Sport Lobster: Key Largo. Lot's of bugs, sun, & family fun
Posted: August 21st, 2008, 10:18 am
This has taken me a while to find the time to compose but ……..we did our Annual Family Reunion Florida Keys get-together which always occurs during the two day Sportsman season for lobster in late July.
Sunday: One hundred miles into the trip at 0600 hours we got a flat on the trailer that necessitated a call to a brother-in-law in Tampa to find/buy us a bolt cutter as the tread peeled off and pulled the diamond plating fender into the rim. Once he brought the bolt cutter I cut out the offending fender piece before we could get back onto the road after which we didn’t have any other problems.
Monday: We spent the time pre-scouting our old numbers but they didn’t really have a solid amount of lobsters on them. Later that night the three nephews took their 19’ Mako, Screaming Seaman, out to the Gulf Stream to drift for swordfish. About 9:30 p.m. they hooked one on the surface (they were in 850 ft) and after a short fight brought aboard a small 42.7 lb sword (which later fed 15 people for two outstanding evening meals).
Pre-scouting
Pre-scouting
Good jack
Sword lit up
Jason & Bobby w/Bobby’s sword
Tuesday: We went in a different direction/area that we had not lobstered on before and quickly found 14 new spots that had an estimated 94 legal bugs. Feeling smug we left the area with plans to return early Wednesday morning.
The sword with the kids the next morning
Permit on the flat
Red Grouper
We’ll see you tomorrow………
Wednesday: Opening of the 2 day Sport Lobster season: We left in two boats and by the time we hit the area at 0710 hours there were quite a few boats already on the water. Obviously we weren’t the only ones who found good lobsters pre-scouting. On at least half of the numbers we found yesterday there were boats already on them! Wow! This was like Stuart Florida lobstering and we stopped going there because it was crazy. After hitting a couple of numbers where boats weren’t close by and doing well in lobsters we got a call from the second boat telling us that they thought we should come over as they found a spot with antennas all over the place. We ended up finishing there by 10:30 a.m. with a limit of 66 bugs (11 people). Later in the afternoon we did a special lobstering trip with the children. We towed around a bit finding a few more lobsters. The vis had dropped with the low outgoing tide but the kids managed to catch quite a few including Casey (9) and Jason (12) catching their first legal lobsters!!
Jason & my wife coming to the boat with bugs
Quick break from the action
Happiness is a livewell full of bugs…..
On the deck for a second measurement
Another successful FAMILY day!!
Thursday: Of course the 2nd day of sport lobster season is always much more difficult. We found that to be the case but by late afternoon we had managed 21 more lobsters. On a nice sunset SCUBA dive we managed six more lobsters making a total of 111 lobsters for the trip.
Kids on the rope
A second fun day on the hunt
Cousins from Tampa
Kids with their booty
Friday-Sunday: We spent the days doing a little fishing, snorkeling, & just relaxing. On one patch reef fishing trip with just the boys (Casey and his two cousins Nicky & Jason (12 & 10)) my brother-in-law & I enlightened the boys about some of the important things they need to be aware of as they became responsible young men. One topic concerned passing boats (we weren’t too far from a channel) as a number of boats had run by us. We explained that one of the first things to look out for when a boat was going by was to, listed in order of importance, 1) check to see if there are any HOT BABES IN THONGS aboard, 2) if fishing and you have a fish on, to lower the rod tip so as not to reveal to the passing boat that we’re catching fish here, and 3) to anticipate the boat’s wake and to keep your balance. With lessons like that it made for a fun afternoon of fishing……..
Sword steaks
Schoolies
Saturday night dinner (meal two of sword steaks for 15)
Swordfish, marinated flank steak, lobster, salad, black beans & rice (sans beans for me…)
Goofballs
I used a different underwater camera on this trip and I have to say the Olympus Stylus 770 SW has a little bit to be desired for underwater photography. Last year my cheaper ELPH digital camera with underwater housing took much better photos. The cousins were also pretty happy to win a $50 weekly fishing contest where we were staying with their 42.7 lb sword.
Gotta love the Florida Keys!!
If there are any doubts about how much a trip like this pumps into Florida economy I’d start with the 850 miles roundtrip we drove, 770 of which required 140 gallons of fuel (approx $546) for the truck alone (pulling the 6500 lb rig avging 5.5 mpg). One hundred and fifty gallons we used on the boat ($577.50) and $3085 (4 families) we spent collectively on lodging. Now multiply that for the hundreds of others who made a similar trip to the FL Keys for Sport Lobster and that’s a pretty serious $$ infusion.
