If you would like to copy this or any other article on this site feel free. If you really like it, think about making a small donation. Some people like to copy some of my stuff and put it on their own blog or website. Not a problem but please use my pen name captdallas2 and link back to my blog if you can. If you have any great fish recipes you would like to share, feel free to submit it as a comment. Leave your blog link if you like. I don't recommend leaving you email address.
Enjoy and Tight lines,
Captdallas2
This is great cooked outdoors or in.
8-oz diced salt pork
2-pounds fish fillets (normally redfish, but snapper works too.)
1-cup each diced onions, bell pepper and celery.
2-cans crushed tomatoes
1-regular size bottle ketchup
¼ cup flour
about ½ a can of tomato paste I forget this some times and it’s still good
Cayenne pepper- I use about a teaspoon for a hint, some guy like a lot more!
In a cast iron Dutch oven, or a just a big pot if you’re indoors, render the salt pork over medium-high heat. When the pork is crispy brown, there should be about a ¼ cup of fat in the pot. Add the same amount of flour and make a rue. You do this by stirring the flour and oil (pork fat in this case), making a paste that you cook until the flour toasts to the color you like. Adding a little flour or oil may be required to get the paste right. I like a dark blonde rue not quite penny colored, for this chowder. Add the diced veggies, one teaspoon each cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper and sauté until onions are translucent. Add both cans of tomatoes and ½ bottle of the ketchup. Simmer covered for 30 minutes stirring occasionally and checking to make sure it’s not going dry. Cooking outside, I normally have to pour in some beer from time to time. So a can of beer should actually be in the recipe. After 30 minutes, you may need the rest of the ketchup and tomato paste. It should be fairly thick for a soup but a bit thin for a stew. If it looks thin add the ketchup and tomato paste, if it looks too thick, more beer. This is the time to taste and adjust your seasoning. Then add the seasoned fish, (salt and pepper) and simmer until the fillets start breaking up while you stir. With your spoon, break the fillets into bite size pieces and you are done! The whole process can take 45 minutes over an hour, so make sure you have plenty of beer on ice.
Serve over a bed of white rice and have some pepper vinegar on the table. Some fresh biscuits with butter makes a great side. We don’t garnish when we cook out doors.
Capt. Dallas
Pepper vinegar: Take a clean 6 ½ ounce coke bottle and stuff it full on whole hot peppers. The Datil peppers are my favorite. Then fill the bottle with white vinegar. Put one of those plastic coke caps on the bottle a let it sit in the fridge a few months. As you use the vinegar, add a little more to the bottle from time to time. Keeps for a century or two.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Creamy Fish Chowder
Hearty and delicious
2-pounds diced red potatoes with the skin on
1-pound fresh fish fillets coarsely diced
1 1/2-quart milk
1-cup grated pepper jack cheese
3-table spoons butter
¼ cup finely diced fresh basil
Boil dice potatoes in salted boiling water until fork tender. In large pot slowly heat milk to avoid scalding then add cheese and stir until cheese is well blended. Add potatoes, fish, basil and butter to cheesy milk sauce. Simmer for five minutes until fish is cooked but still firm. Salt and pepper to taste. A sprinkle of Paprika and a few oyster crackers is all the garnish you need.
Variation: Use half potatoes and half Yucca root. Tasty!
Enjoy,
Capt. Dallas
2-pounds diced red potatoes with the skin on
1-pound fresh fish fillets coarsely diced
1 1/2-quart milk
1-cup grated pepper jack cheese
3-table spoons butter
¼ cup finely diced fresh basil
Boil dice potatoes in salted boiling water until fork tender. In large pot slowly heat milk to avoid scalding then add cheese and stir until cheese is well blended. Add potatoes, fish, basil and butter to cheesy milk sauce. Simmer for five minutes until fish is cooked but still firm. Salt and pepper to taste. A sprinkle of Paprika and a few oyster crackers is all the garnish you need.
Variation: Use half potatoes and half Yucca root. Tasty!
Enjoy,
Capt. Dallas
Easy crab and pasta salad
The imitation crabmeat is great for making this great simple salad.
1-8oz package imitation crabmeat
1-8oz box of tricolor rotinni pasta
1-8oz package frozen peas and dice carrots
1-cup honey mustard dressing
Cook pasta in large pot full of salted boiling water per directions. Add frozen veggies at the end and remove from heat. Let the pasta and veggies stand for a few minutes while you crumble the crabmeat in a large bowl. Strain pasta and veggies and put in the bowl with crabmeat and add the dressing. Mix well, chill and serve. This is not only a good starter salad it is a full meal at our house.
Capt. Dallas
1-8oz package imitation crabmeat
1-8oz box of tricolor rotinni pasta
1-8oz package frozen peas and dice carrots
1-cup honey mustard dressing
Cook pasta in large pot full of salted boiling water per directions. Add frozen veggies at the end and remove from heat. Let the pasta and veggies stand for a few minutes while you crumble the crabmeat in a large bowl. Strain pasta and veggies and put in the bowl with crabmeat and add the dressing. Mix well, chill and serve. This is not only a good starter salad it is a full meal at our house.
Capt. Dallas
Friday, December 15, 2006
Fishing the Florida Keys - Sailfish Basics
Fishing for sailfish is a pretty big thing this time of year in the Florida Keys. Sails normally run November through April. The peak time will vary some each year and some years are much better than others. It is still pretty much world class fishing every year. A charter having four to six shots a day is a good average. Most of the sailfish are caught on live bait, Pilchards, ballyhoo, goggle eyes and other, in that order. Dead bait trolling and lures will produce, but not as well as the live bait.
More and more captains employ drift fishing with live chumming as their preferred method. Kite fishing is used by a few, but isn’t very effective if you have not found the fish. I prefer to mix it up, running and gunning a while to locate bait and sails, then live baitfish for them. Sight casting to the fish is really what I like once the fish are found, but drifting in a good area loaded with bait is what happens most of the time.
While a bait tank full of Pilchards or ballyhoo is preferred, sometimes you have to go with what you have. Blue runners, pinfish, yellowtail snapper and even needlefish have produced sails for me.
Rigging for sails is pretty much like rigging for tarpon. On the spinners I have 5 to 8 feet of double line and 6 to 8 feet of monofilament leader. Normally fifty to sixty pound leader is all I use and fluorocarbon isn't a big deal with me. The hook is a 5/0 to 7/0 J or a 6/0 to 9/0 new type circle; it depends on my bait, mate and my customers. With Pilchards or any live bait other than ballyhoo, just hook them in the nostrils. With ballyhoo, I hook them in the upper lip and use a short piece of copper rigging wire to wrap the bill and hook shank. Blue runners are tough to fish because at the first sign of a sail they try to climb back in the live well. This means I will use a balloon about six in front of the blue runners. This makes them look a little more stupid and I can keep an eye on them. Having a bait look stupid isn’t a bad thing. Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory explains the reason. Stupid or defective critters are removed from the gene pool quickly.
For conventional rods, I use the wind on leader setup described in the six basic knots posting. I use the conventional a lot of the time when I have rookie anglers and no mate. I teach anglers how to let the bait on the conventional tackle out and drive the boat in front of the fish. This also works on regular drift fishing. I really like having my customers fight big sails on light spinning outfits. Catching an 80-pound sail on ten or twelve pound test is a hoot that you can brag about later. The tournament guys use 30 pound on their spinners and thirty to fifty pound on their conventional rods to rack up numbers. That’s fine, I know how to do that too, I just prefer the light tackle and the shorter leaders. Who was it that said its not destination, it’s the journey. That’s fishing and me.
Finding the fish is the fun part for me. I’m looking for birds working, bait sprays, black trash bags in the water (that’s what a sailfish looks like swimming in the water) and free jumpers. Free jumping sails are neat to see, but you rarely get one in your lines. That said you have to check them out anyway. Come on! You got a shot right!
Best depths to hunt for sailfish in the winter is 100 to 300 feet. They can be on the reef or all the way past the ledge. Whether you need to run to alligator light or the Sambos is your guess. I normally work from Bonefish towers to Bahai Honda. Well, once I ran to American shoal and did pretty well. It’s all fishing and sailfish are a very worthy adversary. If you have never tried it, get off your dead butt and give it a go!
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
More and more captains employ drift fishing with live chumming as their preferred method. Kite fishing is used by a few, but isn’t very effective if you have not found the fish. I prefer to mix it up, running and gunning a while to locate bait and sails, then live baitfish for them. Sight casting to the fish is really what I like once the fish are found, but drifting in a good area loaded with bait is what happens most of the time.
While a bait tank full of Pilchards or ballyhoo is preferred, sometimes you have to go with what you have. Blue runners, pinfish, yellowtail snapper and even needlefish have produced sails for me.
