JuLY 2014
Volume 4 Issue 7
The Fishing, Diving and Boating Magazine of the Florida Keys
FishMonster M
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The Marathon
Sizzle
TIPS FOR SUMMERTIME
RIGGING Summertime
Tails
KEY WEST
DIVING WITH
TARPON $3.99 US
CATCH & RELEASE
DOLPHIN LITTLE TORCH KEY RECORD BONEFISH IN ISLAMORADA FishMonster.com
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Shark Encounters at the Top of Everyone’s Wish List This Summer
Captain Kevin McKenna served more than 20 years with the US Coast Guard. After working up and down the coasts of North, Central, and South America he selected Key West as his final duty station prior to retirement. He opened and operated his own yacht delivery business for a few years then made a choice to take a job as a dive boat captain.
by Capt. Kevin (Mac) McKenna
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Dive Instructor Kevin aka. Bing guiding his group around the ship.
Divers on the large dish with Southpoint Diver’s M/V Phoenix 100’ overhead 16
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id you see any SHARKS? That seems to be the biggest question going around in the world of diving in the Keys these days. Since the arrival of Kat, the OCEARCH tagged great white shark, many people in the middle and lower Keys have been fixated on the waters around the boat the entire time they’re out with us. I’ve never had so many look-outs on the boat at one time. We have been lucky enough to have the Gulf Stream currents up close for several weeks early this spring. This warm current has brought in many deep water predators, some of which include a large white shark and several sand bar sharks on the artificial reef, USNS Vandenberg; a blue shark sighting in shallow waters; as well as daily sightings of several reef sharks on our barrier reef. Our local dive shops are very familiar with a few resident sharks that live on our reefs, the most diver-friendly shark in the
area, known affectionately as Roxy, is a juvenile blacktip reef shark that visits us on practically every dive on one dive site. Recently we counted three new, larger blacktip sharks swimming on the same reef. There is much speculation as to their arrival but there is just so much we don’t know about the apex predators of the oceans. After many years of reef decline and shark population demise I would like to hope that we are in the beginning stages of reef and shark population recovery. It could be that they are following the food sources and with the large pelagic species migrating north we are seeing more activity on both ends of the scale. More bait equals more fish that feed all the way up the chain. Either way, this will take years to see if a good change is happening but it’s really cool to watch it all unfold before us. As of May 27th, the USNS Vandenberg has rested on the ocean floor for 5 years
Bonefishing from a Kayak Randy Morrow, Kayak Fishing Guide 305.923.4643 randrums@me.com Facebook - “Lower Keys Kayak Fishing” Member - Jackson Kayak Fishing Team jacksonkayak.com
photo Alex Tejeda
by RANDY MORROW
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o the uninitiated, the speed of a bonefish’s first run is hard to believe. Line leaves the reel at an alarming rate, and many anglers wonder if the fish might take it all and keep right on going. That first amazing run is, for most flats stalkers like myself, the true payoff of a lot of study and effort pursuing the gray ghost of the flats the wily bonefish. And that first run is even more exciting from the cockpit of a kayak. If you intend to have consistent success with bonefish from a kayak, I believe you have to be able to paddle and pole the yak from a standing position. This necessitates a stable kayak, and time spent practicing. Standing and silently moving the yak through shallow water needs to become second nature so you can focus on looking for fish. Hunting bones from a seated position is
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difficult because you just can’t see them soon enough to make a presentation. You will occasionally find tailing fish, or fish making wakes in very shallow water, and these can be fished while seated. But 90 percent of the bones I catch are spotted while standing and poling the kayak. Many good books and articles have been written about bonefishing - I’ve learned from all of them - and I suggest you do some reading on this fascinating fish before heading out. Tides, type of tackle, lures and baits, water depth, presentation, etc., are covered in the bonefish literature so I won’t repeat it here. But
compared to the typical scenario of hunting bones from a flats skiff (or alternately, wading), stalking these wary, hard-to-see fish from a kayak presents some unique challenges, which I’ll touch on below. Perched high on the bow of a skiff ’s casting platform, you can see fish at quite a distance - often 100 feet or more. Add the trained eyes of a veteran guide on the poling platform, and generally you’ll have 6, 8, maybe even 10 seconds to track the incoming fish and make your presentation. If it’s off target, you may have time to make a second cast. But from the lower vantage point of a kayak, you typically won’t see bones until they’re within 60 feet of you - many times less than that. This cuts your lead time down drastically - to about 3 seconds on average - leaving very little room for er-
Diving
Hadley Julian and her hogfish out of Summerland Key
Key Wester Niko Gazzale with hogfish and mutton snapper
Tommy Fricke with a 19” hogfish caught out of Summerland Key
Abyss Dive Center 12565 Overseas Highway Marathon, FL 33050
www.abyssdive.com
305.743.2126
Give the gift of Scuba to your sweetheart.. Divers Alert Network (CPR/BLS)
Mandy Ibsen and Bob the dolphin play in the salt at Dolphins Plus in Key Largo.
