Another Day in Paradise

A day for fishing and headed out around 9:30ish in hopes of getting somewhere to fish from 10:00 until about 12:00 around a low tide of 11:56 a.m. -- arrived closer to 10:30 at the other side of Channel Five bridge at the lower end of Islamorada (slightly passed Anne's Beach).  After seeing the maps again this morning, I made a mistake in my posting yesterday by saying the Gulf of Mexico was to my right -- really it is the Florida Bay (though technically fed by both the Gulf and the Atlantic).

Fishing Bridge - US 1 right

I picked the farside of the bridge because there seemed to be only one car parked there and I could always turn around and go back to the other side if it didn't look good.  Coming over the bridge, the waters looked spectacular on both sides and my mouth was watering at the chance to get a line in the water.  However, I took the camera first and checked with the one guy fishing there on the near end of the small fishing bridge (the old roadway converted for fishing).  Looking into the waters, it seemed unbelievably clear and you could see 8 or 10 feet down -- some small schools of feeder fish swam about.

The guy (Jim) had already caught a couple Porgy and had four rods/lines in the water fishing every possible way -- big fish by the piers, a floating line for the small feeders (to use for live bait for the big ones) and a couple lines under the bridge above.

After snapping a few pictures, I hurried to gather my gear -- wasted enough time driving and taking pics and chatting it up.  All I had for bait came from the Bluefish caught in Flagler Beach and as soon as it hit the water, the little fish started picking me clean -- felt them biting but, couldn't get them hooked.  Decided to use smaller pieces and then started catching them.

First, there was a beautiful little fish Jim identified as a Wrass and that little rascal had some nasty teeth -- like a squirrel and he twisted his head left and right trying to bite anything he could.  Then I caught a Porgy too and he didn't seem too obnoxious.  Another Wrass or two and another Porgy.  Lost one rig and then put on a fresh steel leader and a nice tail cut from a little bait fish given to my by Jim -- something took that tail, the hook and bit clean through the steel leader.

After that I caught my first of three Puffer and man are they nasty and slimmy -- with the most nasty teeth and jaws that crunch down on anything, including steel pliers.  You can hear their jaws just grinding and crunching -- so hard to hold them and keep them stilll while you try to wrestle the hook out of them.  One of them bit through the metal hook when I was trying to get him unhooked to release him -- which I did, with the rest of the hook in him still.

Well, I came back with one little fish tail (last piece of bait) and a few small fillets from the Porgy.  Another guy offered me a small Grouper but, after reviving it in a small bucket of water, I decided to put him back.

It was about a 30 mile trip down to the other side of that bridge and on the way back, I decided I may postpone my trip to Key West (originally planned for tomorrow) until Monday because of the traffic situation I can see happening this weekend -- flea markets and booths were being set up along the roadside and one accident on a bridge had the traffic gnarled and backed up quickly.  Only worse traffic tomorrow probably but, just get me back to that fishing bridge -- after I get some more bait and more steel leaders (heavier duty, I think).

After getting back to the RV, I rinsed off the fish and the cooler -- got some leftovers from the grilling I did Wednesday and settled in with a few beers and glass of wine.  Made a quick run to the marina as the sun started to set and took a few pics of this little place in Paradise.

Painting Material

Florida Bay Sunset

Calusa Marina