Ok guys - sorry for the delay, but thought I would post a few pics from our little family vacation down in Marathon in August. Let me preface by saying 1) We didn't know what we were doing; 2) It was really hot, and the only good time for fishing seemed to be 30 minutes from sundown to 20 minutes after; 3) We had a great time anyway.
The one fish we caught a lot of was this: (apologies, but I'm still paranoid about putting my kids faces out on the internet, even though they're not
)
Probably caught 20 of these just popping topwater plugs near the islands, and on light spinning gear they're actually a lot of fun.
We also caught a number of yellow jack as the sun started going down - they're also fantastic fighters and great eating...
...and not just for humans:
But the biggest surprise for us was how much fun it was to chase the birds around and catch these little footballs:
Now yes, I know now they're supposed to be "baitfish", but keep in mind that a) We didn't know what we were doing; and b) We're Asian so we'll eat anything. When we got them back home, I looked on the internet and found to my dismay that it's considered a very poor eating fish. Oh well, I said, let's cut it up and see what happens. Well, what happened was, when I saw just how fantastic that red meat looked (after removing the bloody bits), I said we're having sashimi today folks. And so we did - and it was the best tuna sashimi I've ever had (and I've had bluefin sashimi in Japan), maybe because it was so fresh (I found out after you're supposed to freeze it first, but oh well). At any rate, after that, all we did was go looking for birds, and then cast topwaters into them. And those bonito fight like crazy on light gear too.
Of course the main attraction was the patch reef fishing at sunset, where we caught a lot of these:
Some great tasting fish there (cooked or raw
)
I will say we had one other great memory. We were patch reef fishing for snapper on the first evening, not really knowing what we were doing. My wife was casting and retrieving a small tuna feather, when all of the sudden the water just erupted around her line. Huge silver thing flew out of water, shaking its head, and then started greyhounding towards the horizon. We're using 12 pound mono, 20 lb fluoro leader on little spinning rods, so we're down to the spool in no time. Pulled the anchor and chased it around for 20 minutes - I'd pump it up and then it would take off again. Finally got it to the boat just as the sun was setting - it was the first barracuda we had ever caught and it was a monster - my guess is 5 feet long, maybe 40 pounds. Just as we were trying to figure out how to release it, it shook its head and parted the leader. Our first big fish in the Keys - right at dusk - a great family fish tale we still talk about today.
Anyhow, that was our little adventure in the Keys. Loved it, kids (and wife) are wondering when we can do it again. Maybe when/if the Canadian dollar ever goes up to par with the USD.
Cheers everyone.
. I only get $10/lb and Im fortunate to have a connection to get that. Most large buyers here pay 8. The moneys in the lobster, but its still nice to get a few easy dollars on the side. I call them "beer money"