Captain Rich Parkes – USCG licensed Captain

Email Address: contact@bigbite3.com

Phone: 561-213-4632

I am Captain Rich and I would like to make your trip to the Florida Keys the best it can be. This would have to include a day on the water in the best Blue Water Fishing Destination in the US. I have been the owner and operator of the Big Bite for the last 15 years in Southern Florida and the Bahamas. I have been fishing and working on boats for as long as I can remember. Fishing with guests in the best fishing destination in the Florida Keys “Isla Morada” – new Anglers or experienced is a treat for me and the crew and never gets old. When we get back we will arrange to have your catch prepared for dinner and the bill for the entree is on the Big Bite.  So feel free to call or e-mail any questions that come to mind and hopefully we will see you on the dock for a great day on the water!

Welcome to our new website. The Big Bite Three team is embarking on a new mission by starting this site, and offering a unique service for all deep sea fishing enthusiasts. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or have always wanted to go deep sea fishing. you can call our website your new home for everything regarding this exciting sport.

What makes the Big Bite experience unique is that the boat will operate where ever the Bite is on. Of course weather and wind are always important factors no matter where the fishing takes place. The Big Bite will accept Charters while operating out of The LoreLei Marina and Resturant at Mile Marker 82 in the Florida Keys from November until July 1st.

This is the home port for the Big Bite. Based upon the Species targeted, time of the year and Customer preference the Big Bite will recommend and operate out of many one of the best fishing destinations in the Florida Keys or the Bahamas for Blue Marlin, Yellow Fin Tuna, Wahoo, Dolphin, Snapper and Grouper.  Located just off the Gulf Stream and South of the major population centers of South Florida – Islamorada in the Keys is one of the Best Destinations for Blue Water Sport Fishing. The Big Bite is a Air Conditioned 43ft Bertram Sportfish boat.

The Boat works out of a protected environmental area with mangroves, a bird nesting island and porpoises feeding less than 50 yards from the Boat. Targeted Species in the Keys include one of the best bites for Sailfish in the US – Nov to March, Blackfin Tuna most times of the yes, Smoker Kingfish ( Large ) – 7 months of the year, Dolphin all year long with an fabulous bite from late March until end of June. Wahoo are caught in the winter to June time frame. Bottom fishing is excellent most of the year. Fish that are caught that day are cleaned and prepared at the Lorelei Restaurant – your fish entree us paid for by the Big Bite. The Lorelei has the best Sunset in the Keys as well as Entertainment nightly with the “Sunset Party”.

We will be using this website to not only display the services we offer, but to also report on our fishing trips, and give current and past customers a chance to let us know how they liked their experience and to share their most favorite moments with us.

If you have photos or videos you’d like to see featured in our photo gallery, please drop us a line through our contact page and an admin will review and post any applicable pictures.

We had a very good first week of operation in the Florida Keys last week. We ran the Big Bite down from Delray Beach on Wednesday and arrived at the LoraLie on Wednesday afternoon. We spent Thursday cleaning the boat up and getting it into A1 condition for a charter that we had for Saturday. On Friday we picked up some live ballyhoo off of Snake Creek and bumped our way down to Alligator Light. One sailfish was hooked that ran off towards Africa performing jumps worthy of an Olympic medal. On Saturday we had a delightful young couple from Sweden fish with us. The sailfish were slow to bite so Captain Stewart headed offshore in the afternoon with a resulting catch of 5 Mahi mahi in the boat which they had for dinner at the LoraLei later that evening. The weather was perfect and the Seas were calm. The sunset at the dock was memorable for all later that evening.

The reason we are located in the keys is because the fishing here is bettor than most other places in the US. Many times we are asked why? Starting in Key West on up to Rhode Island  to off the Maine Coast runs a deep and wide river in the Ocean Known as the Gulf Stream. This river starts in the Gulf of Mexico winding its way around Key West and up the East Coast of the US. It will be 1 to 4 degrees warmer than the waters just off the Coast and travel at a speed of 2 to 4 knots. Think of it as a highway running North. Depending where you are on the US east coast it can be from two miles to a hundred miles offshore. It will move closer or farther off shore depending upon the wind direction and how hard it is blowing. This river can be hundreds of feet deep off the coast of Florida in water that can be 2000 ft deep.

The distance from the Keys to the Bahamas from Islamorada in the Keys is around 50 miles. The Gulf Stream starts about 6 to 8 miles offshore in the US and ends at about an equal distance from the Bahamas. So down here the River is about 30 miles wide. This I know extends up through Palm Beach. What is important about this is that the River becomes the preferred method of transportation for offshore fish to travel when they move up and down the East Coast. This travel occurs depending upon the Seasons and changes in the near shore water temps that encourage feeding opportunity for fish. Remember – Fish follow what we call bait. The reason we are in the Keys is because we see the fish migrating up from the Gulf before the rest of the East Coast does and this is also where many of them will stop over for the Winter on the trip south.

