Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware)

**Ikaika** · 05-25-2007, 02:16 PM

As promised, here is my trip report from Key West. Enjoy.

I flew from DC to Miami early Saturday morning, and proceeded to hop onto a little 18-seater that took me from Miami to Key West. Just as my luck would have it, some woman with a chihuahua in her carry-on was sitting across the aisle from me...and the dog wouldn't STFU. I spent the entire flight thinking of creative ways to use the dog for shark bait, none of which came to fruition.

After landing in Key West and making my way to our hotel, my brother and I went out wandering around. It was around 2 in the afternoon, and already everyone was drunk. Its like a big party down there full of fat/old/stinky/fat white people. Tourists and locals alike, the locals are just more of a wrinkly brown than the beet red of the tourists. Regardless, we stopped and had some burgers and a couple beers(I was on vacation, stfu). Afterwards we picked up some cigars and walked around some more. Not really a whole lot to see there, just the same tourist trap t-shirt shops all the way down the strip. We ate dinner at the Raw Bar...do NOT get the fried oysters there, they don't clean them well and they taste like fried asshole instead. F- at best.

The next day we went out around 7 am for some dolphin fishing. We were on a 27-footer which was really nice. I took the first fish after running for an hour and getting the lines out, probably around 9 am. Ship my first dolphin ever.

My brother and mom each took two dolphin each while Dad relaxed on the bow of the boat with a cigar. He was infinitely entertained by the fact that Mom almost got dragged overboard by her fish. We tried some fly fishing for the dolphin since they school up pretty tight and when you hook one, the others follow it to the surface and you can just cast to them. It didn't work.

The dolphin slowed down around 1, and we cruised over to the reef to try and take some grouper or barracuda. Within 10 minutes of setting the lines, I get my first grouper, a fat 20 pounder.

My brother and I each catch a barracuda in short order...they put up absolutely no fight and bringing them in was like reeling a pencil through the water. BORING.

Monday was dedicated to flats fishing. My brother and I went out with our guide around 8 and made a short run to the flats. Sight fishing the flats is so hard, its like looking for a moving shadow in a dark room...all you see are puffs of mud or a shadow cruising across your view. It takes a lot of concentration and is pretty exhausting. We saw one bonefish that got spooked when we cast to it with the fly rod, and we saw a 7 foot lemon shark that bit through our wire leader on the shark rod. Doh.

After going fishless for a few hours, we moved to a different area. Immediately we saw shark fins breaking the surface around us. With the shark rod(an 8-foot custom made spinning rod with 65lb braid and a wire leader baited with a WHOLE FISH) I cast to one of them, and it damn near yanked the rod out of my hands. It took off running and didn't stop for 45 seconds. It was peeling line so fast that there was actually powder coming off of the line as it went off the reel. After the initial run, he went right for about 5 seconds before breaking us off on some coral. Our guide said that he looked like about a 10 footer and had we not broken him off he would have taken an hour at least to land. :osnap:

My brother proceeded to hang and land a 5 foot nurse shark. It didn't put up too much of a fight but it still is a strong fish and took a good 20 minutes to bring to the boat with our guide polling as fast as he could after it.

We went fishless for another hour or so, and as the tide was going out the water got pretty skinny and our boat got stuck on the bottom. No big deal, our guide just had to get out into the 18 inches of water and push. As he's doing this, I spot a shark ahead of us maybe 200 feet distant. I'm on the bow yelling which direction the shark is going while our guide pushes us towards him. When we're 40 feet away from the shark I toss the fish out there and he just nailed it. He was about 6.5 feet long and about 140 lbs. Holla, my first lemon shark and my personal best fish.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, a bunch of really bad storms rolled in and we couldn't go out the next day. The final day we went out tarpon fishing and got skunked(bastard!). My brother caught a nice bonefish but it was raining and I didn't want to get my camera soaked trying to get pics.

As a side note, after my flight back to DC was delayed 3 hours(I wound up getting in at 2 in the morning), the hotel at which I was supposed to pick up the keys to my new apartment DIDN'T HAVE MY KEYS. I had to wait until 4:30 in the morning for someone to bring them over so I could get into my place and pass out for 2 hours before having to get up to go to work.

/end trip report.

Jordan×core · 05-25-2007, 02:27 PM

Sounds like an awesome trip.

I went down to key west two years ago for some scuba diving and I got to swim with the manatees.

Those fish you caught were freakin huge

XiLe Ultra · 05-25-2007, 02:36 PM

That shark is awesome looking, did you eat it?

XiLe Ultra · 05-25-2007, 02:38 PM

o and wow strong forearms.

**Ikaika** · 05-25-2007, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XiLe Ultra

That shark is awesome looking, did you eat it?

We turned the shark loose; we kept the dolphin and grouper(dolphin steaks are amazing, btw).

