TURTLES, FEET and VIDEO, oh my!!!
by Robin

Ok, there is no theme to this post. I just wanted to show them to you.

On our way back west, from the barracuda trip, we trolled right past a sleeping turtle. Most sea turtles see us and take a quick dive down, but this one did not wake up. I guess he was in a deep REM. The kids and I were on the front and we weren't paying attention to what was in front of us. Jack could not see him at all with all of us distracting him on the front.

So, I see "Tommy Turtle" last second, flip on the camera and take this shot. He continued to snooze until the wake of our boat woke him up. You could almost see his eyes get as big as dinner plates and then he dove down.



Here, we're done trolling and zooming back home because a storm is brewing. I love feet shots. Don't ask me why. This reminds me to warn you..... don't get a croc suntan. You'll have polka-dots all summer on your feet.



But then I noticed something with taking the first shot. My eldest's feet are almost the same size as mine. Oh dear...... it's happening. He's outgrowing me.



Well, these shots make it look like we weren't moving on the water, so I took a movie of us. Hope you enjoy it. I wish the seas were always this calm.



Happy Fishing,
Robin

I in the Mahi
by Robin

Look closely at his eye....



Nothing yet?

Here's a hint.

Do you see me with elbows out, shooting the pic?



Please don't laugh at my title and wonder if I have the right to homeschool my kids. I can use bad grammar if I want. I'm in the South. (lol)

Happy Fishing.

I, Robin (or iRobin)

FEARS
by Robin

Can we stop for a moment, put the pictures aside, and talk? Can we talk about all the fearful things that go with fishing? Through the years, I've had numerous questions about fishing that involve people's fears.

For example, one of them was, "Do you fear losing sight of land?" Nope, never think about it. My kids never consider it. It happens with such frequency that it is normal for us to think that we have to lose sight of land BEFORE we can go fishing. And on the way home, we look for miniscule Kennedy Space Center buildings to let us know that land is coming in the near future.

Another question is, "Isn't that a really far distance to be offshore in water?" Yes. Yes it is and it should be a reality check before heading offshore. We tend to play just inside the Gulf Stream but there's nothing that guarantees that if we lost engine power, we wouldn't drift into the GS and head north very quickly. It makes rescue that much harder. Distance means more safety equipment. Distances means more food & water. Distances means more precautions. Oddly enough, we're rarely alone when we're 27 miles offshore. There are always multiple boats (commercial & recreational) on Pelican Flats, 21F and 27 F reefs. We usually know when we're approaching a good fishing area because we're heading towards other boats who have already arrived.

A very common question is "Do you see sharks and are you afraid of them?" Yes, we see sharks all the time. I'm not talking about the ones we catch off the bottom. There is something about calm summer day that equates to seeing a shark pass by the boat. Right now, there are Greater Hammerheads passing through the area. We've also see gray or brown basic 5 ft sharks skimming the surface. We don't tend to swim in the ocean unless we make a quick jump to cool off. Jack's last clients took a jump in the water for a 5 min swim. Upon stepping back onto the boat, a hammerhead swims right by them. He was probably attracted to the noise and came by to see what it was. We solved this issue for the kids and I by putting a hose & salt-water pump on the boat. We can cool off w/o attracting sharks. LOL

Less common question but fairly common occurance offshore is the fear of hooking yourself or another person on-board. When fishing for big fish, we use some big hooks. I've seen pics of hooks through fingers and feet. SHOES are essential. I quit wearing flip-flops to some degree because I tend to take them off or they provide no protection. If the cockpit floor is wet, I slide. Crocs are better but I hate the polka-dot tan. Jack wears old sneakers. Many commercial guys wear rubber boots. Fish get gaffed & dropped on the boat floor and they're dancing w/ a big hook flying around. It's dangerous. We carry a 1st Aid box on board. Jack is an ex-EMT. I have some CPR training too. Still, nobody wants to be like our friend, Mike, who had to cut his trip early to sit in the ER for 2 hrs to have a hook removed from his finger.

Oh, before I leave this topic, Jack has cast to cobia and caught our bimini top of the boat. A couple times, he almost caught the kids and I. Once, he caught his German Shepherd while bass fishing. When Jack casts, we MOVE. I'm thankful for a big enough boat that provides safety for us in another area.

