Reef Raider Adventures

Off Limits 5/7/2014

2014-05-23T07:45:00.000-04:00

Charlie's Charter

2013-09-26T22:55:00.000-04:00

2012-07-07T12:18:00.002-04:00

No video this time but the iPhone 4 takes some great pic's.

These are from last Tuesday July 3rd 2012.

Enjoy!

HTown

Summer Sail

Alex shows it off

That's me with a nice Mutton

Papo with his Mutton

Orly with a 41lb Cubbera

Mike on the left (47lbs), Orly in the Middle (41lbs), and Alex on the right (57lbs).

One more pic with the slob

Why Knot May 6 2012

2012-05-12T11:28:00.003-04:00

Fishing with the Boss

2011-07-01T22:44:00.001-04:00

Key West June 17, 2011

2011-06-21T19:52:00.000-04:00

Key West May 20, 2011

2011-05-22T12:31:00.000-04:00

Tailing in Miami 4/30/11

2011-05-22T12:22:00.001-04:00

Venom Wrestling Club Charter

2010-08-30T16:08:00.001-04:00

Friends of the Reef Raider

2010-07-19T02:32:00.004-04:00

"OFF LIMITS" 6/25/10

2010-06-30T21:52:00.002-04:00

Chasing Tails

2010-06-20T09:46:00.004-04:00

"Off Limits" 6/13/2010

2010-06-16T07:45:00.001-04:00

One of those trips where stuff just doesn't go exactly as planned but even though I dropped my Flip Video Cam in the water first thing in the morning , then the boat had issues with the new exhaust system, then the bait was scarce, then we had a busted drive shaft, then we had a long ride back from Triumph Reef courtesy of Sea Tow. We still caught Fish, we still had a great time, and we were still better off than being stuck in an office somewhere working. Thanks to Linette for getting all the footage on her Cam.

Enjoy the video...

Fishing Video (Tavernier Tails) 6/11/10

2010-06-13T01:02:00.004-04:00

Here is my latest Video, I hope you like it.

Mutton Run 5-27-10 The Video

2010-06-08T17:11:00.002-04:00

Mutton Run 5 / 27,28 / 2010

2010-06-01T13:01:00.004-04:00

Those of you that follow my blog are already aware that every year when the Moon gets full in May my friends and I make a pilgrimage to Key West to catch the treasured Mutton Snapper. This year was one of the best we’ve ever had; I hope you enjoy the narrative and the pictures.

We made reservation more than 2 months before the event planning for this day, and finally it had arrived; so on the morning of May 27th (the very day of the full Moon) two of my best friends and I set out for Key West where our good friend and captain of the “Why Knot” Juan Estevez was already waiting for us. We arrived around 2PM, checked into the hotel, dropped off our minor baggage and headed for the marina.

We unloaded our Tackle and set out briskly to get on the water. Our first destination would be to pull the pin fish Trap Juan had laid out earlier that morning to secure some live bait for our quarry. I’ve told you guys before but that little Pin Fish trap I put my friends onto works wonders, and when we brought it on board it was loaded.

So we had everything we needed; now we just had to settle on a target and put the rods in the water. We arrived at the spot Juan had in mind and there was not much current, we tried the spot for a while but after some time with idle rods we pulled anchor and ran just another mile or so to try a different spot.

Right away the reel screamed and we thought we were on the fish, but as the spool ran down we all new it was not the tell tale battle created by the Mutton, but by something larger and significantly more powerful. It was Alex that had managed to hook the fish, and he was in for a battle he'll never forgets.

The fish ran him around the boat at least twice trying desperately to break off, but the experienced angler was up to the challenge. Nearly 20 minutes later the fish was nearing the boat and we now realized what it was, it was “Sushi”, well not yet but it soon would be.

A few more patient minutes of angling finally got the monster Black Fin Tuna broadside and Juan applied and expert Gaff and brought the fish on the boat. Just so you know the Black fin was landed on 12lb test with a light action snapper rod, it was a great exhibition of angling by Alex to land such a fish given the circumstances. Anyway, Black Fin was not our target, but that type of fish is always a welcomed catch.