**NNTB** · 05-25-2007, 03:04 PM

ahhh two more months me n wifey are moving to big pine key

i love it down there.

JB20 · 05-25-2007, 04:08 PM

that grouper looks like what mean mother...

Drew1200 · 05-25-2007, 04:38 PM

nice pics, looks like a fun trip

**Trick D** · 05-25-2007, 06:02 PM

Nice fish... Nice little game dolphin or el dorado (I think that is the alternative name)... That is funny you all caught a homer simpson (shark fisherman call nurse sharks the homer simpson of sharks). Nice grouper, I think that is a black grouper. There is tons of specices of grouper. Probably my favorite eating fish. Shark is actually really good. Just soak it in buttermilk for hours before cooking it. Has a nice steak like taste. I liked it a lot when we caught some black tip sharks (I do believe that was the species, it was when i was 16). I would like to catch a baracuda....

**Trick D** · 05-25-2007, 06:04 PM

Nice lemon also. I am sure that put up a hell of a fight.

**DarkFalcon** · 05-25-2007, 06:40 PM

Awesome pics bro! So cool to see unique fish like those. That top yellow one looks plastic it's so colorful.

**Ikaika** · 05-25-2007, 08:14 PM

The crazy thing about dolphin(or dorado) is that after you get them out of the water, they turn almost gray in a matter of minutes. 5 minutes after that photo was taken the fish was pretty much solid gray.

hidden brag: balla watch came along on the trip

**skelooth** · 05-25-2007, 09:35 PM

Quote:

My brother and I each catch a barracuda in short order...they put up absolutely no fight and bringing them in was like reeling a pencil through the water. BORING.

Try swimming with it

Awesome pics, nice catches bro. I used to fish out on the gulf of mexico and the biggest thing I caught was a spotted sea bass

I've been to keywest but mostly for booze and scuba diving. Separately of course.

**Ikaika** · 05-25-2007, 11:29 PM

I wish I coulda gone scuba diving/snorkeling/spear fishing, but seeing as I've never scuba dived or spear fished those were kinda out the window given my rigorous fishing schedule.

XiLe Ultra · 05-27-2007, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ikaika

I wish I coulda gone scuba diving/snorkeling/spear fishing, but seeing as I've never scuba dived or spear fished those were kinda out the window given my rigorous fishing schedule.

snorkeling? that's no fun lol...spear fishing sounds cool.

**Ikaika** · 05-27-2007, 07:00 AM

Apparently its a blast as long as sharks don't get interested in the nice bloody fish you just speared and are toting around with you.

05-25-2007, 02:16 PM	#1
Ikaika resident degen Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,772 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 216	Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) As promised, here is my trip report from Key West. Enjoy. I flew from DC to Miami early Saturday morning, and proceeded to hop onto a little 18-seater that took me from Miami to Key West. Just as my luck would have it, some woman with a chihuahua in her carry-on was sitting across the aisle from me...and the dog wouldn't STFU. I spent the entire flight thinking of creative ways to use the dog for shark bait, none of which came to fruition. After landing in Key West and making my way to our hotel, my brother and I went out wandering around. It was around 2 in the afternoon, and already everyone was drunk. Its like a big party down there full of fat/old/stinky/fat white people. Tourists and locals alike, the locals are just more of a wrinkly brown than the beet red of the tourists. Regardless, we stopped and had some burgers and a couple beers(I was on vacation, stfu). Afterwards we picked up some cigars and walked around some more. Not really a whole lot to see there, just the same tourist trap t-shirt shops all the way down the strip. We ate dinner at the Raw Bar...do NOT get the fried oysters there, they don't clean them well and they taste like fried asshole instead. F- at best. The next day we went out around 7 am for some dolphin fishing. We were on a 27-footer which was really nice. I took the first fish after running for an hour and getting the lines out, probably around 9 am. Ship my first dolphin ever. My brother and mom each took two dolphin each while Dad relaxed on the bow of the boat with a cigar. He was infinitely entertained by the fact that Mom almost got dragged overboard by her fish. We tried some fly fishing for the dolphin since they school up pretty tight and when you hook one, the others follow it to the surface and you can just cast to them. It didn't work. The dolphin slowed down around 1, and we cruised over to the reef to try and take some grouper or barracuda. Within 10 minutes of setting the lines, I get my first grouper, a fat 20 pounder. My brother and I each catch a barracuda in short order...they put up absolutely no fight and bringing them in was like reeling a pencil through the water. BORING. Monday was dedicated to flats fishing. My brother and I went out with our guide around 8 and made a short run to the flats. Sight fishing the flats is so hard, its like looking for a moving shadow in a dark room...all you see are puffs of mud or a shadow cruising across your view. It takes a lot of concentration and is pretty exhausting. We saw one bonefish that got spooked when we cast to it with the fly rod, and we saw a 7 foot lemon shark that bit through our wire leader on the shark rod. Doh. After going fishless for a few hours, we moved to a different area. Immediately we saw shark fins breaking the surface around us. With the shark rod(an 8-foot custom made spinning rod with 65lb braid and a wire leader baited with a WHOLE FISH) I cast to one of them, and it damn near yanked the rod out of my hands. It took off running and didn't stop for 45 seconds. It was peeling line so fast that there was actually powder coming off of the line as it went off the reel. After the initial run, he went right for about 5 seconds before breaking us off on some coral. Our guide said that he looked like about a 10 footer and had we not broken him off he would have taken an hour at least to land. :osnap: My brother proceeded to hang and land a 5 foot nurse shark. It didn't put up too much of a fight but it still is a strong fish and took a good 20 minutes to bring to the boat with our guide polling as fast as he could after it. We went fishless for another hour or so, and as the tide was going out the water got pretty skinny and our boat got stuck on the bottom. No big deal, our guide just had to get out into the 18 inches of water and push. As he's doing this, I spot a shark ahead of us maybe 200 feet distant. I'm on the bow yelling which direction the shark is going while our guide pushes us towards him. When we're 40 feet away from the shark I toss the fish out there and he just nailed it. He was about 6.5 feet long and about 140 lbs. Holla, my first lemon shark and my personal best fish. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, a bunch of really bad storms rolled in and we couldn't go out the next day. The final day we went out tarpon fishing and got skunked(bastard!). My brother caught a nice bonefish but it was raining and I didn't want to get my camera soaked trying to get pics. As a side note, after my flight back to DC was delayed 3 hours(I wound up getting in at 2 in the morning), the hotel at which I was supposed to pick up the keys to my new apartment DIDN'T HAVE MY KEYS. I had to wait until 4:30 in the morning for someone to bring them over so I could get into my place and pass out for 2 hours before having to get up to go to work. /end trip report. __________________ No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