"Have you gotten bit?" comes up once in a while. YES and it hurt for hours. Thank goodness it was a tripletail and not a barracuda or kingfish. Fish will bite if given a chance. I read a recent story of a man who was bit by an American Red Snapper. Yes, that's why they're called snappers. LOL. Sometimes I am awed by God's ability to design all sorts of teeth on fish. Sheepshead have sheep teeth for cracking clams & oysters. Mackeral have long pointy teeth for piercing prey had high speeds. Many other species have thousands of short spikey needle teeth meant for grasping & crushing. Very few fish, like tarpon & snook have no teeth. The key is to ALWAYS be on guard with that mouth, use pliars or gloves to handle your fish.

"Have you ever gotten hurt?" Yes. Every time we fish, I bruise on my thighs from the end of the rods & fighting fish. We cannot find our fighting belts anywhere. We've gotten cut from the line on our fingers. I've been spiked endless times by a snapper or blk sea bass's fins... oh and shrimp - live & frozen. Those stinkin' sabiki hooks make even Job's patience disappear. I've been tail-whipped in the face by a 60 lb cobia. Ouch. Fortunately, I don't think I've ever gotten seriously injured on a boat. Jack got his finger cut when a heavy cooler slide over and pinned it against the rough edge of a gunnel. I thought it was going to be broke. Things will happen because there are so many variables thrown in with a rocking boat.

"Do you have any fears when fishing?" Of course, I do. I'm human, right? Once in a while, we'll get far, far offshore and nobody will be around since we usually fish week days. I look at our depth, no land, lots of sun and my faith is in God to keep that boat afloat. There's something eerie about looking around and not seeing anything but water for miles around you. Other times, I never give it a 2nd thought.

My 2nd fear the creeps up from time to time is that gaff. It's designed to pierce flesh quickly. Nothing more lethal that having that thing uncapped and trying to bring a fighting mad, big fish overboard with a dagger point slightly out of control for a few seconds. Jack and I watched a video of a guy gaffing a dolphin and the dolphin controlled the situation. The guy went left and then right, actually putting his back onto the gunnel (slightly falling) when bringing the fish over the side of the boat. Ummmm, DUDE, you have a lethal weapon in your hands!! Do you mind being a bit more careful with that thing? Jack is our designated gaffer. He's good at it, so why fix what ain't broke.


"What is your biggest fear?" I'm always slightly apprehensive the day before a trip. I think of all those things that could go wrong from hitting floating concrete, piercing the hull to the engine dying. I could easily talk myself out of fishing if I let myself. My prayers get more and more focused on mentioning safety first and fish second. We want to come home alive. I don't want to float in salt water against my will. I REALLY don't want that for my children. I may pack something extra in the survival bag that wasn't there the trip before. But, then the alarm clock goes off at 4 am and I'm ready to go. Stepping onto the boat and seeing the sun rise seems to erase everything I feared the day before. We're in a race w/ other boats to exit the port and head off to new grounds for new adventures and putting fish in the box. It is no different than many other sports. Does a race car driver fear crashing? Does a quarterback fear getting sacked? Does a mountain climber fear falling off the mountain? Sure, we all do. But, we can't focus on that.

Here's some food for thought..... Jack is on a private fishing forum and recently a fisherman passed away. The same guy that gave us the tip about the manta rays & cobia on the tip of the Cape a month or so ago. Great guy. Had a big boat and fish very frequently offshore. He had numerous opportunities for fears to become realities. He was also a veteran pilot and still flew missions for the space center and the local Air Force. My point being, the guy did not live in his cozy recliner. He did not let fears rule his life. He left this world cast-netting for baitfish on the beach. He was found on soft sand.

Nobody knows how our lives will end and many of our fears never come to fruition. Fear can be seen as a healthy thing. I fear God because I respect His great power. I fear being lower on the food chain when bobbing around in the ocean. But, we pray, we have faith, we prepare and we go. Jesus came so that we could have life more abundantly (John 10:10). For us, fishing is one part of our abundant life and we're thankful for it.

Happy Fishing without Fear!
Robin

OUR FAVORITE SEAFOOD DIPPING SAUCE
by Robin

Since I was posting about Scallops yesterday, I thought today I'd post up my family's favorite dipping sauce for onions rings, shrimp and whatever else that can find.

As you will notice, I don't give a lot of specific measurements because cooking is much about preference. This sauce is hot. Actually, no, it is medium.... not 5-alarm hot. This gives your seafood a nice kick.