This week we had a great group of people who caught Black Fin Tuna and a couple of Bonita. At the end of the day we stopped to do some bottom fishing and caught a mess of grunts – the best table food I Know. One in the Party has learned to gather mushrooms and Ginseng in the Forests around his home in upstate New York. I will definitely invite him up to Maine in the Fall to show me what I can eat out of all of the many mushrooms that grow around my cabin!

Previously, we discussed the role and location of the Gulf Stream in regard to why we believe the Keys in Fla are the best location to fish. When making the decision to Fish that day we take into consideration the weather, direction of the wind and what if any preference the Customer wants to Fish that day. If the decision is to go off shore and not Fish the reef the Gulf Stream is an important factor. On the way there we always keep a sharp eye out for birds feeding, weed-lines, and concentrations of bait. Different bottom contours will also hold bait so keeping an eye on the dept finder is important as we run or troll offshore. Offshore off Islamorada is a location in about 600 ft of water known as the Hump. It is a small hill that rises up in the water in the middle of the ocean. It is part of a ridge that extends down to Key West. More about these features at another time. The next visible place to Fish is the edge of the Gulf Stream that can be as close as seven miles offshore from the Keys to Palm Beach. We usually notice crossing over to the Gulf Stream by the change in the water color from blue to a dark blue and an increase of Man of War jelly fish. The biggest indication will often be a line of weeds with all manner of junk mixed in it. This line is created by the Gulf Stream pushing North and at the same time pushing some of the junk that it runs past to the sides of the river and the calmer water that has little current. The next thing to confirm this is that the speed you are running at will either increase by 2 to 5 miles per hour or slow down as much if you are running into it. Fish love to cruise on this edge – to munch up anything that wants to hide in the weed or junk and also keep the ride going. The middle part of the Gulf Stream does not hold allot of bait unless they also are hitching a ride in weed. Exceptions to this are the travels of squid from the depths in the daytime to the surface on some nights that is why we fish Swordfish in 900 to 2000 ft of water sometimes 25 miles offshore. So the Gulf Stream plays an important part of the Fish Homeland in the Keys and Fishing this area for Wahoo, Dolphin fish, Marlin and Swordfish can prove very rewarding depending upon the time of year and migration pattern for the targeted species. The wind is blowing at 25 to 30knots from the SE making a fishing outing a little uncomfortable. One boat was out that I am aware of and he had 7 sailfish bites by noon – pulled the hook on 5. So the fish are here – we need a break in the weather.

The Gulf Stream makes Fishing in the Keys a great place to be. The edge of the Gulf Stream can move depending on current and wind. That edge will be a collection spot for weeds and any junk that is floating around in the ocean. It is also a temperature break between the colder water from the reef to the warmer water in the Stream coming up from the gulf and Caribbean. That edge works like a curtain where bait fish will hide. The edge can be 20 feet wide or one half a mile wide. Sometimes here in Islamorada that edge can move to just off the reef in 150 to 200 feet of water – less than one mile offshore. There needs to be a strong east and Northeast wind for a number of days before this will set up. Here in Islamorada we have the unusual benefit that the drop off from 30 feet of water to 150 feet of water can occur in less than one half mile creating two edges that will come together at the same time – Gulf Stream and drop off. This will be a day that you will see many fliers ( flying fish ), Turtles, Man of War, weed-lines, birds feeding and bait jumping.

We are all going to have a great day. Tuna, Sailfish and Dolphin will all be there. This cannot occur as you go north due to the distance offshore of the Stream and the lack of this dramatic drop off at the reef. It has been blowing for three days out of the North/northwest at 25 to 30 knots. When you look offshore you can see small moving mountains where the Gulf Stream meets the inshore waters. This can be fished close to shore unless the wind shifts to the North or North-East at which time it would time to head home as this rough water will be right on the reef. Good weather for sailfishing – tough on Fishermen and women. We will cover the topic of when is it too rough to go out and are the fish biting that day to make the trip worth while.

