Lower Keys

March 2010

Tropical sunrise at Dolphin Marina - don't let it fool you, it is cold out

Last September’s trip to the Lower Keys to fish with Capt. Bruce Chard left me a bit unsatisfied.   Yes, I caught some tarpon and landed fish each day but the bonefish eluded me or broke me off and the permit were insane as permit tend to be.  I had to return to see if I could get some revenge and decided not to roll the dice again with the hurricane gods so opted for a short trip in March instead when the big tarpon are in, the permit are getting back on the flats and, hopefully, the bonefish are in the mood for scampi.   The weather still was a concern; this winter had been horrible everywhere except the Pacific Northwest and Florida had been hit especially hard with cold fronts and fish kills.  Just a week ago while it was sunny and 60 in Seattle it was 59 and raining in Key West, that needed to improve drastically.  On Saturday I was on Lake Lenice in Eastern Washington enjoying the sunshine and warm weather chasing huge trout that were roaming the flats like tarpon which really got me in the mood so I got home that afternoon and finished packing.

Day  1 – Its all great until they lose your bag

Flight day started out well aside from having to get up at 3:30 a.m. to head to SeaTac.  Catherine dropped me off and within five minutes I had my bag checked at the curb, was through security, and was in line at Starbucks.   The weather became a concern again when the pilot announced that it was only 40 in Houston and I’d seen headlines of snow hitting the plains and southeast yet the Weather Channel iPhone app had shown 70’s and sun for Key West so I tried to keep the faith and once airborne I watched the Key West fly fishing classic Tarpon to get me ready.  The flight from Seattle to Houston was smooth and we arrived 30 minutes early giving me plenty of time to find a Starbucks and eat my lunch before having to do the next leg.  

Houston to Ft. Lauderdale was smooth too, sitting in the bulkhead row I had plenty of leg room and that flight too was on time.   Departing I went to find my gate to Key West before going for some dinner, I had a several hour layover.   The flight board however showed that my 7:10 departure was now up to 10:00, not good.   Since it was only 4:30 I figured I’d just collect my bag, rent a car, and drive to Little Torch Key, I’d beat the flight by hours and still had plenty of daylight.  I went to the gate, asked to get my bag sent to baggage claim and found the bag was not on the flight I’d just gotten off of.   The gate people sent me down to baggage claim to see what was going on with my bag.  They said my bag was on the next Houston flight which would arrive at 7:25.  I figured I’d go back through security and to the gate so I could get them to transfer the bag when it showed up and then rent a car and drive.   At the gate I was told the flight was now delayed until 11 so I set off in search of food.  By the time I finished a leisurely dinner, phone calls, and some internet browsing I went to check on the Houston flight status.   It was still arriving at 7:25 but now my Key West flight was at 8:30, this could actually work out.   A few minutes later they announced that the Key West flight would be at 7:20.  NOOOOOO, this can’t be.  I went back to the desk and asked if they could delay 15 minutes for my bag, they wouldn’t so at 7:20 I sat on the taxiway in a small plane bound for Key West while my bag in the Houston jet pulled into the gate, argh.   In Key West the Continental rep said my bag was reportedly on my flight, I assured him it wasn’t, so much for bag tracking software.   I filled out all the paperwork, got my rental car and headed to Albertson’s to get a few supplies.   I also called Bruce up letting him know I was a fisherman with basically no gear and no clothes for fishing, he pretty much told me to relax and that he’d get me outfitted for morning.  I finished shopping, took off for the Dolphin Marina and am now sitting here writing this and hoping my bag will magically appear while we are out fishing tomorrow, the first flight lands at 9:30 and they should be sending the car up the Keys at noon.  We’ll see….

Day  2 – Cold winds == sulking tarpon

I awoke to a clear, calm dawn and things felt pretty good sitting at the marina.   I made breakfast, put together a lunch, pieced together the two fly rods I had with me and then sat down to write until Bruce arrived.   Once he showed up he handed me a shirt and hat, I got fully ready and soon we got ice and got ready to run to the first flat.   It is never a good sign when your flats guide is wearing a long sleeve shirt, a fleece vest, and is putting on a winter steelheading jacket though and that is exactly what Bruce was doing as we idled out to the channel.  I soon knew why – there was a nasty north wind blowing and it was COLD!  

