Author: bogorham1

One thing the keys are known for is wind. But you would figure given 2 weeks here we would get a couple nice days …. Not! Don’t get me wrong, it has been beautiful with temps in the mid 80’s with blue skies and the water temp has hovered between 79 and 81.   But the wind has been blowing 15 – 20 non- stop and gusty making time on the water tough.  

So the big boat has stayed on the lift and we have been running around in the skiff trying to find a decent bite without getting beat up too bad.  Today I took Laura and Kyle out toward the content keys, and started drifting the channel off raccoon key while we were waiting for the tide to fill in a bit.  Right off the bat Kyle hooked this beautiful Mutton Snapper, the biggest we have brought home!   

 
He got it in about 12 foot of water casting a red head jig with a gulp shrimp.  Tide was just past low, water temp 79 degrees. We ended up drifting the channel and got a smattering of snapper and a ton of lady fish.  Then spent he rest of the day touring around the Content keys and goofing off.  Fun day in a beautiful place!

Hi all, Merry Christmas!
Robin and I have been down since last weekend, but with the wind howling we have been land lubbers and putted around doing chores and maintenance. Broke the streak last night and spent a couple productive hours chasing speckies.
We drifted around in some muddy water I found in rocky channel, 7 – 9 foot deep, throwing yellow lead heads and gulp shrimp, top end incoming tide. The water temp is still 76 – 77 …. Crazy! Robin out fished me as usual, but dang gone we had rods bent the whole time!

  
Check these gators out – two over the slot at 27 and 24 inches, the rest solid 16 to 19’s. We threw back at least another dozen keeper sizes and I lost one at the boat that would have rivaled the big one. Robin certainly gave me heck for that!  

Can you say trout ceviche for Christmas?  Yummmmy!

Merry Christmas everyone, and catch em up!

Where has the time gone?  Since the last time we were in Big Pine, I went on my annual hunting trip to Virginia, and Robin and I went to visit our daughter Laura in Texas for thanksgiving.  It is a difficult time of the year for trying to get back to the keys, but we made it!  Definitely needed a stress relief, and spending a couple days here was just the ticket!  The weather forecast was basically miserable, but we were content to decorate things for Christmas, and pretty much just hang out.

We started strong and went to the square grouper restaurant in cudjoe key Friday night, and followed it up at Sara Beth’s in key west for breakfast on Saturday.  Both places were outstanding as always, and a perfect way to spoil ourselves for the start of the weekend!  After running errands we put up the Christmas tree, and I Robin threw me out of the house because I was itching to get out on the water.

Not to argue with the boss, my dog rebel and I took to the skiff and off to the back country we went.  Nothing like experiencing  15-20 knot winds on open water in a small skiff!   We definitely ate a lot of spray and took a pounding!

We worked our way through the back country to the east of Johnson key and spent the afternoon drifting the channel.  Water temps a were 77.5 degrees, the water was fairly clear, but weeded up, lots of whitecaps and the tide rising.  After our second drift I saw a big bait shower right behind us, and started throwing my tarpon rod rigged with a pink hoogie soft bait.  Second  toss and bam – rod bent in half and drag screaming on a nice wide shouldered cobra.  I worked myself to the front of the boat and after three shots at it, and rebel barking like crazy, it spit the hook leaving me basically soaking wet and disappointed.  Note to self, I need get a small gaff for the skiff, I basically had a 50 pound monster thrashing beside the boat with me trying to freehand it onboard!  Definitely not the receipt for success.

We got our act back together and back into hunting for our quarry.  The winds died down some and the tide picked up.  I moved our drift around and started picking up fish. We drifted over a nice sand hole in 14 feet and boom hooked up on and landed my personal best speckled trout, 32 inches ( well at least that is the length of the cooler!

   
 
I kept running the same drift line and picked up one more big trout (over the slot limit) and a half dozen others 15 to 18 inches and threw them all back to fight again another day.  Ended up calling it quits when the lady fish moved in a made complete pests of themselves!

Robin did that big boy justice, and we had a nice grilled trout with a white wine butter and lemon sauce.  Life is good around here!!!  We will be back in a couple weeks hopefully through the end of the year.  Our mission – we have to find our Christmas wahoo of course!

See you!