See you next year!
Hoo Yah!!
Brian
Sunday: One hundred miles into the trip at 0600 hours we got a flat on the trailer that necessitated a call to a brother-in-law in Tampa to find/buy us a bolt cutter as the tread peeled off and pulled the diamond plating fender into the rim. Once he brought the bolt cutter I cut out the offending fender piece before we could get back onto the road after which we didn’t have any other problems.
Monday: We spent the time pre-scouting our old numbers but they didn’t really have a solid amount of lobsters on them. Later that night the three nephews took their 19’ Mako, Screaming Seaman, out to the Gulf Stream to drift for swordfish. About 9:30 p.m. they hooked one on the surface (they were in 850 ft) and after a short fight brought aboard a small 42.7 lb sword (which later fed 15 people for two outstanding evening meals).
Pre-scouting
Pre-scouting
Good jack
Sword lit up
Jason & Bobby w/Bobby’s sword
Tuesday: We went in a different direction/area that we had not lobstered on before and quickly found 14 new spots that had an estimated 94 legal bugs. Feeling smug we left the area with plans to return early Wednesday morning.
The sword with the kids the next morning
Permit on the flat
Red Grouper
We’ll see you tomorrow………
Wednesday: Opening of the 2 day Sport Lobster season: We left in two boats and by the time we hit the area at 0710 hours there were quite a few boats already on the water. Obviously we weren’t the only ones who found good lobsters pre-scouting. On at least half of the numbers we found yesterday there were boats already on them! Wow! This was like Stuart Florida lobstering and we stopped going there because it was crazy. After hitting a couple of numbers where boats weren’t close by and doing well in lobsters we got a call from the second boat telling us that they thought we should come over as they found a spot with antennas all over the place. We ended up finishing there by 10:30 a.m. with a limit of 66 bugs (11 people). Later in the afternoon we did a special lobstering trip with the children. We towed around a bit finding a few more lobsters. The vis had dropped with the low outgoing tide but the kids managed to catch quite a few including Casey (9) and Jason (12) catching their first legal lobsters!!
Jason & my wife coming to the boat with bugs
Quick break from the action
Happiness is a livewell full of bugs…..
On the deck for a second measurement
Another successful FAMILY day!!
Thursday: Of course the 2nd day of sport lobster season is always much more difficult. We found that to be the case but by late afternoon we had managed 21 more lobsters. On a nice sunset SCUBA dive we managed six more lobsters making a total of 111 lobsters for the trip.
Kids on the rope
A second fun day on the hunt
Cousins from Tampa
Kids with their booty
Friday-Sunday: We spent the days doing a little fishing, snorkeling, & just relaxing. On one patch reef fishing trip with just the boys (Casey and his two cousins Nicky & Jason (12 & 10)) my brother-in-law & I enlightened the boys about some of the important things they need to be aware of as they became responsible young men. One topic concerned passing boats (we weren’t too far from a channel) as a number of boats had run by us. We explained that one of the first things to look out for when a boat was going by was to, listed in order of importance, 1) check to see if there are any HOT BABES IN THONGS aboard, 2) if fishing and you have a fish on, to lower the rod tip so as not to reveal to the passing boat that we’re catching fish here, and 3) to anticipate the boat’s wake and to keep your balance. With lessons like that it made for a fun afternoon of fishing……..
Sword steaks
Schoolies
Saturday night dinner (meal two of sword steaks for 15)
Swordfish, marinated flank steak, lobster, salad, black beans & rice (sans beans for me…)
Goofballs
I used a different underwater camera on this trip and I have to say the Olympus Stylus 770 SW has a little bit to be desired for underwater photography. Last year my cheaper ELPH digital camera with underwater housing took much better photos. The cousins were also pretty happy to win a $50 weekly fishing contest where we were staying with their 42.7 lb sword.
Gotta love the Florida Keys!!
If there are any doubts about how much a trip like this pumps into Florida economy I’d start with the 850 miles roundtrip we drove, 770 of which required 140 gallons of fuel (approx $546) for the truck alone (pulling the 6500 lb rig avging 5.5 mpg). One hundred and fifty gallons we used on the boat ($577.50) and $3085 (4 families) we spent collectively on lodging. Now multiply that for the hundreds of others who made a similar trip to the FL Keys for Sport Lobster and that’s a pretty serious $$ infusion.
See you next year!
Hoo Yah!!
Brian