We took off to the backcountry but soon ran out of water with the low tide so we reversed and headed to the flats just inside at Big Pine Key.   We began looking for permit but within 30 minutes went deeper and started looking for tarpon.   Tarpon we found but they were deep, hard to see, and not all that interested in anything we got near them.   We moved to an ocean-side flat further west and found the same thing, lots of deep tarpon who were very spooky.   At lunch we figured my bag had been delivered but on calling found out it still had not made it to Key West, I couldn’t believe it.  We moved back into the backcountry where the water was a bit clearer and again found tarpon and this time they at least were easier to see and at least looking at the fly and sometimes following it.   We hit about three flats and found fish on each.  I had at least 5-6 fish follow, a few up to where the fly was about 2’ from the tip of the rod before they’d sulk away.   None ever opened their mouth, not even to yawn.   The wind picked up and the fish began spooking at the sound of the waves hitting the boat and it was getting colder if that was possible.  Two pieces of good news though – my bag finally came in on an afternoon flight and the wind was starting to shift to the east which should signal better weather and thus happier fish tomorrow.   Aside from all the tarpon today, of which we saw dozens of big 5-6’ fish, we saw many turtles, an eagle ray, a tailing nurse shark, a big bull shark and countless birds.  I had quite a few good shots in the afternoon and I think if we can get as good of shots tomorrow we may get someone to eat. 

What we were looking for - laid up tarpon

As soon as we got off the water I headed to Key West and the airport.  I called and they said they would put it on the conveyer.   The belt started, the light flashed, and out came three bags that were not mine.   Oh no!   The baggage person peaked in and asked my name and then my bag came in the door, I was pretty glad to see it arrive finally.   I then drove over to The Angling Company to get a long-sleeve version of their t-shirt only to find they now had a cool new Tim Borski design too so I bought two.   Next stop, Duval Street where I got yet another JB t-shirt at Margaritaville and then I walked to Bahamatown and the Blue Heaven restaurant which was closed last September when I was in town.   Blue Heaven is one of the top rated spots in KW and the outdoor dining area was very nice, there was live folk/reggae music being played and the margarita was very satisfying.   I had their wild green salad with roasted eggplant and goat cheese to start, fantastic, and yellow snapper with veggies and pasta for dinner which was incredible.   This meal outdid the Square Grouper I’m pretty sure but I was pretty damn hungry too.

 

 

Day 3 – Finally jumped one

Cool runnings Yes, he has a polar fleece vest and pants on poling the boat, is this really the tropics???

I somehow managed to sleep 10 hours last night and awoke just before 8 a.m.   I had just enough time to get in a run of about 3.5 miles, shower and eat before Bruce showed up at 9:30.  The weather was better with the wind coming from the east and a tad warmer but still, Bruce was decked out in full winter steelhead gear and I was not about to get into shorts or short sleeves, it was cool with everything covered.   We headed into the back country to look for permit and spent the morning on some beautiful flats that had no fish – we’d seen one barracuda and one bull  shark and they were not finding anything to catch either.   We finally came onto a big deep flat and ran over a permit so we stopped and got ready.   Within minutes we had several more fish in close.  I had a good cast to one fish that was heading left behind the boat who immediately veered right while the fly was in the air, argh.  For the next hour we had permit floating with their tails and fins out, permit cruising, and a few permit feeding.  I had some good casts and some bad ones and had a few fish at least look but not eat.   This is Keys permit fishing.   We ran the flat again but only saw a few fish the second time through and this time no real looks.   We hit a few other flats after this one but saw only one more fish in the afternoon and finally decided to go look for tarpon. 

The tarpon flat we were on was tough, it was dark green and the sun was wrong so seeing fish was difficult to say the least.   We found fish sporadically and got off some good shots.   I had a few follows, a few spooks, and finally we saw a huge fish roll on bait about 50’ away from the boat.   The fish came back towards the boat, I got off a cast and he followed and followed until I had leader at my rod tip and then he took.  This was like setting the hook in a log with a tin bucket attached for a mouth.   The fish shook hard, jumped once and then was gone.  I thought the leader snapped at the shock/class tippet connection but when we pulled in we found that the fish sheared through the flouro shock tippet clean.  Bruce said I’d probably hooked it in the hinge of the mouth where they can cut even heavy shock like a pair of scissors.   It was a pretty exciting couple of seconds though and I was briefly connected to one of the biggest fish I’d ever hooked.   No photo op but to see what it is like check out Tarpon 2010 at Key West on the Fly's Facebook album.

We had a few more decent shots at fish.   In one cast there were two tarpon side by side up wind of us facing left.  I messed up the first cast, carefully lifted and got off the perfect cast which would bring the fly in front of the fish at the right angle.  I started my slow retrieve and a jack comes out of nowhere after the fly which immediately scares the tarpon.  How a 6’ fish can be scared by a 14” jack is beyond me but it happened. In another "I can't believe that just happened" incident we had a fish coming at us at the perfect angle and a cormorant came out of the sky and landed on the fish's head sending him back to the Gulf of Mexico at high speed.