It was not long before the next reel screamed with drag being drawn from the spool, and this fight was indicative that we might be on our first Mutton snapper. Indeed that was the bounty, and for the next several hours the four of us were engaged in some of the finest fishing to be had anywhere in the world. We lost a few fish as always happens, but we managed to get 22 Mutton Snapper on the boat, and a rather large Yellow tail that ate a good size Pin Fish.

The next Day our target had changed to a different type of snapper, and the run would be a little further, Juan brought his Father in Law (a rookie who turned out to be up to the task) along for his maiden voyage and we had our crew . We set out early, around 7AM, picked up the Bait pen which was once again loaded and made our way some 20 miles off shore to a yellowtail honey hole that Juan discovered. There was not much current, never a good sign when Yellowtailing, but we had no choice but to adapt and do the best we could. The bite was non existent for nearly 2 hours before the first Tail hit the deck, but we knew we’d have to find a way to work them up near the boat with the slack current. After hours of chumming and sand balling, and just before we were ready to call it quits we decided to give it another 15 minutes; then suddenly started to see some action, and were hopeful the bite had finally turned on.

I was (as always) wearing my polarized glasses, and I caught a glimpse of what I was sure was Yellowtail in the Chum slick. My mates thought I was hallucinating since the bite was sporadic at best, but vision is still something that works very well for me. Just seconds after my friends told me I was seeing things, three of the four rods bent over with aggressive fish on the end. Indeed the Yellowtail had moved in and soon they were mounting the boat at an increasing pace; they were coming on board so fast that we started to count them to assure we did not go over the snapper aggregate limit. It took not much more that an hour to catch the 50 Yellow Tail we were allotted once the bite turned on, and soon we were picking up anchor and heading back to land.

Over all we had a spectacular weekend, in fact I don’t know how it could have been much better; I think the pictures speak for themselves. If you are into fishing, I highly recommend targeting the Mutton when you get a chance, and fishing in Key West is a dream for any angler. The only downside is that I have to wait an entire year to do it again, I already have the Full Moon of May 2011 circled on my calendar and I will be there again to fight and hopefully land the cherished Mutton Snapper.

Looks Good!

Monster Black Fin

How you like Sushi?

Work'em Juan

Coming Up

On the Surface

Feels like a nice one

Beautiful Fish

O! Yeah!!!

How you like my Mutton?

1 - 2 Barbeque

Check this out

Just 6 Mutton to cover the top of a 150 Gal cooler

Cinco Estaca

Can you tell I had a great time?

One of the pretiest things you'll ever see

Runnin at Sunset

Nice Tail H-Town

Not a lot can be better than fishig with Friends

Check out the Bounty

All Footage was taken with this Flip HD ultra video Camera, including the pictures which I use my Mac to create stills, and the underwater footage for which I have an underwater housing made specially for the Flip HD Ultra. I highly recomend this little device, and if you buy it on my site I get comission from Amazon and it does not cost you any extra. BTW, you will not find the Flip HD Ultra Video Camera cheaper anywhere than on Amazon.com, they retail for $200 or more in the stores.

Big Hoo Catches Big Mutton

2010-05-22T22:00:00.009-04:00

OK so next Thursday I am going fishing in Key West with a few close friends; one of them you are already very familiar with if you read my blog, Juan Estevez Captain of the "Why Knot", the others you will hear more about in my next entry after the trip.

I did want to let you know however that Juan took his boat down to Key West this weekend because he is spending a weeks vacation there next week and dragging the boat along with everything else required to vacation in Key West for a week would have been a much greater burden than taking the boat down a week early; besides, he leaves his boat down there for the month anyway, so...

Juan decided to test the water today (saturday 5/22) just to gauge how the fish was biting and what we could expect next Thursday and Friday. His report was encouraging, 7 Mutton (the largest you see pictured, estimated at 18lbs). 4 good size King Fish, 1 Flag Yellowtail (22") and a couple good size Bonito which will make excellent bait next week.