Location, wind, bait and other factors will influence the answer to this question. Luck and skill level will also factor into the success of the day. So you make the first decision right by deciding to come to the Keys for your fishing trip and now you are looking at a 4 day weather forecast to see which will be a great day on the water with many shots of putting a bend into the rods on the boat. The time of the year and targeted species needs to be the first question. At this time of the year fishing on the reef for Sailfish, King Mackerel, Cobia, Blackfin Tuna, Spanish and Cerro Mackerel are what is happening. So the question becomes what is great weather to increase my chances to hook – up? Sailfish are the dominant targeted species and why not? They get to 60lbs, they are one of the fastest fish in the water, they can jump all over the ocean when hooked and on the right day there can be many shots at them. The rest of the menu happens in the process of chasing the spindle beaks. In the keys we are blessed with many Ballyhoo on the reef and in the skinny water on the west side of the reef. They are easily caught live by chumming and throwing a net or catching them with a tiny hook baited with a small chunk of shrimp before we head out to the reef. The preferred direction of the wind should be Northeast, East or Southeast. No wind or wind out of the west or Southwest will not work as well. The best conditions will be for a very strong wind out of the NE for a couple of days and less wind or a switch to the SE after the NE wind has blown out. Strong wind out of the SE works well for almost all fish in SE Florida. These types of fish like a choppy ocean with clear blue water to feed in. It is not uncommon for Sailfish to be in the green water if the bait is there – So if we are fishing a color change we make sure to try both sides of the line between green and blue water . The giveaway on where the sails are will be bait jumping out of the water or Sailfish jumping out of the water.

How rough can the conditions be? Very rough! The fish do not seem to mind. The best day of Yellow-Fin Tuna fishing we ever had was off San Salvador in the Bahamas where from the top of the bridge in the Big Bite I was looking into at eye level the next wave coming at me – 8 to 12 ft waves with a 3 to 4 ft chop on top of the swells. In two hours we put 4 people into complete exhaustion catching 40 to 90 lb yellow-fins in 5000 ft of water. The same works for all fast moving fish – oxygenated water is a great thing!  Conditions off of Islamada for Sails favor 10 to 20 knot NE winds and SE winds of the same speed. Beyond that it will be a very uncomfortable day requiring allot of hanging on.  So check the weather hop on a plane and give us a call for a memorable day on the water in the Keys! We have a charter tomorrow. The wind has been blowing very hard out of the NW for 3 days – it will switch over to SE tonight – should be a great day!

So Tuesday comes with a shift of the wind from the NW to South over night. The wind had been blowing at 20 to 25 knots for three days. The switch to the south kept the blow going at 20 knots when we greeted the day at 6:00am. After some difficulty in finding bait we had the well filled with ballyhoo and we where off to the reef for sails.

On board we had two folks – one from Indianapolis and his friend from palm beach county. The man from Palm Beach had caught sailfish before and appeared to know the ropes on hooking the speedsters. Indy had never done this before and was looking forward to the day. On board to assist was a very capable mate from the Key’s who was working for the first time with me and my assistant on the boat. As we approached the reef I noticed right away that a south wind down here creates lots of dirty green water. The water down here on most Eastern winds brings the very clean deep blue water right up on the reef and is one of the many reasons why this place is great.

Back to the day – winds at 20 to 25 knots, waves at 3 to 5 ft and close together and only green water all around, I knew we where going to be challenged. All morning while we are all hanging on we see two fish caught between the efforts of about a dozen boats all fishing the local hot spot on the reef in about 100 to 170 ft of water – bumping along with baits in tow. We have no bites, the wind starts to die down, two o’clock and I am beginning to here things like ” Isn’t great to just be out here! I look up and I see 4 to 6 frigate birds hanging just off the reef to my right – they are not bait stealing – which they had been doing all morning with there friends the Terns – they are just hanging in the wind, all bunched up and acting as if they are really watching a large fish in the water like they are supposed to. I get them to the back of the boat and then one, two,  three and then four sails pile on the baits.

Forty minutes later both customers release a large sail and the new mate handles a third. Three out of four! Lots of yelling and congrats. Back at the dock the Gentleman from Indy tells me he knocked off two of his bucket list item in a week. He went to the Superbowl and caught a sailfish in the keys on light tackle all in the same week! That is what makes this fun.  So, as mentioned – Sails will eat in the green water and the keys right now is hot!

Today was a great day due to the persistence of crew on the Big Bite 3 to make something happen. In no small part we were all watching those Frigate birds all day. Most of the day they and the Terns were very busy stealing our baits. The Terns would dive into the water pick up the bait and start to fly away – the Frigates would then swoop in and try to take the bait away from the Terns. Meanwhile the bait was hooked up to our lines in the water which would lead to a jerk from the mate to get the bait away from everyone but the intended fish some where ( hopefully ) in the water. We had this off and on for most of the early part of the day. We hooked one unhappy Tern that we unhooked, spanked and let go with a warning that he should look for his meal elsewhere.

