Steve on the Linda D IV found me walking along

the dock in 2004. He asked if I was the kid looking for

a job. I mentioned the boats that I had worked on
before to give him an idea of what sort of experience I
had. Steve gave me the job. The Linda D IV is a 40
foot #1 hull with a pair of twin Detroit engines. It ran
22 to 23 knots top end, except most of the time we
would cruise at 17 or 18 knots. Steve liked to fish the
bluewater. In most cases we worked two rigger baits,
two flats, a bridge rod, and one deep troll. We ran
mono on the flats, wire albrights in the riggers, and
also a wire albright on the bridge rod, and wire on the
deep troll. Our rigs were tipped with pink squids. We
ran a pink seawitch on the deep troll since it is a good
wahoo color. Whenever we fished the reef we just ran
two wire albright rigs in the outriggers, the clark spoon
on the flat, plus the deep troll. For the most part the
reef was all baracudas or ceros. Out in the bluewater
we caught our dolphin, and wahoo. The sailfish were
tough that season. We might have raised one sail a
week. Steve spent the fall, winter, and spring in
Florida, then went up to Maine for the bluefin tuna
season. Out of all of the boats at Charterboat Row,
the Linda D IV had the longest range. We fished from
Pelican Shoal up to the east going out to the
Marquesas to the west. Our boss Bill Wickers let us go
where the fish were. Fuel was never a problem.

In March the king mackeral were stacked up at the

outer edge of Western Dry Rocks for two weeks. We
managed to catch threadfins, so we anchored. On one
of our charters we caught a limit of big kings, plus
three 20 lb. Black grouper. We worked that area for
those two weeks until the fishing slowed down. We
limited out several times. The rigs are #2 treble hooks
on 4 wire albrighted to the 50 lb. test leader.

When April came around we did most of our fishing

in the bluewater. We did some live bait fishing for sails
that month. We were a little salo on sails though.
There were free jumpers all over the place out in 300
feet except those fish were not responding to dead
bait trolling. We caught two sailfish offshore of Middle
Sambo on threadfins on one trip. The first fish was
about average weighing 50 lbs.. The second fish was
big. It was a real dinosaur. It took us about 20
minutes to get the leader, then it went deep again and
again as we backed up on it, taking another 20
minutes to land. That fish was over 70 lbs..

For several weeks in the spring of 2005 the waters

off of the Marquesas were the place to be. At first
there were big numbers of kings in the Gulf north of
the Marquesas. Live threadfins on the surface had the
kings at our will to some extent. We were casting two
livies on spinning rods at a time getting the fish right
up in plain sight on the take. We had a great time
watching the threadfins get nervous as the kings came
up to the surface. We got to see the bite. Later on
trolling on the Atlantic side was intense.

The Reef Runner is one of the older boats at

Charterboat Row. It is a 40 foot Defender. Captain
Soldano did his own custom fiberglass work on his
deck. The boat has a long cockpit, making the cabin
smaller. The bridge is up forward almost on the bow.
It kind of lags through the water. It goes ten knots. A
single engine boat. Single engine boats are common
at the old Marina.

On the Reef Runner we fished all wire. The rigs 8

feet of wire, to regular mustads, using a 200 pound
barrel swivel. We trolled two riggers, two flats, plus
the deep troll. In December of 2003 the kings were
thick as theives. Eastern was the most productive.
One morning we put ten big kings in the box, all
around 20 pounds. The fish were getting airborne on
the hook ups. Trolling up kingfish is awesome when it
gets like that. When dead bait trolling for those fish
the speed of the boat makes for a quick hook up. All
of the sudden one is up on the right rigger, then the
left goes, then a third fish on the flat. The surface bite
turns on, then just stops like it never even happened.
Under normal conditions, whenever dead bait trolling,
far more kingfish are caught on the deep troll than on
the surface. Kingfish hold at mid depths most of the
time.