Mid October blues!  Been a month – seems like forever – since we have been down here, and it will probably be a while before we get back :(.  Those are the breaks with busy schedules and what not.   This weekend there is a front that is stalled in the straights of Florida, and it is pumping bands of rain and 20+ knots of wind primarily from the northeast.  Around here, when the wind blows from the north, most folks just stay home!  Then there is us .. 🙂

Weather patterns are certainly weird.  This has been the wettest summer on record up in St Pete, but it was bone dry down here.  Driving in this weekend though, there was standing water everywhere, so things have definitely flip flopped. The water is definitely stirred up from the winds, but cloudy from the runoff, and the temperature has dropped to 82.5 in the backwaters.  My understanding is the bait is coming back inshore, and fish migrations are underway.  Sure wish we had a chance at em!

I did talk robin into taking the skiff out Saturday morning for a bit, it looked like our best shot for the weekend.  We took off for the channels around johnson key, and had to cross big Spanish channel straight into 2 – 3 foot chop.  Needless to say robin was not impressed!  We came through my favorite cut north of little pine key and came across this:

Anybody lose a 19 foot runabout?  It was grounded on a bar, and will probably be a fixture there for now on.  We do have a pretty big problem with abandoned boats around here.  It is sad to see.  This one was totally stripped, and the numbers scraped off the hull.

We went around the corner and went to a favorite spot in around 10 feet of water in the middle of rocky channel.  The water was rocking pretty good and there was a ton of current and we had trouble seeing the hole.  So Robin threw a marker when we were on top of the gps number, and we tossed anchor.  I geared up and hopped in, a bit chilly but not too bad.  I swam straight into the current to where I thought the hole was and was about to give up when I started to see the hole and rock field.  I looked down and all I could see was antennas everywhere!  I swam back to the boat, and we reset where I could pull down the anchor line to help fight the current.

The spot was pretty deep and I started diving and picking through the lobsters.  I took me an average of three dives to root through the little ones and get to a keeper and chase him down.  We ended up getting 5 nice ones in pretty quick order.  There were several more keepers down there, but they went pretty deep in the structure, and I was flat out of air!  I got back on the boat and we remeasured them all and ended up having to throw one back.

Robin had been watching the horizon and pointed out a front line that looked aweful wet and heading our way.  So discretion being the better part of valor and we tucked tail and came back.  So one drop, 4 lobsters .. I guess we can’t complain!

The rest of the weekend ended up being a washout, so we focused on chores around the house and goofing off.  But she seafood loving floridians know, October 15th brings Stone Crabs!  We figured no better time than now, and we got a half dozen large claws from Lower Keys Fishery.

Then Robin went to town to with the lobsters and made a lobster stew….

Once again we spoiled ourselves!

Spent the week in New York for work, flew back into Miami and caught the Keys Shuttle back to BPK. Plug for the shuttle – it was clean, and those guys did a great job!

Was pretty tired, so we opted to stay in the back country and do some snorkeling and chase some lobsters around. So in the skiff we go! – I love this little boat!

We got to our first stop and in I went, and then realized that I forgot my weight belt! That definitely required a run back to the house, my wife got a good laugh at watching the fat boy pop back up to the surface like a cork! 

We did ok for a half day and ended up with eight. It is getting harder and harder to find keepers, and they are also getting very educated down there! The tide was rising for us all day, water was fairly clear, winds S-SE around 10, water temp hung around 89. There are still plenty of bugs about! As you can see my dog Rebel is very pleased with his catch!

Sunday we headed offshore, leaving at daybreak with South Winds and into a 2-3 foot chop. Water temps were hanging around 87 degrees or so. We saw nothing, NOTHING, absolutely zip until we hit around 750. Then we saw tons of brids Frigates, and gannets hauling tail south. We set down in some fishing looking water, but kept seeing groups of birds heading south and not stopping. We followed suit and finally started catching up to the bird activity in around 900 feet.

Here is what I meant by columns of Frigates. There were bunches of groups of these guys spiraling in pods with groups of birds around them. Pretty cool sight ….

So Robin had the helm and we kept circling various groups of birds and kept up with a steady stream of knockdowns. There was a mix of fish in the water, Skip Jack Tuna’s, Dolphin, BlackFin Tuna and a bunch of smaller bluerunners and other baits.

Like I mentioned all the action was out at the 900 – 1000 foot levels. The water temp came down to around 86 degrees and water laid down all day. It looked like the thermocline was down around 125 feet, and it was a virtual dead zone between the reef and out there. My advice for those fishing offshore – make the run straight out right now, and get in them! Here is a screen shot off the chartplotter …

Ended up with a decent mixed bag of fish. Those skippies really put on quite the show out there, and were a ton of fun on 20 pound class tackle! Here is rebel again, proudly showing off his fish!