When Frigates are not engaged in this behavior they do what they should to grab a meal. That is they follow large top dwellers like Mahi, Sailfish, Tuna and Marlin that eat up bait ( dinner ) on the surface. They do this in about as hard and skill full way imaginable – they wait until the dinner is so concerned about being eaten that they will jump out of the water, as they jump the Frigates dive and grab them out of the water. Frigates cannot sit or dive in the water so the timing of the move has to be absolutely perfect. Imagine a bait that can get away from the predator fish to be lifted and eaten from the air by this bird! That is why we always pay at tension to these birds if they are in the area.

The key to the sailfish is that they almost always stay within 20ft of depth of each other. So if one is caught in 120ft of water they will be in 110 to 130 ft of water that day. Watching the other two boats get one each in about 120 ft of water that morning told us to set up in that depth for the day. Although all predator fish like drop offs which we have off the reef down here from 50ft to 200ft within one hundred yards they can also be on the flats chasing ballyhoo.

Wind,wind and more wind over the weekend. Most of it out of the NW. Small craft warnings yesterday and certainly Friday with winds expected to 35knots with lots of rain. It could be worse – the NE, Midwest and most of the east coast is covered up in snow. It will be 60 today – I am not complaining!

We have dropped our rates today to be competitive with what is being charged for a day of fishing in the Keys. Everyone down here operating a boat to fish offshore is struggling with this economy and no one I speak to is under any impression that it is going to get better soon. The fall out of this situation is simple – less folks will be offering this service in the future. With the rates this low ( 20% less than two years ago at least ) it will mean that when there is a serious breakdown with a system on the boat ( read engine) it will be difficult to find the money to fix it. Other Captains down here refer to it as the “New Economy”.

A day on the water to be serious about putting Anglers on the fish means two or more boxes of chum, water and soft drinks on the boat, fuel (Never cheap anymore) and the cost of the Mate to run the cockpit. At $800 to 850. per day it does not leave much for the Captain and owner to look forward to at the end of the charter. There are a number of Captains that have built a business over the years who remain viable as long as nothing breaks. Now about the folks that work on these boats for hire. Most would not do anything else – they are committed to the sport and the people who come down here to fish. Almost all of them are very skilled at what they do. These are some of the best people I have fished with anywhere. Although some will demonstrate some pride often times you know it is a maturity thing as most of these workers are under the age of 35. Hard work? Try standing on the bow of my boat when we are anchoring in 3 to 5 ft seas and you are lifting 20 ft of chain with a 25lb anchor at the end of it. And that is the start of the day when we are fishing for bait! On your feet all day and making sure you are giving it your best effort all day to get a bite and land that fish never seems to tire these folks out.

So the bottom line is if you still have a job and you can round up some friends to split the bill come on down for the best fishing in the US at a cost that may not stay this low for long. Most of us can work with the hotels for inexpensive rooms, they are in the same situation as we are.

All of us in this will try and make it happen – so call or write and make us a proposition and let us try and make that day for you.

I have always been fascinated by the pictures of large groups of animals migrating from one place to another. Africa and Canada are two locations where I have seen this behavior. In Canada it is the Caribou that gather together and move as a large group to places where they can feed and give birth. In Africa it is all manner of four legged beast that does the same thing for the same reasons. The weather ( access to water ) also seems to play a part in this activity. One cannot watch this and not think that we are observing a very old behavior that must be programed into the DNA code of these animals. Down in the Keys we see this also in Fish. Although Sailfish and Dolphin fish are here in limited numbers all year long due to the great bait available it is at certain times of the year that we see great numbers of them arrive and leave after some period of time. It would seem that this behavior is mostly driven by weather, bait and time of the year.

As the weather starts to cool down up north sailfish start to show up in increasing numbers around the middle to end of November. As each cold front from the NE and NW comes thru the numbers increase on the reef as the winter gets colder up North. Up North in January and February can be Stuart or Palm Beach. Is this cold weather driving the bait down the coast and the Sails are following them – maybe. The ultimate destination for a large part of this population can be off of Mexico where the fishing can be fantastic most of the Winter. The last couple of years this fishing has not been as good as it was in the 80s’ and 90s’. Could this be influenced by the abundance of bait in the Keys and just north of here due to the net ban for the last 14 years in FLA? Who knows? All we do know is that they are here in volume until the middle or end of March.

In March and April Dolphin fish start to show up in large numbers as they move up out of the Gulf and Caribbean. How heavy can this run be? In the Bahamas in the early part of May we have seen them so thick the water looks like it has turned Blue all around the boat! Some times it is necessary to pick up the lines and run someplace else to get away from a mass of fish that will mostly be the same size in that school to either look for a school of larger fish or to get a line in front of some other quarry like a Blue Marlin. Many times the smaller fish will be 20 to 25lbs that we were trying to get away from – a great catch any other time of the year! Starting in March until the end of June we have great Dolphin fishing in the Keys. They can be within two miles of the reef or out 10 to 15 miles offshore. Wahoo fishing in the fall off of Bimini or in the Pocket off of Chub can also be like this for a limited amount of time depending upon the Season, water temps and wind direction.

