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

For the next couple of months, when you see great pictures of Grouper (like this one) posing on the back of the “Mr. Z,” it will only be taken moments before it is returned to the sea from whence it came…  Just a nice way of saying that we released it and it might be the difference between a fresh fish dinner and pizza for lunch      Not that there is anything wrong with pizza!

Our Federal Fish and Wildlife has decided that all shallow water species of Grouper must be released this time of year so, yep, we still catch ‘em, but we just can’t keep ‘em.  Now, if you want to go catch “keeper” Grouper, we can run a little farther, break out the high voltage power reels and deep drop for Snowey Groupers, Warsaw Groupers, and Golden and Grey Tilefish.  Absolutely delicious!  You know us, we always have a back-up plan!  See our previous “Deep Drop Fishing” article.

This time of year we expect cold fronts to move through the Florida Keys and Key West on a regular basis.  But this year it seems that just when we get a 10 degree dip in the temperature, a quick warm-up, and our Spring time fishing to return, y’all send down another windy, cold reminder of just why we live here in the first place

Friday, our Blue Water Gulf Stream returned and brought with it some nice schoolie Dolphin and Joe Morrisson reeled in this respectable Wahoo just a few hundred feet from where a group of divers were entering the water to dive the “Vandenburg,” our 600 ft. artificial reef (fancy name for a “sunk on purpose” wreck).

We caught Bonita, Kingfish, Jack Crevalles, and alligator-size Barracudas too!