Tough week of fishing in the Florida Keys

Hmmm, this was quite the week here in Islamorada. Things started out very tough at the first of the week. The water temp’s were still in high 60’s and the only bait we could catch was Ballyhoo. The fish seemed to be rather shocked from the cold fronts that brought drastic changes in their environment. Most of the week we were unable to be productive at all with the snapper and grouper. The King Mackerels seemed to be the best game in town, which everybody seemed to enjoy, kept the rod bent, and lead to plenty of arm aches. The sailfishing was very slow all week.

When we finally got some east wind, it seemed to help a little, changing the surface temps a bit, but did nothing for the big picture. On Thursday, there was a glimmer of hope. We had a super day with our limit of Cobia, Mackerels, and a few real nice Black Grouper. So our expectations were very high for Friday.

The morning started out great. We finally caught cigar minnows and when we got to the 90 F.A.D. the bite was on! The minnows were getting eaten as soon as they hit the water. So with this in mind, we figured for sure things would really spark up before the next front moves through later in the day. Well, it didn’t work out like that. The winds came around out of the west and shut things down very quickly. We had the day off on Saturday and are back at it today.

Hope everybody enjoys the Super Bowl!! Talk to you all next week.

Tight Lines,
Capt. John Oughton - That's Right

OU On the Road This Week

We’d like to thank everyone who attended George Poveromo’s Seminar in Wilmington, NC on Saturday. Once again it was a great crowd, following up Jupiter last weekend. Look for us next week in Jacksonville. After hitting the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, NJ last week, our booth was set up this weekend at the Philadelphia Golf Show, where we featured some of our great Bahamas Fishing & Golf Resorts. Next week, you can find us at the Atlantic City Boat Show. Be sure to stop by, as we will have a lot of our new product line on display and for sale. We are working with our key Manufacturers to bring you great show specials on products like Revere Safety Equipment (Rafts, Vests, EPIRB's, PLB's and more). We will have a blow out deal on Offshore Life Rafts. Also our line of Penn Reels will be available, and we will have our Kristal Electric Reels on display as well.

Great End to our Morehead City Tuna Season!!!!

Fish Number One for the Week!

Left the dock around 4:00 AM and ran towards the Russian Wreck. On the way we heard the warm water had moved in from where it was our last day out. We started fishing short of where we planned. After getting every set we were having trouble getting an accurate sea temp reading. We marked a little, scattered bait, nothing to get excited about.

We got a call from a friend, who had two bites within minutes. We pulled our spread in and ran towards him...everyone has been very helpful here.We got in the area and reset our spread, the water looked great. There was bait from the bottom up to about 20 feet. After about 30 minutes we had our bite on a short rigger. The first run took us ½ way through our backing. We started clearing the other three rods, which are pulled about 450 to 700 feet back. When I say we...it was just me & 'Lil John.

After clearing all our lines and planner we went to work on the fish. The fish was straight up and down within 50 minutes, then it took another 20 minutes to get him within range to get a flyer in him. John stopped cranking and hit him with the flyer. He did a great job handling the fish throughout the fight. After he had the gaff in him I was able to come down and help secure him and get him in the boat. The fish measured 91”, weighed 424 lbs and cored out at 360 lbs. We had a bit of a dry spell before this bite that ran for 9 days. There were about 10 to 12 fish caught today. We were happy to get a bite in what has been a tough season.
Tight Lines, Capt Keith

Fish #1 - 424 Pounds!

We had a great family on board this week, with great weather to start the trip out. It took us a bit to get things going but after an hour we started to get into the wahoo. The first bite was a double deep rod bite both on trolling weights and yozuri plugs. Shortly after we had another single that came on a billy bait ballyhoo combo. It seems the best wahoo bite for us lately has been right outside the Man O War cut in the Abacos. There is a one mile stretch where we consistantly have been getting multiple bites. The seas started to catch up to the young kids on board so we headed towards the reef in the chop. Anchoring in calm seas just outside the reef we easily caught our limit of yellowtails, as well as releasing a rather large Nassau Grouper (out of season). The bite on the reef here is non stop with sharks, barracuda, grouper, snappers, as well as, an occasional mackeral. Great for Fun Family Action!!!!!

Captain Joe Trainor - Low Profile