Lower Keys

September 2009

  

Sunrise looking towards Big Pine Key

 

Day  1 – Long Key State Park/Big Pine Key

On Sunday morning I got up, picked up my rental car, and began the drive from Miami to US 1 and Key Largo.   After a brief stop at the Largo Starbucks for my last latte and breakfast I got back in the car and headed to Islamorada and Worldwide Sportsman which is a regular pilgrimage.  Loaded up a few new flies and a bonefish print Buff then jumped back on US 1 and headed to Long Key.  

I turned off at Long Key State Park and for the next few hours before lightening began striking, I worked the big flat from the end of the picnic area up past the end of the campground.  No bones spotted at all but I soon spotted lightening and had to get out of the water, walk back to the car and ride out the ran while eating lunch.  After the brief rain it cleared up so I walked the flat again with no better luck.  I got back to the car just in time, the next wave of rain hit and this time it was a downpour.   I continued driving, stopping at Marathon for groceries and then on to Big Pine and finally Little Torch Key and the Dolphin Marina.   After unpacking I headed back to Big Pine and down Long Beach Road to the end where I got out and waded the ocean flat there for a while but saw nothing,

I then cleaned up and headed into Key West for the evening, hitting up Margaritaville, the Saltwater Angler fly shop and walking from the cruise ship port down Whitehead to the Southernmost Point then back up Duval to check out the people on display.

The end (or start) of Hwy 1 at Mile 0	Southernmost Point in the US

Day 2 – East of Big Pine Key

Sunrise at the marina	My room and car for the trip

 

I awoke on Monday to a nice sunrise at the marina, had breakfast, made lunch and met Bruce Chard at 7:00 to start the day.   We pulled out, headed around the north end of Big Pine and turned east to search for tarpon.  At the first spot we saw lots of sharks and rays everywhere and just as we were pulling around the point of the small mangrove key a tarpon rolled.  I made one cast of a chartreuse and white Puglisi tarpon fly, made one strip and the fish was on.   After a several great jumps and bows to the king I landed the baby tarpon.   A good way to start the trip but first cast fish are often a curse and this one was no exception.

 

Landing the fish	Tarpon

 

We spent the rest of the day hunting permit and tarpon in the very high water caused by the somewhat extreme tide.   We saw permit and bones on every flat but the fish were mostly cruising, not eating and with the high water and tough visibility we were often on top of them before we’d spot them.  I had to make quite a few 10-15’ casts at fish by the boat and most spooked quickly.  The few bonefish we had good presentations to would follow the fly then just turn away for no god reason, very frustrating.    The whole day went this way pretty much.  Even in the afternoon fishing Coupon Bight on the ocean side I had some decent shots at bones but there either weren’t interested or turned away after charging the fly.  Argh but hey, I got to cast to the slam which isn't even the easiest thing in the world to do. 

 

We got back to the marina, I showered and headed to Kew West again to check out The Angling Company, a new fly shop/art gallery/fashion shop that had opened this year.  Cool store with Tim Borski originals along with a few other painters and nice t-shirts.  I chatted with the clerk a while finding out how small a world it is, she had relatives where I was from in Ohio and had lived in the Okanagon valley which is an area we love.   I then headed to El Shibone for Cuban food and left Key West around sunset.   I stopped by the Spanish Harbor and Bahia Honda bridges before going back to the room but didn’t see any tarpon hanging out so headed back and got a very good 10 hours sleep.

Day 3 – West of Big Pine Key

On Tuesday I again woke to clear skies and light wind.  We started at 8:00 to try and avoid some of the high water and took off looking for tarpon again.   We found plenty of tarpon but the fish would not eat anything.  I threw about five or six flies at them with no luck, a few follows but nothing willing to commit.  At least the first cast was not an issue.