Juan does not take as many pictures as I do, but they did manage to take this one good shot of Big Julio with his Monster Mutton, and another picture of Juan with his Flag Yellowtail.

Enjoy the Picture and I hope I can have a lot more for you next weekend when I get back from Key West.

Till then...

-The Reef Raider

Rough Seas

2010-05-18T13:45:00.014-04:00

This past weekend my Friend Juan Estevez (Capt. of "Why Knot" charters) invited me to go fishing with him next week in Key West for the Mutton run. Of course I accepted, and as part of that deal I was to go with him this past weekend to catch some bait for that occasion.

The Seas were very rough as the winds were sustained at around 22 knots, and gusting to more than 25, but since the plan was just to catch some Ballyhoo, I decided to bring my son along for the ride.

We first went to government cut but the Ballyhoo weren't there, so we headed for Marker 21 and it was more of the same; there was nothing to do but head for Bug Light and see if we could find'em. The Waters at Bug light were rough, and there were no Ballyhoo there either but plenty of Pilchards; so Juan asked me if I wanted to go off shore for a bit and I can never say no to fishing so we loaded up on Pilchards and headed offshore.

It was not smooth going, the oceans were in the 5 to 7 range with some 8 mixed in for good measure. We trotted along slowly until we found a depth we liked and put out the Kite. The action was slow, and we saw many boats heading south, but for us it was going to happen here or not happen at all.

A big Loggerhead happened by and it brought with it a Remora who decided the Pilchard we had swimming top water would make a tasty snack. Not exactly the fish you want to catch, but my son had a good time reeling it in. The action was pretty slow, but a bit later we had another fish on the line, nothing to mention though, a large needle fish had taken another Pilchard and once again my boy reeled it to the boat.

We were getting a little banged up from the seas, and were considering calling it quits when Juan saw the Bill of a Sail Fish come up and take the bait. The Fish made a hard run south with the current, then made his first jump to try to pitch the hook; it didn't work and he started running hard again. Soon after the big fish made another jump, this time high in the air and in a rolling motion that managed to get the line wrapped around it's body. Then the fish Spread his sail against the hard north current and headed for the depths. Eventually he broke us off, but not before my son had some fun reeling down on him and I was able to take some nice video.

Anyway, like I've always said on here, the crappiest day fishing is still better than the best day working. I found out a couple of important things too, first of all my son is not afraid of rough seas, he never complained, never seemed scared, or looked apprehensive; on the contrary, he was having a blast. Secondly, and most importantly I found out that my son does not get sea sick; if those rough seas didn't bother him, I think he should never have a problem, because even the seasoned Captain of the vessel got a little green while tieing some knots.

If you want to see some cool fishing video go to YouTube and search "Why Knot" and you can find a few fishing videos I've made.

Enjoy the Pictures.

Till next time...

Target: Mutton Snapper

2010-05-03T10:21:00.011-04:00

Welcome back Reef Raider fans...

My Friend Juan Estevez called me in the middle of the week with an idea to Target the Mutton Snapper because of the full moon and in hopes of catching some early spawners.

We put in out of Homestead Bayfront and anchored up just outside the markers to catch some Pin Fish for bait. I put my Pin Fish trap in the water but Juan was a little hasty about where to put it cause he doesn't think it works all that well. I did not have the numbers where I always nail the pins so we chose a random spot and dropped the cage. It did not go well and further managed to shake Juan's confidence in the trap. Luckily we Anchored up some distance away at another spot and managed quite a few Pins on Sabiki. I'll just have to show him the video of how it works the next time I loaded up on that Mutton candy.

We had over 30 pins in the bait well, some decent ones but mostly small ones; in any case we decided to get going, we had a long run south of Carysfort Light for our bounty, and the seas were a little rough. We ran for nearly 25 miles before we found the hole Juan was targeting and soon we were anchored and lines were in the water.