Fill a bowl full of some ranch dressing, put about 3 teaspoons of horseradish in there. Stir it up. After that, add plenty of Crystal's Hot Sauce to give color and more heat. Stir that up.

You're all done! To make a little bit more like an awesome blossom dip, try Cape Cod's Salad dressing..... um.... can't think of the exact name but it has asiago cheese in it. Add horsey & hot sauce to it or leave it plain. I can't buy it because it is such a weakness for me and I'm not suppose to have dairy. However, my guys LOVE it too and they do eat dairy.


Happy Fishing & Good eating!
Robin

SCALLOPS
by Robin

With food prices being what they are these days, who has the $$s to go out and eat at fancy restaurants. So, with that in mind, I'm tellin' ya, go to your favorite wholesale, bargain, bulk-loving store and pick up a bag of frozen scallops from their freezer dept. (Get some fresh veggies while you're at it too.) For $20, you can easily get 2 dinners out of a bag of scallops, unless you have a pretty big family. (And you know who you are!)

Thaw, rinse and dry off your scallops first. Do not buy stingray plugs. Get real scallops.



Roll them in your favorite coatings - flour, corn meal, pre-pkg frying stuff, salt, pepper, garlic powder, Old Bay, whatever you want. Coat it much better than this one is....


I think Jack made up 3 varieties of coatings and used them all. Parmesian cheese even sounds good if you have that.


Here, Jack is frying them in a teflon pan filled with some olive oil and probably a slab of Smart Balance (fake butter). A light virgin olive oil is better.


After each side is pretty crunchy, put them on a plate to cool. I like to use a little paper towel to soak up my grease. (Usually Jack does too, but not here apparently.)


Meanwhile, have your sides going and ready to finish at the same time. Scoop & serve. This is very delicious and pretty healthy meal. Fresh squash, red skinned potatoes (coated w/ Smart Balance Light - totally dairy free) and some garlic bread. Man! My mouth is watering!!


Now think of how many $20s I saved you by cooking at home. Shoot, we spend $20 at McDonalds for awful food. Why not enjoy seafood instead?

Happy Fishing & Cooking,
Robin

RIPS, WEEDLINES, COLOR CHANGES
by Robin

This is not the know-it-all post that I'd like to make it but only a quick guide to what we were seeing this past month offshore.

When fishing for dolphin many times, we look for rips, weedlines, color changes and temperature breaks. This is considered surface structure, along with boards, palm frawns, floating junk on top of the water.

Many times, one of these surface phenomena happen when two bodies of water push together. And depending on the wind, anything on the surface of the water will get squished in the middle creating a line. THIS is important because little creatures like fish larva, shrimp and seahorses will be found in sargassum weeds or sea grasses. That attracts small baitfish, bar jacks, tripletail, triggers and other small tropical fish to the area. Then, THAT will attract the big game fish.

Some of our best days of spotting fish are when we see a nice line of weeds. We've found kingfish, dolphin & cobia underneath or swimming alongside them.

What do you do when you don't have one of those picturesque weedlines? You look for anything on the surface that will give you clues. Anything. You have to learn to read the water if you're going to go home with fish.

A couple weeks ago, we found "scum" in 125 ft of water. We picked up 2 dolphin off of it. We saw other dolphin swimming around, one chasing flying fish. It was an awesome thing to witness. This is also where I got my fantastic flying fish photo.


A week later, wind had changed direction, big seas had come and gone and we were left with very little signs on top of the water. We blind trolled in the morning until the fish told us where they were. Again, we picked up a couple dolphin, kinfish and barracuda this way. But, as we headed in and the seas laid down quite a bit, we saw this (below). This was the only surface structure we saw that day besides balloons. I am sick of seeing balloons all over our Atlantic Ocean. I wish cruise ships would stop handing out balloons to tourists because a good percentage of them end up in the ocean to get stuck in propellers.

Just above those purple arrows is a change of water color. I'm not sure if there was also a change in water temperature, but that may be too. We did not stop to fish it because we were headed in because of the storms, but this is another clue to trolling for dolphin or kingfish. Jack prefers to fish the west (shallower) side of these breaks. I'm sure each fisherman has their own preferance though.



