Well finally the winds died back down and I was able to go out on the water. Catherine, Luis and I went out the past couple days. Catherine finally had a day off when the wind wasn’t howling so she was able to come too. The first day we went out in front of Key West and I had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong. Gear malfunctions, backup gear malfunctioning, stormy weather, dirty water, too many other boats, problems equalizing, everything seem to be off. We still had a pretty good day though, Luis shot a 14# mutton. I dove some new spots which is always good. We had to be in early to get Cat to work.
One thing I thought was interesting is we went to dive a real public wreck and just as we got there a scuba boat got there. I was able to do two quick dives before the scuba divers got down to it. When I first dove there were permit, bar jacks, big schools of yellowtail all over it. As soon as the scuba tanks hit the water the place turned into a ghost town. It’s amazing how much the bubbles repel the fish.
The next day we went out, I resolved all my gear issues, and headed west so no issues with crowds but really could not find fish. We picked up some little snapper, and Luis shot a big cero mackerel. I shot a little permit, I usually skip on the permit but it was a slow day so he got it. Vis was less then 30 feet and green, in the shallows the 18-20 knot winds kept us from going deep. We worked a whole bunch of areas which normally are pretty good and they were empty. The most telling sign was the lack of yellowtails. I think yellowtails might be spawning now, so they have moved, but I am not sure.
I had a good day even if the fishing was slow. Catherine was able to practice diving, and I got all my gear kinks out. I have had some really excellent catches the past month or so, not every day can be awesome.
