March Open Water Fishin

[JackpineRob]

Mrs. Jackpine and I celebrated 20 years of raising kids and not strangling each other last week with a little trip down to the Florida Keys.  We stayed in a place called Islamorada, billed as the "Sportfishing Capital of the World".   Our trip was pretty much a 2nd honeymoon thing, including catching the spectacular sunsets over the Gulf each night.



We did a half-day reef fishing trip out of Sea Dog Charters in Marathon, chasing after snapper.  The wind was honking out of the east at around 15 knots, with gusts over 25.  Things were a bit rough 6 miles out, with waves in the 7-8 foot range.



Our crew of 6 quickly dwindled down to 3 rods working, as seasickness took over.  Although Mrs. Jackpine was able to reel in a yellowtail snapper, she spent quite a bit of time staring at the deck of the boat and valiantly keeping her breakfast down.  Others were not as fortunate...

The highlight for me was pulling in something called a mutton snapper, which was around 24 inches and 8-9 pounds.  That beast fought like a demon, and tasted pretty darn good cooked up later.



One nice thing about the Keys is that many of the restaurants will cook up the fish you catch.  We had the added bonus of watching a manatee swim by the deck as we dined later that night.

[holdemtwice]

very nice ..glad  you had a great  time, and thanks for sharing. i needed a pick me up today  and this did the trick   cheers

[Spinach]

Thankyou for sharing your vacation report, the pictures are great.

Oh yeah.... Congrats on 20 years to both of you.

[Realtree]

Congrats on your Anniversary and the great fishing trip. I have been down to Key West a couple of times, but never made it out of Sloppy Joes long enough to bait a hook.  :D

Thanks for sharing your story and pics.