Middle Keys Fishing Reports

[Miamipescador]

Nice report snookspy seems like there was constant action.

[snook spy]

Thanks for the report. Yeah, a 9/0 is a little undergunned for Long Key, especially with the strong current. I caught a decent blacktip on mine last weekend there, but if you hook into a nice bull or hammer you are screwed

I figured it to be a bigger hammer or bull with the power it had. This fish never slowed down. Never had a prob with blacktips and such on the 9/0. You think a 12/0 would be enough for bigger sharks or do I need more than that?

[PhishingPhanatic]

If you are serious about trying to get one of the monsters down there, I would go with a 14/0 or 16/0 if you can find one. Even then, there are some sharks that can spool one of those..some of them are not meant to be caught. An 80W spooled with braid is another option, but the bridges are not the most friendly environment for braid...too many pilons and coral heads to cut you off.

[Green Tide]

s s
i saw a group of about 4-5 guys unloading a bunch of shark gear on long key on friday evening. did you see or fish by them? they parked at the south end.
i meant to go see how they were doing but never made it back that night.

[snook spy]

s s
i saw a group of about 4-5 guys unloading a bunch of shark gear on long key on friday evening. did you see or fish by them? they parked at the south end.
i meant to go see how they were doing but never made it back that night.

Yeah I saw them, they where setting up as I walked out and gone by the time I left. Not sure how they did because I was far from them. That had a serious set up though and the sharks where around so I'm sure they hooked up

[snook spy]

If you are serious about trying to get one of the monsters down there, I would go with a 14/0 or 16/0 if you can find one. Even then, there are some sharks that can spool one of those..some of them are not meant to be caught. An 80W spooled with braid is another option, but the bridges are not the most friendly environment for braid...too many pilons and coral heads to cut you off.

Thanks PP, I saw that Jeff at T-R had a 14/0 for sale in the buy or sell section, Maybe I will see if he still has it. If you know anyone trying to sell one of these let me know

[Miamipescador]

Snookspy saw this on cragislist

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/spo/2189216336.html

Kinda overpriced but im sure you can work something out, ive heard the older senators are better anyways

[Fla Shark Hunter]

The prices are pretty good for the reels in question...

[killula]

I'm trying to sell a 14/0 with a nice 8ft unlimited shark rod. $350.00 if I can ever get it back from Paulieboy.

[gruntking]

Snookspy saw this on cragislist

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/spo/2189216336.html

Kinda overpriced but im sure you can work something out, ive heard the older senators are better anyways

that guy is a flake i tryed buying the 10/0 a few months back an the guy had me drive out to 8 st for nothing

[Miamipescador]

Anyone gonna be fishing Ch.2/5 or long key on saturday?
Planning on going to channel 2 or long key depending on the tide and doing some catching. If anyone wants to meet up thatd be great .

[Fla Shark Hunter]

killula, What's going on bro. How's life in Orlando??? If you want to sell the 14/0 combo i will buy at your asking price let me know...

[killula]

Thanks Nick, we have to work something out with paul over at bass pro. He's a really busy family man now and has a bad case of amnesia whenever I call him, he forgets to call back. Maybe we can work something out soon.

[Miamipescador]

Anyone planning on heading down this weekend?

Thinking of going saturday to try out the 9/0

[Miamipescador]

Fishing was great today, report to come.

[gwpolo5]

Fished at Ch 2 from noon till 8pm yesterday and didn't have much luck. I switched bait from shrimp to mullet to ballyhoo but my luck just wouldn't change. I did get a few small grovers, but other than that I didn't see any other fish. I even had crabs soaking the whole time I was there and not even a bite.

I was down in Miami for vacation from NYC and was really hoping to land some keepers, but the beautiful view and amazing weather more than made up for my lack of success. I'll just keep my fingers crossed for better luck next time I take a trip down.

Thanks for all the help and tips!

[Miamipescador]

Fished at Ch 2 from noon till 8pm yesterday and didn't have much luck. I switched bait from shrimp to mullet to ballyhoo but my luck just wouldn't change. I did get a few small grovers, but other than that I didn't see any other fish. I even had crabs soaking the whole time I was there and not even a bite.

I was down in Miami for vacation from NYC and was really hoping to land some keepers, but the beautiful view and amazing weather more than made up for my lack of success. I'll just keep my fingers crossed for better luck next time I take a trip down.

Thanks for all the help and tips!

Where you fishing on the platform just south of the channel?
If so i met you at about the time you were leaving and you gave me a rope for chum, thanks bro!

[Miamipescador]

Well this is going to be a long post because it was a looong day

Decided on friday to head out to CH.2 on saturday with my gf and a good friend.

We were on the turnpike on our way to Dons at about 430 and got to Dons at around 510 but he hadnt got there yet. Proceeded to buy 7 dozen shrimp, some trollrites, bucktails, chum, and squid here, and we were set for the long haul.

Stopped at McDonalds on the way to get some coffee and a bagel and the day was looking up.