PADI Instructor Development Course USCG 6 Pack (OUPV) License Training USCG Master’s Upgrade Training USCG Master’s License Training
Black grouper for Into the Blue Spearfishing Charters out of Little Torch Key
Jim Tran out of Duck Key with a mutton snapper and gag grouper
Summer Time Tails by Capt. Mike Bartlett
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nother tarpon season is behind us and a tough season it was this year. Maybe the toughest spring I’ve been a part of. May was just windy, no flat calm mornings and a late season cold front made it a mostly miserable affair. Hopefully next year we can have some decent weather. It’s summer now and thank goodness. Time to look forward to some days off and plenty of time in the water and on the bow of my skiff. Summer in the Florida Keys is my favorite time of the year. Fishing on the flats for permit and bonefish is at its best especially during periods with negative tides early in the morning and in the evening. Bonefish will move onto the flats with the low incoming tide, shallow enough we can watch them tail as they feed along the bottom. On some of the flats where these bonefish will frequent, it’s too shallow for the skiff to get to them, making it a great opportunity to get out of the boat and wade. Casting flies to tailing bonefish is by far the most productive approach as a lightly weighted fly will land softly next to these very wary fish. We can use bait, but the shrimp this time of year are tiny, living up to their name. So a weight attached to the line is necessary to be able to get the bait to 40
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Capt. Mike Bartlett runs shallow water sight fishing charters for tarpon, bonefish, permit, barracudas and sharks in Key West. Reach him at 305797-2452 or on the web at www.keywestflats.net.
the fish. However, this weight often makes too much noise entering the water and will spook the feeding bonefish. A very small crab will work as well, but again we run into the same issue as using a weight. As the tide pushes in and the water level rises, we will start to see permit tail on those same flats as the bonefish. If you think bonefish are wary under tailing conditions, permit are even worse. I love to throw flies at tailing permit, but the skinny water and calm setting doesn’t always allow us to get close enough to cast. If you’re ever going to wade for a fish on the flats, this is the time. Wading will allow the angler to get close enough to present a fly. You will get one chance at it so make it count. If you’re good and lucky, your fly will get eaten, but odds are the fish will blow out as fast as it can to the safety of deep water. Leaving the angler ‘knocky-kneed’ and sweating bullets. It’s an awesome heart pounding experience no matter the outcome. Tailing conditions are typically short lived as the water level quickly rises to a point where we can’t see their tails out of the water. But no worries, we get back in the skiff and sightfish the flats in the deeper water. By this time these fish will be a little more comfortable with some water over
their heads and we have a little more margin for error when presenting flies and bait. Unfortunately we don’t have negative tides in the morning everyday. The tides occur at a different time each day so there are days we have high tide early in the morning. Throughout the summer when we have flat calm mornings and lots of water, we can find baby tarpon way up on the flats and around some the mangrove islands of the backcountry. Baby tarpon are a ton of fun no matter the technique used, but fly fishing for them is by far the most entertaining. Baby tarpon are not shy and will eagerly eat a well placed fly. This is even more fun if you find them busting baitfish. Top water baits and flies get blasted with such ferocity the small ‘poons will clear the water attempting to eat them. Good times for sure! Summer here in the Keys can be pretty hot. Not quite as bad as the majority of our country, but by about lunch time on a flat calm day everyone is ready to get off the water and cool down. If I’m on a charter, that means it’s time to head in, clean up and grab some lunch in the A/C. Otherwise I will bring my snorkeling gear and spear gun and spend a couple hours in the water hunting for hogfish and snappers.
serving Fresh locally caught seafood or bring your own and we’ll cook it up for you!
Beach • tiki boat rides • Fun • good food
Where locals & travelers hang out together.....