I missed a strike early and while I stopped to re-rig Juan was on with a fish, He landed the first Mutton, a nice size and a good sign. Juan sent down a big strip of Bonito on a troll right and he was on a fish, he caught a nice Margate, they are good eating and always welcomed into the cooler. I got my bait back in the water and after some time I finally got a repeat strike on my rod. I pulled in a nice Mutton and the skunk was off me.

Juan hooked a large fish that ran him too hard to be a Mutton, at first we though it might be a big Black, but soon realized that was not the species either. After a hard battle Juan brought up a very nice Yellow Jack; he says Yellow Jack is some of the best eating fish there is, but since I don’t eat fish I will just have to take his word for it.

We moved from that spot and anchored up again some distance north and BANG! Right away the rod bent over furiously, we were on a wreck so it’s almost a logical conclusion that when that happens, you are likely in for a hard battle with an AJ. Juan worked the big Donk to the boat, and we boated it for some video while Juan took a few minutes to catch his breath. We released the AJ in good shape, and not long after I was on another Donk myself; near the boat a big shadow came up from the depth and bit my AJ about two thirds of the way up his tail, leaving mostly head for me to real in. After a couple of AJ’s and two exhausted anglers we decided to find another spot.

It was late in the day now and Juan decided to do a few drifts; we set up our tackle, found our bearing and made the first pass. Almost immediately I had a nice strike, a great sign that the spot was hot. I caught another nice Mutton, and soon after Juan’s rod was bent over as well. He caught another Mutton and noticed that on the pass there was what appeared to be a nice ball of bait on the Depth Finders screen. Juan decided that it would be a good idea to anchor up, but it didn’t work out and we had caught our last Mutton. We headed home with a nice mixed bag; 4 Mutton, 1 Margate, 1 Yellow Jack, and we released a big AJ and sent another down for the sharks to finish. OH Yeah, and a couple of Trigger Fish; my wife loves trigger fish, but they are a mission to filet.

Mutton Number 1

Margate

Mutton number II

Let's see what pulls this hard over a wreck?

Oh! Yeah a Reef Donkey

Damn another Donk (except it comes up Half a Donk)

Nice size Strawberry Grouper

Pretty Fish, and tasty I'm told

Friends of the Reef Raider

2010-04-07T09:01:00.005-04:00

I like posting pictures of my friends and their catches on my Blog; check out these pictures of my Friend Marcel Moreno and his boys tearing it up inside Government Cut.

In his own words...

"All were on drifts in government cut. Live shrimp during shrimp run. During the cold nights, the fish were feeding in the cut because the water was three to 4 degrees warmer. Snook and snapper were a bit deeper than the tarpon and were caught on 1/4 to 1/2 inch troll right jigs with shrimp hooked thru the horn. It's been some of the best fishing I've experienced. Most nights, we hook up on over 12 tarpon. I went 6/7 on tarpon with the biggest being about 50 lbs. Also fought a 130 lber for about 45 min before 50 lb leader gave out on one of my smaller rods. We also caught many snapper over 18 inches with several over 20 inches. The cubera was also caught in the cut. I also added a cooling canal tarpon picture, Fish was well over 100 lbs."

The Reef Raider is back again

2010-04-06T08:12:00.008-04:00

Hi there Reef Raider fans.

Well wrestling season is over and thus my fishing season begins. I had the good fortune this past weekend to go fishing with my good friend Juan Estevez, captain of the Why Knot (29 ft Sea Vee) and sole proprietor of Why Knot Charters.

The day started off great; we set out from Matheson Hammock and headed directly toward Bug Light to catch some live bait. The boats were thick out there as everyone that hit the water out of Miami that day seemed to have the same intentions. We found a bait ball and Juan expertly tossed his 12ft cast net and it came up big. With a loaded bait well we started a run south towards Pacific Reef with Snapper in mind.