The cero mackeral were abundant that December

also. The birds were found working on the inshore
perimeter of the reef. When targeting them, we trolled
clark spoons on the flats, and pink squid in the riggers.
Expect fast action. Sometimes there are spanish
mackeral mixed in with the ceros. One morning we
took two dozen fish.
 The Lighthouse at Sand Key makes it the
centerpoint of the reefline offshore of Key West. The
Light is in shallow water on the highpoint of the reef.
Adjacent to it is a sandbar. There is a NOAA weather
beacon there also. On the outer perimeter of the high
rocks is a 30 to 40 foot area.
It is a good place to catch cero mackeral. The 30 to 40
foot zone made up of sea fans, sponges, or coral holds
grouper and mutton snapper. The depth goes to 90
feet then rises back up to 40 or 50 feet. The bar is an
outcropping of the reef. Past the bar is another
dropoff. The bluewater offshore of there is great. The
current rip there is in about 300 feet.

The 40 foot zone to the west of the Light is a great

yellowtail spot. Scot ran out there with me one
morning in his 18 foot Edgewater. Using
glassminnows as scatter chum and silversides on #1
hooks we caught 30 keepers.

The seagulls are sometimes found working over

cero mackeral or spanish mackeral on the inshore side
of the reef as well as on the outside or deeper offshore
side of the reef.

Western Sambo is one of the coolest sections of

the reef in south Florida. There is a steep dropoff on
the outer edge of the reef there. In April of 2005 Scot
took the Edgewater out there with me one evening. I
got in the water to take a look around. When it is clear
there are all sorts of caverns, and outcroppings of
dead coral visible from the surface. There are gorges
between the rock formations there. There are several
spots where I was 20 feet deep in the middle of two
cliffs that are no more than three feet below the
surface. The yellowtails are scattered all throughout
the gorges. On the dropoff on the outer edge there
were cero mackeral. The tropical fish are abundant at
Western Sambo. I found rock beauties were hiding on
sponges or in small caverns. One of the motivating
reasons for going there was to look for lobster, or to
find grouper in the caves near the bottom. For some
reason neither the grouper nor the lobster were in the
area on that dive. On the inshore side of the reef I
had an encounter with an 8 foot bull shark.
Before seeing the shark small cero mackeral went
racing past me. The shark looked right at me then
turned off into the darker water out of sight. The bull
shark came up to me as I surfaced after diving on the
deep edge on that side of the reef. The top of the reef
is shallow. I froze, then turned backwards looking back
to where the shark was until I got to the shallow high
rocks.

overhauls

In October of 2003 I got a job at the commercial

fishing dock on Stock Island. Ed Blasce had a cargo
container on site for fiberglass supplies. The
Charterboat Row captains brought boats to Ed for
offseason overhauls. There were two 40 foot #1 hulls
being worked on plus two 34 foot Crusaders. The
Captain Conch was one of the #1 hulls. It is an open
cabin boat that was being rebuilt. We put in new
engine hatches, tackle cabinets, a new deck, along
with a new fish box. I spent three weeks working
there before Ed told me to hit the docks.

Ritchie Gomez gave me a job that November on

his 34 foot Crusader the Conch Too. I got a new look
at trolling. Ritchie gave me the first look at dead bait
trolling for sails. I had to strike out to learn. This was
a new challenge for me. Ritchie had me trolling
spinning rods on the flat lines. We had a Penn 50
International on the downrigger, Penn 30
conventionals in the riggers, plus a bridge rod. We
also pulled a squid chain teaser out of the right rigger.
That first fish on the troll was one of the most exciting
hookups I ever had. The fish was up on the teaser
then Ritchie took the squid chain from the fish, it
turned on the right flat that I dragged past its chin. I
gave it a quick five seconds on the dropback. The fish
came jumping on the first run it made. We cleared our
lines then worked our fish. We got the touch on the
leader, then let the fish tire itself out. I billed it, we
got a quick picture then we dragged the fish a little to
revive it.

The End of the Bar is where the blackfins are most

of the time. We were catching blackfins in 150 to 300
feet all over the reefline. One afternoon on the
Captain Conch we caught eight big blackfins on the
troll. It was going off. The frigate birds were out in
300 feet on the fish. The fleet worked the fish for
about a week.
rabbit out of his hat

On one old commercial fishing boat converted into

a charterboat we fished four rods all out of the
gunwhales. The old slow boat did about 10 knots,
except it got us to the fishing grounds.

