The Reef Is Alive With Fish.

I had the Bannerot family out a couple more days this past week. Three generations. Palmer,Scott and Ryan. Scott and Ryan are visiting the keys from Maloolaba, Australia. And Palmer is down from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Islamorada is a great place to be in the wintertime. These guys were out for action and action we had.

We anchored on a spot in 130 feet of water and used Fox Permit Trek rods and Diablo 550 reels along with Bonefish Trek rods and Diablo 350's to catch a dozen King Mackerel. The bite was on. White bucktail jigs tipped with live shrimp was what we used for bait. We had just had a cold front come through the last few days and the shrimp have been migrating out to the ocean from Florida Bay. And the fish are really responding to shrimp now..  I think we could have filled the boat the way the Kings were biting. These Kings make sizzling runs and the drags on the Diablo reels were smooth as silk.

Scott Bannerot hoists a King Mackerel
caught by his dad, Palmer

Ryan caught this big King Mackerel on the
Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo using a jig tipped with a shrimp

Ryan gaffs a  King for Grandpa

Palmer Bannerot caught this King Mackerel using
the Permit Trek rod and Diablo 550 spinning reel

Later in the day we moved into some shallow patch reefs and using the lighter tackle such as Rage Ultralight rods and Bonefish Trek rods we caught Yellowtail Snapper, Mangrove Snapper and a couple of nice Red Grouper.

Ryan puts the Fox Rage Ultralight
rod to the test Grouper fishing

The Rage Ultralight rod and Diablo 350 spinning reel were used expertly by
young Ryan to catch this Red Grouper

Ryan and Scott with another of Ryans' Groupers
on the  Rage Ultralight Diablo 350 combo

 We had fun freelining for the Yellowtails. A small piece of bait drifted back into the chum slick along with a cloud of oats and chum mixed did the trick. Yes oats. Yellowtail and Mangrove Snapper love them. We caught a couple dozen of the tasty snappers and it was time to call it a day.

Mangrove Snapper

A few days later the same crew joined me again. Also fishing with us was Doctor Mike Owens. A longtime friend of Scott who lives and practices in Miami. Scott and Mike went to the University of Miami and have remained good friends over the years.

Mike was impressive with his flyfishing talents. Mike wanted to catch some fish on his flyrod and had an amazing morning.We stopped on a shallow patch reef to start our day and ended up staying there until noon.

Ryan and Palmer started the action with Groupers. We had started up the action chumming with some crushed lobster heads and the Grouper were intoxicated. As Ryan reeled in a Gag Grouper another bigger one chased it all the way to the surface.

Ryan had a blast catching Gag Groupers
on the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Dr.Scott and Ryan pose with another Gag Grouper

 At this point it was time to break out the flyrod. Using a medium sinking line and one of my special rabbit tail flies Mike caught Gag, Black and Red Grouper on fly. His best was a Gag of 6 lbs. An amazing bite. We caught Red Grouper to 10lbs. The Bonefish Trek and Rage Ultralight rods were amazing on this hot bite. We released over 30 Grouper on this spot.

Grouper fishing with a flyrod is not something we do often

Dr. Mike with a great flyrod catch of this
Gag Grouper. young Ryan was wore out at this point

Dr.Mike Owens caught this Red Grouper using the
Fox Bonefish Trek rod and Diablo 350 spinning reel

Dr.Mike with a fly caught Black Grouper

We also had a school of Mangrove Snapper behind the boat and kept a dozen of them for dinner. Grouper season is now closed since the first of the year until May 1. That makes for some great catch and release fishing.

Mike may be getting a new Fox Trek 9 weight flyrod soon as a present from his wife. She called last night to find out how to order one. I was happy to help her out. Mike will be estatic.

Later in the afternoon we finally left this magical spot and headed out past the reef in search of some blue water action. Ryan kept asking if he could catch a Tuna. I said there was a chance. We got into a school of Little Tunny first. We hooked 4 at once and that was fun. Next Ryan got his wish and landed a fat Blackfin Tuna using a Sailfish Trek rod fitted with a Diablo 750. Gave Ryan a great battle. It amazed me that we actually caught a Tuna on the edge of the reef. Thats one of the reasons I fish. It is always new and different.

Little Tunny provided some fast action

Ryan Bannerot asked for and recieved a Blackfin Tuna.

 It was great spending time fishing and talking about old times with my good friends the Bannerots. So glad we had such good fishing.

Captain Skip Nielsen