I had tons of other photos of weeds & such but I thought I'd keep them to a minimum.
BUT, I had to add last week's photo of another flying fish that took off in front of us. These are skimmers still on the water, but many really do fly for well over 100 ft before smashing back into the water.



Happy Fishing!
Robin

I got this card for my Dad for Father's Day. (He also fishes)






Coincidentally, so did my sister who live in another state. We did not do this on purpose. How funny.

You don't know how many times I thought about getting Jack the same card. LOL. I also find it ironic that we caught too many of these barracuda after I purchased the card. Maybe next spring, I'll buy a Father's Day card with Mahi mahi all over it.

Happy Fishing & Happy Father's Day y'all!!!!

6.15.09 - BARRACUDA Report - LOL
Oh and some mahi too.

by Robin

Well folks, it is June and with June means hot weather and hotter water. It's time to break out the downrigger to reach fish in mid-column. This past Monday, Jack and I had big hopes of slaying the dolphin and taking home as much fish as we could legally do for the summer. It felt a bit like our last chance at the dolphin run. Due to the economy and circumstances of life, we will be on a offshore-fishing furlough until things pick back up. We're very grateful for the great spring run of fish we were able to freeze back.

We got 3/4th of the way to the port and realized we had forgotten our rigged ballyhoo at home in the frig. It set us back 40 minutes. We missed the sunrise ON the water, but still saw it at the docks as we put the boat in. We zoomed due east 'til we hit 215 ft of water, approx 27 miles offshore. It was crazy. Waves were 2-3 ft with shorter intervals than we wanted. We want chop but this was so choppy that we couldn't make heads-or-tails of any rips or color changes in the water. We were blind trolling. Also, we only saw 1 flying fish on the entire ride out. Not good. One cool thing though was the youngest son & I were able to enjoy the whole ride out on the front seat of the boat. There was a LOT of haze in the sky.

So we begin trolling back west to avoid the Gulfstream until we came across a bite or bait fish. Something. Anything to give us a hint from the water on where the fish may be. Our first hits of the day was a school of kingfish way too far out deep. It should have been our first sign of the day to come. Mine was a little one which I released pressure boatside and he swam away. Jack had another one but he got off quickly as he charged the boat. 0 for 2. Two chewed up ballyhoos.

We set up for trolling again, noticing that all the bait pods were balled up about 100 ft down. We got 2 more knock-downs, separately, in 148-150 ft of water. A 11.5 lb mahi bull caught by Jack and a 24" peanut mahi cow by my son.



Those were caught by 9am or so and as the seas calmed down from the heat of the day, we only were blind-sided by bait-slashers or released barracudas. We worked really hard for the two fish in the cooler and tried our best for a 3rd but it just was not in God's will.

(See the spots on the barracuda - also nicknamed the spotted 'hoo or spotted Wahoo)


This one had more spots. He was much bigger also. I was so hoping this one was a Wahoo we we first saw silver from a distance.


We circled 148-150ft for another hour or so, but then moved west looking for even a kingfish or small dolphin to bite and be added to the ice box. Nope, nothing, nada.

We did see some more flying fish rise to the surface and fly but they were not followed by the gamefish. I spotted many, many turtles again. It seems to be quite the year for turtles. I also saw a school of barracuda look up at our passing boat. Strange.

Eventually, we pulled lines and decided to head in early and not waste gas. Along the way, we stopped to see a school of bonito crashing some bait. Bonito are in the tuna family but not good eating. They also are very skittish and so we stopped quite a ways away to even capture a few good pics of them working the surface.



The red arrow is pointing to the couple of baitfish that were being attacked. I never got a great pictures of a bonito surfacing.







On my last picture, we heard thunder from a distance. We put up our eisenglas windows on the boat and secure our gear. We were fortunate to not see any lightening and only have light rain as we approached Port Canaveral and the docks to load the boat up on the trailer. In fact, the sun even came out once we were back on dry ground. Funny Florida weather.





Raindrops on the green port water.



We were back home by 3pm and able to clean-up gear & filet fish quickly. We took a few drive-way shots for your viewing pleasure. LOL. These fish were so blue from this angle.



Here's my guys with their fish.


Now, it is off to work for Jack. And I will begin a more structured schooling during the summer heat. I have endless photos that I never posted yet and will make them available with stories and info as time permits.

Happy Fishing and watch out for those storms!
Robin

6.8.09 - Final Saga of Bottom Fishing
by Robin

When you spend hours and hours offshore, there are so many things that happen and so many great ideas for stories. I had to split up this one from the rest of the reports.

