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Look
up to skies as the birds leave south across these winter
skies. The trees stripped clean of their leavesŠ cold and
barren. Eyes look across the ocean as winter has settled
in.
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My
heart tells me to grab the fishiing rods and go south where
the waters are crystal, neon blue. Full of life. Key West,
palm trees. Where the sun sets on the oceans lap. A break
away for a change. A 2 day trip to the Dry Tortugas on the
Yankee. Fish where the grouper roam on the coral floor.
Mutton snapper, kingfish, yellowtail snappers and dorado
flashing through the waters light and on fire. Where a reel
gets to do a little screaming. Snowsuits are exchanged for
T-shirts and dark sunglassesŠmaybe a slice of key lime pie
and a cup of black, rich, Cuban coffee.
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Land
in Miami with Mr. Cameraman. Rent a convertible put the
head down and glide too our destination. Passing over the
long winding bridgesŠisland to islandŠas a smile comes across
my face. A full moon overhead and a tune blasting on the
radio. Life doesn¹t get any better than this for this second
in timeŠthis moment on the road. Come into town, unload
gear, grab the swim suit and go for a swim to take the road
out of you. Sleep like a child, peaceful and silent.
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The next evening meet the people on boat and check out the
scenario for what to expect in fishing weather cooperating.
Take out my rods and set them up. We left the dock at 9PM
and got to the grounds at 4AM. First stop, some nice mutton
snapper. Yours truly caught a nice grouper that put a hell
of a bend in my rod. Bottom fishing here is definitely finesse
fishing. Heavy line is not the way to go. Go as light as possibleŠin
fact, twenty pound test is the ticket with a forgiving rod.
Stealth is not working here boys and girls. Spider wire is
not looked upon nicely here, due to the same old argument
of tangles and cutting of hands. But it¹s my ticket to the
show. You can feel that pick-up and get Mr. Grouper out quickly.
I had no luck with the mutton on this tripŠdue to their pickiness.
They were going for "google-eyes" and fresh mullet. |
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I
would highly advise picking up fresh bait at the local bait
stores, which are plentiful enroute to the boat. Frozen
google-eyes will cost you two dollars a piece which will
be just fine to land those mutton when they are picky. The
boat does supply ballyhoo and squid, which will land you
plenty of fish. Bring a heavy duty spinning rod and reel,
for casting to fish like mahi-mahi and kingfish. Octopus
hooks #5 are a good way to go. Also, some 20 pound wire
leaders for kingfishŠotherwise you can kiss your line good-bye.
We
will be running be running a 4 minute video clip, that will
give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. But in the
mean timeŠjust take a look at some of these photos.
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