Well vermie season opened on the first. I headed to the Sea Legs for the morning trip on friday. I heard they killed them after midnight thursday. On the troll out my trolling reel starts screaming. As I get the fish to the boat, it is a small bonita.
Oh well , at least it got the blood pumping. Next the chicken rigs were squidded up 
. I weeded some keepers out of about 15 vermies. One month ago I was landing fat ones easily and now I am measuring them. Anyways I got my limit of vemies as expected. No kingfish bite. There were about 5 , as Kenny calls them california yellowtails caught. Everyone has an opinion on what to call them. They came thru on only one drift. There were some triggers, lanes and other fished mixed in, but alot of vermies. I believe I was fishing next to Jbuck. Not 100% sure. If so you fished inbetween me and Roger. Oh and the rain, that sucked for a little bit but atlest it stopped. Here is a pic of a couple buckets, sorry I didn't take pics of the questionably called fish.
Nice red color
cleaning out the bones
Couldn't help myself to try some sushi. I call it Million. Real mild and good tasting.
SATURDAY
After my son's football game I got ready to head down to the Keys. With the cleanup in mind and a long trip I made 3 sandwiches, packed some chips, and a bowl of arroz con pollo. I grabbed my gear and headed out the door. I stopped off to pick up a few Monsters energy drinks. I got a little hungary so I went to get a sandwich from my cooler in the trunk.
I forgot all my food. 
Dammit, so I went to Laspadas. The line was , well you know if you ever been there. Anyway that put me behind in the time a little, but atleast I have something to eat now and take later. The ride down was decent. I got to Robbies around 6pm. I ordered some dolphin with this crazy sauce on top. Wow it was good. I took the advice of the barkeep. 
[He made good conversation as I had a few beers. I was thinking of taking the 7:30 trip as I was unsure if anyone was on channel 2 yet. So he took me over to where they drop of the catch. (the 1:00 trip was just getting back) There was a deckload of vermies. Well , I got time to kill so lets go. I got a spot just off the stern.
The view as I ate....
So I thought we were going to kill vermillion but as we where heading to the first spot the mate said we were yellowtailing. Ok I'm down. The majority of the guys fishing by me were actually Sea Legs regular snapper guys. I felt at home.
Our first spot was in about 40 ft. of water. Alot of small tails were thrown back. I got a few tails and about a 5lb mutton. The deeper spots 70 and 90 didn't produce much so we went back into the 40s and caught some more tails and grovers. The guy next to me got around a 4lb grover and another guy got a decent mutton. I ended up with 4 or 5 tails, a grover, some grunts, and about a 5lb mutton. Some of the fish.
For the oven....
After I collected my fish I headed to Channel 2 to meet Ricky and Scottie. The bridge was dark as hell. I just took my rods,tackle, and the rest of my Laspadas sub and met them on the bridge. Not much action going on so I sat down and had some well needed nutition. I put a few rods in the water then I sat down the chair, grabbed the remote, and what do you know, the Noah Show was on. He is one of our newest members and he had our very own Salty Dog on his show. The interview was more than hours and provided much comic relief to my tired soul. As the show got boring, I fell asleep with the rest. Morning time knocking on our door, I woke up and rebaited my rods.
I was thinking the sun should be up soon so I went to my car to get some shades. When I get back someone is yelling , Hey Russ is that your 4500? I said yes. He says Ricky is on with it. He fights the fish and pulls up a nice grover. Well the rules are if you are not around its not your fish. I am cool with that but what a time to go and get sunglasses. And the touney has begun and my rod's fish is beating me. Nelson pulls up a little grouper measures it, takes a pic , and throws it back. Next I catch a little guy too and just throw him back quickly. No measure, no sign, just a pic. Mistake #2
Tommy yells out , "Ok guys you have 10 minutes left" I start to pack up a little. I rebait some of the rods I have out and nothing. I go back to rebait and the only bait I have left is a little piece of bonita belly from my first fish of the weekend. I put it on the hook and cast out nicely. As we were standing around bs'n Tommy says he whos penn is that , it just screamed. I run over tighten the drag, lift up, and I am on. The fish is fighting pretty decently and as I get him closer I can see some color. Mr. Mutton came by at the last minute. Rory did a fine job with the net, returning the favor of me land his bonnet head. The fish came up and Herbert measured it about 3 times. Keeper and winner! What a weekend. Great time and a great cleanup. A big shoutout to Mrs. Grapetide. What a spread she put out for us. You don't know how much I appreciated that. I was Hungry with a capitol H as you can see. That was great. Good time with the Boatless crew as always.
You don't owe me anything man. We will get together and fish latter this week. 
