| The 5th Annual Lower Keys Trip April, 2010 |
| This years trip was another great happening. Back to 2 boats with Brian, Andy, and Drew making it down. We got checked in early, which was great , had us on the water by noon on Friday. It seems the weather likes to alternate years, as this was the year for the wind to crank the entire weekend. The cold fronts we've had up to this point haven't done us any favors either. Water temps were in the mid to upper 60's in most spots, with a few coves and flats that reached just 70. The first days fishing was real slow, we didn't see a thing for the first few hours. Managed to load the baitwell with pinfish in case we had to adjust our style of sight fishing to live bait fishing deeper spots. Toward the end of the afternoon, we moved into one of the more reliable deeper spots off the flat where cudas usually can be found. Because at this point, a tight line was needed. They were there, and a few nice strikes and fights were had. But the best part of it all, was a nice school of Permit showed themselves, trailering a school of very large cudas. Switched up the rods and got the live crabs out. Unfortunately, the Permit stayed just out of range on us. But now we had a plan, considering we saw nothing on the most reliable of bonefish flats, where the water was COLD... Friday night we fired some steaks and clams on the bbq, cracked open a few beers and some Pyrat and Barbancourt Rums. Gave the dock a go for some shark fishing, but even that was a bust. Saturday morning we had decided to head out and anchor and chum up a small wreck in the backcountry for a snapper dinner. What a waste of time that was. Got a 2 boat slick going and not a single bite, water was turbid and COLD. Pulled up and poled around a few islands and flats while the sun and tide improved and still saw nothing. Wind gusts at times were solid 25+. At this point we moved around back to where we had some nice permit on Friday, and anchored up. Capt. Broads crew were just inside of us, along the shoreline of the island, somewhat protected from the wind. Both of us were in the Permit. It took a while for them to show, but we had 4 or 5 good shots at them. And finally, when a nice school slid in along the shoreline and turned toward the boat, one of them ate. I was hooked up, and had a nice battle. Landed the fish, was in the 18-20 pound range, not a huge permit by any means, but was my first, so we were stoked. Everett had a few fish snub his crab for some reason, and had another spin completely around when his cast landed short, but he had already pulled the bait from the water to re-fire. The action slowed with the tide, but the amount of fish using this deeper edge between islands was awesome. No bonefish in sight though. We still needed some snapper to fry up for dinner, or it was gonna be a night of entertainment by Darren Aaron. We picked a spot along the bridge close to port and started chumming. The snapper were found! One after the next, up to 3 pounds and in the box. Some humor was provided when one of Brian's cast went bad and ended up around me. I spun around to avoid getting hooked and stepped right overboard. The only thing lost was my hat. Im sure B will hook me up with a new one, hachacha. Steve and the guys showed up toward the end of the bite. Andy hammered a big mango right away and we had plenty for dinner. Cold red stripes were calling. Dinner was awesome, fried fish, some of Karinas homemade empenadas, and grilled chicken by drew. Guess we had plenty of food after all. Tried the shark fishing thing again, and again nada. They Pyrat was flowing and we had a good night in the Keys. Sunday morning found us back at the anchor spot, as the wind blew harder. The bay was all chopped up, frothy white, no other choice but to get back to what worked yesterday. While we did get a few good shots at some more permit, there were no takers. Brian got a couple sharks to fight when we baited up with some of the pinfish we caught on Friday. A couple more cudas at the end and we called it a day. Got back to the island and packed everything up, the worst part. But for the 5th year in a row it was a great time as usual. Todd is in Hawaii now, so its tough for him to get here, but maybe we'll see him back in the next few years. Doug has also not been able to get down for one of these, mainly because it falls on Easter weekend, but maybe soon. Look forward to next year...Bake |