Rigging for sails is pretty much like rigging for tarpon. On the spinners I have 5 to 8 feet of double line and 6 to 8 feet of monofilament leader. Normally fifty to sixty pound leader is all I use and fluorocarbon isn't a big deal with me. The hook is a 5/0 to 7/0 J or a 6/0 to 9/0 new type circle; it depends on my bait, mate and my customers. With Pilchards or any live bait other than ballyhoo, just hook them in the nostrils. With ballyhoo, I hook them in the upper lip and use a short piece of copper rigging wire to wrap the bill and hook shank. Blue runners are tough to fish because at the first sign of a sail they try to climb back in the live well. This means I will use a balloon about six in front of the blue runners. This makes them look a little more stupid and I can keep an eye on them. Having a bait look stupid isn’t a bad thing. Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory explains the reason. Stupid or defective critters are removed from the gene pool quickly.
For conventional rods, I use the wind on leader setup described in the six basic knots posting. I use the conventional a lot of the time when I have rookie anglers and no mate. I teach anglers how to let the bait on the conventional tackle out and drive the boat in front of the fish. This also works on regular drift fishing. I really like having my customers fight big sails on light spinning outfits. Catching an 80-pound sail on ten or twelve pound test is a hoot that you can brag about later. The tournament guys use 30 pound on their spinners and thirty to fifty pound on their conventional rods to rack up numbers. That’s fine, I know how to do that too, I just prefer the light tackle and the shorter leaders. Who was it that said its not destination, it’s the journey. That’s fishing and me.
Finding the fish is the fun part for me. I’m looking for birds working, bait sprays, black trash bags in the water (that’s what a sailfish looks like swimming in the water) and free jumpers. Free jumping sails are neat to see, but you rarely get one in your lines. That said you have to check them out anyway. Come on! You got a shot right!
Best depths to hunt for sailfish in the winter is 100 to 300 feet. They can be on the reef or all the way past the ledge. Whether you need to run to alligator light or the Sambos is your guess. I normally work from Bonefish towers to Bahai Honda. Well, once I ran to American shoal and did pretty well. It’s all fishing and sailfish are a very worthy adversary. If you have never tried it, get off your dead butt and give it a go!
Tight lines,
Capt. Dallas
Monday, December 11, 2006
Moon Phases And Fishing
Most people that come down to the keys on vacation don’t take the time to consider the moon phase before the trip. The moon can affect your fishing, so let’s take a little look at what to expect.
The quarter moons are generally accepted as being the best moons for fishing. These provide the average current flows, so the fish are normally settled down to a normal pattern. So these are great moons to plan your trip around.
New moons have higher tides, so there will be stronger currents. Coming up on a new moon, most fish will bite a little better. They are taking advantage of the stronger currents moving more bait past them. As the new moon passes, the bite will slow a little, but the fish rarely get lockjaw. I’ve never had much trouble finding fish on a new moon unless the tides are exceptionally high or low.
The full moon is the weirdest. As with the new moon the days leading to full normally have an increased bite and the days following a bit of a slow down. But unlike the new moon, following the full, the fish can just shutdown. Most people blame the full moon’s light at night causing the fish to gorge themselves, so they aren’t hungry during the day. There can be a lot of truth in this, but a friend of mine that raised fish gave me a little better theory.
Most fish spawn around the full moon. Depending on the type of fish, the timing of the spawn varies. Pelagic species tend to spawn before the full. This helps insure that their roe gets scatter to the maximum, helping improve survival. Bottom dwellers, tend to spawn just after the full moon so their roe will be spread, but still have the maximum time in normal currents to hatch in the general area of the spawn. This way, grouper and snapper larvae are most likely to end up in a friendly environment and not in the middle of the Gulf Stream.
In the winter, spawning isn’t really on the minds of most fish because the water temperature is too low. But fish really aren’t renown for serious thinking. With everything right for the spawn except for the temperature, some fish will just get confused so to speak. So snapper, which pretty much only know how to eat, procreate and defecate, forget about the first. Because of this, one or two days following the full moon, the Yellowtail bite can just plain suck. Dolphin, a pelagic suffers from the same confusion, and one or two days prior to or the day of the full moon may do the same thing, with a bit of a slow down following the moon.
Tarpon tend to fire up around the full moon. This could indicate that tarpon typically spawn well off the full moon or that they just don’t give a rip. Hogfish, Porgies and Mackerel tend to behave like the Tarpon do and will bite just about anytime.
Fishing around the full moon can be fantastic. Just be a little more flexible on the species you are looking for. I’ve done pretty good fishing for what’s biting instead of what I want. This is called no brainer fishing by some, but it works for me. So don’t worry about the full moon too much, just listen to your guide or captain and go with the flow. Even big time Marlin fishermen that hate the full moon will still fish it. Some of the biggest Marlin hooked up, have bitten on the full moon. And you bill fishermen should remember that sword fishing peaks on the full. So just go with the flow.
Tight lines
Capt. Dallas
The quarter moons are generally accepted as being the best moons for fishing. These provide the average current flows, so the fish are normally settled down to a normal pattern. So these are great moons to plan your trip around.
New moons have higher tides, so there will be stronger currents. Coming up on a new moon, most fish will bite a little better. They are taking advantage of the stronger currents moving more bait past them. As the new moon passes, the bite will slow a little, but the fish rarely get lockjaw. I’ve never had much trouble finding fish on a new moon unless the tides are exceptionally high or low.
The full moon is the weirdest. As with the new moon the days leading to full normally have an increased bite and the days following a bit of a slow down. But unlike the new moon, following the full, the fish can just shutdown. Most people blame the full moon’s light at night causing the fish to gorge themselves, so they aren’t hungry during the day. There can be a lot of truth in this, but a friend of mine that raised fish gave me a little better theory.
Most fish spawn around the full moon. Depending on the type of fish, the timing of the spawn varies. Pelagic species tend to spawn before the full. This helps insure that their roe gets scatter to the maximum, helping improve survival. Bottom dwellers, tend to spawn just after the full moon so their roe will be spread, but still have the maximum time in normal currents to hatch in the general area of the spawn. This way, grouper and snapper larvae are most likely to end up in a friendly environment and not in the middle of the Gulf Stream.
In the winter, spawning isn’t really on the minds of most fish because the water temperature is too low. But fish really aren’t renown for serious thinking. With everything right for the spawn except for the temperature, some fish will just get confused so to speak. So snapper, which pretty much only know how to eat, procreate and defecate, forget about the first. Because of this, one or two days following the full moon, the Yellowtail bite can just plain suck. Dolphin, a pelagic suffers from the same confusion, and one or two days prior to or the day of the full moon may do the same thing, with a bit of a slow down following the moon.
Tarpon tend to fire up around the full moon. This could indicate that tarpon typically spawn well off the full moon or that they just don’t give a rip. Hogfish, Porgies and Mackerel tend to behave like the Tarpon do and will bite just about anytime.
Fishing around the full moon can be fantastic. Just be a little more flexible on the species you are looking for. I’ve done pretty good fishing for what’s biting instead of what I want. This is called no brainer fishing by some, but it works for me. So don’t worry about the full moon too much, just listen to your guide or captain and go with the flow. Even big time Marlin fishermen that hate the full moon will still fish it. Some of the biggest Marlin hooked up, have bitten on the full moon. And you bill fishermen should remember that sword fishing peaks on the full. So just go with the flow.
Tight lines
Capt. Dallas
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Fishing the Florida Keys - Bridge Fishing Basics
The Florida Keys bridges are right at 100 years old now. That is 100 years of sea life growth and 100 years of spoiling and erosion. The habitat created by the thousands of man-made reefs is pretty remarkable. Other than tarpon fishing, most brochures and fishing magazines give these bridges little press. The fishing at these bridges deserves much more respect.
Chartering 300 days a year, every day isn’t perfect. The seas kick up, the severe thunder storms start building, so running a dozen miles or more to catch fish is not always an option. Thankful, I learned to fish the bridges so I’ve saved a lot of trips. For meat fishermen, the bridges will produce nice yellowtail, mangrove and mutton snapper. If you are familiar with the areas of the bridge you are fishing, Hogfish, keeper Grouper, Jew fish, mackerel, pompano, permit, tarpon, sharks and even an occasional Cobia or bonefish are possible. That’s a pretty big mixed bag!
The biggest trick about fishing the bridge is adjusting to the current. An ideal half-day trip would be to catch the last 1 ½ hours of one tide then fish the slack and turn. For the snapper and actually most of the other species, chumming is the ticket. A steady chum slick and adjusting the weight on your line to keep the bait in the strike zone is the game plan. The strike zone is normally a foot or two off the bottom or a couple feet below the surface. Live bait by far produces best. Live shrimp, pilchards, small pinfish, blue crabs and the like greatly out perform dead baits. That doesn’t mean dead don’t work, just that live bait worked properly kicks it up. Remember, less is more fishing live bait. Smaller hooks, lighter leaders and the least weight you can fish.