The wind was blowing a little and the seas were choppy so Juan to an inside route closer to shore to avoid the bigger swells. 45 minutes or so later we were at the spot Juan had chosen to try first. We anchored just south of the Whistle Buoy, rigged a few rods and dropped the Chum bag in the water. We were targeting Yellowtail, but Juan also put out a line on the bottom in case any stray Mutton Snapper or Grouper happened by. We managed a few Tails on slow action, and then the bottom rod ripped away and Juan attacked the stick to bring in a Nice Mutton.

After several hours we had managed 9 Yellowtail and a Mutton Snapper so Juan decided to pick up and find some deeper water so we could drift a few productive ledges that he knows in the area.

We set up for the first drift and right away we were battling another Mutton Snapper. We picked up the lines and ran back to do the same drift once again. As it turns out we hooked fish on every pass through that area managing 5 more Mutton, 1 more big Yellowtail that ate a large Pilchard, and a Dolphin. I failed to land a rather large Sail Fish that ran off half the spool on a Baitrunner 6500B, and we failed to land a Slammer Dolphin at boat side for lack of a Gaff.

I must say that we had a great time not to mention a great day of fishing especially considering the chatter we were hearing on the radio. Reports from other boats on the day were mostly of people maxing out on Barracuda and Bonito but not much else. By comparison our catch was a windfall with a snapper aggregate of 16 and a Dolphin for good measure.

I did not take too many picture because I was trying out a new video camera and in fact made a nice video that is posted on YouTube, here is the link so you can check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuH5vsiKGT0 .

I do have a few pictures of already cleaned fish so enjoy those and check back now and then for my new additions to the blog.

Filet of Dolphin (Mahi)

Mutton Snapper

Bigger Mutton Snapper

You gotta check out this website

2009-08-30T14:24:00.006-04:00

Hey Reefraider fans,

Unfortunately the Reefraider is on hiatus as my Depth Finder is having problems with the software so I sent it in for warranty repair.

Anyway, a good friend of mine Omar Chavez turned me on to this site http://teens4oceans.org/webcam/ggrp/camer1.html (copy the address and paste it onto your address bar and press enter). You will be able to view two underwater cameras with live streaming video, one from Bahia Honda, and the other from Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. It is really mesmerizing, I have been able to catalog at least 20 different species of fish, not the least of which are the 10 or so individual Goliath grouper that hang out in front of the camera leisurely swimming against the current at the Bahia Honda site. There are also many Permit, Snook, tons of Tarpon, schools of Yellow Tail and Mangrove snapper, as well as several different varieties of Shark. At the Fort Jefferson site, Snook and Tarpon are also common, but in the mornings you can also see thousands of schooling pilchards and other fish.

I hope you enjoy this site as much as I have, and if you have the means please order a Tee-Shirt or send a donation to the Teens4Oceans team to help fund their research.

I have added a link just above he most recent post for easier navigation, just click where it says TEEN 4 OCEANS and you will be directed to the website.

Till next time...

A Marathon in Marathon

2009-08-09T21:27:00.009-04:00

So I had this big trip to Marathon planned this past week and it did not shape up to be anything like what I had hoped. Like the saying goes, if it were easy they'd call it catching not fishing.

Here are the facts, Full Moon in August (the Mangrove Snapper are spawning), in one of the best places in the world to fish for snapper, with one of the most successful and knowledgeable captains in South Florida (Mike Murias) and his 29 SeeVee, accompanied by two experienced snapper fisherman (Myself and Alex Cazañas) and one rookie (Mike Castro), fresh bait, 4 dozen live Pin Fish, and some of the best tackle that money can buy.

I had a two bedroom suite at the Hammocks in Marathon for two days of what I thought was going to be killer fishing. So we set out early Thursday morning, conditions weren't great by any means, with a stiff 15 to 20 knot wind, sea's 3 to 5 with a 6 here and there, and thunderstorms harassing us most of the day. Mike's SeeVee handles like a champ even in rough weather, and I've been with him in some really bad stuff so this was not a really big deal other than it made get situated difficult.

