Lake O winding down so i went to Key Largo

[stoutner]

Had a business trip to Key Largo so decided to rent a boat, ship some fishing gear and give it a go. I must start off by saying that I am a rookie when it comes to saltwater fishing having maybe 12 -15 outings under my belt. I have learned almost all of what I know from reading threads on FloridaSportsman.com, watching TV shows, and a couple of charter trips over the years. Even though I am a charter captain on Lake Ontario I have tons to learn as it is a completely different style of fishing. 

 

We picked up our rental boat Sunday morning with a forecast of great weather for the day. Loaded up our gear, bait, chum etc and headed offshore. Made our way out to 300 - 400  FOW (10-12 miles offshore) and tried trolling for tuna and whatever else we might find. Caught a few Bonita but didn't really see much else. We were pretty sure we would need to go out to maybe 600-800 FOW but one of our engines was knocking badly and didn't want to get stuck out there with only one engine. Worked our way into the reef and set up in about 45 FOW. Started the chum slick and immediately had all kinds of smaller fish at the boat. waited about 20 minutes and deployed one of those (now dead) Bonita with a pretty heavy weigh to get it to the bottom. Then rigged up some light tackle spinning rods for some Yellow tailing Action was pretty non-stop and as time went on they kept getting larger and larger. Most were between 12" and 15" but a couple larger started to get hooked up. Ended up catching maybe 15 or so. Threw back most but kept just enough for dinner for the 4 of us. 

 

 

 

About an hour into fishing the whole Bonita that I dropped to the bottom gets hit. I grab the rod and begin to fight it. Made the mistake of using a medium spinning rod with 20 lb test on spinning reel. After a 10 minute one sided "fight" the unknown beast just about spooled me. With 5 wraps left on the reel I locked it down and it broke me off. I figured it had to be a big shark? He stayed right down and I could not get it to move up toward the surface at all. I truly don't think it even knew it was hooked. When picked up and headed in. About half way back in, the motor that was knocking made a loud bang and started knocking MUCH louder. Shut it down and worked our way in on one motor. Contacted boat rental company and they brought me a different boat right away. 

 

With "new" boat loaded up on Monday morning we headed out at sunrise. Decided to try to go offshore a little farther this time. Worked out way out to about 550 FOW (about 15 miles offshore) and caught a few Bonita. Decided to not go out any further because the boat/bilge wreaked of gasoline and that made me a pretty nervous. I was fairly sure it was spillage from when they fueled it up but since this was our first day out with this boat I didn't want to chance getting any further offshore without and help nearby. As we trolled back in we got to about 500 FOW and came upon a great weedline and good current rip. I assume this was Gulf Steam??? It was running about 3 - 4 miles per hour from South to North. Trolled that weedline for a little while but was running out of time because i had to be back by 11 am for noon meeting. As we were trolling back in about 350 FOW we take a shot on one of our smaller islanders. A nice little Black Fin Tuna. We turned and trolled over that area for about another half hour but couldn't get anything to go. We pulled lines and headed in for the day. 

 

 

 

Most of the rest of the week was pretty uneventful. More reef fishing and some fishing off the dock.

 

On Friday we were ready to go again but the lightning and wind was making things a little sketchy. Decided to cruise over the Pennecamp park and check out the canals/rivers and just go for a boat ride. We did take out fishing gear and played around in the river coming out of the South end of Largo Sound. Caught all kinds of small Blue runners and snapper etc. It was pretty fun for a few minutes. On the way out of the river back in the ocean I decide to deploy a Mann's Stretch 25 Hardbait about 20 feet off the back of the boat just for kicks. Within 5 or so minutes a takes a shot! A HUGE Barracuda! After a few jumps and a good battle I was able to get it to the boat. Once I got it in I didn't really know what I was going to do with it. Never occurred to me that I would catch this beast. Gaffed it through the bottom lip and brought it on board. Took a couple quick pictures and sent him back on his way. I know you are not supposed to hold them upright like that if you want to release but I had no idea what the heck I was doing. Released back into the water and it swam away. Hope it made it so someone else can catch it another day. I estimate it to be about 55-60" long. I am 6' tall as a reference. No idea how much it might have weighed? It had much more girth than the photo shows. I had the fish at a funny angle in the picture.  

 

 

 

 

All in all it was a great week. We usually go to Marathon but we all enjoyed our time in Key Largo and might go back there instead of Marathon next year.

Edited September 30, 2014 by stoutner

[justtracytrolling]

Great post and thanks for the read! Id say you did well!!

[Kevin J Legg]

Sounds like a fun week.

[flyboy7]

Looks like you had fun! Thanks for sharing the story and photos!

[No Limits]

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[Gill-T]

I have often wondered what you would catch with a fully deployed Lake Ontario spread of downriggers, dipsys and copper. I would think the tunas, kingfish and barracuda would love a flasher and fly.