For sharks, dead bait on the bottom or live bait on the surface. Same for the tarpon only sight casting with plugs or live bait has to be considered. Plugs can be an absolute hoot at the bridges. Mirror lures, Bombers, spooks they all have their day. I’ve had customers have 9 hits in ten casts. This is normally around the slack tide, but the fish can fire up at any time.
The biggest problem I have as a charter captain is that customers read all the glossy magazines. The magazines don’t talk about the bridges. The railroad that died at sea provides some of the oldest artificial reefs in all of Florida. Never under estimate the fishing at the bridges.
Tight lines
Capt. Dallas
Chartering 300 days a year, every day isn’t perfect. The seas kick up, the severe thunder storms start building, so running a dozen miles or more to catch fish is not always an option. Thankful, I learned to fish the bridges so I’ve saved a lot of trips. For meat fishermen, the bridges will produce nice yellowtail, mangrove and mutton snapper. If you are familiar with the areas of the bridge you are fishing, Hogfish, keeper Grouper, Jew fish, mackerel, pompano, permit, tarpon, sharks and even an occasional Cobia or bonefish are possible. That’s a pretty big mixed bag!
The biggest trick about fishing the bridge is adjusting to the current. An ideal half-day trip would be to catch the last 1 ½ hours of one tide then fish the slack and turn. For the snapper and actually most of the other species, chumming is the ticket. A steady chum slick and adjusting the weight on your line to keep the bait in the strike zone is the game plan. The strike zone is normally a foot or two off the bottom or a couple feet below the surface. Live bait by far produces best. Live shrimp, pilchards, small pinfish, blue crabs and the like greatly out perform dead baits. That doesn’t mean dead don’t work, just that live bait worked properly kicks it up. Remember, less is more fishing live bait. Smaller hooks, lighter leaders and the least weight you can fish.
For sharks, dead bait on the bottom or live bait on the surface. Same for the tarpon only sight casting with plugs or live bait has to be considered. Plugs can be an absolute hoot at the bridges. Mirror lures, Bombers, spooks they all have their day. I’ve had customers have 9 hits in ten casts. This is normally around the slack tide, but the fish can fire up at any time.
The biggest problem I have as a charter captain is that customers read all the glossy magazines. The magazines don’t talk about the bridges. The railroad that died at sea provides some of the oldest artificial reefs in all of Florida. Never under estimate the fishing at the bridges.
Tight lines
Capt. Dallas
Fishing the Florida Keys - Basic Dolphin Fishing Tips
Dolphin a.k.a. Mahi Mahi, Dorado and Dolphin the fish, are really the perfect game fish as told by Capt. Jim Sharpe, in his book, Dolphin, The Perfect Game Fish. Few are more acrobatic, colorful or tasty, than the Dolphin. In the Florida Keys they can be caught any month of the year. April through May are considered the best months for big Dolphin, June through August can be great fishing for slammers as well. Slammers, Dolphin over thirty pounds are plentiful in these months but are often lost in the huge schools of peanuts or schoolies that are everywhere. Techniques used for catching these beautiful fish varies a little from captain to captain, but it all boils down to one thing, Find The Fish!
Most of the east coast has access to the Gulf Stream, which flows anywhere from 5 to 75 miles off the coast. This is the zone where the blue water pelagic species, Billfish, Wahoo, Tuna and Dolphin are found. In the Keys it is a little different, when water temperatures are uniform all over the Florida Straits, pelagic fish can be found anywhere. A Sargasso weed line found off Georgia will, almost always produce in May. Here in the Keys you may cross twenty weed lines before you find fish. So here are a few tips:
Surface water temperature: Any significant water temperature variation can hold fish. Typically, the higher the temperature, the better the bet. Look for a minimum of 74 degree and a maximum of 84 degrees water temperature. This has been my best temperature range. That’s why the Gulf Stream is the spot to fish. In the Keys more often than not, this holds true as well. But bayside water flow will create color changes anywhere from the edge of the reef to five miles past the reef. These color changes, green to blue, or power blue to cobalt blue are hot spots not to be over looked.
Weed lines: Sargasso weed is the ticket. Sargasso is living, floating vegetation that is full on life. If you find a good weed line that is alive, meaning you see bait in the line, there will be fish somewhere. Grass lines, created with a variety of bay grasses, are dead vegetation. Dying grass will hold little bait and therefore little fish. Every year, people catch a few fish in these grass lines, but the proper weed line will blow a grass line away. Look for the good stuff.
Eddy currents: Whether created by one of the Humps south of the Keys or by changing flow in the Gulf stream current will hold fish and normally big ones. Most of the eddy currents will be near a surface water temperature change.
Floaters: Floating debris is the most popular Dolphin indicator. Older floaters loaded with barnacles and bait are usually a Dolphin gold mine. But don’t overlook smaller floaters, like coconuts, trap buoys with line trailing down, or just a bucket or board. These can all hold fish.
The problem in the Keys is that a beautiful weed line or a fantastic floater, can move over the reef on one tide and back out offshore with the next. The reef fish, yellowtails, mackerel, jacks and chubs will eat everything out of the line and the line will hold squat. Look for bait in your line before devoting your whole day to trolling it. Birds, working the weed line is a good clue you may be in the right place.
As for birds, Frigates and Sooty Terns are the best to watch. Any type of tern is worth a look, but the Sooty terns don’t get wet, they rely on the predator fish to drive bait to the surface. Bigger fish normally have fewer birds. Hundreds of terns will normally be on a school of tuna or smaller dolphin. One or two terns lazily following a weed line are normally on a few bigger fish. Any frigate is worth a look, the lower the better, but if it’s slow, try following a high flier. Their eyes are a lot better than yours. They will normally see the bait sprays first.
Just about any bait you can think of will catch Dolphin. Ballyhoo are the number one bait used with straight plastics the second. I normally fast troll (7 to 10 knots) smaller plastics lures until I find fish then switch to ballyhoo if the plastics aren’t working, which is pretty rare. Having pitch rods rigged with ballyhoo or a nice, fat live bait, are a must. Most of my bigger fish have been hooked sight casting to a bull following a smaller fish hooked while trolling.
Bailing schoolies normally goes something like this, keep a hooked fish in the water and catch as may of his buddies with bait chunks on spinning tackle, as you like. Start with about five foot of leader and a 5/0 to 7/0 hook and a chunk of ballyhoo or squid. Keep that pitch rod rigged and ready for another big boy, just in case.
Dolphin fishing requires a bit of hunting. All of what I said before can be lumped into one thing, find something different. I highly recommend you check out a copy of Capt. Jim’s book and get down here to do some catching.
Tight Lines
Capt. Dallas
Most of the east coast has access to the Gulf Stream, which flows anywhere from 5 to 75 miles off the coast. This is the zone where the blue water pelagic species, Billfish, Wahoo, Tuna and Dolphin are found. In the Keys it is a little different, when water temperatures are uniform all over the Florida Straits, pelagic fish can be found anywhere. A Sargasso weed line found off Georgia will, almost always produce in May. Here in the Keys you may cross twenty weed lines before you find fish. So here are a few tips:
Surface water temperature: Any significant water temperature variation can hold fish. Typically, the higher the temperature, the better the bet. Look for a minimum of 74 degree and a maximum of 84 degrees water temperature. This has been my best temperature range. That’s why the Gulf Stream is the spot to fish. In the Keys more often than not, this holds true as well. But bayside water flow will create color changes anywhere from the edge of the reef to five miles past the reef. These color changes, green to blue, or power blue to cobalt blue are hot spots not to be over looked.
Weed lines: Sargasso weed is the ticket. Sargasso is living, floating vegetation that is full on life. If you find a good weed line that is alive, meaning you see bait in the line, there will be fish somewhere. Grass lines, created with a variety of bay grasses, are dead vegetation. Dying grass will hold little bait and therefore little fish. Every year, people catch a few fish in these grass lines, but the proper weed line will blow a grass line away. Look for the good stuff.
Eddy currents: Whether created by one of the Humps south of the Keys or by changing flow in the Gulf stream current will hold fish and normally big ones. Most of the eddy currents will be near a surface water temperature change.
Floaters: Floating debris is the most popular Dolphin indicator. Older floaters loaded with barnacles and bait are usually a Dolphin gold mine. But don’t overlook smaller floaters, like coconuts, trap buoys with line trailing down, or just a bucket or board. These can all hold fish.
The problem in the Keys is that a beautiful weed line or a fantastic floater, can move over the reef on one tide and back out offshore with the next. The reef fish, yellowtails, mackerel, jacks and chubs will eat everything out of the line and the line will hold squat. Look for bait in your line before devoting your whole day to trolling it. Birds, working the weed line is a good clue you may be in the right place.
