Lion Fish. The Lion Fish has invaded our reefs and now our canals.

Pretty much everything about the venomous lion fish—its red-and-white zebra stripes, long, showy pectoral fins, and generally cantankerous demeanor—says, "Don't touch!"

The venom of the lionfish, delivered via an array of up to 18 needle-like dorsal fins, is purely defensive. It relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to capture prey, mainly fish and shrimp. A sting from a lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal.

Lionfish, also called turkey fish, dragon fish and scorpion fish, are native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific, although they've found their way to warm ocean habitats worldwide.

The largest of lionfish can grow to about 15 inches (0.4 meters) in length, but the average is closer to 1 foot (0.3 meters).

Lionfish are popular in some parts of the world as food, but are far more prized in the aquarium trade. Their population numbers are healthy and their distribution is growing, causing some concerned in the United States, where some feel the success of this non-indigenous species presents human and environmental dangers. From National Geographic

Big Snapper

2011-12-19T19:26:00.000-05:00

Young Peter Anthony caught a very nice snapper off his grandfather Captain Gus Ramirez's dock. Peter is off from school for the Christmas holidays and is spending some time with his grandparents, Sonia and Gus.

Captain Roger

2011-12-08T12:24:00.006-05:00

Captain Roger Dominquez from Aberdeen Court fished with son Roger and neighbor Rick yesterday and had a great half-day of fishing.

A LOT OF FISH

2011-12-08T12:17:00.002-05:00

My son Roger R, neighbor Rick Geer and myself had a great 1/2 day on my boat. Were back on the dock by 1:00 PM with a great load of fish. The largest wahoo was 51 pounds.
Roger

WAHOO

2011-11-30T08:13:00.001-05:00

Seven year old Twins Cameron and Riley are holding a 30 pound wahoo that Cameron caught on a 15 pound test line. It took him a long time to land it but he got the job done. Nice work boys!

2011-11-30T08:07:00.001-05:00

Captain Chip Massa from Cromwell Court holds up a big mutton snapper he caught while fishing off of Pompano.

KOI

2011-11-27T14:04:00.000-05:00

Hi,
This is a 17 inch koi fish that was killed in our pond that we think was speared in the head by a great blue heron. The fish was about 7 years old. And no we didn't have him for dinner!!!!
Glenn

I can't believe you didn't eat it, they taste just like pinfish.

Stone Crabs

2011-11-27T13:54:00.001-05:00

Captain Eddie Feaster and I pulled traps yesterday and got a nice bunch of jumbo claws. In the picture Eddie is giving a lesson on how to remove the claws without killing the crab. You can remove both claws if they are legal size claws. This crab will grow new claws by next year.

Guest Blogger Molly

2011-11-20T17:40:00.000-05:00

This is Shelly, a hermit crab. My nanny found this in the drive way. I am going to keep it as a pet. I hope we can bring it on the airplane. Molly

Molly and Elvis

2011-11-20T16:40:00.002-05:00

My grandaughter Molly O'Rourke went swimming with the dolphins today at Dolphin Cove in Key Largo. She even managed to get a kiss from Elvis.

Jumbo Claw

2011-11-06T19:02:00.000-05:00

Pat is holding one of the seven claws that Eddie and I got today. We got seven claws out of four traps and none out of the first five traps. One trap went missing.

Stone Crabs

2011-10-16T17:21:00.000-04:00

Eddie and I braved rain ,wind and rough seas today to get our stone crab traps into the water. We hope it is a good season.

Many Mahi

2011-10-12T15:34:00.004-04:00

Gary Salyers and his son and friends had a nice catch of dolphin the other day. Gary has been dolphin fishing for a long time and said this was one of the best fishing days ever.

Big One

2011-10-12T15:34:00.000-04:00

This was probably a 30 pounder.

DOLPHIN

2011-10-12T15:32:00.002-04:00

The Big Boy

2011-10-11T22:36:00.000-04:00

I forgot my camera and had to take this with my phone and use the spotlight as a flash.

On The Way Out

2011-10-11T22:32:00.001-04:00

It was a beautiful night on the water. The water was like glass and we knew we would see some lobster. Afer 10 minutes one of our underwater lights went out so we had to spend the rest of the night with only one light. That means we were only able to see into the water on one side of the boat, so who knows how many we did not see because of no light.

1/4 Bucket of Lobster

2011-10-11T22:26:00.000-04:00

Big Boy

2011-10-11T22:24:00.001-04:00

It took Pat and I 20 minutes to get this big boy, but we finally got him. We had a good night. We got 4 lobster but missed another 4 or 5. The water is very high in our favorite area and it makes it tough to hold the net over them and then poke them.
The big boy was so big that the bully net was keeping his antenna and tail pinned down so he could not get locked in.
And yes, the small one was legal size.