Gotta finish with the fixings! Blackfin Sushimi and grilled Mahi. Not bad

We are out of here for a few weeks. You guys catch em up, and keep the reports coming!

Bo

I would say fishing report, but other than put a couple fishing rods on the skiff every day, Robin and I did no fishing over the weekend. I actually was not too pumped about sweating in the cockpit offshore, so instead we spent three days ripping around the backcountry chasing bugs.

The weather for the weekend was hot, light winds and beautiful. Tides in the back country were generally high in the morning and falling throughout the day with a pretty large swing. Water temps were in the high 80’s to low 90’s depending on depth and currents.

Don’t let folks tell you that the lobsters all disappear after mini-season and the commercial troops get after them. There are still plenty around, and I for one sure love the reduction in crowds. Robin and I felt we had those waters to ourselves all weekend!

Love seeing the water look like this:

Saturday we ended up with 7 tastey bugs total between Robin and I …

The water was crazy clear just about everywhere we went. Check out this little lemon, this is in 6 foot of water –

Sunday we got our 2 person limit, and our largest one ever.

Proof that with enough lead in the weight belt that even a fat guy like me can dive down and get the critters!

Don’t know if any of you have read Carl Hiaason’s book Bad Monkey. But the main character lives on Big Pine and one of the plot elements is his war with a neighbor who built a mansion that blocked his view. The book is hilarious, and should be a must read for anyone spending time in our neck of the woods. Anyway … I always wonder coming in our canal if this is the mansion that inspired the story:

Monday the weather changed, a bit more blowy, and a little rainy. This in turn made us work harder but we found them. Another 2 person limit!

Gotta finish out with a foodie picture! Surf and turf was absolutely awesome!

Until next weekend ….
Bo

Wrapping up a two weekend assault on the lobster population here on Big Pine. We came down last week, had a great shot at them last weekend – I flew to New York on business and got back here Thursday night and we hit it again this weekend. My wife Robin, good friend and co-worker Ted and I were the crew.

The weekend promised to be good … look at this water!

We started out well with a couple hours in the back country near the neighborhood on Friday night. Two stops, we picked up dinner … nice!!!!

Saturday we took the big boat out and ran down off Sugarloaf, and then played dodge the thunderstorms. Ended up turning around and running up to the 7 mile bridge and got there right as the current was going to go slack and switch. Never dove there before, it was really cool. First piling we came to we snorkeled right into a school of tarpon – 50 pounders or so. They were in there chasing pilchards and really paid us no never mind!

Ended up with 9 or so … not too shabby …. Ted started cleaning them before we got a picture, he caught heck from Robin! 

Speaking of dinner – I am blessed, Robin is a crazy good chef. How about Lobster Risotto folks …

Sunday, Ted headed back to reality, so Robin and I struck off on our own. Back to the back yard again, and we did some pretty good work for the two of us ….

Final tally for the last two weeks … 42 lobsters. I say we killed it!!!!!
Bo

Last weekend was our first shot at lobsters and we had a good friend Ted join Robin and I down in Port Pine Heights for the weekend. We attended a family reunion in Kentucky during mini-season, so we were absolutely itching to get after them. I was blown away with the amount of bugs we had been seeing leading up to the mini-season, so excitement levels were high!

We got a chance to sneak out for a couple hours on Friday night and caught a half dozen bugs, and paired them up nicely with a couple steaks. Great way to start!

Saturday, we loaded down the skiff and did a pretty good backcountry tour. We did pretty good and ended up 1 short of our 3 person limit. Tons of shorts everywhere we went, so we had to really work at it to get our numbers. I bet that we made 25 – 30 stops through the course of the day, absolutely wore me out!

The water and weather was awesome. Winds were almost non-existent and the water was like a mirror and gin clear. I have to pinch myself every-time I run around in these waters, we are some lucky people to be able to experience this place! The tides made it tough to get into some of the places I wanted to check out. The tides were high early and drained really hard through the day, really big swings.

On Sunday, we took a break from the lobsters and ran offshore. Again the water was flat, too flat unfortunately. The water was green and hot out there and the surface temperature rose all day from 85 degrees to over 87.5 by the afternoon. We saw birds and some scattered weeds at 650 in an area that was loaded with schoolies. We pulled out of them and ran on out to 850 where we picked up some strong rips and upwellings and decent weed and debris. We had several decent knockdowns that never came tight, and I ended up keeping one pitiful dolphin so we would at least have dinner.

Ended up being the slowest day that we have had on the Woodytoo this year, but again that water was flat and beautiful!

beautiful.

BPK Offshore and Backcountry July 17/18