Bait or lack thereof was the starting point for this years trip. Our usual contacts in the keys for gogs and speedos were silent or extremely expensive so most of us opted out. We did lay in a decent store of pinfish and grunts which were to prove a bit marginal. We did, however, pick up a decent supply of ballyhoo which were the best bait for the first nights mutton bite.
As per Yuris usual style we left a bit late pulling out about 2 p.m. and instead of trolling we rolled out west of ft. jefferson to spend the night and be one step closer to Pulley ridge. The weather had indeed co-operated and since Pulley ridge is a deep water reef of special concern there is no anchoring allowed and instead drifting the 200ft+ water is the only option. Perfect weather is mandatory. The first night the fellows from Tampa had a rather good time of it using ballyhoo plugs. Several nice muttons were brought aboard. True to form yours truly had his usual extra slow start refusing to use what was working and doing my own thing........mostly to no avail. Glenn's son Kevin landed 2 very nice muttons that night including big mutton honors which was to stand most of the way through the trip. Kevin, aged 11, was a real trooper and a pleasure to have on board. I hope to fish with him in the future.
The morning had us at a hump and Glenn and I broke out the jigging roods with butterfly jigs while the rest of our troop drifted dead bait. The jigs were the ticket and a limit of AJ was brought aboard in short order.
I stayed up all 3 nights and most of the days so things start to get a little fuzzy from here but I will try my best to recant the rest of the trip.
That night found me alone in the stern with everyone else having turned in for the night. The bite started about 1 a.m. with smallish muttons firing about 20 minutes apart. Not great but I'll take it every time. The size of the fish gradually increased and culminated with the largest mutton of the trip which Glenn estimated at 16lbs. That fish ate a strip of bonita which Glenn had iced earlier in the trip. The bonita, in fact, accounted for the 8 or so muttons I caught that night. Glenn was up around 2 a.m. and commenced fishing. But as is often the case in this game misfortune frowned and he spent a good deal of his time dealing with sharks and re-rigging. Such is offshore fishing.
While we did not ask Yuri to demonstrate his culinary prowess, dinner was nontheless quite good with Glenns wife having made some barbecue pulled pork which proved excellent. The mutton bite that night did not materialize as per the previous night. Kyle and I stayed with it though and put in a good effort. Kyle did manage several decent mangrove snappers and a bunch of small yellowtails on his light outfit. He did pay the price a few times as fish a little to hefty for 10lb line broke him off. We also played tag with a nurse shark that went about 10 or 12ft long. I hooked it at least 3 times and I think Kyle hooked it twice. Fortunately each time it was a little easier to get in..........still exhausting though from 150ft down. I was rather pleased with myself after discovering a ledge off the starboard side and having had several grunts caught I suspected a black grouper could be caught at daybreak. I was correct.
This was to be our last day and all of us were very much looking forward to trolling. I think all of us had enough of handling a rod around the clock for 3 straight days and the thought of relaxing while the boat took us to the mystical dolphin grounds was a pleasurable thought indeed. We were abruptly brought low however by Yuri who informed us we would be unable to fish in water over 250' because of fish regulations concerning the snowy grouper we had boated. A huge bummer for us as I think we were all looking forward to the trolling. We all manned up though and fished a 1/2 day on some shallow reefs with a smattering to show for our efforts. After a shower I slept soundly the 3 hours it took to get to the dock.
I look back on the trip and other than the AJ bite on the hump and the deep dropping there was no "hot bite". We stayed busy though and it was not a long wait until someone had a fish on. It was a very good thing we brought extra coolers on board. Had there been a hot bite we would of maxed out. As it was we were full up with only 1/2 left on the remaining fish box. I think I can safely say it was the most fish I have ever put up but only because of the deep dropping. That fills the boxes in a hurry.
As for the very remote and much anticipated Pulley ridge it was a bit anti-climactic. Fishing was good......but not as good as I had hoped. I had set my sights on large fish and plenty of them. Yuri is certainly not to blame as this was only his 2nd or 3rd time fishing "the Ridge". Given time I have no doubt he will figure it out.
The crew was a bit different than usual. Jerry had to opt out because of chronic injury. Rob, ever the steadfast gentlemen and regular was on board. Glenn, retired AF and all around good guy was on board along with his son, Kevin, and 2 fellows he works with at verizon, Kyle and Gary. Fun guys to fish with (Gary you should have your own HBO special) and I look forward to doing it again.
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