So when you think of Fishing down here keep in mind what is migrating thru the area and maximize the Species available! And always remember that Fishing on the BIG Bite 3 is the place to do it!

Large fish eat smaller fish. This should be the first commandent of fishing. If that is so the question should be where are the smaller fish? The answer is that smaller fish eat very small fish, shrimp and squid. The really small fish are always trying to hide from the larger predators. The best place to hide is in cover such as weeds, coral or structure. Coral grows in the water down to around 180ft deep.

When you are in water deeper than that a hill or sea-mount that comes up to 180 to 160 ft will have Coral on it providing cover for the smallest fish. This is like an Oasis in the middle of a desert. This also occurs when one comes upon a floating log, plank or anything else that has been floating along in the water for any amount of time. When we spot something like this in the water – we always check it out. If you look closly at it – and it has been floating in the water for any amount of time it will have banacles on it and an entire eco system of fish around it. Right under the item and very close to it will be the smallest fish. As you desend into the water collum the fish will get bigger ( bait and feed for what we are targeting ) and the largest fish can be roaming the area but not very far away. Sometimes you look under the wood and you can see Dolphin fish right away. In the area you can find the fish that eat the dolphin – like Wahoo or Marlin or really big Dolphin! On these days the fish cooler gets filled! Edges or drop offs provide the same oppertunity for smaller fish to hide and a place for the larger ones to ambush.

One of the most impressive drop offs are located in the Pocket in the Bahamas outside of Chub Key. When fishing the reef one outrigger will have the baits in 200ft of water and the other outrigger will be in 600ft of water! As the out going tide comes off the Bahama bank in a SE wind the line this creates will have every kind of fish to catch that lives in the ocean! Where we are in the Keys the drop off from 50ft to 250ft is less than 100 yards in most cases. One of the best drop offs in the US. As an example it will take almost two miles to go from 25ft to 200 ft just off of Miami. This is still impressive when you consider this can be 50 miles in the gulf or off the middle Atlantic states.

We also have a number of Wrecks off the Keys that are also up the Coast to Palm Beach. Many of these are intentionally put there to create this type of Eco system since the Coral that used to be there has been killed off for a number of reasons. We have very good Coral still in the Keys. Some of it is there because you are not allowed to fish or Anchor on it and it is protected. This has been an excellent idea and we probably need more areas like this to encourage conservation. We are also lucky in the Keys to have a ridge-line offshore that goes from Islamorada to Key West. Most of it is in deep water where it is to deep to support Coral – BUT it does support cover for small fish and squid. All of the above is ample evidence as to why the Keys are the place to be for serious fishing!

The other day we took a group of people with a couple of young children out to do some bottom fishing. The intended target was Yellow tail snapper, Grouper and whatever else we could fine. Grouper is out of season so the focus was the Yellow tail and whatever else. We anchored up in about 65 feet of water. It became apparent shortly that the trip was for the purpose of putting the kids onto some fish.

After throwing chum into the water and finding what looked like a good drop off we had four lines in the water and started to wait for the action to begin. One hour later and a couple of small yellow tails released we all agreed the fishing was slow. Keeping the idea in my head that the bending of the rods for our Junior Anglers was the mission I decided to move to where the fish live. That turned out to be a patch of grass with sand all around in about 30ft of water. As it turned out this was a great place to be!

In less than two hours we caught Grunts, Blue Runners, a couple of florida eels ( much squealing in the cockpit ), small grouper, and an assortment of Jacks that pulled line off the reels. Want to have allot of fun – Do this with a bunch of small kids as you introduce them to fishing in the Keys! Everything that came up off the bottom was a surprise! The kids kept commenting on the color, size and shape of what was caught. A treat for the senses for all on the trip!

Down in the Keys we have a number of areas on the reef that are closed to fishing all year long. These parts of the reef are unique in that they hold fish that are hard to find any place else along the Florida Coast. Most of these areas do not permit anchoring. There are permanent buoys in the water that can be tied up to, thus preventing damage to the Coral. You can dive on this structure but are not allowed to take fish. These are NO fishing zones. If you are down here and can do this with a snorkel and flippers you will be surprised at how well the fish do in these places. There are many fish and most surprising there are large fish like Grouper,Snapper and Barracuda. How the fish have figured out that they are safe there is a mystery to me, all I know is that the concept seems to work. As anyone down here allot will tell you if you fish for Grouper all day – you can catch a number of them but all will be just 1 or two inches short of legal. On the other hand the protected areas will have nice ones well in excess of the legal limit! What is important is that these areas create the opportunity for the fish to grow large enough to reproduce in quantity.

