YURI 2013- The Ledge Trip

             

Tim, Alex and I left around 10 A.M. for the keys after having picked them up in Ft Lauderdale the night before having flown in from Detroit. It would be Alex's first offshore trip and first time in the keys. A very nice graduation present from his Dad and well deserved I might add for the fine young man.
     The usual bait stop at channel 5 produced exceptionally well and we were into the grunts nonstop from the start. Alex was particularly fascinated by the 5 ft tarpon that continually swam by. We loaded the bait cooler and proceeded to the Hogfish grill where we met Glenn, Jerry and Nik for some much anticipated dinner and then we were off to the Air Force base at Key West where Glenn and Jerry, both retired AF, had a couple of villas rented for the evening. Kudos fellas, sure beats the Days Inn!
     The following morning some logistical hurdles presented themselves as ice was no longer available from the out of business fish house but we didn't let that slow us down and soon all was in order. Yuri had just come in the night before and was a smidge late showing up around 1 in the afternoon. But we knew the best Captain in the keys would take good care of us so only the modest grumbling of impatient fisherman eagerly anticipating stretching a line was to be expected and not a cause for concern.
     Out of the harbor with the big catamaran and into the blue water shortly thereafter all the while running and gunning for dolphin. They would not disappoint and once the birds and weeds were found we did very nicely with the dolphin fire drill with lots of small ones banging around on the deck. We rinsed and repeated the process all the way out to the bottom fishing grounds and had well over 20 boxed within a few hours......a good start to one of the most memorable trips I have been on.
     We set up in the early evening and put a whoopin on the big muttons for most of the first night and completely filled one of our boxes to overflowing. The bite was very steady but what was especially noteworthy was the average size was very nice indeed with many fish between 10 and 15 lbs.

By 3 A.M. we were all out cold in our bunks having been spent up by the dolphin and the punishment doled out by the big muttons. The following morning after being firmly fortified with some breakfast and coffee we set up in a different spot. Jerry was soon rewarded with a dandy Black Grouper.

     The day bite was was good for us and we landed quite the variety of fish. The amount of big red groupers on this trip was a real bonus as I am used to catching mostly just over legal ones that don't battle especially well. This trip was exceptional in the amount of hard fighting big reds.

     A bit later in the day I dropped down a foot long yellowtail on 150lb braid to see who was home. My offering was soon snapped up and I quickly put Alex on the reel. I had joked with Alex earlier....."if you think you're tough you haven't met Jack".  My kidding was merely a fortuitous premonition as the big Jack put a bit of a whoopin on the lad. But he hung in there and was eventually the victor. Way to battle!

      The second night was substantially slower than the 1st night but we still managed to put some more muttons in the box as well as a hard fighting black fin tuna.

 About 3;30 A.M. found only two die hards with a line out......"Big Daddy" Tim Cornelius and yours truly. We weren't doing much except hooking the occasional fish and hanging on while it ran under a ledge which was just behind the boat. Then the exhausting process of breaking off the 50lb line and retying soon became a familiar routine at this spot. Suddenly something clicked in my brain as I became aware of smallish fish flicking the surface. I stared down into the chumslick that I was careful to keep running and noticed some smallish fish darting about. We had just about run out of the $36 a dozen Goggle eyes and I was eager to replenish our supply with any sort of fresh bait. I tied on a small sabiki and was soon rewarded with a hook-up. In came a gog! I quickly set Tim up with an identical outfit and we went to work. Somehow I had the knack and quickly had about 18 fresh baits safely iced away. The thought crossed my mind to wake some folk up but after 20 years of fishing overnight boats waking people up had backfired on me every single time and I had swore off the practice. The hard work of staying up was to pay off big time for me the following day as we shall soon see.
     The Gogs left as mysteriously as they had arrived and by 5 A.M. they had vanished. I was able to hang in all that night and most of the following morning........So far my mid life crisis doesn't consist of a little red sports car and a blonde but rather how long I can hang in at the rail! That morning I fished poorly and had dismal luck compounded by lousy technique, never a good combination. Tough guy or not I knew I needed a few Zzzz's if I was to fish the rest of the day and went down for about 2 hours. Things improved tremendously from that point on and we had an excellent day bite. One stop was very memorable as we had set up on a big ledge. Our valiant cast of characters lost about 6 or 7 big fish in a row as we were unable to turn them to keep them out from under the ledge. I turned and looked up at Captain Yuri and suggested that we weren't men enough to fish this spot. He flashed a wry smile and said we would "find something easier".
     We were soon off to another ledge and it was here I caught fire and the Gogs from the night before proved their worth. Every cast behind and into the chumslick resulted in a bite with several nice muttons, a nice Scamp Grouper and one big blackie to show for my efforts.