Mike and Helen have this beautiful sportsfisher boat. Huge! I tell ya. Huge!! Here's Helen with her Chocolate Chip Porgy. It's big enough for 2 small families to fish together (or one large family of 14 Renee - LOL)



They also have a teenage son, but he decided to stay home this trip. BUT, I'm tellin' ya, their daughter LOVES to fish. I don't know many 14 yr old girls that love to put squid on a hook, send it down, then reel up fighting mad fish.





And then, she even knows how to take them off the hook. She is quite the angler already.



Plus, she has blossomed so much since last year when we met a little girl. Now, she's becoming a young lady and well..... my guy was totally embarassed to have to pose with her. I hadn't realized it until I snapped this photo that they were somewhat avoiding each other all trip. We're not "into" girls quite yet, but it is on the horizon.



For now, driving the boat is where his interests lie. Not posing in photos with girls.



Thanks Capt. Mike for letting my son take us home aboard your vessel.

Happy Fishing!
Robin

6.8.09 - Cont'.... Bottom fishing
by Robin

Last Monday, we were offshore fishing on our friend, Mike's boat (on the right). There are the guys in the tower. Wait.... one is missing......



Oh there he is. Pretending to be Captain from below. Good thing the guys upstairs have a wheel up there. They were avoiding the submarine that crossed our path while trolling. Helen, Mike's wife, is in the background.



Here's a close up of my Sprite model. Oh wait, he didn't get the can right in his hand. Logo out, son!! Still.... I love this picture and made it my desktop background.



We ended up leaving the area to go bottom fishing. While we didn't catch big keepers, we all had fun pulling in small reef fish. Here is Mike's daughter pulling in a Chocolate Chip Porgy.



Yes, I said Chocolate Chips. Aren't they cute? They can get pretty big too. And tasty. But not chocolatey.


Here's my little guy taking his turn fishing the ledge on Pelican Flats.


It's a lot of effort for him still.


He pulls in a fish or two and then he's done. This is a black sea bass jumping wildly on the end of the line.


More tomorrow!! Then, we go fishing again on Monday. I think. Jack had customers but I think they bailed on him. We're going to make some quick work in the early morning to fill the cooler and then come back home for an afternoon in the pool. The mahi mahi are in very close right now. Big one! A guy caught a 60 lb phin on 8A reef (14 mi or so) this week.

Happy Fishing!
Robin

6.8.09 MIKE & HELEN's BOAT
by Robin


We had a great time on Mike & Helen's 32 ft Luhrs Sportfishing boat yesterday. I'll throw up a couple pictures now and then try to add more pics & stories as the week goes along.

We got the boat "dropped" into the water by the forklift at 7 am, took a couple tries at catching the foot-long mullet in the marina. Didn't catch any. Headed out the inlet with the guys on top of the tower. I was standing in the cockpit where you fight fish.

I love the look on my youngest's face. It say a lot about how he feels about fishing.


We stopped about 70 ft and start trolling. Our eldest is first up and he hooks a kingfish and brings it home.



Daddy gaffs it for him and puts him on ice. That gray you see around the fish is a big puff of diesel smoke.



Here is our eldest helping Mr. Mike with rigging up another ballyhoo to put on a trolling line.


We move to deeper water (145 ft) and put lines in again and run alongside a rip (will be explained more later). Next is Mike, who owns the boat. He fights a gorgeous Mahi mahi.



The bull was so calm for the longest time.




Then, he jump once he was boatside. I think he was trying to tell us he didn't want to go on ice.


Jack did a great job of gaffing him quickly and putting him on ice.




Next, Helen hooks up with another mahi but not long after the fight begins, the fight is over. The lines were crossed (by the fish) and somehow, he gets some slack and spits out the bait & hook. Awwww. That happens with fishing. That's why it isn't called Catching.



Then, we're rudely interrupted by a submarine. (LOL) I know many of you think this is rare and odd but actually, we see it fairly frequently. It's almost annoying because we have to keep a wide distance from them and they were right in our way of trolling. Many times, they delay our entering or exiting of the port.



We trolled a little bit longer with no fish to show for it and then we decided to change locations and bottom fish. I guess our *10 o'clock bite* was officially over. More on that another day.

Happy Fishing!!
Robin