After fishing, Bruce and I went to The Square Grouper on Cudjoe Key for dinner, another one of the better places in the lower Keys.   Dinner choice was pretty easy – the house salad and the mangrove snapper special – cornmeal crusted snapper served on rice with a roasted red pepper & crab sauce with asparagus on the side.   Knowing I’d do another 4 miles or so in the morning I also had their chocolate peanut butter pie which was highly recommended by Bruce and Mimi the bartender, it was very good. 

Day 4 – Warm finally but windy, the skunk was on

The forecast for today looked perfect – 80 and winds 10-15.  I got up early and did a 5-mile run at dawn and actually worked up a sweat this time, it was much warmer already and I was looking forward to shorts at last and a great day on the water. I showered, ate breakfast, and then read for a bit until we were ready to roll.  Bruce arrived at 9:30 and we set off for the ocean side flats where we had seen tarpon on Tuesday.   As soon as we stopped and got ready a huge cloud moved in and shut off the lights completely, we couldn’t see anything and it looked like the clouds stretched all the way to Cuba.   We fished briefly before giving up and heading to the backcounty flats.  As we were running the clouds were keeping up and the wind picked up to a brisk 10-15 knots.   We poled/sailed down the big flat by Cudjoe Key and only saw a few tarpon and always too late.

We took off for a bonefish flat and found it totally devoid of life aside from a few barracuda.   We continued around until it turned into a permit flat and saw one group of permit but they were approaching quickly and we were blowing at them in the wind so all I had was one hail Mary cast which was too far ahead of the fish.   At the next flat we actually did find some permit that we got shots at and I somehow managed to get the fly right in front of three fish – one spooked, one really looked at it, and one pretty much ignored it altogether.   Still, these were the best presentations I’d had al trip.   We tried a few other spots with no fish while the wind cranked up to 20-25 knots and finally got on a flat that was literally infested with barracuda so I switched to fishing for cuda.  Had many high-speed follows, a few missed strikes and finally latched into one that took off on a burning run of 100 yards or more.  I gained some line on him and then another run and finally the fish jumped and threw the piece of chartreuse tubing he hit.  That was my fish for the day and I lost him even with two huge hooks. 

Backcountry bonefish/permit flat

Late in the day we hit one more tarpon spot in Coupon Bight that had a bit of protection from the wind,  We spooked three fish on the run to the back of the bight so we had high hopes poling through. We did get shots at about 5-6 tarpon on the way through,  a few of them pretty good shots at the laid up fish but none really even paid attention to the fly even when presented well.   We definitely made the best of a really tough day and getting some good casts to fish was a win in my book.

Not feeling like driving back into Key West tonight I walked across US-1 to Parrotdise for a dinner of salad, blackened Mahi and finally a piece of Key Lime pie, I may need to run again in the morning.

Day 5 – The l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g ride home

I got up early for some reason this morning and managed to get packed up and ready to roll early enough that I thought I could get to the Key West Starbucks before having to head to the airport.   Traffic changed that plan and by the time I got to 1st and Roosevelt at the gas station I had less than an hour before boarding so I filled up the car, cut across the island and got to the airport.   Little did I know my flight had been canceled so my already long day home just got 2 hours longer with some very tight connections on multiple airlines.  I’m sitting here at The Conch Flyer using wireless and holding only one for sure boarding pass to get me to Tampa at 11:45.   If I’m lucky I’ll have a seat on a Delta flight from Tampa to Minneapolis (with 40 minutes between flight and I need to get from terminal A to terminal E, the longest possible distance between gates at the airport) and a seat on the Minneapolis to Seattle flight.  Never, never again will I fly in and out of Key West Airport, it is worth the pain of driving to and from Miami whose airport is screwed up enough for me.  

Of course the flight out of Key West was about 40 minutes late taking off so I arrived in Tampa 15 minutes before the flight was to take off and still had to go out of security, take a train to ticketing, and back on another train and through security.  Needless to say, I did not have time and Delta had no way to get me to Seattle so I was off to Continental again.   The Continental rep was great and booked me through late tonight but between Gulfstream and Delta my bag was already lost again so I’ll still have that to deal with after I’ll have been up for about 21 hours getting home.   Finally at 11 ET and I was en-route to Seattle after leaving Little Torch Key 16 hours previous and made it home just before midnight.  By some small miracle my bag was waiting for me at the Delta claim area so I picked it up, called Catherine and headed home. 

Previous Keys trips