Alex was also to pop a very nice fatty.

 And Tim wrestled with "old snaggletooth"

It was quite a day and we were well pleased with our efforts. The boat was almost limited out on Grouper and we had 34 of our allotted 36 fish limit.
     Our dinners were tasty with Niks wife having made an excellent lasagna for the first night, Glenns wife having made her usual exceptional pulled pork for the 2nd night and Yuri, the master fish cook, supplying our last nights fare. In spite of my pledge to stay hungry so I could fish all night I failed miserably and had a full belly. Even my 4 shot vanilla latte espresso could not keep me out of the rack and I hit the hay around 4 A.M. after another rather slow night.
     I record the following for personal posterity but the reader may get some entertainment out of the internal battle that was waged between the bed and the fishing rod:  I awoke around 7 A.M. having slept about 3 hours. It was still rather early and I knew I needed to be on deck so off I slid out of my bunk. Then the overwhelming realization that I would have to put my socks on with hands that were so cut and infected that they were no longer capable of simple tasks. This caused me such consternation that I jumped back into bed and eagerly buried my face in my pillow. But soon the voice in my head started up........"this is a good time to fish.......you need to be out there........don't put your socks on, just slide bare feet into your boots". Hey, I could do that! I was on deck in a few moments where I found Tim, Nik and Glenn at the rail. I enquired if they had caught much and the unanimous answer was negative. The voice in my head suggested the outfit with the big grouper jig and a ballyhoo combo but I fought the idea because the current was moving pretty hard and it would be difficult to hold bottom...........the internal argument continued until I realized I could get 2 drops to bottom before the jig would be swept up and away by the current.
Out it went and the big bucktail soon found bottom only to be kited upwards in the current......I dropped back for my second and final try. I never felt the bite but realized something was just a wee bit different and I set up hard. The fish was there and the battle was on. In the back of my mind I knew we were on another ledge and I fully expected the big fish to rock me but I gave the 50lb test all I could get out of her and soon had another big black on the deck. All this took place within about 60 seconds of walking on deck.........I have had it happen to me many times where I had been patiently fishing and someone walks up, drops down and catches a big one. It was nice to be on the other end for once.

     

 This was our last hurrah and Yuri suggested that since we were basically out of ice that we work our way towards home and work on any dolphin that we come across. I had brought a waffle maker aboard and as designated breakfast cook I was miffed when about 1/2 way through the bacon the schooling dolphin fire drill commenced. We soon had dolphin flopping everywhere. Back to cooking and eating! Then another stop........the weed patches were thick, the fish were cooperative. I had decided early on that I would not use the standard chunk of meat but I would be casting a big topwater popper. That proved to be a very good strategy for a variety of reasons. I was able to cast the big plug 1/2 mile and the rattles and the popping certainly rang the dinner bell for the schools of dolphin we encountered. They followed the big plug right to the boat where the fellows soon made short work of them. I had caught 3 or 4 of the smaller ones when I got the strike I was looking for.......the memory will remain with me for quite some time.........the 20lber lunged towards the plug from the side and crushed the lure. Then it pretty much went berserk with several wild jumps. Much of the time I was not connected to the fish with a tight line because of the incredible speed of my beautiful adversary but we stayed glued together. Yuri soon showed with the gaff and commented that "it will be a miracle if we catch this fish" (larger dolphin will usually throw treble hooked lures). But miracles do happen and we stuck the fish just as the hooks released. Lots of fun!

 Yuri then commenced to wear us out by stopping at every weed patch and flying bird that came his way. One by one we dropped off as we had had enough. I had climbed in my bunk and when I heard the motor slow I was unable to get up. Thus ended the fantastic fishing experience. I was glad to have been able to share such a good trip with such quality individuals and I am already looking forward to next year. Be safe and cherish each day.

MT