SIMonton beach • key west • 305-587-1188
Florida Keys Artificial Wreck & Reef Coordinates Reef Name
Longitude
Latitude
Description
Alva Chapman Reef
80 09.1
25 17.667
Spiegel Grove
80 18.65
25 04
Two Concrete Boat Hulls & Dredge Pipe
Bibb
80 22.77
24 59.71
Duane
80 22.92
24 59.38
USS S-16SUB(SS-121)
80 02.393
24 25.207
Wolf Reef
80 23.783
25 01.316
Davis Reef
80 30.532
24 55.395
Davis Reef
80 30.532
24 55.397
Islamorada Reef
80 33.069
24 50.517
Islamorada Reef
80 33.084
24 50.472
Islamorada Reef
80 33.084
24 50.475
Islamorada Reef
80 33.421
24 50.307
Islamorada Reef
80 33.575
24 50.332
Alexander Barge
80 34.1
24 51.7
Eagle
80 34.21
24 52.18
Long Key Viaduct
80 49.11
24 55.41
Long Key Reef #6
80 49.585
24 44.19
Long Key Reef #5
80 49.589
24 44.012
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231ft. S-3 Class Coastal Defense Submarine
Relief
Depth
Material
220
Ship Concrete
260
Ship Steel 231’
510 ft. Lsd, USS Spiegel Grove,Pushed On Side On 6/10/02
84
135
Ship Steel 510’
35
130
Ship Steel 327’
327 Foot “USCG Cutter Duane”, Upright Deck Is 90 ft Deep
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118
327 Foot “USCG Cutter Bibb”, Laying On Starboard Side, 95’ To Rail
(BIBB)
Ship Steel 327’ (DUANE)
3 Reefballs As Part OF A School Project
Modules Concrete Reefballs (3)
6 Reefballs as part of a school project, 1st Deployment
Modules Concrete Reefballs (6)
4 Reefbalss as part of a school project, 2nd Deployment 1986 Indian Cut Bridge Spans
115
1986 Old Tea Table Bridge Spans
115
1987 Lignum Vitae Bridge Spans
115
1981 Concrete Bridge Spans
110
1984 120 Foot Barge And Bridge Spans
110
120 Foot By 40 Foot Steel Barge, The “Alexander”, Also Bridge Rubble
15
106 Reefballs To Date, Boy Scout Reef, Sea Base
5
95
Modules Concrete Reefballs (4) Bridge Spans Concrete Bridge Spans Concrete Bridge Spans Concrete Bridge Spans Concrete Bridge Spans Concrete
Barge Steel 120’
287 Foot Freighter The “Eagle” 40 , Originally The “Aaron K”, On Side
110
Ship Steel 287’
20
1987 Long Key Bridge, 4 Patch Reefs
26
Modules Concrete Reefballs (106)
1986 Long Key Bridge 5 Patch Reefs
26
Bridge Spans Concrete Bridge Spans Concrete
Fishing Regulations for the Florida Keys
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he rules and regulations contained in FishMonster Magazine have been taken directly from the printed publications provided by the State of Florida FWC, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. It is an effort to incorporate all recreational rules and regulations from all three agencies into a format easily read and understood by the recre-
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Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission www.MyFWC.com 850-488-6058 2590 Executive Center Circle East/Berkeley Building Tallahassee, FL 32301
Species
ational angler. Every effort has been made to provide you with accurate and timely information. Fishing regulations can and do change quite frequently. Therefore, to quote the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management’s disclaimer on the back of their Recreational Fishing Regulations for Gulf of Mexico Federal Waters publication, “This publication was prepared for general informational purposes.....and has no legal force
GOM
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council www.GulfCouncil.org 813-348-1630 2203 N. Lois Ave Suite 1100 Tampa, FL 33607
SA
or effect. Fishing regulations are subject to change.” This is FishMonster Magazine’s position as well. Please use at your own risk. These regulations have been prepared with the Florida Keys angler in mind and may not include every species. If you do not see a species listed it does not mean that there is not a rule. When in doubt please check with the appropriate agency listed below: South Atlantic Fishery Management Council www.safmc.net 843-571-4366 or toll free 866-SAFMC-10 4055 Faber Place Drive Suit 201 N. Charleston, SC 29405
Amberjack, Greater
Minimum Size Closed Limit Season
S 28”F Atlantic 30” fork Gulf GOM 30” fork SA 28” fork, no coring
Daily Recreational Bag Limit
S June 1 - July 1 per person per day 31 Gulf GOM June 1 July 31
Amberjack, Lesser & Banded Rudderfish
Slot size 14”-22” fork
None
S 5 fish aggregate of lesser amberjack and banded rudderfish GOM 5 fish aggregate (excluded from the 20 reef fish aggregate).
Black Drum
Between 14” - 24” None
5 per person per day
Bonefish
No Harvest
None
Harvesting is prohibited There is an allowance for temporary possession of one bonefish at a time, at the site of capture for photos, measuring and weighing. Multiple hooks in conjunction with live or dead natural bait cannot be used
Cobia (Ling)
33” fork
None
S 1 per person or 6 per vessel whichever is less GOM 2 per person per day SA 2 per person per day
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Remarks GOM Captain and crew may not retain bag limit. SA In April, for-hire vessels limited to 1 per person per day.
S May possess one over 24”. Snatching prohibited. No harvesting using multiple hook with llive or dead natural bait.
GOM The 2-day bag limit allowance for charter vessels and headboats does not apply to cobia. SA One day possession limit. Must be landed with heads and fins intact. Charter/headboats require a permit for Coastal Migratory Pelagics.