Whenever fishing for baracuda or cero mackeral

we trolled two bare baits in the outriggers on wire, a
clark spoon on the flat, and a rigged hoo with a black
and red feather on the downrigger. The baracuda
action was so good we were hooking up triple headers
on a regular basis. We were getting multiple triple
headers in a single trip. The cero mackeral were
elusive that fall. We caught all sorts of ceros except
their pattern followed the king mackeral that never
showed up until winter was almost over.

The idea of trolling for sailfish is to cover more

water. The sails will sometimes shadow a bait,
thrashing at it with their bill before charging in on the
feed. Most of the fish do not hook themselves. The
fish require a little coaxing to initiate the dropback. In
December the fleet did most of its trolling outside the
Main Ship Channel. The sails were thick as theives.
Mitch Nowak pulled a rabbit out of his hat one
afternoon when he got shallower than the rest of the
fleet gettting right up on top of the reef. There were
small sails in there feeding. We raised five fish in the
short time we were there landing two. The first fish
came up on the left rigger. I gave it a short dropback
then hooked it up. As that was going on another fish
snagged itself on the downrigger as a third fish
charged in on the right flat. Ignoring the fish on the
right flat I set the hook on the one that took the
downrigger although the fish managed to get off. We
shrugged our shoulders as we backed up on our sail.
This little sail never got far, it might have weighed 20
lbs. Once we released that fish we got our baits right
back in the water. We raised another pair of fish on
our rigger baits. We got the one on the left rigger.
That fish came back on the bait three times before I
got the hook into it. This one did not require much
backing down either. It weighed about 15 lbs.

the Tortugas

The run to the Tortugas took us through the lakes

first. At the end of the lakes is a cut past Boca
Grande. The shoreline of that island is a pristine
natural sand bank. After clearing the shallow waters
of the lakes we took the offshore pass past the
Marquesas. From there it is another 50 miles due
west. Our first stop was on the 30 foot patch reefs
where the red grouper are. The rods we used were 30
lb. class. The old Penn Senators were spooled with 40
lb. test. The rigs consisted of a 2 ounce lead in front
of a barrel swivel to 5 feet of 50 lb. mono to a 7/0
short shank mustad. John Potter had eight of those on
the boat. On those patch reefs, all we did was grouper
fish. Each rig got a medium hoo, and a whole squid.
The grouper bite was almost instantaneous.
Whenever it slowed down we would move about 150
to 200 feet from where we were last. As the sun
started setting we decided to run to Fort Jefferson.
That afternoon we put about 30 keeper red grouper in
the box. The Fort is something else. It is a civil war
era Fort built in the mid 1800's. In the center of the
Fort is a field. There are scattered trees, there is an
old cactus, it is a unique place. There is a rustic
lighthouse that served as a watchtower. The Fort itself
is built out of red brick. It is two levels high. On the
perimeter is a brick wall that creates a moat. There
are mangrove snapper inside the wall. There is some
live rock within the perimeter also. The island forms
an outcropping that creates the sheltered harbor. That
night we anchored in the harbor. Captain Potter
worked on his grouper chowded, as I cooked shrimp
and lobster on the skillet. Our guests were elated to
escape to such a remote location. We went on a 50
foot sportfisherman called the Cha Cha. The cabin
was set up for overnight trips. It served as our
seafood bar. The ship was in an uproar that night.
Being so close to Cuba is was nice having Cuban
cigars from back at port. I smoked one on the bridge
late that night. Capt. Potter put a shark rod out with
the clicker on. It woke us up at about 2 o'clock. It was
a 120 lb. hammerhead.

The next morning the wind picked up, it got rough.