As for birds, Frigates and Sooty Terns are the best to watch. Any type of tern is worth a look, but the Sooty terns don’t get wet, they rely on the predator fish to drive bait to the surface. Bigger fish normally have fewer birds. Hundreds of terns will normally be on a school of tuna or smaller dolphin. One or two terns lazily following a weed line are normally on a few bigger fish. Any frigate is worth a look, the lower the better, but if it’s slow, try following a high flier. Their eyes are a lot better than yours. They will normally see the bait sprays first.
Just about any bait you can think of will catch Dolphin. Ballyhoo are the number one bait used with straight plastics the second. I normally fast troll (7 to 10 knots) smaller plastics lures until I find fish then switch to ballyhoo if the plastics aren’t working, which is pretty rare. Having pitch rods rigged with ballyhoo or a nice, fat live bait, are a must. Most of my bigger fish have been hooked sight casting to a bull following a smaller fish hooked while trolling.
Bailing schoolies normally goes something like this, keep a hooked fish in the water and catch as may of his buddies with bait chunks on spinning tackle, as you like. Start with about five foot of leader and a 5/0 to 7/0 hook and a chunk of ballyhoo or squid. Keep that pitch rod rigged and ready for another big boy, just in case.
Dolphin fishing requires a bit of hunting. All of what I said before can be lumped into one thing, find something different. I highly recommend you check out a copy of Capt. Jim’s book and get down here to do some catching.
Tight Lines
Capt. Dallas
Fishing the Florida Keys - Basic Tarpon Tips
Before we start, tarpon fishing isn’t my favorite. It’s fine when they bite, but tarpon can be very closed mouth. They also tend to bite at night. I tend to prefer drinking at night. So I’ve reached a compromise with these big silver guys. I’ll fish for them between dawn and at dusk. While tarpon will take a plug, pinfish, crab or dead bait, I don’t go bridge fishing if I don’t have live mullet. That said, here we go with the basics.
The rig for Tarpon is fairly simple, 5 to 10 foot of double line, with 5 to 8 foot of 50 to 80 pound clear mono leader with roughly a 6/0 J or 9/0 circle hook. The size of the hook really depends on size of the bait and the size of the fish you are targeting. For first timers, the J hooks are more productive and don’t really injure very many fish. Why, because first time tarpon fishermen normally freak out and do every thing wrong! The J hook is more forgiving. Depending on the current and the bait, I may add a swivel in the leader about 3 to 4 feet in front of the bait. I normally only use spinning tackle, conventional and bait casters tend to back lash too often.
Circle hooks are the way to go with Tarpon if you know what you are doing. Sizing the circle is very important. The gap has to be wide enough to catch in the jaw of the fish. Most of these fish are pretty big, 60 pound and way over. With the new style circles, you get a wider gap with a lighter weight hook. Look for a well-made circle with at least a half-inch gap. Snelling the circle hooks using a Uni-knot is very easy, but tying straight works. Circles hooks require a drop back on a tarpon pick-up. When dead sticking, my method goes back to old school. On a spinning outfit, use a piece of copper rigging wire at the reel seat to loop a half turn around the line and leave the bail open. When the wire trips, let the fish take enough line to turn and close the bail. There is no hook-set, just let the fish tighten the line in his own good time. When the hook sets on a Tarpon, most people notice. Then it’s game on! When drifting or free lining the mullet, the angler has to be like the release wire. Let the fish eat, turn and then close the bail, NO HOOK SET!
Bridge fishing, your captain will have an anchor ball so he can cut lose and chase the fish. The first minute or so is critical. Tarpon have a tendency to take anglers around the bridge structure. With the hook-up, your captain has to hit the right hole in the bridge to follow the fish. Don’t put any pressure on the fish if it looks like she has taken you around a pile. Let the captain work it out and then start fighting the fish. With a good current at the bridge, tarpon are more predictable fighters and normally go with the current. This makes everybody’s life easier. When the Tarpon jumps, just keep a bend in the rod, don’t bow to or over pressure the fish on a leap and the hook will normally stay put.
With J hooks, only a short drop back (normally just point the rod at the fish) and one or two firm hook-sets. Make sure these hooks are sharp and filing down the barb a little isn’t a bad idea. Tarpon have a very bony mouth and can be difficult to hook. Live blue crabs, pinfish, live or dead ballyhoo, will all produce Tarpon so you should be well armed bait wise. Chunking with dead sardines or herring can be very effective if you have Tarpon rolling in the area and not moving on your live baits. This is also extremely effective on resident, off-season, Tarpon. Plugs like Bomber long A’s and the like work quite well, cast to the fish, let it set for a few seconds and start a slow retrieve. On the strike again, one or two firm hook sets and play your fish.
Tarpon make great shark bait so don’t get too surprised if a hammerhead or bull shark eats your fish. It’s just nature doing it’s thing. The sharks will also take your bait so don’t be surprised if you end up with a 300 pound shark dragging you all over the place.
Daytime Tarpon fishing (more than two hours after sunrise) is more like hunting than fishing. Once you find fish that aren’t moving down the road, they will fall for all the baits previously mentioned or nothing at all. I’ve been surrounded by hundreds of Tarpon that just would not feed. When they turn on, they really turn on. But if they don’t want to bite, grab a cold beer and your camera. It is fishing after all.
April, May and June are my favorite months for tarpon. As I said, morning and evening trips are all that I normally, run in these months. Full day backcountry trips are also productive for Tarpon, plus you have a large variety of other critters to play with. It is all good, just be aware of what you are getting into. It may take a couple of trips to put you on the fish you really want. I wanted to add a photo, but since hurricane Wilma wiped out my other computer along with just about everything else I own, I can’t. I’m looking at a nice 100-pound fish on my bulletin board. Maybe I’ll go scan it and add the photo later.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dallas
The rig for Tarpon is fairly simple, 5 to 10 foot of double line, with 5 to 8 foot of 50 to 80 pound clear mono leader with roughly a 6/0 J or 9/0 circle hook. The size of the hook really depends on size of the bait and the size of the fish you are targeting. For first timers, the J hooks are more productive and don’t really injure very many fish. Why, because first time tarpon fishermen normally freak out and do every thing wrong! The J hook is more forgiving. Depending on the current and the bait, I may add a swivel in the leader about 3 to 4 feet in front of the bait. I normally only use spinning tackle, conventional and bait casters tend to back lash too often.
Circle hooks are the way to go with Tarpon if you know what you are doing. Sizing the circle is very important. The gap has to be wide enough to catch in the jaw of the fish. Most of these fish are pretty big, 60 pound and way over. With the new style circles, you get a wider gap with a lighter weight hook. Look for a well-made circle with at least a half-inch gap. Snelling the circle hooks using a Uni-knot is very easy, but tying straight works. Circles hooks require a drop back on a tarpon pick-up. When dead sticking, my method goes back to old school. On a spinning outfit, use a piece of copper rigging wire at the reel seat to loop a half turn around the line and leave the bail open. When the wire trips, let the fish take enough line to turn and close the bail. There is no hook-set, just let the fish tighten the line in his own good time. When the hook sets on a Tarpon, most people notice. Then it’s game on! When drifting or free lining the mullet, the angler has to be like the release wire. Let the fish eat, turn and then close the bail, NO HOOK SET!
Bridge fishing, your captain will have an anchor ball so he can cut lose and chase the fish. The first minute or so is critical. Tarpon have a tendency to take anglers around the bridge structure. With the hook-up, your captain has to hit the right hole in the bridge to follow the fish. Don’t put any pressure on the fish if it looks like she has taken you around a pile. Let the captain work it out and then start fighting the fish. With a good current at the bridge, tarpon are more predictable fighters and normally go with the current. This makes everybody’s life easier. When the Tarpon jumps, just keep a bend in the rod, don’t bow to or over pressure the fish on a leap and the hook will normally stay put.
With J hooks, only a short drop back (normally just point the rod at the fish) and one or two firm hook-sets. Make sure these hooks are sharp and filing down the barb a little isn’t a bad idea. Tarpon have a very bony mouth and can be difficult to hook. Live blue crabs, pinfish, live or dead ballyhoo, will all produce Tarpon so you should be well armed bait wise. Chunking with dead sardines or herring can be very effective if you have Tarpon rolling in the area and not moving on your live baits. This is also extremely effective on resident, off-season, Tarpon. Plugs like Bomber long A’s and the like work quite well, cast to the fish, let it set for a few seconds and start a slow retrieve. On the strike again, one or two firm hook sets and play your fish.