MAHI

2011-10-01T22:32:00.001-04:00

My nephews John {top photo} and James {bottom} did some mahi fishing last week in the Dominican Republic.

FULL RACK

2011-10-01T16:50:00.001-04:00

Captian Gus Ramirez had a real good day aboard his "Wahoo Vlll". He fished with Captain Carlos and Adelky. They found a large tree floating and decided to try trolling for wahoo because they already had their mahi limit. They got six wahoo and 30 mahi.

WAHOO

2011-09-30T20:37:00.001-04:00

Captains Gus and Carlos along with Adelky went out about 24 miles Thursday aboard "Wahoo Vlll and caught 30 mahi and 6 wahoo. The biggest wahoo was 32 pounds.

COUSINS

2011-09-30T15:38:00.003-04:00

My cousins, Jerry on the left and his brother Pete on the right came to visit for a few days. We did some bully netting last night with no luck and today we went to the Hens & Chickens Reef but there were so many jelly fish we couldn't snorkel. Then we went out to Davis Reef and the water was crystal clear with no jelly fish but plenty of fish of all different sizes and color

Half of a Bucket of Lobster

2011-09-27T21:34:00.000-04:00

Six Lobster

2011-09-27T21:31:00.001-04:00

Pat and I went bully netting tonight and caught these six lobster. We could have got more but the lightning sent us home.

250 Pounds of Salmon

2011-09-26T20:14:00.000-04:00

Steve Rogers Bob Randall Bill Knowles

This pictures reminds me of the night on Tavernier Creek a few years back fishing with these guys on the "FISHING MACHINE".

2011-09-25T12:41:00.000-04:00

Hey Dave,

Went out fishing yesterday offshore from Red fish Pass, caught twelve gag grouper no keeper (didnt have the Dave look), on the way back we put out some trolling rods, and caught this King fish. Waiting for you to catch the keepers.
Ray

Shark Daddy

2011-09-20T12:21:00.001-04:00

Shark Daddy Gary Humfleet also known as "The Shark Whisperer" stands next to his big red sled.

Big Cohos

2011-09-20T12:18:00.001-04:00

Big Fish Bob Randall and is Brennen O'Keefe hold up some coho they caught in the Big Manistee River. Bob's fish weighed in at 20 pounds, Brennan 8 pounds. Big Fish says the salmon are monsters this year.

HOG KING SALMON

2011-09-13T08:40:00.000-04:00

Bob and Nancy Randall's nephew Joey caught this 23lb King Salmon today on the Big Manistee River. It is his 16th birthday tomorrow so he got his birthday fish and a whopper at that. Uncle Big Fish was the captain and Megan the first mate. Two 16 year old kids in the family now!

KING SALMON

2011-09-10T09:33:00.000-04:00

Big Fish Bob Randall caught these 14 and 17 pound king salmon on the Big Manistee River.

2011-09-06T12:44:00.001-04:00

This 34 inch redfish was caught near Marco Island by Larry Poling.

WOW

2011-09-06T12:24:00.000-04:00

Big Fish Bob Randall holds up this monster salmon he caught yesterday.

BIG TROUT???

2011-09-06T12:18:00.000-04:00

My cousin Judy won the pool with the first trout of the day even though it was a mini-trout.

1ST LOBSTER

2011-09-04T12:48:00.001-04:00

Tyler Krotenberg from Aberdeen Court tries handling his first lobster under the watchful eyes of his grandfather Jerry

DIVERS

2011-09-04T12:44:00.001-04:00

When Jerry and Bert aren't in the air flying they are under the water spearing fish. They caught these two grouper and four hogs in 40 feet of water near Conche Reef.

2011-08-18T07:22:00.002-04:00

Two couples, the Phillips family and the Sannasardo fasmily from Edgewater, Florida, caught 96 keeper bugs over a week long trip to the Keys. They were bully netting in an 18' boat Beaver Tail Flats Boat.

2011-08-13T14:36:00.000-04:00

When Jerry Leekey wants dinner he just dives off his dock and comes up with enough lobster to feed 9 people.

2011-08-12T23:03:00.000-04:00

Bob and Ted from Bristol Court hold up a few of the dolphin they caught. They also caught a few tuna.

Big Red

2011-08-05T10:52:00.000-04:00

Captain Eddie Pinera holds up a nice red he caught in Cape Coral.

Baby Snook

2011-08-05T10:21:00.000-04:00

Ray and I went fishing and we were one minute from his house and I caught this baby snook.