We headed out for the first target and when we got there Mike glumly stated. GREEN WATER, and no current to boot. Now come on, really a full moon and no current, not a good sign starting out. So we didn't even waste any time there, we ran to another spot and needless to say it was more of the same. We ran around for a few hours and didn't do much fishing, much less catching save for a Bonita. We ran back in to pull the pin fish trap for the night target of Mangroves, when Alex came up with the best suggestion of the weekend, "Lets get a Burger before we head out. So we found this place near the Sombrero bridge Marina called Burdines and I must say the food was delicious.

SO with full stomachs, some improvement in the weather to 10 knots and some renewed optimism we set out again. This time Mike suggested that we run North to see if we could find some better water and some current. We pulled up and there was some good news, BLUE WATER, however, there was still little to no current.

Lines went in the water and it was not long before we had a few tails in the boat. THe night fell and the Mangroves turned on, the short of it is we caught some 12 Mangs and 8 or 9 Tails, no the slaughter we (I) had anticipated, but at least we did not get skunked. It was nearly 11:00 PM and we had worked hard to get what we had and we were all pretty much exhausted. We headed home and by the time we took the boat out, unloaded the equipment, showered, and hit the bed it was nearly 4:00 AM. That's right, we put in about 17 hours on the water of hard core fishing.

So on Friday we slept in, the plan was to fish the afternoon anyway, the weather was much improved and optimism once again was ours. We headed out about 4:00 PM and ran south once again, we pulled up at the same spot as the day before and still the water was green, and the current was non-existent. No big deal, we were planning on heading further south anyway. We ran the 30 mile to our target and Mike and I immediately started Jigging. Immediately we both had bent rods, and things looked awesome. What ever fish I had on was big enough that it made it back to the wreck we were over, and I was cut off. Mike had a similar experience expect whatever cut him off had teeth. We ran back to the wreck and tried it again and again we had fish hooked, this time Alex and I were both on with fish, but the result was the same, some bigger and with teeth was taking our bounty. We must have drifted over the wreck some 6 or 8 times and had big fish on every time only to be bested but some larger predator. on one of our last drifts I managed to get a Bonito boat side just 10 feet from the boat when a large Shark (Lemon said Mike, in the 250lb class) came in like a bolt of lightning and ran off with my fish. Not a big deal, he can have the Bonito, but I would have liked to get back my Butterfly Jig so I handed Mike (Castro) the rod so he could experience a real fight and hopefully get my jig back. after about 20 min the shark was visible, but with one last thrash and a frayed line it took my Butterfly Jig and the Bonito and headed back to his Lair.

So we left the wreck with nothing, we decided to try for some snapper but what we found was the where the water was Blue and the current was Ripping and impossible to get the chum or the bait down to our target, when we found less current we were in Green water, and the fish bite was so off that we could not even get grunts to bite on the bottom with Squid for bait, really, that is unheard of.

Anyway, we finally gave up and ran home empty handed, but as always, we had one last ditch effort to save the trip. I advised Mike of a secret location that I have where the Lobster love to hang out, and though it was now 3:00 AM, we went for it anyway. Mike and Mike suited up and in less than an hour they had managed to pull out 14 nice Lobster, not to mention the 30 or so we released because they were a hair under legal and we did not want to keep anything even close.

I know I have probably said this before, it seems to be a common enough theme, especially when things don't go as planned; but the worst day of fishing is better than the best day of working. In the end we had spent some great hours talking, Ribbing each other as good friends tend to do, and battling the fish and the elements. Fishing is awesome, fishing with friends is priceless, and some of the best stories ever told come from the worst trips.

Till next time Reef Raider fans...

Enjoy the Pics.

OK Mikie here's a Shark, handle it (LOL!!!)

The Shark makes his run

Still Running

"DAMN!"

"WOW! I'm hurting"

"H Town Baby"

"ENTONCE!"

"I got this Mikie"

"Suerte Principal"

Still Running

Turned around and Realin Down

"It's almost over Mikie"

Three of the best people I know

The boys are hurtin

Check out the room and the equipment

The bugs that saved the day

Lobster on ice is always a pretty site

Last Tuesday

2009-08-01T23:33:00.004-04:00

I know teachers complain a lot about our crappy pay, but this summers off thing is a perk that to me is priceless; it allows me a couple months to kick back and do the things I really love to do, like Fish.

