Real Fishing in the Keys

I probably haven't done a good job of teaching our boys how to fish. But it's never too late. Today we went out on the "Reef Runner" here in Islamorada with Captain Paul out of Whale Harbor. It was me and our boys, Troy, Cyrus and Darius. We left port at 7:00 a.m. I told the Captain that we wanted to go for the beautiful dolphin fish also known as Mahi Mahi. Though more elusive than some of the bottom feeders that can generally be easy prey, the Mahi is my favorite eating fish. We joined some other boats about 11 miles out where it looked like there was some action, but it was not happening enough for Captain Paul's liking. We ended up about 16 miles out near some floating debris including some driftwood. We got our first strike and when we reeled in that dolphin, numerous others joined the hapless victim in schooling behind our boat. We then began to chaotically throw our baited spinning lines at the brethren who struck mercilessly. We quickly had four on at a time and continued to catch fish for 1.5 hours including dolphin, triple tails, amberjack and yellowtail. Our main objective was to keep the bait away from the jack and the yellowtail so we could catch some dolphin. The boys very quickly learned how to fish and boated numerous fish. We started back and hooked an albacore tuna and Cyrus brought it in from the fighting chair. This place blows N.C. offshore fishing out of the water as you are out into serious fishing waters after five miles. In North Carolina it is 60 miles before you hit the gulfstream and that 3.5 hours out and 3.5 hours back. If you love fishing, come to the Keys. If you never thought much about fishing but want to try, come to the Keys. We caught 21 dolphin, the tuna, the triple tail and assorted other fish. Check out the pictures and my youtube, www.youtube.com/nosyfieldstone for more.