Monster Snook

2011-08-05T10:19:00.001-04:00

We were fishing in Cape Coral last week and Ray's friend Eddie sent me this picture of a snook that his friend Larry Polling caught. Captain Polling is about 6'6" tall, so you can judge how big that fish is.

Cobia

2011-07-23T14:19:00.000-04:00

Pam and Mike from Bristol Court went offshore last week on their 27 foot Grady White. They fished the reefs and caught a mixed bag with Pam hooking this 40 pound cobia.

Sailfish

2011-07-19T17:09:00.002-04:00

Jim Degranrut went out for dolphin today and caught this nice sailfish just north of the hump.

Steelhead

2011-07-19T16:54:00.000-04:00

Big Fish Bob Randall caught this 10 pound steelhead somewhere in Michigan. I will have to find out where.

MANGROVES and NURSE SHARKS

2011-07-13T14:22:00.003-04:00

Jerry Leekey and his friend Bert did some spear fishing yesterday and caught these two snappers and one other before they were run off by a 5 foot nurse shark.
Bert had speared a snapper when a nurse shark charged him and grabbed on to the fish and started violently shaking it with the spear still attached. Bert grabbed for his knife but dropped it while trying to hold on to the spear. He then accidently knocked his regulator off and put the emergency regulator on ( I am not to sure of that wording because I don't know anything about dive gear and I got this story second hand from Jerry's mom Sue), anyway the shark left Bert and then attacked Jerry even though Jerry had no fish. Jerry poked the shark in the nose and it finally backed off. Bert and Jerry then called it a day.
Navy Seals 0
Nurse Shark 1
PS Bert didn't go back for his knife.

Yellowtail

2011-07-13T13:12:00.001-04:00

Mike and Gregg went out for yellowtail today aboard their 27 foot Grady White and caught a few yellowtail snapper. That is Mike cleaning the boat and Gregg cleaning the fish.

40 POUND BULL

2011-07-12T16:41:00.002-04:00

Captain Gus and Captain Carlos went 27 miles offshore today and caught a few dolphin including this 40 pound bull.

Cape Coral Fish

2011-07-11T13:50:00.000-04:00

My cousin Ray who now lives in Cape Coral, FL on the west coast caught these fish in Pine Island Sound. Pat and I are making a trip over there soon. Ray promised to put us onto some big reds and some gator trout.

PIN FISH

2011-07-05T07:54:00.000-04:00

Jean's cousin Nic holds up a Pin Fish he caught off Don and Jean's dock. Cool glasses Nic.

Happy Birthday

2011-07-04T10:52:00.000-04:00

Ladyfish

2011-07-03T17:36:00.000-04:00

My cousin Ray and I went out again today and Ray caught this Ladyfish on the first cast. That was it.

REDFISH

2011-07-03T17:33:00.000-04:00

Bobby Supel's son-in-law Dylan holds up this 26 inch Redfish he caught off Bob's dock in Flagler Beach. It is called a Spotted Bass in Antigua where Dylan grew up.

FROM THE PAST

2011-07-03T17:17:00.001-04:00

About six years ago one of my favorite fishing holes was being terrorized by this Barracuda. Every time we would catch a Snapper this Barracuda would come out from under my boat and grab my fish sometimes when the fish was in mid air being lifted onto the boat. On one occasion he just missed jumping into the boat while Pat was pulling in a fish. After a few days of this I had enough so I called in the Barracuda Hunter, Captain Gus Ramirez from Bristol Court.
We set out to get him on a Friday morning and had him hooked right away but he fought for about twenty minutes when the line finally broke. We went back on Monday and hooked him again and after a thirty minute fight we got him to the boat.

Trout

2011-07-02T16:28:00.001-04:00

My cousin Ray holds up one of the trout we caught today on a short trip to the backcountry.

FROM THE PAST

2011-06-27T18:35:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of Gus and Sonia Ramirez and their son Gus. This was taken in Big Pine Key about 40 years ago when they used to live there.

2011-06-17T07:55:00.000-04:00

Captain Bill Brooker's friend Matt caught this 49 pound bull Dolphin while fishing in Marathon.

2011-06-15T17:52:00.000-04:00

Captain Gary Salyers and I took a run out to Flamingo early this morning. We were aboard Gary's 19 foot Cayman Ranger boat that gets you places real fast. We caught a little bit of everything but not a lot of anything, athough Gary did show his skill casting the bait net catching a lot of Pinfish and Pilchards.
We caught Trout, Snapper and a small Gag Grouper.