Anyway, I was supposed to play poker Tuesday night with some friends, but a late afternoon call from some good friends to do some snapper fishing meant "The Hell With Poker, I'm Going Fishing." I was told to bring a long a friend if I wanted; so who do I know that loves fishing and can say yes at the drop of a hat without worrying about work, wife, or any other barrier? My Assistant coach Mike Castro of course; so I called Mikie and a little over an hour later we were on our way to Tavernier to Jorge and Bob's house.

We set out and picked up a pin fish trap that had been set out a little earlier, and as always with these traps I turned all my friends on to, it was loaded.

We headed out and found 85 feet of water, the Sounder was marking big schools of fish so we anchored up, put out the Chum Bag, and on his first drift "BANG" Bob was on the first tail of the night. The rest of the night was a steady mix of Yellowtails and Mangrove Snappers.

Of course as is the custom with Bob and Jorge, they spent a good part of the evening busting balls, and me with a slow start it just added fuel to the fire. Mikie spent most of the night cracking up, and even got in on the ribbing. Eventually my rod did heat up and I got my share of the limit, I even managed a nice size Mang at the end of the evening with a live pinny I drifted back to close out our limit and call for the pulling of the anchor.

Jorge spent most of the night teaching Mikie a thing or two about Snapper fishing, and handed Mikie his rod numerous times with a fish already on it. Mikie could not have asked for a better tutor really, as both Jorge and Bob are well seasoned and highly experienced snapper slayers.

I also included a few pictures of a fishing trip that Jorge and Bob took earlier in the week, notice the suicidal Black Grouper the either threw itself on Jorge's hook, or possibly swallowed a small tail the size that Jorge usually catches and ended up on the boat. It was a nice catch any way you slice it, a 17 pound grouper on a 12 pound snapper rig says it all. I guess it was a depressingly bad day for fish because Jorge also managed a suicidal and rare catch of a Hog Snapper on fishing line, everyone knows if you want Hog Snapper you best get down and dirty with a Spear Gun.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

The Anglers

Mangs on the top line, Tails and a nice school Master on Bottom

The Take Home

A Suicidal Black Grouper (LOL!!!)

On Ice

Daddy caught this??? NO WAY!

Nice mix bag, check out the suicidal Hog Snapper, 4th left to right on the top row

Fillets! Whole Friers! And a Grouper that's going to need a big oven for Baking

Check out the hurtin my cousins put on the Grouper out west

2009-07-28T13:07:00.004-04:00

Freddy and Hector you already know from the Reef Raider logs, now meet my younger cousins Kyle and Tyler and my friend Hector's daughter Kristy.

Apparently fishing skills run in the blood because these three youngsters managed to boat more than a dozen grouper in just couple of hours on a wreck about 25 miles west of Ft. Myers.

I don't have all the details because I was not part of the trip but here is what I do know from a telephone report. They left the Dock sometime after 7 AM; the plan was to drop a pin fish trap for a few and get some live bait but it was not necessary after my cuz Freddy spotted some Sardines, and being pretty adept at throwing the cast net they managed to load up on livies and head out sooner than expected.

They made the Run to the wreck offshore with nice weather, anchored up, and put out some lines. Kyle had his heart set on catching a Goliath grouper, and like Babe Ruth calling his shot this is what he boated.

Tyler, Freddy, and Kyle the Goliath slayer

(This Goliath Grouper was safely released after the Photo Opp)

Thereafter these youngsters managed to catch another 8 Keeper groupers, a Lane Snapper, and Mangrove Snapper to bring home for the fish fry. All in all a Great job by this next generation of anglers with some valuable tutelage from Freddy and Hector.

I was promised more pics and if they come I will post those as well, but this is what I have for now.

6 Reds, 2 Gags, 1 Lane, and 1 Mang

Kyle, Tyler, Kristy, Freddy and Hector