[bandrus1]

The big one got away could have been a large grouper

[ray koziatek]

woose I "lip" those small cudas,nice job on the tuna small but real tasty...Gill I have deployed some flys behind big silver spoons (white Flys) but ya need to rerig with wire kings love em,and spanish mackeral too.Talked to others who tried flashers but the told me the flashers got attacked..with all the loose weeds its a pia to troll..this year i will bring some and try them over deeper water (less loose weeds)can't hurt to try with a ballyhoo rig trailing...wouldn't be the first spinny rig i lost...Wayne those big cudas tend to show up spear fishing..they get a little agressive when you spear a fish,had one grab a Hogfish i speared last year but i looked him in the eye and screamed like a little girl and got most of my fish back...

[Sean Youngblood]

"All in all it was a great week. We usually go to Marathon but we all enjoyed our time in Key Largo and might go back there instead of Marathon next year". I have been to Marathon a few times and we slayed the Black fins every time we could make it off shore.I always went in march.Probably some of the funnest fishing I have ever done.Trolling surface lures with Black fins crashing all around with Flying fish boiling out of the water all around.Quad hookups were the norm.Find the birds and you found the fish.I am sure Key Largo is just as good with shorter runs to the Gulf stream.Looks like you had a great trip thanks for sharing it brought back some fond memories.

Edited October 2, 2014 by Sean Youngblood

[reelintense]

Wayne...next year Becky and I are coming with Ellie and you, maybe see if Nick and Theresa want to come and lets make a "Reel" Business trip out of it!!!!!   My saltwater fishing consists of ONE charter (my 15lb cuda was much smaller than yours) and some wahoo.....and a few days of surf fishing the Daytona Shoreline.  That's it.  I need some more experience! LOL

 

Great Job on the fish.....

 

jason

[stoutner]

woose I "lip" those small cudas,nice job on the tuna small but real tasty....Wayne those big cudas tend to show up spear fishing..they get a little agressive when you spear a fish,had one grab a Hogfish i speared last year but i looked him in the eye and screamed like a little girl and got most of my fish back...

 

Ray - that was a small tuna but I marinated the fillets for about 20 -30 minutes in a olive oil/orange juice concoction that I found on line. Grilled it up and it was truly AWESOME! The YT Snapper were awesome too.That cuda was no Joke. By far the biggest i have ever seen and that includes on TV shows. Going to get scuba certified this year and try some diving next year.

 

I have been to Marathon a few times and we slayed the Black fins every time we could make it off shore.I always went in march.Probably some of the funnest fishing I have ever done.Trolling surface lures with Black fins crashing all around with Flying fish boiling out of the water all around.Quad hookups were the norm.Find the birds and you found the fish.I am sure Key Largo is just as good with shorter runs to the Gulf stream.Looks like you had a great trip thanks for sharing it brought back some fond memories.

 

The deep edge of the reef is much further out in Key Largo than Marathon but you are correct....The Gulf Stream is generally a lot closer. It was only a couple miles outside of the reef last week when we were there. Both places are great but we were able to find bait a lot easier in Key Largo than Marathon. We found lots of Blue Runners, Pilchards, and Ballyhoo in Key Largo. In Marathon we get lots of Pinfish and Ballyhoo but have never gotten a Blue Runner or Pilchard. ....mainly because we don't know where exactly to look.

 

Wayne...next year Becky and I are coming with Ellie and you, maybe see if Nick and Theresa want to come and lets make a "Reel" Business trip out of it!!!!!   My saltwater fishing consists of ONE charter (my 15lb cuda was much smaller than yours) and some wahoo.....and a few days of surf fishing the Daytona Shoreline.  That's it.  I need some more experience! LOL

 

Great Job on the fish.....

 

jason

 

That would be a blast. Gotta be prepared to spend about $1500 per person to do it right for a week!

[stoutner]

Here is a link to the last couple of minutes of that fight with the big Barracuda. We forgot that we had the Go Pro mounted and ready to go until the end of the fight.

 

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=200B591A28D76916&id=200B591A28D76916%211692&v=3 

 

Listen to the chatter...it is pretty funny.

Edited October 2, 2014 by stoutner

[Sean Youngblood]

We were fishing the Marathon hump about 30 to 35 miles off shore.

[reelintense]

Wayne that was awesome!!!!  Though I am not sure I saw very focused Capt. Ellie turn around and look at it! LOL  The video gives much better clarity to how big those teeth were!  WOW.....  Funny when you said wire diver, cause my thought was it was one of your copper set ups on those Okuma rods.  Very nice fish and gone to fight another day! 

[stoutner]

We got a chance to meet George Poveromo at the Bass Pro/World Wide Sports in Islamorada. Had to get a pic with the wife and her friend.

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