05-25-2007, 02:27 PM	#2
Jordan×core Pro Stature Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 851 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 31	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) Sounds like an awesome trip. I went down to key west two years ago for some scuba diving and I got to swim with the manatees. Those fish you caught were freakin huge __________________ How did I fail women studies? I love bitches. If there is no enemy there is no fight...if there is no fight there is no victor...if there is no victor there is no crown.....now we have a enemy we have a fight and we will win the crown.

05-25-2007, 02:36 PM	#3
XiLe Ultra Pro Stature Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Aurora, IL Posts: 2,376 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 183	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) That shark is awesome looking, did you eat it? __________________ ISSA Certified Personal Trainer in IL Deadlift: 405 Bench: ?? Squat: ?? MP #17 (no G & N)

05-25-2007, 02:38 PM	#4
XiLe Ultra Pro Stature Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Aurora, IL Posts: 2,376 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 183	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) o and wow strong forearms. __________________ ISSA Certified Personal Trainer in IL Deadlift: 405 Bench: ?? Squat: ?? MP #17 (no G & N)

05-25-2007, 03:04 PM	#6
NNTB rEVOLutionary Join Date: May 2005 Location: FL Posts: 2,446 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 161	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) ahhh two more months me n wifey are moving to big pine key i love it down there. __________________ "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it." Abraham Lincoln Last edited by NNTB : 05-25-2007 at 03:51 PM.

05-25-2007, 04:08 PM	#7
JB20 Heavy Metal Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 657 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 41	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) that grouper looks like what mean mother... __________________ http://sonybmg.com/musicbox/video/aliceinchains/

05-25-2007, 04:38 PM	#8
Drew1200 Perma-Bulk to 280 Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 779 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 73	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) nice pics, looks like a fun trip

05-25-2007, 06:40 PM	#11
DarkFalcon I've got a RAGING clue! Join Date: May 2005 Location: dnyc99's cleaning staff Posts: 11,511 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 299	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) Awesome pics bro! So cool to see unique fish like those. That top yellow one looks plastic it's so colorful.

05-25-2007, 08:14 PM	#12
Ikaika resident degen Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,772 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 216	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) The crazy thing about dolphin(or dorado) is that after you get them out of the water, they turn almost gray in a matter of minutes. 5 minutes after that photo was taken the fish was pretty much solid gray. hidden brag: balla watch came along on the trip __________________ No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

05-25-2007, 11:29 PM	#14
Ikaika resident degen Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,772 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 216	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) I wish I coulda gone scuba diving/snorkeling/spear fishing, but seeing as I've never scuba dived or spear fished those were kinda out the window given my rigorous fishing schedule. __________________ No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.

05-27-2007, 07:00 AM	#16
Ikaika resident degen Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 3,772 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 216	Re: Key West trip report(warning: dialup beware) Apparently its a blast as long as sharks don't get interested in the nice bloody fish you just speared and are toting around with you. __________________ No supplement can make up for the lack of a strong work ethic.