October 2009
Fishing was pretty good considering how blazing hot it was.  We had
some fun tarpon action in the morning on the outside.  And on the
inside we caught some snook, reds, and black drum.  The tide was
extreme on Sunday making the way back to the marina interesting.  
Places it's normally 2 feet were 1 foot deep.  We passed a 21 foot
center console heading toward where we came from, and he didn't get
very far, stuck in the mud. Good luck getting out!   
Dec. 23, 2009
We did get an overnight camping trip in early November.  We stayed on one of the
Chickees and fished around the mouth of nearby rivers.  It was very windy, and
completely overcast which forced us to pole the leeward edges.  We caught a
couple snook, and a couple nice Goliath Groupers.  We found a bunch of Goliaths
laying up in only a foot of water.  They were spooky, but we did get one to eat as
it laid in a hole under the mangroves.  Got another and broke off another as we
anchored up to catch some small dinner mangrove snappers.  12 small snaps,
paired up with a nice batch of stone crab claws Steve brought for the birthday
celebration made for a great fried fish birthday dinner that night.  We did fish off
the chickee at night, but got nothing more than a gar bite.  We are trying to get
back on the water to celebrate the new year on Jan. 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

1/6/10 Its been very cold down here the last couple weeks with
one front after another passing through.  With temps barely
reaching 60 during the day, and northwest winds blowing, we
haven't ventured out to the flats.  For a week straight lows
were in the upper 30's and highs in the 50's.  This weekend
forecast NW winds 15-20 knots and more cold air will keep us
from the grounds again.  Maybe get the boat in the water for
some canal trolling this weekend just to get out.  The surf has
been good too, but work has kept us out of the water (along
with a lingering cold).
1/14/10 The April Keys trip is booked.  This year there are 6 of us going.  Should
make for some good wagers, some good cooking and a great night time
shark fishing party!  Hopefully the weather will settle down a bit and warm up
for us around then.  The record low temperatures has caused a major fish
kill in Florida.  Everything from snook, tarpon, sharks, lady fish and  jacks
have been affected.  We were going to head to the 10,000 islands this
weekend, but strong winds and another front has changed our plans.  Have
read a few reports from south of  Goodland of entire coves covered in dead
snook and tarpon..   

1/11/10 Reservations for the 5th Annual Keys trip is happening.  And
hopefully we'll get out this coming Sunday as the weather finally is looking
good!
Doug and Jack fished mosquito lagoon today and Jack got his first sea trout! What a monster, it's as long
as his leg!!!

1/21/10 Last week Doug sent me this picture of Jack and his first shiner.  I look forward to when Capt.
Jack is pushing us around the flats
Here are some pictures of some dead fish I saw after the big fish kill from the cold the
first week of January.  The pictures do not do it justice; I saw thousands of ladyfish,
catfish, pinfish, needlefish and mojarras.  I also saw about 100 dead snook, around 50
dead tarpon and 3 goliaths including a 3 incher in the photograph.  The fishing was
good however and we caught a few reds and tons of nice size seatrout and snappers
and the fish were feeding hard.  Here is the strange part,both reds we kept had baby
goliath in their bellies!      

Capt Steve Broad-Winter 2010
2/1/10 We got up to Stuart this weekend and had a great time.  Once
the tide got right there was fish everywhere.  Steve and Mike were in
the pompano, and got a nice red as well.  Ev and I spent a couple
hours on an edge catching bluefish and sheepshead.  We had a bite
on every cast while we were in this spot.  We wanted to get over to
where the pomps were biting, but we were having too much fun.  We
did see a couple big reds once we poled out of there on to the flat.  
We had great weather for once this year, hope we see more days like
this...

                                                                                       S.Baker
3/7/10 Flamingo.  Today we fished the backcountry for the first time since October.  In the morning we had water
temps around 58 degrees, a North wind and a very low tide.  Old reliable trout flats were barren first thing, so we
moved into a creek and found a couple nice ones.  It was a degree warmer back there, seemed to make a
difference.  As the sun came up we poled onto a river mouth flat, where normally some snook, reds and goliaths
hold up.  The water was super clear, and right away 2 redfish showed.  We caught one of them, which measured
only 15 inches.  A couple minutes later 2 more cruised through and Ev hooked up.  A 'quick release' boat side, the
fish looked to be in the 24 inch range.  Shots at 2 other reds went snubbed, and we spooked two nice snook
guessed at around 15 pounds.  Decided to move and look for a couple goliaths in the creeks.  We didn't find them,
but we found a hungry school of mangrove snaps that we pounded for an hour, caught at least 30 (kept 7).  They
shut off as the tide started to creep in.  Water temps in the creek was around 61 degrees.  With the super low water
level in that area, we didn't try to fish our normal spots.  But with the clear water,  I bet the reds were in there.  On
another note we saw around 4 dead manatees, well their skeletons, washed up along the points.  The buzzards had
picked them clean.  The gators looked pretty fat and happy sunning themselves on the low tide banks too.  Looking
forward to the warming trend...

S.Baker
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