A mature 20 lb grouper will put 10x the eggs in the water that a 12lb Grouper will when it is time to spawn. There is allot of pressure on the fish that live on the reef by recreational anglers so this is important to the health of the Fish. Unfortunately this concept has never been put in place for the rest of the Florida Coast once you get out of the Keys. There is very little reef left but there are many large wrecks in water less than 200ft deep where this could apply. Accordingly it is rare to catch a legal sized Grouper from Miami to Palm Beach. Right now the season has been closed on Grouper due to the fish kill on the flats from the cold weather of a month ago. Over the past week we here reports that many Grouper are being released due to the closure. This is great news for us that love to eat Grouper in the future!

I spent last week in Vail Colorado at 8 to 14000 ft in elevation. The purpose of being there was to do some skiing and take in the majestic mountains that surround the Town of Vail. What I can tell you as a Charter Boat Captain at Sea level in the Keys is that 14000 ft is no fun until you adjust to the Altitude which took me almost 3 days. I am very happy to be back in FLA and looking at the Ocean at 0 altitude. The fishing in the keys right now is slow for Sailfish but very good for King Mackerel, Cerro and Spanish Mackerel. Personally I love to eat all three and the pull on the line from Kings is very exciting. Some of these fish can be over 40 lbs. The trick to eating them is to skin them and try and eat them the same or next day after they are caught. As soon as the wind starts to shift out of the SE for a couple of days we should start to see Dolphin Fish start to show up in size and numbers. The first month or so that they arrive in the Keys we will see the larger fish – 40lbs and bigger. As the season develop es we will catch more and more but they tend to be 7 to 25lbs with the larger fish hanging back in the schools or deeper in the water calm. The disappearance of the Sails occurs about this time every year. A month from now and we will start to catch them again on the reef after a good blow for a couple of days. It could be that this is the start of the migration of these fish back up the Eastern Seaboard as the waters warm up in the spring. There are resident Sails on the reef here all year long but not as many as in the fall and winter. Blackfin Tuna are available but they seem to arrive in large numbers with the Dolphin. We catch them from the outer reef to the Humps offshore. It will be all about the birds! Where the birds are the fish will be!

I do not go out for half day charters. The phone rings and a request comes for a half day Charter. I tell this person that I will make a couple of calls for her to see if I can find someone to do this for her. My problem with the half day stuff is that by the time we get out there and get the lines in an hour has gone by which leaves 3 hours for fishing if the fishing is off the reef. For the past week the wind has been blowing very steady out of the SW, West and today the NW. This creates nothing but green water as far as you can see from the reef on out to Africa. The sailfish have left for places unknown and the Dolphin Fish have yet to arrive due to the cold weather and green water.The young Lady indicates that she would like to catch some Blackfin Tuna? Once again – green water and the wrong wind will not help. Then she tells me she is with her 13 year old Daughter and she is trying to get her interested into fishing. No one calls me back right away so I fall for the proposition we agree to a price and we will meet her at the dock at 8:00am.

We get out to the Reef and as far as I can see Green water everywhere. I run for 30 minutes due east where the Blackfin where last spring chasing bait in 400 to 500 ft of water over contours on the bottom that drop 50 to 70 ft in a short distance.As I approach this area I see the water color change from bright green to a greenish blue – I look down at my speed and realize that I have lost 3 knots as soon as I pass the color line that runs up the coast. We are at the edge of the Gulf Stream. I mention this to the young Girl and Her mother and the Young Girl asks is that the same water that Nemo got caught in that sent him up the coast? You have to love the animated movies of today for the kids.

Not a bird in sight and no surface activity. We throw the lines in and I am wishing for something to bite that might be hanging out on the color break. 20 minutes later we get a bite on the dark side of the color and when we get it to the boat it is the first dolphin of the year. Three dolphin later and one barracuda we pick up the lines and arrive at the dock at 3:00pm in the afternoon with two folks that had a great day! I am just as happy in that I now know the winter must be over down here and the dolphin are biting! Wait until that wind moves to the SE and East for a couple of days – We will be in Dolphin Heaven!

We had a couple of great days with folks fishing the reef in the Keys this week. This is one of the best places to sport fish in the US. There are lots of fish on the Reef down here for the catching and eating. Mix in a bunch of kids and the fun goes on all day. In less than 50 ft of water and after some secret chum mix the Yellow tail came right on up to the top of the water column. Mixed in where Spanish Macks, Cerro Macks, Grouper, Parrot fish, Blue runners, Grunts and a number of toothy critters that broke line – not to be seen.

