Sometimes I wonder if I write this blog just for my own therapy.  Then, I’ll get someone on a charter that will literally recite the entries to me as written.  Yesterday afternoon, I came home to check my email and had several emails wanting to know how my day turned out.  I’ll never doubt my readership again.  They are loyal and apparently don’t mind an odd entry…  And some of them are pretty strangely written!

My early morning trip did show up pretty much on time, having closed down the Duval St. bars at 4 am, it’s no small feat!  We had rough conditions with green water and a very cold North wind.  No Blue water fish, but plenty of Cero, Spanish, and King Mackerel, we kept the action going and tried not to bore anyone.  There were a couple of chummers between the boats, but one lucky angler locked onto a 40 pound hammerjack and took the overall largest fish award.

The afternoon went a bit smoother.  Craig Cope, from NY, NY celebrated his nuptials with fiancee Shanti with a half day of wreck fishing.  The Copes’ have fished with us now for 5 years.  In fact, I believe my first blog entry is about them catching Sailfish in shallow water, landing three and chalking up several near misses in as close as the Key West Ship channel.

Seven-year-old Brandon Cope, Craig’s nephew, caught the biggest fish of his life.  On a Shimano high speed 30-pound reel packed with light braided line, he worked for more than 20 minutes, keeping the braid tight, following Capt. Steve’s directions to the “T” and finally putting about a 40 pound Hammerjack in the boat for a great picture.  The fish was off-gassed, releasing the air in its bladder, revived at the side of the boat, and released unharmed to fight another day! 

Way to go Brandon, you made us look like heroes at the dock!

Up early…  Long day. 

First, a 6 hour charter with live bait fishing.  We have 12 Anglers, so we split the charter with our sistership (the other 46.6 Bertram in Key West) the “Triple Time.”  We plan on leaving the dock at 7 am…  However, I did receive a text message from the charter at 4 am telling me, “We’ll be there!”  I’ll let you know

Second charter of the day leaves the dock this afternoon at 1:30 pm, just a 4 hour trip.  These anglers should be well rested and the afternoon should be productive as the Gulf Stream has moved way North and into our half day range. 

Tonight, my son, Zachary, plays baseball beginning at 8 pm.  He got “player of the game” last Tuesday, so I pretty much have to go tonight.

And to start the day, a big cup of coffee…  and this view out my condo window.  My version of psycho-therapy!

One thing about the frequent cold fronts that we get moving down the map this time of year, is the great water temperature drop in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Atlantic Ocean water temperature doesn’t drop as much since it is partly regulated by the Gulf Stream temperature from the loop current bringing warm water from South America, up into the Gulf of Mexico, and then twisting its way around the Dry Tortugas and along the fabulous Florida Keys!  Sounds complicated…  and it is.  Suffice it to say, that the Gulf Stream current, with the fish in it, moves from Southwest to Northeast, and unless the fish sneak by Key West in the middle of the night, we get first shot at them.  There’s just nobody West of us!

So, with the low Gulf of Mexico water temps, the big Barracudas that normally live on the WWII wrecks and big shoals make like snow birds and move further South into the Atlantic Ocean.  They congregate on the reefs and wrecks and are definitely hungry after that long swim.  Lucky for them, we have plenty of baitfish just waiting! 

We look for “showering” Ballyhoo on the reef.  That’s the baitfish all moving as one pack tailwalking across the water to avoid a predator and it looks as if you just turned the lawn sprinkler on in the backyard   Lately, this has been a dead give away that the big ‘Cudas are on the reef, but it could certainly be one of many species that shower bait on the reef.  Like our Sail that was caught a couple of entries ago in 13 feet of water…  go down a few blog entries and read about it…

Here, Tom Stevens poses with one of many Vandenburg Cudas that inhabit the 600 foot wreck.  He was released unharmed and we expect him to do his job and be there again tomorrow!

It was a tough day…  Had to go back to the “reel” world.  Make a living…  grind out the rent money…  day in the salt mine…  Oh, and we caught a Sailfish!

Gordon and Tonya Lewis spent the day on the “Mr. Z” and couldn’t have been more relaxed and friendly.  Believe it or not, the more relaxed, friendly, and low-key the charter is, the more the crew feels at ease and can put on a better show.  Sometimes this results in smoother interaction all around and a better showing at the dock.  In this case, a big blue and white Sailfish flag hanging from our rigger as we backed into the slip!

Tonya did an outstanding job of keeping the line tight on this full-grown Sailfish that happened to be showering bait in the poco agua near Western Dry Rocks.  In other words, she did one hell of a job catching a Sailfish!  And a picture speaks.

For those of you following my musical career, my gig on Saturday went great!

 Jerry Jeff Walker (Mr. Bojangles), Mac MacAnally (wrote most of Buffett’s biggest hits), Cowboy Troy (of Big and Rich fame) and several other country players got together at one of the Florida Keys’ biggest campgrounds and put on a full day of music, food, and booze.  I was lucky enough to be invited by one of my bestest music playin’ friends, Mark Burris, to sit in and fake my way thru with some of the top talent in the country…  I’m just not sure which country