We met up with a shrimp boat in a seven foot sea to
barter for several burlap sacs full of crabs, shrimp, and
moharas. We traded them several cases of beer. We
backed up stern to stern in that sea, it was hectic. The
fleet of shrimpers look like ghost ships out there. It is
a tight nit group of some of the most rugged
individuals in the commercial fishing business. The
boats go out for weeks at a time, roughing it in the
harshest of weather. We went back to the patch reefs.
We managed to catch another 40 legal red grouper.
We also landed two jewfish. One was 200 lbs., the
other was about 150 or so. The crabs, and the
moharas were our scatter chum.

That night we went back to the harbor for shelter,

although we did not go ahore. We landed a 150 lb.
bull shark in the dark. Once the sun came up we
started back to port. Rather than just run back, we
went offshore, then trolled back. It was rough
offshore, about an eight foot sea. We caught dolphin
as we trolled back in 500 feet.

Islamorada

Being introduced to offshore permit was one of the

coolest experiences I have had as a charterboat mate.
Shallow water permit so often spook on the flats never
allowing a chance to get a bait to them. The deeper
water seems to give the fish more confidence. There
is a wreck up to the east of Alligator Light in
Islamorada. In the springtime permit move offshore to
wrecks or rock piles on the reef. Sometimes 40 or 50
fish would be visible on the surface. I'd go up on the
bow with a live crab to get the best casts at the fish.
Sometimes the permit would ignore the crab, but
persistence paid off all of the time. The permit would
gather up in groups. Casting a crab into the middle of
25 fish is fine most of the time, except sometimes the
fish require a little coaxing. In that case, finding the
lead fish is critical. If there are 40 permit there then
there must be several lead fish since the fish a broken
up in packs. Sometimes we would hook up on the first
cast. Other times it could take multiple casts until I
would hit one on the head. Some fish go right up to
the surface, right up on top to take a crab. Other fish
would pick it up while it was sinking.

Dirrk Reich brought me on his 43' Hatteras at

Whale Harbor Marina in Upper Matecumbe Florida in
the spring of 2005. Being springtime our focus was on
dorado. Our routine consisted of anchoring in the dark
on the bait patch, throwing the castnet on cigar
minnows or goggle eyes, racing offshore in search of
birds, setting out our spread, then we run and gun
after fish pitching live baits. Our success allowed us to
fool around on the wreck in the afternoon. The wind is
unpredictable, that spring the east winds were late. In
the recent past the east winds arived at the end of
March. The weather pattern was two months late.
The fish migration followed the weather pattern. At
the beginning of the season fish were scattered in
groups of eight or ten schoolie size fish. The
beginning of June was our most productive part of the
season. We wandered around looking for the fish
feeding into the current, those are the aggressive
bigger fish, the slammers as we call them. The birds
on those fish are moving southwest in the gulfstream.
Captain Dirrk Riech or Dirrko is an ace at spotting fish
from the tower. Once we were able to get to the fish
we would either troll past the fish or pitch a live bait.
Sometimes we would hook our first fish on the troll,
then pitch baits to the rest of the pack. Slammers
travel is pairs or in packs of 3 or 5 in most cases. The
size range of these fish is 15 lbs. to over 50 lbs.. The
larger bull dolphin is in most cases the lead fish. One
of our better catches of the season consisted of 4
cows weighing 17 to 23 lbs. and two bulls, one
weighing 18 lbs. with the other weighing 21 lbs.. Our
largest bull dolphin of the season weighed 54 lbs.. As
the schoolies began to run through our catches
consisted of 40 to 50 small fish per trip. Some of our
slammers showed up while we were catching
schoolies. One morning we caught five bulls
averaging 20 lbs. each. We were working a weedline
on a current break 25 miles out. The first set of gulls
we found meandering southwest came through. We
hooked up one fish trolling plus made a cast to the fish
that was to some extent a shadow to the first fish.
Right after we were able to land those fish then
organize our trolling rods quick we found another set
of birs working. The next set produced a triple. The
first fish charged in on the squid chain on the right
flat. We fought that fish then landed it keeping our
focus on a frigate bird that was right on the water. On
our next move we idled to the war bird. After casting
over to it, a bull came charging in, our angler hooked
up. To our good fortune there was a second bull racing
around. What a blast we had fighting those big
dolphin. It was business as usual.