The kids and adults would take a rest in the cabin for a while and then be back right on it. The mate and I get worn out after a number of hours of this but I never tire when I here whoops and yells over the next fish coming over the rail. Down here you never know what can be on the line until you get it into the boat. This activity should continue as long as the water stays warm and we get favorable winds. The best wind for this is east to Southeast. It keeps the water a little cloudy which seems to help. We use 12 to 15lb line with almost no gear except for a very small weight. That seems to do the trick. I am sure the sharks where present because once in a while the fishing would get slow for 20 to 30 minutes and then it would pick right up when Mr. Shark moved off. Give us a call – all the fish seem to be cooperating!

People have expectations of who goes out on Charter Boats. Most would think this is an activity where the Manliness of Men is on display. The fact is half of the Charters are researched and arranged by Women. They will be joined with a Husband and sometimes family members. The rest of the people that book with us are men that are bring a son or daughter along for the day. A small number of Folks that book with us are just the men’s club – 25%.

Of this group a very small percentage bring a case of beer each and proceed to consume it during the day. Now here is the very strange part – not one group that has been on the boat this year was I glad to not see again! All are welcomed back and the behavior has been terrific by all! I hope I did not just jinks myself! As far as bonding goes we can see that almost all of these trips seems to encourage smiles and good times between the Mothers and Children, Friends, and relatives. These are experiences that will be remembered in the future with plenty of pictures to relive the moments on the Boat. There is no place to hide or sulk away on a 43ft boat – particularly when the fish are biting and there is reel work to be done! So come on down to the Keys and get some important bonding done with those you are close to on the Big Bite!

We have been very busy over the last two weeks. Many people on the boat and many Charters. We are in what is called down here as the in between season time. To late for the sails to be dependable and a little early for the dolphin. So the normal day starts out with the Big Bite heading out to the deep water in search of Dolphin, Blackfin Tuna and maybe a Wahoo. The deep Planners go in the water ( We use Z Wings which work real well ) looking for the Wahoo and Tuna and we put a spread of dolphin lures out and look over the Horizon for any surface activity or bird feeding to locate active Dolphin feeding. This time last year we were loading up on Dolphin and that was the day. This year the Dolphin fishing is late. We generally catch a couple of fish by 12:00 and at this time I recommend to the Anglers that we might try the reef for some excellent table food in the form of Snappers and Mackerel. So far all indicate that they would like to try out the reef. The reef has not let us down! In about two hours everyone is hand sore from reeling up the fish and some of these fish are to talk about! If you think Yellow tail Snapper eating is good try Hogfish or Cerro Mackerel! Unbelievable is the only way to describe this as table fare! If you were on for the full day Charter we buy the dinner at the local restaurant in the Marina. The fish comes grilled or blackened – both excellent! Come on down and try it!

I have a cabin in the northwest corner of Maine. I have been going there since I was 7 years old. It is very remote. The access road ends about 6 miles from the cabin which is a full day drive over dirt logging roads to the nearest town or gas station. We are on a 28 mile lake that is fed by 3 separate river systems. When I go up there next month for a week we will see more Moose than people the time there. The rivers have Trout and the Lake has a good population of Salmon. I love to catch all of these fish! Often I have people on the boat who fish fresh water for the same fish in addition to Bass, Muskies, Pike and Walleye. The comment I get after a day of fishing is the great difference in how the same sized fish fight much harder in the salt water. Although there is nothing to replace casting to Native Trout on a small pond in the Maine Woods – the fact is they do not pull as hard as Salt Water fish of the same size. I looked up the facts to this and the speed that salt water fish move through the water is very different than there cousins on a Lake or Stream. The difference is great. 65 to 70 miles per hour for a sailfish. Almost as fast for a Wahoo and over 50mph for Dolphin. Most fresh water fish are in the 15 to 25 mph range. A 4lb blue runner pulls harder than any fresh water fish I ever caught! We use 4lb test line in Maine for almost all of our fishing – the first bite on the reef would probably break the line. We use 12lb as a minimum for 3lb snappers. This is not to do anything but confirm for people who have not done the saltwater thing before that YES you are right the saltwater environment is a tough place to live if you are a fish avoiding those that will eat you if they get the chance!