Honolulu Happy Hour

2011-06-13T11:35:00.002-04:00

Every night we had happy hour on Sue and Guy's balcony or ours. We ate a lot of Poke which is raw Ahi Tuna prepared with different spices. We also had seaweed and Hawaiian Sausage and of course drinks.

USS Bonefish

2011-06-13T11:02:00.004-04:00

We visited Pearl Harbor and saw the Arizona Memorial, the Missouri and the Submarine Memorial. I was surprised to learn that so many subs were lost in the Pacific during WWII and that they were named after fish. Hawaii is a beautiful place to visit , but our tour of Pearl Harbor was the highlight of our trip.

The following post and article was taken from http://www.subsowespac.org/ The article was written by Ed Howard. Check out the site.

The USS Bonefish (SS-223) was a Gato Class World War II era submarine.

Bonefish's namesake is a fish of the Florida Keys and southern California. The bonefish has bright silvery sides with faint dark stripes and often reaches a weight of about fifteen pounds. It feeds on bottom matter in shallow waters.

Bonefish's radio call sign was: NAN-BAKER-KING-FOX.

On May 28, 1945, Bonefish, captained by Commander Lawrence L. Edge, departed the submarine base at Guam on her eighth and final war patrol in company with other members of Pierce's Polecats, USS Tunny (SS-282) and USS Skate (SS-305). The group was part of the American wolf pack Hydeman's Hellcats, which consisted of nine boats divided into groups of three. The other two groups were set up as follows:

1. Hydeman's Hepcats: USS Sea Dog (SS-401), USS Spadefish (SS-411), and USS Crevalle (SS-291).

2. Bob's Bobcats: USS Flying Fish (SS-229), USS Bowfin (SS-287), and USS Tinosa (SS-283). 1

The boats' common objective was to penetrate the Sea of Japan and destroy enemy shipping. To do this required making safe passage through enemy minefields blocking access to the "Emperor's private pond." The boats had been fitted with the new mine-detecting FM sonar. Bonefish made the passage successfully, and during a rendezvous with Tunny on June 16, 1945, reported sinking a 6,892-ton cargo ship. In a second rendezvous on June 18, 1945, she requested and received permission to conduct a daylight submerged patrol of Toyama Wan, a bay farther up the Honshu coast. 2

The group was scheduled to depart the Sea of Japan via La Perouse Strait on the night of June 24, 1945. Bonefish did not make the scheduled pre-transit rendezvous. Tunny waited in vain off Hokkaido until the 27th. On July 30, 1945, Bonefish was presumed lost. 3

Japanese records reviewed after the war revealed that the 5,488-ton cargo ship Konzan Maru was torpedoed and sunk in Toyama Wan on June 19, 1945, and that an ensuing severe counterattack by Japanese escorts brought debris and a major oil slick to the water's surface. Bonefish was sunk in this action. She went down fighting with all hands.

HONOLULU BONEFISHERMAN

2011-06-13T10:13:00.000-04:00

I took this picture of a fisherman on the Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. He was fishing for a variety of fish and said he catches Bonefish here also. The Bonefish are very big averaging 30 inches. He is using a plastic sand flea for bait.

2011-05-31T13:23:00.000-04:00

Four year old Alex caught some bait for his grandfather Eddie.

Pike

2011-05-18T16:40:00.001-04:00

Captain Bob Randall caught this 9 pound Pike in Lake Michigan.

Bluefish

2011-05-14T21:43:00.003-04:00

Charlie and Elaine Esposito's grandson Anthony caught this 15 pound Bluefish last night off Belmar, New Jersey.

2011-05-12T08:13:00.000-04:00

Captain Dave Perkins and friend Jared had a good day fishing at the Islamorada hump the other day. They caught quite a few tuna including this big boy and also a few Dolphin including this monster.
Dave is a Hammer Point resident and a very good offshore and backcountry guide.

Good Day Aboard Wahoo VIII

2011-05-06T09:35:00.002-04:00

Captain Gus Ramirez, his granddaughter Gissella and Captain Carlos ventured 22 miles out Wednesday aboard the "Wahoo VIII" and caught 19 Dolphin including this 25 1/2 lb. cow.

Night Fishing

2011-05-04T09:04:00.001-04:00

Artie and David from New Jersey are visiting the Keys for a few days and took some time off from fishing with Captain Brian Premazza, a Hammer Point resident to do some night fishing with me. They did not catch much with me except for a few Snapper and a Nurse Shark, but they did catch a lot of fish including a 100 lb. Tarpon, Snook and Redfish with Brian.
Today they will be fishing for Bone Fish with Captain Brian.

