I was looking through past post on another forum that I put up and thought you guys might like this one. Its not my trip but looks like a great time. Heres the story and a utube video link at the bottum.
We rolled into Key West on Sunday afternoon 4/18 to load up on supplies for a four day trip to the Dry Tortugas with Captain Yuri aboard the Lauren Jeanne. We stored all of the gear on the boat and went for a late dinner at the Hogfish. After a great meal and a few cold drinks we headed back to the boat for a few good laughs and hit the rack. I can say I had a sleepless night of anticipation with a total of about two hours of sleep. We have been planning this trip since we got off the boat last year. The crew on this trip was Tim, Greg, Mark, David, Bo and Duke.
Day 1. Captain Yuri tossed the dock lines about 9am and pointed the big turbo powered diesel catamaran west towards the Dry Tortugas. We stopped on a patch reef to load up on live speedos. The captain said the speedos have been the bait of choice lately, so we used sabiki rigs with the beads and plastic cut off. After about a dozen and a half in the live well we were back under way. Once we hit the color change the live bait was deployed in the outriggers and it was game on. Trolling to the Dry Tortugas we boated two big wahoo, one blackfin, two bonito for bait and released three barracudas.
We made it to our first bottom drop in 260 feet about 6pm, and it was almost as if Yuri had the major feed time dialed in for the bottom dwellers because it was no stop action for all six guys at the stern. Muttons and yelloweye snappers, with the yellow eyes coming up two at a time using chicken rigs. On the second stop it was more of the same although there were a couple scamp grouper and big red grouper that were released back to the drink. Apparently the scientist calling the shots on the fish closures are looking in the wrong places. It pains me to release what should be keeper fish.
The conditions on the water was what we all had been praying for so we stayed anchored way south of the fort which allowed us to fish till about 2am. After a well needed hot shower I hit my comfy bunk and finally got some sleep.
Day 2. I had revealed my secret lures at the breakfast table and everyone had a pretty good laugh. I read about someone making butter knife jigs on the FS Forum and thought it would be a great idea for a good joke, so I made one for each guy and even engraved the dates of our trip on them as a memento. Captain Yuri was the first to have one tied on and on the first drop he was hooked up and boated a big amber jack. Still amazed that it really worked, I had to try one myself. On my third drop I was hooked up with another big AJ and after a tug of war that lasted about fifteen minutes, he was in the boat. By this time the AJ’s were thick at the back of the boat along with the bonitos. David hooked up with a bonito in the ten pound range and out of no where came a huge AJ from under the boat and inhaled it while everyone was watching. The AJ tried two more times to inhale this bonito and on the third try he got it head first with only the fork tail sticking out. Taking advantage of the situation, Greg assembled his fly rod and headed to the bow of the boat for more action from the aggressively feeding bonitos. He hooked up in a matter of minutes while baiting them with thread herring.
After everyone had their fill of the infamous reef donkey, Captain Yuri swung the 500 feet of anchor line to the back of the boat and headed to the next bottom drop hole. Watching the anchor plane in the wake of the boat is something else that is amazing. For the rest of the day and in to the evening it was great fishing at every spot we stopped at. We fished from 75 to 280 feet deep and produced lots of quality keeper fish. Late in the evening, Greg opened the back window while he was preparing a gourmet meal for everyone from some of our fresh caught seafood. The smell was tempting our appetites and it was a needed break to regain some strength for another long night. After a full belly of food it was back to fishing.
The conditions on the second day were great and in the afternoon the water went from a ripple to flat calm. It made it nice to see a great sunset with my fishing rod in one hand and a cold refreshment in the other.
Day 3. Woke up at day break and slugged down a cup of coffee and a hot english muffin at the back of the boat. Thinking to myself how fortunate I am. Wake up, walk to the back of the boat and drop a line in 200 feet of water. The fishing was kind of slow for the morning bite, so Yuri said to roll them up, we are going to make a run. When he got the 500 feet of anchor rope aboard he put the big cat on plane. Curious to know where we were heading I looked at the compass located in the salon. It showed due south. It was then I knew he was heading to the deep water of the shipping channel. After the short run he slowed the boat and prepped the two electric reels for extreme deep dropping. We fished from 850 to 1,200 feet of water in no time with a push of the button. What more do I need to say- golden tiles and snowy grouper on every drop. When you hit the up button you have just enough time to go make another cold refreshment and wait to see what’s coming to the surface. Many times we caught multiples of tile fish, rose fish, yellow edge and snowy grouper.
By dark thirty it was time for the next big adventure, swordfish. Yuri headed a little further south east, then spent the better part of an hour rigging four deep drop swordfish rigs. It was pretty intense watching how much detail he was putting into this set up. You could see that even one hook up was going to be worth the time spent. Although we had a couple knock downs that were most likely sharks, I don’t have a swordfish story to share other than a long night watching the glowing balloons in the darkness and the occasional passing freighter. When it was time to give up, the captain headed towards the calm waters south of the Marquesas for another needed good night of sleep.
Day 4. I was not the first one up and at’em but I was told Mark put a few more yellowtial in the box. Our plan for the last day was to catch some more live speedos and slow troll all the way back to Key West. While trolling east we put one more wahoo in the box and released two more barracudas. It was pretty exciting to go up top and watch the spread with the captain. When the speedos had something on them they would come to the surface and the predator would crash them on top. We made one last drop in about 280 feet of water south of Key West with the rest of our live bait. With only a few hits, there was nothing boated.
By this time it was pushing 3pm so we rolled up one last time and made the short run back to the port on Stock Island. With a lot of work ahead, we still had to pack all the gear and clean three full boxes of fish. Thanks to some help from a local fish cleaning guy who also doubled as comedian with the same jokes from many years past, we finished cleaning, brining, and bagging our catch in four and a half hours. The Six of us washed the stink off of ourselves and headed to the Hogfish for another great dinner and one more cold beverage to top off the trip. We caught 24 total species on the trip and I can say that none of the six guys will need to buy fish from the store for the next year. There was many fish split six ways, from gray and golden tile, mutton, yelloweye, mangrove, yellowtail snapper, wahoo, snowy, yellow edge grouper, rose fish, blackfin, kings, siro, amberjack. Wow, what a trip.
Thanks again to Captain Yuri at Two Fish Charters for another awesome fish catching adventure. Also, thanks to the five other guys that made for another great trip. I am already looking at the calendar for booking dates next year.
Duke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WsqY6wCviE&feature=player_embedded
A good friend of mine was born and raised in Key west. He has told many stories of fishing in the Tortugas. I wish I could get down there and do it one time :fish
Man, That looks like a BLAST. :rockon
My dad and I have talked about a trip to the DTs many times. With the boat he has now it is possible, just have to get the right time to do it and talk him into it!
My folks had a place at Duck Key for about 25 years. I fished all three lights from Islamorada to Marathon and could tell u some stories. You used to be able to camp on the Tortugas. Some of the greatest fishing in the world is available down there. I do miss it. RF, that was a great "fishing tale" and I do envy anybody that has access to fishing the Keys.
