Just two of the  five folks  we had out on a half day today. Bo (not pictured ) is a state trooper in  Arkansas and brought his family to the keys for the first time.  Good people that enjoy life and family, we had a great time with them catching snapper and jokingly critiquing their fishing style.
Blessing of the fleet tomorrow and fishing after.

These young gentlemen are from Tennessee and caught a lot of nice tails on the morning trip. A lack of current kept the bit from being really great but we did catch a few in the 3 to 4 lb range.

Today was one of those days where the afternoon bite was better than the morning. We really struggling to catch in the morning catching a few yellowtail a couple sharks and some odds and ends. We had CP (passed owner of  the KKIV) for the second half . First we limited out on yellowtail and  then caught a 15 lb black grouper on 12 lb test line !!! Awesome angling along with a bit of luck.

We caught a lot of yellowtail and then tried the 200ft ledge where we caught a number of sharks and a 12 lb mutton on  our 3/4 day. Got back to the dock and met some people from Spain that also wanted to fish today . Off we went for the 2nd time (after getting a blessing from my wonderful wife ) to find some dinner (plus 7 or 8 other family members ) for my new friends from Spain. As you can see from the picture we more than covered the dinner menu.
Long day.

My clients today are biking from key largo to key west. They decided to stop in Islamorada and fish with us on a morning half. Although not the best conditions the yellowtail bit very well and we caught our limit in an hour or so. We spent time with the kites looking for a sail after coming off the anchor but only caught a sharks a few bottom dwellers.
A couple more folks that are making plans to come back.

Got the call late morning for a charter and knowing it was blowing 20 knots almost turned it down. Tony told me they had been told it was going to be rough and they still wanted to go, so off we went.
We lost 3 right off to seasickness and had to bring them back to the dock. That left  1 and the Chinese translator. The kite rod quit after we got the kite out.  We kept hooking big sharks which wanted to go off shore into the 6 ft waves. The weed was so bad we couldn't keep the baits clean so we gave up on the top bait. (I think Mr Chen had the right idea with the life preserver ). We got home just after sunset with a decent catch of mutton snapper and our lone angler said he had a wonderful time (through the translator ) Another one for the books.

This is Thomas. Thomas caught this really nice yellowtail and a bunch more. Thomas's cousins got seasick so we had to come back early. Thomas is planning to come back and fish but he is going to leave  his cousins at home.

A great morning with  Fred, Scott  and George produced 20 or more yellowtail,  a mutton snapper, a mahi and for a little icing, a sailfish. Sometimes the plan comes together.

This is Maja. She's 14, done very little fishing and from Sweden. When we started the evening she hardly knew what end of the fishing rod to hold . This picture was taken after her 4th big shark. Notice she is cupping the spool to put maximum pressure on the fish (and the line). Had to be the fastest I ever seen someone go from novice to angler. .. and her older brother did just as well.
Thanks Maja, Erik  and dad Anders for a great evening.

Folks from Ohio with a mixed catch of yellow tail,  grouper and mutton. What a absolutely fabulous week of weather and fishing we have had.

Pati and I were trying to remember how many times we have won the lighting of the fleet. We think it's 9 out of the last 10 years. Thank you Pati for all the great ideas .

Another great day with grouper , mahi, mutton  snapper and yellowtail. We also caught a 45 lb sailfish that put on a spectacular show for 20 minutes or so.
congratulations to my anglers Karen and  Lance from  Minnesota. Great job keeping Tony busy.

muttons, grouper yellowtail  and  mahi. Another good day on the Kay K with  Mark, Adam  and Gary from  the west  coast of Florida. Came dangerously close to catching a sailfish also but he managed to wear through the leader before we could get the release.

Looks like a day in may but this was today  on the Kay K.

A couple of the ladies had problems with their stomachs this morning so we left the deep water and went inside to the patch reefs. We caught grey, mutton and yellowtail snapper, grunts and porgies.  Not a bad  half day. Will see you next year Ted.

This is Jim catching a shark on our evening fishing trip. Jim and his family are from Boston and they own the  Belle Isle restaurant there and along with all the other great food has the best lobster pie in New England.
Jim brought his wife, her mother, his son and his daughters to fish with us and we had a blast. So much life and love in this family it was a pleasure spending a few hours with them.