Over the last week we have had two types of Sharks move into the Keys. Tiger Sharks are on the Hump ( A hill that is in 700 to 800 ft of water that comes up to 250 ft of the surface ) off of Islamorada. These are large 12 to 16ft eating machines with one of the meanest set of teeth that can be imagined. They probably weight in at over 500lbs and maybe as big as 1000lbs. The hump is a great place to catch large Amber-jacks and Grouper. These Sharks are eating everything that gets hooked on its way to the boat. They can be caught using 80 class equipment with strong hooks and wire leader. We only rent these sharks by releasing them by cutting the wire leader as they get close to the boat. They make for a great picture to take home. Like all Sharks they are under allot of pressure due to overfishing and the Long line Industry. One of my observations is that good fishing always means many sharks in the water. They are very necessary to maintain the balance of fish populations on the reef and offshore. It is not just an accident that where there are no sharks the fishing is slow. In the Bahamas where the fishing is excellent in most locations – the sharks are everywhere. Throw some chum in the water and within 30 minutes the sharks are biting off the fish on the way to the boat. Have a good day of trolling and more than one Wahoo or Dolphin will be lost to the sharks. The other Shark that showed up this week on the reef and on the color changes where Whale Sharks! These are majestic animals that have to be seen to be fully appreciated. They only eat very small things so you will not lose fish to them – but they are magnetic for Cobia who follow them around if they are close to shore. They are spotted with white patches and can be over 15ft long. Some appear to be longer than 20ft. They are huge! I once had one come up and then move under a 25ft boat that I was on. My greatest worry was that it would come up and tip the boat over by mistake! Do not kill Sharks! Come out with us on the Big Bite and we will rent one for an hour and take pictures!

As mentioned before the hump is a piece of real estate about 7 miles off the reef due east of Islamorada in the Keys. It is located in about 500 to 600 ft of water. It is the size of two football fields and comes up to 280 ft of the surface. The drill is to put a live bait down about 200ft and wait for the bite – which will come on almost every drift over this hump in the water. The bite is a very large AJ ( AmberJack ). These fish are also called reef donkeys. We have caught a number of these fish over the years in the 40 to 50 lb range. After catching one of these fish the general agreement is that it is one of the hardest fighting fish in the Ocean. On this day the bait went in and within 10 minutes we were hooked up. What makes this different than any other time we have caught one of these fish is the size of the AJs’ on the hump. The one we were hooked up to had to be close to 100lbs. After about 15minutes of holding onto a Penn 80 wide we were bite off by a very large shark. The head of the fish came up with no body attached. The head alone weighted close to 25lbs. The shark that bite it off swallowed in one bite close to 80lbs of fish! Over the next 45 minutes I saw two boats actually land one of these fish that had to weight close to 80lbs. The world record for these fish is 145lbs. I am confident that prowling these waters on the hump is a world record AJ and very likely a world record Tiger Shark that dines on them. The Ocean can be a tough and dangerous place to live!

Fishing in the Keys has been the best we have ever seen. Dolphin offshore, Yellowtail on the reef and Blackfin Tuna in the morning on our way to the Dolphin. All of the large AJs’ anyone can handle on the hump. Sharks if you like them and Tarpon at all of the bridges biting in the evenings. We also have many Land Sharks in business suits and expensive shoes at the hotels having meetings and signing up folks for class action suites. As of today we have NO oil in the Keys offshore. If and when it is coming are the questions of the day. If they can plug the hole(?) soon or at least stop the flow significantly – The Florida Keys may duck this built. There will be some pollution on the beaches and offshore but the reason it will get here and the reason it should not stay or do much damage is the same reason – The Gulf Stream. Hopefully the Ocean River will push most of it off shore and up the coast where it can disperse. It does mean that we need to be mobilized in advance of its arrival. This is the point that has me concerned. Other than the lawyers and BP claim offices opening down here there is no evidence of a plan to clean up the mess when and if it comes. If we do not start the preparations in advance it will be to late after it starts to show up. Just moving equipment and resource down here will not be easy. Transportation from Florida City to Key West is a two lane highway – that’s it! Fast is 50 miles per hour! In the meantime there is no ban on the fishing and no evidence of the oil. And as mentioned before the fishing has never been so good!

The fishing offshore has been as good as it gets. Last week we had Captain Bill Barnaby from Toronto on the boat for two days. Most of his Charter fishing with Clients is up at the Great Lakes for Salmon and Rainbow Trout. The pictures show 25 to 35lb fish. Those are large Salmon and Trout! Expectations were high as we left the dock. We did a great job on the Dolphin!

The next day Captain Bill who is a strong large fellow in his 30s’ indicated he would like to try his luck at as big a fish that I can find. Out to the hump we went. My thinking was that here was a fellow that can get a big fish in the boat. 50lb rigs, 12/0 hooks and 8ft of cable on the top of the hump in 300ft of water with the drop off within 100yards to 600ft on the edge of the gulf stream. Nice place for a big one. On the forth drift the line started to run out fast. Bill got in the chair with the pole and went to work with 26lbs of drag. 40 minutes later after backing down and chasing this fish we still had not taken line on the reel. 10 minutes after that we were down to little line on the reel – took the drag up another 5 to 7 lbs and watched the fish spool the line!

No oil in the Keys!