My gf hated me that morning since i decided on friday to take the top off my jeep and it was a cold and windy morning, lol. Once we reached the key largo are the temperature really rose, and you could actually feel the temperature change which is pretty cool.

Well anyways back to the fishing!
We got to Ch.2 at around 7:00 am and set up at the platform just south of the channel. The tide was incoming and had started at about 6 am so we had a good 5-6 hours of fishing here before the tide turned for good.

I had done all rigs and changed some line on my reels on friday to make sure i had the best possible day this time around. Something that i did was make a topshot of 65 lb powerpro to the reels i fish bottom with. This saved my arse many times and im definately doing it again.

We started dropping live shrimps by some pillings and we caught around 10 decent (12-14")grovers by 11 am with alot of 10-16 inch grouper and small grovers mixed in as well. I sent out the shark rod at about 8 am to soak a dead frozen jack that i had in my freezer, and got a SCREAMING RUN! The bad part was that it was from an A'hole boater who i had whistled to and screamed to about my line before he passed over it at full throttole. Well he will have fun picking off 5 feet of 300 lb wire, 10 feet of 200 lb mono and 150 yards of 100 mono from his propellor, his seal should be gone! I tried thumbing the spool and now have a blister to show for it, lol. Luckily for me i didnt lose alot of braid at all and maybe lost about 20 yards. My friend had a spool of some cheap 50 pd offshore angler line and i decided to spool that up. Reset the shark rig but had no action for the time. We threw out a big live pinfish later on my friends torium 30 and it got annihilated but when i went to engage the drag, he had it on too hard and the line snapped.. Im guessing it was either a cuda, tarpon, or shark

At Dons the guy was nice enough to give us about 2-3 dozen extra shrimp for having to wait for them to open which was nice, but we were down to about 2-3 dozen by the time the tide switched at around noon i believe.

As soon as the tide switched i look under the driving bridge, and whata you know.... 2 huge permit laying up right next to the pilings, i didnt have crabs and i knew that even if i were to hook one, itd be bye bye in about 2 seconds. My friend tried to catch them with some shrimp on a bobber drifted to them but that was a no go. I decided to throw out a white bucktail around them and got smoked by a tarpon. Was using a stradic 2500 with 10 lb braid and 30 leader, not the smartest decision .

Then the cudas came to play. Had a live threadfin in the bucket that i had caught earlier but the cudas would come up to it and turn around as if they were scared... I have a video on that too.

At around 2 we decided to get some more live shrimp and head to long key for the outgoing.

We must have drove around 30 miles trying to find a place with shrimp and finally lucked out at bud n maries marina, although they were 3 or 3.50 a dozen. We picked up 5 dozen here and i bought another bucktail as the tarpon broke the other off.

At about this time of day is when the top off in the jeep felt amazing, 75 degree weather with a cool wind, awesome.

We got to long key at about 3 pm after doing some sightseeing and such and put out the spread. About 15 minutes after we got there we saw the biggest houndfish ive ever seen, easily 4 feet long and they were massive!

The rods i took were:
Stradic 2500 with 10 lb braid and 30 leader which was mostly used for shrimp on a jighead and throwing lures.
Penn 450 ssg 15 pound braid with a 65 topshot for my gf to fish for snappers with.
Spheros 5000 fb 30 pound braid, which i use for snapper
Calcutta 400 bsv 20 lb mono 65 braid topshot for dropping small pins, and cutbait, see if the mutton are chewing.
Torium 20, 30 lb mono 65 braid topshot dropping down bigger baits
Penn 9/0....shark
And of course a bait rod.

At long key we fished from 3-5:30 and caught about 2 more keeper snapper and again, some grouper and undersized snapper as well.

I was having a real hard time getting my shark rod set up on this bridge, it seems the current was too strong and the bait would just float on top and the wind would push it to the pilings once i had let out line and put the clicker on. Any tips?

We left here and headed straight back to channel 2.

Upon getting there i see 2 guys at the platform we were fishing at so we take the one to the west side. @ guys around 6'1 or maybe a little taller, white, was that you and youre brother gwpolo? The guys had a tld 20 and a sargus from what i remember, and they gave me a line to drop the chum. If it was you, nice meeting you!

My friend had to go at about 7 and we were alone and it was getting dark. I deployed the shark rod with a cut up pinfish(about 9 inches) and sent it out a little past the pilings, and set up my other rods for bottom. Went with my girl to the same piligns we were fishing at this morning and continued to catch some snapper, just not with any size to them. At about 7:30 my shark rod goes off and i run to it but unfortunately i got desperate and immediately tried tightening up and i guess i didnt let him eat enough, he was gone, and so was my bait. Rerigged the shark rod, this time with a huge grunt cut up and guts coming out and sent it out there. I forgot to buy some glow sticks to put in the water bottles so it was kinda hard seeing how far out my line was, but i let out enough.

