2009 Roberts River Chickee

It has been tough trying to find time to get out on the water lately, so we decided a few weeks prior to plan an overnighter, light and tight. As our luck usually is, the weekend we planned it for (which happened to be my birthday) was forecast to be very windy. And as the date approached, the three of us agreed that we were going no matter what. Well the wind was cranking when we arrived in Flamingo. Most of our stuff was in waterproof bags or garbage bags. It didn’t seem too bad until we got out of the canal in to Coot Bay, where the wind was howling. So we kinda zig zagged our way through Whitewater Bay and did our best to keep from getting soaked in the 2 foot chop. It actually wasn’t too bad of a ride considering. Upon arrival at our first choice spot, the port-o-john had broken loose off the dock and was laying in the middle of the Chickee. Luckily, there was an alternate site 10 minutes or so back the way we came. It actually worked out well with the wind direction. We were pretty protected by a small cove, especially after we hung the tarp. We offloaded the boat, got situated, and headed out to the river mouth to find some leeward spots. The fishing was pretty good considering. Everett started it off with a good sized snook caught out from under the mangroves. We kept down the same line, and we started seeing some nice Goliath Groupers laying up in the mud. The fist one I cast at spooked and ran into the mangroves, where it settled up in a nice hole under a downed tree. Steve positioned the boat just off of it and I flicked my bait in a couple times. About the third or fourth attempt, it landed right in front of the fish. All I saw was a puff of mud and the downed tree vibrate and it was on! All I did was hold tight as Steve pushed the boat out. And lucky for us the fish decided to come screaming out of its lair into open water. Was a good fight and we moved on down the line, spooking a few more. We didn’t have much luck in other spots, so we headed back upriver and anchored up to chum for whatever was around. Here, Everett tore up the mangrove snapper. We put enough in the box for a nice fish fry that night. Steve hooked into another Goliath, a good fighter and brought it to the boat. A few minutes later I hooked another which pretty quickly whooped me and broke me off on something near the edge, who knows. As the sun was getting low, and the bite slowed down it was time to head back to the chickee and fillet some snapper and pull our first crab pot of the trip. The crab pot was empty, but the rum tasted good along with some Birthday stone crabs Steve brought to add to the tasty fried snapper. We put a few beers away too and put a few lines out. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much more than a gar bite! The next morning we pulled our crab pot again, and again empty. We relocated it on our way out to pole some flats near the river mouth. The fishing wasn’t too good this day. I don’t think we caught much at all. We did hang around the Chickee awhile. Everett cooked up some venison sausage (which has become a camp staple over the years thanks to the hunting of Jr., Doc, and Ronnie) which was made up in Alabama by his Uncle. Damn that stuff is good, keep it coming Uncle Doc! We packed it all up and made our way back to Flamingo, this time getting pounded and soaked the whole way. The bay was frothing and the color of mud it was so rough. And with the wind direction blowing the spray off the boat right back at us, there was no chance (In my opinion!!!). We did pull our crab pot on the way in and had one big blue crab! It tasted great at work as an appetizer the next day. Was another great trip, looking forward to our 5th year in Big Pine Key in April 2010! The hunt for the Permit continues…!!!

2009 Roberts River Photos