Tarpon make great shark bait so don’t get too surprised if a hammerhead or bull shark eats your fish. It’s just nature doing it’s thing. The sharks will also take your bait so don’t be surprised if you end up with a 300 pound shark dragging you all over the place.
Daytime Tarpon fishing (more than two hours after sunrise) is more like hunting than fishing. Once you find fish that aren’t moving down the road, they will fall for all the baits previously mentioned or nothing at all. I’ve been surrounded by hundreds of Tarpon that just would not feed. When they turn on, they really turn on. But if they don’t want to bite, grab a cold beer and your camera. It is fishing after all.
April, May and June are my favorite months for tarpon. As I said, morning and evening trips are all that I normally, run in these months. Full day backcountry trips are also productive for Tarpon, plus you have a large variety of other critters to play with. It is all good, just be aware of what you are getting into. It may take a couple of trips to put you on the fish you really want. I wanted to add a photo, but since hurricane Wilma wiped out my other computer along with just about everything else I own, I can’t. I’m looking at a nice 100-pound fish on my bulletin board. Maybe I’ll go scan it and add the photo later.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dallas
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Yellowtail
Fresh yellowtail fillets
Extra thin sliced bacon
Fresh asparagus
Ptarmigan cheese
Take a slice of bacon and lay it diagonally on your work surface. Lay one fillet on the bacon slice; season the fillet with salt and pepper. Lay 2 to 4 asparagus spears lengthwise on the fillet. The spears should be tender, if not blanch in boiling water for a minute or two. Grate Parmesan cheese on asparagus and fillet. Place the matching half to the first fillet on top. Season, and wrap the bacon around the whole deal. Cook it hot skillet until the bacon is done, about four minutes per side. This is great on the grill, but watch for flare-ups as the bacon cooks. Also does good in a 350degree oven, about 10 to 15 minutes (my oven isn’t calibrated too well, I have watch for the bacon to be done and the fish still moist. Try Broccoli or baby spinich in place of asparagus, It's all good.
Optional crab stuffing
This is pretty easy.
One cup seasoned breadcrumbs
One 6-½ ounce can crab meat drained
1/8 cup diced green onions
1/8 cup finely diced celery
About 1/3 cup hot chicken or fish stock
2 large eggs beaten
Place breadcrumbs in a bowl and add stock. Mix and let stand a few minutes. Throw every thing else in and mix well.
This is great to sandwich in the fillets with or without the asparagus. Makes enough for four to six.
Tip: You can poach a yellowtail fillet in the stock and crumble it up as a substitute for crabmeat. Add a dab of butter to the poaching stock if you like. Use this stock in the recipe.
Extra thin sliced bacon
Fresh asparagus
Ptarmigan cheese
Take a slice of bacon and lay it diagonally on your work surface. Lay one fillet on the bacon slice; season the fillet with salt and pepper. Lay 2 to 4 asparagus spears lengthwise on the fillet. The spears should be tender, if not blanch in boiling water for a minute or two. Grate Parmesan cheese on asparagus and fillet. Place the matching half to the first fillet on top. Season, and wrap the bacon around the whole deal. Cook it hot skillet until the bacon is done, about four minutes per side. This is great on the grill, but watch for flare-ups as the bacon cooks. Also does good in a 350degree oven, about 10 to 15 minutes (my oven isn’t calibrated too well, I have watch for the bacon to be done and the fish still moist. Try Broccoli or baby spinich in place of asparagus, It's all good.
Optional crab stuffing
This is pretty easy.
One cup seasoned breadcrumbs
One 6-½ ounce can crab meat drained
1/8 cup diced green onions
1/8 cup finely diced celery
About 1/3 cup hot chicken or fish stock
2 large eggs beaten
Place breadcrumbs in a bowl and add stock. Mix and let stand a few minutes. Throw every thing else in and mix well.
This is great to sandwich in the fillets with or without the asparagus. Makes enough for four to six.
Tip: You can poach a yellowtail fillet in the stock and crumble it up as a substitute for crabmeat. Add a dab of butter to the poaching stock if you like. Use this stock in the recipe.
Friday, December 1, 2006
Mackerel Fishing in the Bay
Revised 11/26
Winter Mackerel fishing in the Florida Bay is pretty simple. Get about 8 to 10 miles out in bay in 10 to 12 foot off water, chum like crazy, use wire leaders and catch fish. Okay, I’m done.
Well, maybe there is a little bit more.
If you are in Marathon, 8 to 10 miles north is a good area once they show. If you are in Islamarada, you should head west of Springer Bank. If you are in Big Pine, head north through Spanish Harbor towards the Contents Keys and about three miles further north. You can catch them closer in and further out, this is just the normally productive area.
Pick you area and start chumming. When I’m on the reef, I’ll normally use a larger mesh chum bag. Back in the Bay I use a medium or small mess bag. I want the scent more in the Bay to attract mackerel and enough bits to keep the bait fish happy. Once you start chumming you should see a lot of baitfish pretty quickly. Pin fish first normally, then jacks (blue runners and/or Crevalle) and if you are half way lucky, Ballyhoo. All of these can be caught on a small size 6 or 8 hook with a tiny piece of bait, and you should stock your live well. Look out for leather jacks, they sting pretty good, only hurts for a about an hour, but that can be a long hour if one of your kids get stung. Catfish stings can screw the trip up too.
The Jacks make great shark bait, snip the tail off and balloon them back. They also make great strip bait. Fillet them and cut the fillets in ½ to ¾ inch strips. The ballyhoo is great as live, dead or chunk baits. Use the pinfish as live bait, but if you run low on strips, they work too. I normally take one or two, dozen live shrimp to get things started and a few live crabs, in case something interesting shows up.
I’m not going give away my secret numbers, so I’m sending you guys to a general area. I will go to, well, just a little more special areas. These areas might have a few keeper Grouper, bigger Mangroves, and about a billion times more Cobia, than you’ll see. Other than that it’s the same kind of thing.
You will need wire rigs, Mackerel have sharp teeth, you need wire rigs or long shank hooks. I make my own wire rigs, two types for Bay Mackerel. One is very light, size 2, 3407 Mustad, size7 swivel and about 6” of number 2 wire. This is for light currents so the weight of the wire doesn’t take you in the grass. The other is size 2/0 Mustad 3407, size 7 swivel and about six inches of number 4 wire. These are for the bite! I use size seven swivels for two reasons; first they reduce the chance of the bait sliding up the line after a strike – second, if you thread one rig’s hook through another rig’s swivel, you have a stinger rig. If your bait slides up your line, another mackerel will probable cut your line. The stinger rig is great for double hooking ballyhoo. Have a couple dozen of each minimum before you head out. Tying wire rigs with mackerel slime is almost impossible. Use a proper haywire twist on the rigs, meaning don’t cut the tag, twist and break the tag. This is bloodless so you won’t cut your hands on your wire leaders. A snake-er gaff is perfect for handling the mackerel. It has a 1 ½ to 2” gap gaff hook and a long, light fishing pole handle. Make your own, if you like, but they cost less than 20 bucks at Bass Pro Shops.
With any Mackerel, a fairly light drag is required with these small hooks. About 3 to 6 pounds is all you want. Set too tight, you’ll have a lot of pulled hooks. The light drag just adds to the fun. Some of the Spanish you can hook are over 10 pounds, lots of fun on light tackle. But bring a little bit heavier stuff for other fish you might encounter.
Once the bite starts, you’ll find that Mackerel love a moving target. Cast your strip baits back in the slick and let them drift a bit. Then jig them a few times and reel them back to the boat. If the Mackerel are way back in the slick, rig up a fairly heavy spoon and cast that back to them. Reel the spoon in fast to tick‘em off and draw them closer to the boat. If they are in the area, you’ll get them going. Throwing spoons the whole time is fun, but costly. You will lose a lot of lures if you catch a good bite. Spanish aren’t the sharpest tacks in the box when they strike, they will miss short and miss long, and snip your lure off. I’ve seen a dozen Spanish miss a spoon on one cast. It’s pretty comical.
If you like fly-fishing, a fairly large, Clouser-minnow, yellow or blue and white or Hell Just Put One In The Slick, it will work quite well. Remember to use a few inches wire leader. Tie the fly to the wire using a haywire twist and the fly to a mono shock leader with a dog knot If you don’t know a dog knot, use a Albright knot. Same deal as with the strip baits. Cast out, let it drift a little, twitch a little, then strip fast a few times. If you don’t hook up, repeat until you do. A nine-weight fly rod is recommended, just because of the wind you’ll probably be fighting. When you hook up a big one, get ready for some great runs.
Other critters that may show are Cobia, Sharks, Snapper, Grouper, Seatrout, Pompino, Permit, Ladyfish, Bluefish, Cero Mackerel, King Mackerel, Tarpon and Goliath Grouper. Other than that it’s pretty much just Spanish Mackerel you will encounter. I mentioned that I take a few crabs for interesting fish. I think Permit and Cobia are kind of interesting. Oh, those live pinfish drifted back, can get nailed pretty hard, as will as live or dead ballyhoo.