That didn’t change my luck on bones and permit though.  Again we saw fish almost everywhere we went but things just went wrong.  The first bone that ate my merkin took off on a tear, the line cleared well, or so I thought until the last 3” hit the reel seat and the fish snapped off.   Bonefish 1, Tim 0.  The next nice fish was on my fly hard when I somehow caught the only blade of grass in the area just as he was going to eat, bonefish 2, Tim 0.  The next group of smaller fish we found would grab the crab fly but I couldn’t get a hook set, bonefish 4, Tim 0.  I had another fish in hard current grab and spit out the fly before I got slack up all the way – bonefish 5, Tim 0.  That is just the really good ones, had more follows again without a take.  I finally spotted a fish that turned and ate the fly but when I saw the orange tinted tail realized it wasn’t a bone at all but a mutton snapper that ran me to the backing.   Nice fish and no skunk, that snapper saved the day.

Capt. Bruce Chard	Mutton Snapper

Permit were no better, again we were on top of most fish before we saw them.  Several looked at the fly and swam away or started on the fly, saw the boat, and scrammed.  The best group came just as we pulled onto a flat – 5 fish coming right at me but Bruce hadn’t even gotten the pole yet so the boat was moving toward the fish as fast as the fish were coming to us.  I got in a few casts and on the third shot lined the back fish and spooked them all, argh.  

My luck, or lack thereof, spilled over into the hunt for dinner.  I had wanted to go back to The Square Grouper on Cudjoe but it was closed so I found a few 4.5 star places in Key West I wanted to check out so did the drive back down to the end of the road.  Seven Fish Café – closed.  Blue Heaven – closed.  Café de Artistas – changed name but was closed. There were a few more in there too and by this time I did not feel like hoofing back down Duval to one of the places there so I jumped in the car and headed north until I hit a police barricade at Hwy 1 and Jose Marte, trapped in Key West!  I remembered the road by City Marina and hoped that would get me around the barricade and off the island, that worked.  I found myself at Parrotdise on Little Torch which turned out OK, met an Alaskan ex-pat, his brother and wife, and talked with them while having a fish sandwich and a margarita.  What a day.

Day 4 – Rain at Big Pine/Long Key/Back to Miami

Woke to clouds almost everywhere on Wednesday morning with hopes it would be OK to the east.  We took off at 8:00 and headed back to the sullen tarpon to see if they were in a better mood today with the overcast.   The first few fish were not but we stuck with it as the skies darkened and rain was all around us.  As we could hear rain coming up the bay behind us I saw two tarpon round a point, cast, the one fish began to follow and a strip later hit it hard.  The fish jumped and then the rain hit us hard.  I played the tarpon in a downpour and was soaked to the bone several jumps and runs later when the fish tired.  We headed into the mangroves to get out of lightening and landed the tarpon there, needless to say we have no photo in all the rain. 

We hunkered down in the mangroves a while as it poured, we couldn’t see 100 yards across the bay.    When it let up we finally headed back out to try and dry off and had a few more shots at tarpon.  I even got to see my very first daisy chain of fish.  For the next hour we dodged rain and looked in vain for more tarpon before calling it a short day.  We docked, cleaned up and went to Parrotdise for some tuna rolls before I loaded up the car and headed back towards Miami but vowed to come back to seek payback on the bonefish and permit.  

Past Marathon it started clearing and by the time I got to Long Key it was beautiful so I stopped to fish some more.  I walked the entire beach but saw no tailers so I waded out about 30’ and slowly walked back.  Most of the time I had good visibility but only saw fish when I didn’t and again they were close so I’d only get off one cast.  I did manage another snapper but the bones beat me again.   By this time I was hungry so passed up the flat at Anne’s Beach on Islamorada and headed to the Islamorada Fish Company for blackened grouper and, finally, a piece of great Key Lime pie.  I watched the tarpon get fed and wanted to pull out my 10-weight again before I hit the road back through Key Largo, Homestead, and finally Miami.

Big tarpon resting at Islamorada Fish Company.  This guy was about 6' long	Here is what happens when you throw in some shrimp