Red Grouper

2011-05-01T13:54:00.001-04:00

Keith Krotenberg from Aberdeen Court and friends Carl and Keith went out for grouper today Board the "Mar Sea" and caught a few Snapper and this 24" Red Grouper.

Striped Bass

2011-04-29T07:20:00.002-04:00

My friend Chick sent me this picture of a very big Striped Bass his friend Eddie caught in Chesapeake Bay.

"Nope...not trick photography. All 37 In's of him. Brian's boss took us out. We had 9 poles out with two running boards 100 ft apart. I caught this one on the last pass before dark. He caught over 30 so far this season when the water was cooler. It's up to 63 deg's in the bay and they are moving out already."

Going North

2011-04-28T12:56:00.002-04:00

Another Snow Bird leaving the Keys. Glenn and Norma from Cromwell Court took their boat out of the water this morning. They will be leaving for Massachusetts in a few days and will be counting the days until they return in January.

Glenn and his family did very well catching many Tarpon and Snook this year.

From the Past

2011-04-26T21:30:00.000-04:00

This was one of the largest Mangrove Snapper ever caught in Tavernier Creek. If I remember correctly it was 26 inches long. It was caught by Steve Rodgers from Michigan. He was visiting Big Fish Bob Randall at the time.

17 " Snapper

2011-04-26T08:13:00.003-04:00

My son-in-law Patrick and I fished the creek last night. We caught a few nice Mangrove Snapper including this 17 inch one. We both had a few big fish on but could not get them to the boat. The creek was quiet with no boat traffic last night, but the mosquitoes were vicious.
I gutted and scaled the Snapper to cook them on the grille and the big one had a giant shrimp in it's belly. It was probably the biggest shrimp I saw all year.

Amber Jack

2011-04-16T07:49:00.001-04:00

We had lunch at Wahoo's restaurant Friday and when we left a fishing boat just returned and had it's catch hung up. The big fish are Amber Jack which are not that good for eating although many people smoke them and make dip with them.

SNOOK

2011-04-13T08:44:00.014-04:00

A Word From the Captain Taken from Lagooner Blog

Snook are an advanced species of fish for most anglers, usually requiring expert timing and fish fighting tactics. Your presentation can mean the difference between getting a bite and not and then once hooked snook turn into one of the smartest and hardest fighting inshore fish in the world, weaving their way into rocks, docks while jumping, leaping, twisting simultaneously shaking their heads, flaring their gills and throwing the hooks. If there was a fish that I consider my favorite, snook has to be very close to the top of the list if not the first one.

Be aware that snook are not for everyone... A beginning anger can quickly become discouraged to find that fishing is more work, technique and requires more skill than they have presently. In the fall and winter we often pursue snook at night and into the early mornings. Low light conditions make casting challenging even for advanced anglers. Some snook fishing requires and expert cast to get the bait or lure presented to the snook and then make a natural presentation that will convince these intelligent fish to bite.

Indian River Snook are no different than any other snook in the world and they're fun to catch for many anglers looking to put another species notch on their belts or just looking for a great time of fishing for a prestigious and tasty fish on the Indian River.

Where are Snook in April?
Snook can often be found between their winter hideaways and summer spawning grounds on the beach. Making their way up the intracoastal or Indian River Lagoon near islands, sandbars, canals and grassflats. Spring is the time for shallow water anglers to get excited about catching breeder sized snook in shallow water as they make their way toward the inlets and out to the beach.

Snook are one of my all time favorite fish to pursue as they have everything it takes to make them a great gamefish. Snook not only fight hard, but have tricks and pranks to play on the angler from the time their hooked up till after you land them. A typical snook tactic is to find the nearest structure thus breaking you off. If your quick and lucky enough to survive the first run to cover, the snook will proceed to show you the power his broad strong tail provides him, then comes the aerobatics...

Of course the snook is difficult to fight on the line but an angler must first find these smart game fish that are often lurking after dark or around structure (see above). Structure provides ambush opportunities and safe haven for the snook and is often the best place to hunt for and locate them. Once found it's often difficult to entice a snook to eat and can as frustrating as arguing with a woman (you'll more than likely loose). Landing a snook can be as dangerous as handling a bunch of double edge razors as the snooks gills are sharp and flailing for the opportunity to defend against the unsuspecting angler.

The rewards of landing a snook are not only in the satisfaction of victory, but in the fine white fillets that this gamefish offers. Snook are known as one of the best eating inshore species in Florida and there's not much better than snook on the plate.

Manatee Visit

2011-04-12T14:40:00.002-04:00

First Fish

2011-04-12T11:38:00.003-04:00

We started off the night with Charley catching this weird fish that puts up a good fight.