If you get some big spinner sharks it’s a blast. You will need a special leader set up or heavier tackle to bring one to the boat. First, you will need a super strong hook. A 4/0 to 7/0 super strong works great. Second, two or more feet of number six or heavier wire. Third, enough 60 to 80 pound mono, to complete your 20 foot total length leader for less that 30 pound main line or 25 feet for 30 pound and heavier. Finally, 10 feet of double line for less than 30 pound main line or 15 feet for 30 and heavier. Why, because these fish spin like a top when they jump, wrapping a lot of the leader around them. As the Spinners twist and turn, they will stress the heck out of your rig. I’ve hooked spinners that would push a buck-fifty plenty of times and lost a few they might have hit 200 pounds. I normally balloon one of these rigs way back in the slick.
Best Months: January through March
Tight Lines
Captdallas
Winter Mackerel fishing in the Florida Bay is pretty simple. Get about 8 to 10 miles out in bay in 10 to 12 foot off water, chum like crazy, use wire leaders and catch fish. Okay, I’m done.
Well, maybe there is a little bit more.
If you are in Marathon, 8 to 10 miles north is a good area once they show. If you are in Islamarada, you should head west of Springer Bank. If you are in Big Pine, head north through Spanish Harbor towards the Contents Keys and about three miles further north. You can catch them closer in and further out, this is just the normally productive area.
Pick you area and start chumming. When I’m on the reef, I’ll normally use a larger mesh chum bag. Back in the Bay I use a medium or small mess bag. I want the scent more in the Bay to attract mackerel and enough bits to keep the bait fish happy. Once you start chumming you should see a lot of baitfish pretty quickly. Pin fish first normally, then jacks (blue runners and/or Crevalle) and if you are half way lucky, Ballyhoo. All of these can be caught on a small size 6 or 8 hook with a tiny piece of bait, and you should stock your live well. Look out for leather jacks, they sting pretty good, only hurts for a about an hour, but that can be a long hour if one of your kids get stung. Catfish stings can screw the trip up too.
The Jacks make great shark bait, snip the tail off and balloon them back. They also make great strip bait. Fillet them and cut the fillets in ½ to ¾ inch strips. The ballyhoo is great as live, dead or chunk baits. Use the pinfish as live bait, but if you run low on strips, they work too. I normally take one or two, dozen live shrimp to get things started and a few live crabs, in case something interesting shows up.
I’m not going give away my secret numbers, so I’m sending you guys to a general area. I will go to, well, just a little more special areas. These areas might have a few keeper Grouper, bigger Mangroves, and about a billion times more Cobia, than you’ll see. Other than that it’s the same kind of thing.
You will need wire rigs, Mackerel have sharp teeth, you need wire rigs or long shank hooks. I make my own wire rigs, two types for Bay Mackerel. One is very light, size 2, 3407 Mustad, size7 swivel and about 6” of number 2 wire. This is for light currents so the weight of the wire doesn’t take you in the grass. The other is size 2/0 Mustad 3407, size 7 swivel and about six inches of number 4 wire. These are for the bite! I use size seven swivels for two reasons; first they reduce the chance of the bait sliding up the line after a strike – second, if you thread one rig’s hook through another rig’s swivel, you have a stinger rig. If your bait slides up your line, another mackerel will probable cut your line. The stinger rig is great for double hooking ballyhoo. Have a couple dozen of each minimum before you head out. Tying wire rigs with mackerel slime is almost impossible. Use a proper haywire twist on the rigs, meaning don’t cut the tag, twist and break the tag. This is bloodless so you won’t cut your hands on your wire leaders. A snake-er gaff is perfect for handling the mackerel. It has a 1 ½ to 2” gap gaff hook and a long, light fishing pole handle. Make your own, if you like, but they cost less than 20 bucks at Bass Pro Shops.
With any Mackerel, a fairly light drag is required with these small hooks. About 3 to 6 pounds is all you want. Set too tight, you’ll have a lot of pulled hooks. The light drag just adds to the fun. Some of the Spanish you can hook are over 10 pounds, lots of fun on light tackle. But bring a little bit heavier stuff for other fish you might encounter.
Once the bite starts, you’ll find that Mackerel love a moving target. Cast your strip baits back in the slick and let them drift a bit. Then jig them a few times and reel them back to the boat. If the Mackerel are way back in the slick, rig up a fairly heavy spoon and cast that back to them. Reel the spoon in fast to tick‘em off and draw them closer to the boat. If they are in the area, you’ll get them going. Throwing spoons the whole time is fun, but costly. You will lose a lot of lures if you catch a good bite. Spanish aren’t the sharpest tacks in the box when they strike, they will miss short and miss long, and snip your lure off. I’ve seen a dozen Spanish miss a spoon on one cast. It’s pretty comical.
If you like fly-fishing, a fairly large, Clouser-minnow, yellow or blue and white or Hell Just Put One In The Slick, it will work quite well. Remember to use a few inches wire leader. Tie the fly to the wire using a haywire twist and the fly to a mono shock leader with a dog knot If you don’t know a dog knot, use a Albright knot. Same deal as with the strip baits. Cast out, let it drift a little, twitch a little, then strip fast a few times. If you don’t hook up, repeat until you do. A nine-weight fly rod is recommended, just because of the wind you’ll probably be fighting. When you hook up a big one, get ready for some great runs.
Other critters that may show are Cobia, Sharks, Snapper, Grouper, Seatrout, Pompino, Permit, Ladyfish, Bluefish, Cero Mackerel, King Mackerel, Tarpon and Goliath Grouper. Other than that it’s pretty much just Spanish Mackerel you will encounter. I mentioned that I take a few crabs for interesting fish. I think Permit and Cobia are kind of interesting. Oh, those live pinfish drifted back, can get nailed pretty hard, as will as live or dead ballyhoo.
If you get some big spinner sharks it’s a blast. You will need a special leader set up or heavier tackle to bring one to the boat. First, you will need a super strong hook. A 4/0 to 7/0 super strong works great. Second, two or more feet of number six or heavier wire. Third, enough 60 to 80 pound mono, to complete your 20 foot total length leader for less that 30 pound main line or 25 feet for 30 pound and heavier. Finally, 10 feet of double line for less than 30 pound main line or 15 feet for 30 and heavier. Why, because these fish spin like a top when they jump, wrapping a lot of the leader around them. As the Spinners twist and turn, they will stress the heck out of your rig. I’ve hooked spinners that would push a buck-fifty plenty of times and lost a few they might have hit 200 pounds. I normally balloon one of these rigs way back in the slick.
Best Months: January through March
Tight Lines
Captdallas
The Art of Yellowtail Snapper Fishing
October and November is a great time to catch large flag Yellowtails, Mutton Snapper and big Black Grouper. This is the time of the year when the Blacks move onto the reef to spawn. So I'll normally get a nice mixed bag of Blacks, Muttons and tails.
Chum fishing is the technique of choice. Count on one 7-pound block per hour of fishing using a medium large mesh bag. I prefer 45 to 60 foot of water with good marked structure this time of the year. Anchor where you have two or more good marks down current of the boat. Start chumming like crazy, shaking the first bag half empty in the first 20 minutes or so. Pre-thawing a block in the cooler the night before helps.
The bait I prefer for the tails is silver side minnows and Ballyhoo strips. Size your bait for your hook. Look at what is coming out of the chum bag, that’s the hatch to match. The rig is simple, tie a size 2 to 2/o hook on the line. The size 2 (or smaller) if the current is light, and use up to the 2/o if the current is running hard. If your bait drifts and drops at the same rate as the chum, you got it right. In a stronger current I'll add a size 7, barrel swivel 2 to 3 feet in front of the hook. Between varying the hook size and swivel combinations, you shouldn't have to add any weight. Light jigs and feathers work but aren't necessary if you get your technique down.
Fresh, clear, 12 to 20 pound monofilament, on a spinning outfit is best for tailing for Flags, yellow tails over 3pounds. Flourocarbon is optional, unless the current is nearly dead and the water is gin clear. If your spot is good, your line fresh and your chum slick kicking, you won't need it. Most people will say twenty is too heavy, until they hook into a 6 plus pound flag way back in the slick, or a 20 pound Mutton.
When you get ready to deploy your bait, give the chum bag a good shake, drop your bait in the chum and start pealing off line fast enough to keep up with and preferably just under the chum in the water. Initial drifts may be three times the water depth or more, but when the bite starts, you should see the fish behind the boat.
