09-27-2001, 01:39 PM
Good to be back from a short vacation I took last weekend down to Islamorada in the Florida Keys. As planned, Nancy and I rented a boat on Saturday for a full day. We did a little scouting on Friday to see what was biting offshore and found that many of the boats coming in to Bud ‘n Mary’s and Whale Harbor were catching mostly small kingfish which influenced our decision to stay bayside for possible tarpon and snook action. We rented a 17’ skiff out of Robbie’s on the bayside of lower Islamorada. Robbie’s is famous for their tarpon feeding. They charge you a couple of bucks and hand you a bucket of greenies to feed the hundreds of tarpon that hang around their docks for an easy meal. There are some “giants” in there and if you have never experienced the “feed”, it’s well worth the $2.00. We departed Robbie’s dock around 9:00 am and headed three miles into the Gulf to a group of islands that looked fishable. Fishing there was slow so after an hour of drowning pinfish, we elected to structure fish and headed to the bridges. I anchored up under the small bridge only about 200 yards away from where we departed at Robbie’s in the a.m. The tide was incoming with water clarity a far cry from what I was expecting. They must have had lots of rain recently because visibility was below par. We tried my favorite method of trollrites and live shrimp and instantly hooked up with some decent mangrove snappers. These “grovers” ranged to 2 ½ pounds . No monsters, but plenty for a good fish fry. By 12:30 the “grovers” disappeared and grunts started biting. Nancy’s second grunt was attacked on her retrieve by a decent size tarpon. I decided to try a live pinfish, which lasted about twenty seconds. Using a 3-0 Owner live bait hook, I planted it firmly into the tarpon and the fight was on. After fifteen minutes of following this tarpon around bridge pilings, we finally got him into open water on the gulf side right in front of Robbie’s. There were about ten people on the dock who dropped their buckets of greenies to watch our tarpon show. This guy made six leaps in front of the crowd and finally boated him for a quick picture and release. We actually received a round of applause from the people on the dock. Not a giant tarpon but it sure was a feisty one estimated at 65 lbs. It’s funny all the cruising we did, finding nothing, and a stone’s throw away from the dock lay the fish. By the end of the day we had 7 tarpon hookups unfortunately only boating the one. A great day on the water but a bit disappointing in the usually “Keys” water clarity. Just being on the water in conditions that far surpass what we have been experiencing is enough for me.<br><br>Back around Stuart I fished the 25-cent bridge a few nights. The mullet run has been on now for two weeks with a few nice snook being caught, mostly on top-water lures such as mirrolures, spooks and bombers. <br>This morning my buddy Charlie and myself did a short recon trip south to the St. Lucie Inlet aboard Catch 22. Charlie really wanted to redeem himself after I blasted him on a previous report. We started just outside Anchors Aweigh Marina where I keep my boat docked. The past few days I have seen a few monster tarpon tearing up the mullet so we decided to hit that spot. After 15 minutes catching 6 nice jacks to 8 pounds that put up a valiant battle, quickly released, there were no tarpon to be found. Down at the Inlet we drifted both live shrimp and mullet. Two nice black drum in the 4 lb. class and some jacks, 2 swordspine snook in the 20” size, and one 31” common snook which became dinner tonight. (A delicious dinner might I add.)<br><br>Over the years I’ve learned that September is always a slow month, but with the added stress on the Country right now, I believe everyone is trying to re-group. I haven’t had a charter this week, but have seven trips booked for October and am anxious to resume charters and do what I can to help get people back to some semblance of normalcy. I guess we can expect another slow week or two while we continue to heal and re-group, but I hope everyone will try to encourage their friends and neighbors to continue with their lives. Do not let “them” win by beating down our spirit. <br><br>With the fall mullet run in full swing, the fish are biting and busting the water like gangbusters. They make it look like the 4th of July. <br><br>Condolences and prayers go out to all who have suffered and lost in this tragic time.<br>Red, white and blue will always be my favorite colors!! United we stand!<br><br> Good fishing,<br><br> Capt. Bob Bushholz<br><br> http://www.catch22fish.com<br><br><br><br>