Fishing Excursion - Julia Tuttle: Less Pictures, More Results

Another day, another fishing story.

After my goose-egg day of fishing in Key Biscayne, I was determined to catch a keeper. I enjoy the relaxation and meditation aspects of fishing, but I also enjoy eating my catch, and I had yet to do that...until this past Thursday.

At the sporting goods store, I'd met a guide who told me there was actually some good sea trout fishing to be had, fishing off the Julia Tuttle Causeway, which happens to be just a few blocks from my house.

I got to the causeway and walked past a semi-homeless man who was also fishing and said he wasnt having too much luck. I walked about 100 yards further down the Causeway.

Well, after 20 minutes of fruitless casting, the homeless man started to walk towards me saying something in Spanish. I was expecting him to ask for food, change, or hassle me in some sort of way, my usual interaction with homeless people.

WRONG.

Sergio, as his named turned out to be, actually came down to offer me some tips because he saw how little luck I was having. He helped me tie on a different hook set-up than the topwater baits I was previously using, and even gave me a little box of bait because I was fishing baitless lures. We chatted for awhile, he was 1/2 Cuban 1/2 American, and has a 23 year old son. When I asked where he lived, his reply, "wherever I feel like on any given night."

Goes to show you that, once again, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

After re-rigging my line, my luck took a 180. I caught a small little speckled sea trout and even this little Pinfish. However, still no keepers.

I decided to try my luck on the north side of the Causeway and casted into the channel. After letting the bait sit for a while, I was holding the tip up and felt the classic THUMP THUMP THUMP of a fish hitting your bait. I gave it a few seconds to eat the hook, slowly started reeling in, still felt the fish in the line, set the hook, and BAM, caught this gorgeous 13 inch Bluefish, just above the 12 inch size limit.

Having successfully caught my first keeper, I headed home to clean it and cook it. Cooking it was the easy part, cleaning, not so much. I need to learn how to fillet a fish, and fast. I did a decent job, if you consider picking bones out of your fish acceptable. Either way, my first caught-with-my-own-hands meal in Miami.

-pj-

Fishing Excursion: Key Biscayne

So, I went fishing in Key Biscayne a couple days ago.

The day started out as usual. 9am wake up. Coffee, breakfast and internet. Then it was off to Key Biscayne, where I hoped to slay the mighty Snapper.

On my ride there, I passed through a wildlife refuge, and wildlife there was! Tons of Ibis and an Alligator in a pond. Then, as I was cruising along the bike path, I thought I was coming upon a large, obtuse, stick...turns out it was an Iguana, just sunning itself on the pathway. It ran for cover, along with the rest of his harem. I say HIS, because all the other Iguanas, maybe five in total, ran into a storm drain pipe, and he stood his ground outside the pipe, protecting, so I assume it was a male. No joke, he was a good two feet long including his tail. I guess there is actually an over population of Iguanas in South Florida from people letting their pet iguanas into the wild once they get too big to be pets anymore.

I love me some Mangrove trees

I finally got to my fishing pier and started casting. Not too much luck, just a ton of seaweed getting caught on my line. The view wasn't bad though. As they say, a bad day of fishing is still better than a good day of working.

Views from my pier

My tools of the trade

So about catching those Snapper...Well, that didn't happen. I did catch two fish though, both being the Scrawled Cowfish. It's definitely a reef-fish, based on its color. It had the hardest body I'd ever seen in a fish. It was like its body was made of hard plastic, because it kind of clacked on the pier when it was flopping around.

I most certainly wasn't going to try to eat such a fish, so I happily let them go. It had the smallest little side fins I'd ever seen. Very much like Nemo's handicapped fin from Finding Nemo, the Disney Original Film. Due to these baby fins, it wasn't much of a game fish, but it was fun catching my first real fish in Florida.

And as always, no better way to end the day than a Key Biscayne sunset

Fishing Excursion: The First

So I finally decided to buy my non-resident saltwater fishing license. It was a bit pricey at $50, but otherwise I would have had to either:

A) Wait 6 months until I'm a legal resident of Florida
B) Fished without a license like MANY people I've encountered
C) Not fished at all

Since I can never imagine myself waiting 6 months for anything, (A) definitely wasn't going to work out. Seeing as I tend to worry about law enforcement's overbearing power, taking the risk and getting caught, however slim the possibility, made (B) an anxiety-ridden and unwise choice. (C), yeah, that's not happening.

Therefore, being a rather moral person, I chose to buy a license and help out the state's fish and wildlife system.

My next step was to find a bait shop. I've done my research and there's a little place up on 79th street, Navarro Bait and Tackle, that was highly recommended on the internet. It's run by what appears to by a husband/wife team, and they're great. I'm thinking they're Cuban or Puerto Rican, but either way, they REALLY made me utilize my "Spanish Ear." The guy talked so fast, and with such a thick accent, that I'm pretty sure he initially thought I was fishing for Great White Shark, and not your common Snapper.

After working my way through the Spanish fishing sales process, I successfully purchased all my gear and I was set.

Off to the overpass of the Julia Tuttle Causeway at 36th Street. I initially was using a bait-catching line, which is just a rig with about 6 tiny hooks connected to a piece of line with a sinker at the bottom. I was hoping to catch sardines to use for tomorrow, my Key Biscayne Snapper Mission. (Post Tomorrow, Check Back!)

Well, I was having ZERO luck, and then a nice shrimp netter gave me a sardine to cut up into bait. My luck took a 180 and I was catching quite a few small pan fish, all being the common Grunt. Their name comes from the sound they make out of water, which, like their names suggests, is very similar to a pig, or piglet, grunt.

I caught a bunch, but decided to throw them back. I guess they're really good pan fried, but I was just having fun drinking beer and talking with the other fishermen.

Case in point, I'm officially a Florida saltwater fisherman.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Key Biscayne to slay the mighty Snapper. Should I catch one over the 12" limit, you better believe it'll be pan fried with onions and potatoes, just like the trout from the mighty Kickapoo River.

Wish me luck!

I caught many of these little Grunt fish. I gave this one another shot at life. Until next time my dear Grunt friend!