While you're tailing, take a few of the live tails and toss them in your bait well. Shoot one of these tails down on a grouper rig with enough weight to keep him from climbing back in the boat. I use larger tails, 14 to 16 inches for grouper baits. I don't like messing around with short grouper. About 6 to 10 foot of leader is recommended for Blacks. Suspend the weight 10 to 20 feet off the bottom to prevent rock ups. Don't go too heavy on the leader; 50 to 80 pound test is plenty.
Keep and eye open for Muttons. If you have a large shrimp, live or fresh dead, you should be able to feed it to them. Smaller Pinfish work as well. A lot of the Muttons you hook will be on the Yellowtail rods. This is why I prefer the slightly larger hook and the 12 to 20 pound test this time of the year.
Yellowtails to 5 pounds, Muttons to 20 pound and Blacks to 50 pounds are common this time of the year, if you have good conditions. Good conditions are an east or west current on the reef, moving with the wind. In the middle keys, the last of the outgoing or first of the incoming tide is best. This is when dirtier water is more likely to be present. Out of Key West, there is less dirty water inflow from the bayside, so any steady current will be just fine.
Come on down and let's catch a few good tasting dinners.
Captain Dallas
Addendum or whatever it is to explain stuff.
The above was written for a time of year I normally hammer bigger fish. I can catch Yellowtail yearend and year out. It does get slow at times, but you can still catch these guys. The worst case is no current with gin clear water. You see the fish right there under the boat and they just won't bite. If you see them swimming from left to right behind the boat, they are telling you something. Since they don't have fingers, they are using their fins, get it.
This is the time for the Secret weapon; six-pound leader and size 8 hooks, with very small bits of bait. Look at the fish in water. If you are chumming, somewhere they are eating the chum. Be one with the chum and let your bait be one with you. Anybody can catch fish that are biting, but to catch fish that aren't biting takes finesse. With a slack current watch how the chum drops in the slick and how the baited hook you have drops. If they drop at the same rate, you get a bite. It's presentation, its not hot pink size 6 circle hooks or 167th oz jigs, it's the presentation. Get your baited hook to the same spot the tails are feeding in the slick and you have a fish.
That said visualize what's happening in the slick with a current. At some point, the tails are eating. Vary your weight, (that's add a tiny split shot, switch to a smaller hook, a bigger hook, add a swivel, slow your drift or quicken your drift) whatever, to find the right combination. Once you find the combination, you can hammer the fish.
Sand balling, Oat mixtures, cooked elbow macaroni, are all local favorite chumming additions. I use oats, wet and dry, to kick it up a bit, but plenty of free flowing ground sardines or Menhaden is all it really takes.
Yellowtail snapper will not impress some people, but they are excellent eating, have a good fight for their size and can be a challenge. From what I’ve heard, they kick Lake Erie perches butts big time and the weather is normally a touch nicer in the winter here.
Chum fishing is the technique of choice. Count on one 7-pound block per hour of fishing using a medium large mesh bag. I prefer 45 to 60 foot of water with good marked structure this time of the year. Anchor where you have two or more good marks down current of the boat. Start chumming like crazy, shaking the first bag half empty in the first 20 minutes or so. Pre-thawing a block in the cooler the night before helps.
The bait I prefer for the tails is silver side minnows and Ballyhoo strips. Size your bait for your hook. Look at what is coming out of the chum bag, that’s the hatch to match. The rig is simple, tie a size 2 to 2/o hook on the line. The size 2 (or smaller) if the current is light, and use up to the 2/o if the current is running hard. If your bait drifts and drops at the same rate as the chum, you got it right. In a stronger current I'll add a size 7, barrel swivel 2 to 3 feet in front of the hook. Between varying the hook size and swivel combinations, you shouldn't have to add any weight. Light jigs and feathers work but aren't necessary if you get your technique down.
Fresh, clear, 12 to 20 pound monofilament, on a spinning outfit is best for tailing for Flags, yellow tails over 3pounds. Flourocarbon is optional, unless the current is nearly dead and the water is gin clear. If your spot is good, your line fresh and your chum slick kicking, you won't need it. Most people will say twenty is too heavy, until they hook into a 6 plus pound flag way back in the slick, or a 20 pound Mutton.
When you get ready to deploy your bait, give the chum bag a good shake, drop your bait in the chum and start pealing off line fast enough to keep up with and preferably just under the chum in the water. Initial drifts may be three times the water depth or more, but when the bite starts, you should see the fish behind the boat.
While you're tailing, take a few of the live tails and toss them in your bait well. Shoot one of these tails down on a grouper rig with enough weight to keep him from climbing back in the boat. I use larger tails, 14 to 16 inches for grouper baits. I don't like messing around with short grouper. About 6 to 10 foot of leader is recommended for Blacks. Suspend the weight 10 to 20 feet off the bottom to prevent rock ups. Don't go too heavy on the leader; 50 to 80 pound test is plenty.
Keep and eye open for Muttons. If you have a large shrimp, live or fresh dead, you should be able to feed it to them. Smaller Pinfish work as well. A lot of the Muttons you hook will be on the Yellowtail rods. This is why I prefer the slightly larger hook and the 12 to 20 pound test this time of the year.
Yellowtails to 5 pounds, Muttons to 20 pound and Blacks to 50 pounds are common this time of the year, if you have good conditions. Good conditions are an east or west current on the reef, moving with the wind. In the middle keys, the last of the outgoing or first of the incoming tide is best. This is when dirtier water is more likely to be present. Out of Key West, there is less dirty water inflow from the bayside, so any steady current will be just fine.
Come on down and let's catch a few good tasting dinners.
Captain Dallas
Addendum or whatever it is to explain stuff.
The above was written for a time of year I normally hammer bigger fish. I can catch Yellowtail yearend and year out. It does get slow at times, but you can still catch these guys. The worst case is no current with gin clear water. You see the fish right there under the boat and they just won't bite. If you see them swimming from left to right behind the boat, they are telling you something. Since they don't have fingers, they are using their fins, get it.
This is the time for the Secret weapon; six-pound leader and size 8 hooks, with very small bits of bait. Look at the fish in water. If you are chumming, somewhere they are eating the chum. Be one with the chum and let your bait be one with you. Anybody can catch fish that are biting, but to catch fish that aren't biting takes finesse. With a slack current watch how the chum drops in the slick and how the baited hook you have drops. If they drop at the same rate, you get a bite. It's presentation, its not hot pink size 6 circle hooks or 167th oz jigs, it's the presentation. Get your baited hook to the same spot the tails are feeding in the slick and you have a fish.
That said visualize what's happening in the slick with a current. At some point, the tails are eating. Vary your weight, (that's add a tiny split shot, switch to a smaller hook, a bigger hook, add a swivel, slow your drift or quicken your drift) whatever, to find the right combination. Once you find the combination, you can hammer the fish.
Sand balling, Oat mixtures, cooked elbow macaroni, are all local favorite chumming additions. I use oats, wet and dry, to kick it up a bit, but plenty of free flowing ground sardines or Menhaden is all it really takes.
Yellowtail snapper will not impress some people, but they are excellent eating, have a good fight for their size and can be a challenge. From what I’ve heard, they kick Lake Erie perches butts big time and the weather is normally a touch nicer in the winter here.
Six Basic Fishing Knots
There are a lot of people that come to the keys and aren’t sure how to do much of anything in the way of fishing the Florida Keys. They want all the information they can get. So I’m writing a series of articles for forums to give people a bit of hopefully helpful, information.
This should be the first article, Basic Knots and Rigging. I studied engineering, and the first thing they teach you is KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. That’s one thing that stuck with me very well. So to that end, I only regularly use about six knots: The Uni-knot, haywire twist, spider hitch, Bristol knot, dog knot and the old clinch knot. I can make any rig I use with these knots. These and other knots are in the following books: Complete Book if Baits Rigs & Tackle by Vic Dunaway and Bob McNally's Fisherman's Knots, Fishing Rigs, and How to Use Them. The first was and is my bible. The second is pretty damn good. I’ve fished with Bob and he’s pretty sharp.
Vic Dunaway invented the uni-knot which stands for universal knot, you can do almost anything with it and it is a strong knot. Every hook I tie, I use a uni knot with only one real exception, 150 pound and heavier mono filament leader to big hooks or swivels, when bottom fishing. To see how to tie a uni-knot click http://www.floridasportsman.com/HowTo/knots/uniknot/Uni-Knot/ Learn it well, this is a great knot. A lot of people have their own favorite knot, so I’m going to defend my selection of the Uni-knot. First, as mentioned it is a versatile knot. It’s good for line-to-line ties, snelling hooks, double line to leader and more detail in Vic Dunaway’s book. Second it has a 98% strength rating, not a 100% rating. That is a good thing if you think about it a little. It decreases the odds that you will lose all the line on your reel if you get smoked. If a freight train nails you, while light tackle fishing for sails, you can get back in action more quickly. If you’re fishing for freight trains, use a Palamar knot. Note: a freight train would be like a 200-pound yellow fin tuna hitting your 20-pound spinning outfit. The odds are big time against you. I’ve had that had happen right here in Marathon.