This is where it gets interesting, at 8:10 my calcutta which i have on a tsunami 12-25 lb rod goes off. This rod is super light with a cork grip i guess intended for inshore for snook.
As soon as i engage the drag, the fish takes off nasty, the first run was towards to pilings, and then he came back close to the bridge. As soon as i saw the braid getting back on the spool i added soem extra pressure by thumbing the spool to bring him up but letting him run when he needed to. At first i thought it might have been a tarpon but once i felt the headshakes and the dead weight trying to get him off bottom, i knew it was a nurse. It took me about 30-40 minutes to be able to first see this beast, and i got lucky. I was using 50 pd fluoro leader, with a 4/0 owner light circle and a chunk of some huge threads that i caught today. It was a constant tug of war and once i saw the fish, i had to say wow.... It was around 7-8 foot long and id like to say somewhere around 200 lbs. This fish really whooper my ass and after the first time bringing him off the bottom to try and snap a pic i decided we bot had had enough and cut the line. What a fight on a lite setup. I am very happy of my rod, i was thumbing the spool all the way and able to lift this fish up with the rod bent 190 degrees, and the reel stayed smooth as ever throughout the fight. I had a crowd of about 6 people watching most of the fight, and they wanted me to take the shark to the shore, but honestly i was dead tired and i felt that walking him down would probably kill him, either way there are no heavy duty shark hooks or wire on him! Did i mention..WHAT A FIGHT!

And to top it all off once i go back to check on the other rods, my toriums drag starts going, i set it after fighting the shark for an hour and fish on! I had him coming for around a minute but he had me wrapped around something and there was nothing i could do, i tried horsing him around but it didnt work, so i thumbed the line pointed the rod down until the leader gave in.

It was now around 9:20 and the drive to miami is a long one and really takes a toll on you so we decided to pack things up and head back. Ended up giving about 3 dozen shrimp to some of the people there and we were on our way.

So the tally for the day was:
12 keeper grovers, (12-14 inches)
8 foot nurse shark
jumped a tarpon
and an overall great time out there!

I hope you guys liked the report!
Here are some pics.

The ride!


one of the many snapper


Tarpon at bud n maries (quality sucks)


Some scenery photos






Cudas!


Me hooked on the shark


Only picture of the shark

[PhishingPhanatic]

Nice report.

I not sure I'm understand why the topshot of powerpro instead of mono. Just the structures in the water from rocks, coral, etc...will cut into it fast. Hey, since it worked for you & you liked it then so be it. Would hate for you to lose a big one if the fish went into a rock hole.

Most of my reels are rigged with braid backing and then a topshot of mono. The stretch of the mono reduces pulled hooks. But whatever works for you. Nice report and pictures.

[Miamipescador]

Thanks guys.
The top shot of power pro was just because i had the spool laying around and didnt have any heavy mono, i also prefer the no stretch on PP for fishing rocks, but as you guys said sometimes you can pull hooks.
At least most of the times that i get stuck its the hook and what would cause friction if anything on a rock is the fluro leader and not the braid.

[bolo]

Nice report.

[Miamipescador]

Nice report

Good you had some fun.
You should have let all the line go into the prop of that boater.

As above posts said - what works for you on the line.

Thanks for sharing

500 yards of 100 lb PP is over 50 bux, nty

[Miamipescador]

500 yards of 100 lb PP is over 50 bux, nty

True

But seeing him stop after 200 yards or so because the engine goes out is priceless

ROFL YES, ill keep that in mind if this incident happens again

[PhishingPhanatic]

ROFL YES, ill keep that in mind if this incident happens again

It will if you shark fish down there during the day.

[bolo]

I was having a real hard time getting my shark rod set up on this bridge, it seems the current was too strong and the bait would just float on top and the wind would push it to the pilings once i had let out line and put the clicker on. Any tips?

It's OK if the bait is floating up top. Shark will come up to the surface and nail it. You will need to float it out far to get away from the heavy current near the bridge. The current out by the power poles is less. If you are getting cross wind you can take off the bottle or ballon. The heavy current will take it out without any bobbers. Sometimes when the wind is blowing so bad it will blow your line in and your bait still gets pull to the bridge or piling. Depending on the size of your bait you can tied a heavier weight near the bait. Make sure the line tied to the weight is long enough for the shark to bite through. Use a balloon to float it out and then pop it off when you get to your ideal spot. Just remember, the bigger the bait the heavier the weight you will need. The current will try to drag it out.

If the wind is blowing bad enough I just don't fish. There is no point being frustrate. Wait till the wind died down.

[Landol45]

Nice report miami great pictures

[gwpolo5]

Fished at Ch 2 from noon till 8pm yesterday and didn't have much luck. I switched bait from shrimp to mullet to ballyhoo but my luck just wouldn't change. I did get a few small grovers, but other than that I didn't see any other fish. I even had crabs soaking the whole time I was there and not even a bite.

I was down in Miami for vacation from NYC and was really hoping to land some keepers, but the beautiful view and amazing weather more than made up for my lack of success. I'll just keep my fingers crossed for better luck next time I take a trip down.

Thanks for all the help and tips!

Where you fishing on the platform just south of the channel?
If so i met you at about the time you were leaving and you gave me a rope for chum, thanks bro!

Yea man that was me, no problem for the rope.