The next knot is the haywire twist, used for tying steel leader (solid not multi-strand), to a hook or swivel. Some people never get the hang of the haywire twist so study this one real close:
http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/saltwater/fishing/article/0,12746,1032848,00.html I know there is a description in the Florida Sportsman somewhere. Two things are important, the first five wraps and the final twist to break the tag. This knot is well accepted so I don’t expect any criticism here.
Next is the spider hitch, this is a bit controversial, most people swear by the Bimini Twist and only the Bimini twist, I just happen to disagree. I fish where there are a lot of Mackerel most of the year. Mackerel will hit any thing and have on many occasions hit my Bimini Twist. So an extra five or 10 percent knot strength isn’t going to do you much good if fish are eating your pretty knot. I can also tie a fifteen-foot double line in seconds with the spider hitch. Tying a fifteen-foot double line with a Bimini twist in rough seas by your self takes me a bit longer. So here is the spider hitch:
http://www.floridasportsman.com/HowTo/knots/spider_hitch/index.html This will get criticized by a good number of people. But the same reason I use the uni-knot is why I use the spider hitch. It’s 98% and I know where things should break.
The Bristol knot is pretty easy if you wet it. It can be tough with the packaged leader though. I don’t use the package stuff myself, I buy one pound spools, which makes it a lot easier and cheaper. Since you are probable use the small spools of leader, make sure you wet the knot with a lot of saliva. So here the Bristol knot for connecting heavy mono to the double line:
http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/saltwater/fishing/article/0,12746,1022351,00.html
This knot is used mainly for connecting trolling leaders. Some fishermen opt for tying a locking snap swivel to the leader and have the full 20 or 25 feet of leader pre-rigged on the lure. I don’t recommend that and explain later.
The dog knot is pretty rarely used. Not may fishermen even know about it, but it can be very useful. I use it to tie wire direct to mono on rare occasions when the current is dead the mackerel are cutting me off while yellow tailing. It also saved my butt one time when my box of swivels fell over board mackerel fishing. Fly fishermen should love this knot if they are hunting toothy critters. I showed the knot to a trout guide from Colorado and he loved it for tying the wire from his mackerel fly to his shock leader. It is a variation of the uni-knot invented by Capt. Jeff Rogers in Kona. The wire version goes something like this:
1. Take your mono and wire leader and line them up in the same hand.
2. Take the mono and start a uni knot. Make your first two turns of the uni knot around both the mono and the wire.
3. Fold the wire back own itself from the main line to the terminal end. Get your self about six inches of over lapping wire until you learn the knot.
4. Make your next four turns of the uni knot.
5. Pull the tag of the uni knot to slightly snug the uni knot around the wire.
6. Pull the wire (both tag and main, at the same time) snug with the uni knot.
7. Tightly snug the uni knot.
8. Use the lever method used in the haywire twist to break the wire tag off flush.
This creates about the smoothest transition from mono to wire you can make.
Finally, the old clinch knot or fisherman’s knot. Just pass the mono through the hook eye. Twist the hook about six times while holding the main and tag. Pass the tag back through the hole created by the mono at the hook eye, and snug it up while holding the hook and the tag end. A little saliva will help it slide. I finish it off by putting the hook around a cleat or any thing securely nailed down, then double wrap the mono around my hand a pull pretty hard. You may want to wear a glove on your pulling hand. This isn’t a pretty knot, but with 200 to 400 pound leader, it’s plenty strong for 80# grouper gear.
Now you have six knots to play with, the last two being rarely used. So these knot are list in order of importance. Next we’ll see what to really do with these knots.
My basic trolling rod rig: Use the spider hitch to make a 10-foot double line on your rod (maximum of 15 feet can be used for 30 plus pound tackle per IFGA). Use the Bristol knot to add 15 feet of heavier mono leader (20 foot for 30 plus pound tackle). Finally tie a locking snap swivel to the end of the leader. This whole set-up is called a wind on leader. Using this wind on leader, all of your lures should be rigged with just under, five foot of leader to be IFGA legal.
This system greatly reduces the space required to store your lures and I have never been on a boat that had enough storage space. It also makes changing lure or rigs a lot quicker also. If the knots are properly tied, they should run smoothly through the guides of the rod with just the slightest catch under pressure.
Basic bottom rod rig: Slip a small (1/8 to ¼ ounce) egg sinker on your line and tie on a good size swivel, size 5 say for 30 pound gear to a monster for 100 pound gear. The egg sinker helps prevent tearing up your tip guide if you wind up too far.
Spinning rod for big fish rig: Same set-up as a trolling rod but limit the double line to 3 or 5 feet, and the leader to 5 or 6 feet. You can go longer with either the double line or leader, but it’s harder to cast.
Bait casters and light spinners for everything else, tie direct to the lure or rig. A short double line might be needed to reduce chaffing on structure occasionally, but not very often.
Next we’ll get into basic terminal rigs.
This should be the first article, Basic Knots and Rigging. I studied engineering, and the first thing they teach you is KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. That’s one thing that stuck with me very well. So to that end, I only regularly use about six knots: The Uni-knot, haywire twist, spider hitch, Bristol knot, dog knot and the old clinch knot. I can make any rig I use with these knots. These and other knots are in the following books: Complete Book if Baits Rigs & Tackle by Vic Dunaway and Bob McNally's Fisherman's Knots, Fishing Rigs, and How to Use Them. The first was and is my bible. The second is pretty damn good. I’ve fished with Bob and he’s pretty sharp.
Vic Dunaway invented the uni-knot which stands for universal knot, you can do almost anything with it and it is a strong knot. Every hook I tie, I use a uni knot with only one real exception, 150 pound and heavier mono filament leader to big hooks or swivels, when bottom fishing. To see how to tie a uni-knot click http://www.floridasportsman.com/HowTo/knots/uniknot/Uni-Knot/ Learn it well, this is a great knot. A lot of people have their own favorite knot, so I’m going to defend my selection of the Uni-knot. First, as mentioned it is a versatile knot. It’s good for line-to-line ties, snelling hooks, double line to leader and more detail in Vic Dunaway’s book. Second it has a 98% strength rating, not a 100% rating. That is a good thing if you think about it a little. It decreases the odds that you will lose all the line on your reel if you get smoked. If a freight train nails you, while light tackle fishing for sails, you can get back in action more quickly. If you’re fishing for freight trains, use a Palamar knot. Note: a freight train would be like a 200-pound yellow fin tuna hitting your 20-pound spinning outfit. The odds are big time against you. I’ve had that had happen right here in Marathon.
The next knot is the haywire twist, used for tying steel leader (solid not multi-strand), to a hook or swivel. Some people never get the hang of the haywire twist so study this one real close:
http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/saltwater/fishing/article/0,12746,1032848,00.html I know there is a description in the Florida Sportsman somewhere. Two things are important, the first five wraps and the final twist to break the tag. This knot is well accepted so I don’t expect any criticism here.
Next is the spider hitch, this is a bit controversial, most people swear by the Bimini Twist and only the Bimini twist, I just happen to disagree. I fish where there are a lot of Mackerel most of the year. Mackerel will hit any thing and have on many occasions hit my Bimini Twist. So an extra five or 10 percent knot strength isn’t going to do you much good if fish are eating your pretty knot. I can also tie a fifteen-foot double line in seconds with the spider hitch. Tying a fifteen-foot double line with a Bimini twist in rough seas by your self takes me a bit longer. So here is the spider hitch:
http://www.floridasportsman.com/HowTo/knots/spider_hitch/index.html This will get criticized by a good number of people. But the same reason I use the uni-knot is why I use the spider hitch. It’s 98% and I know where things should break.
The Bristol knot is pretty easy if you wet it. It can be tough with the packaged leader though. I don’t use the package stuff myself, I buy one pound spools, which makes it a lot easier and cheaper. Since you are probable use the small spools of leader, make sure you wet the knot with a lot of saliva. So here the Bristol knot for connecting heavy mono to the double line:
http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/saltwater/fishing/article/0,12746,1022351,00.html
This knot is used mainly for connecting trolling leaders. Some fishermen opt for tying a locking snap swivel to the leader and have the full 20 or 25 feet of leader pre-rigged on the lure. I don’t recommend that and explain later.
The dog knot is pretty rarely used. Not may fishermen even know about it, but it can be very useful. I use it to tie wire direct to mono on rare occasions when the current is dead the mackerel are cutting me off while yellow tailing. It also saved my butt one time when my box of swivels fell over board mackerel fishing. Fly fishermen should love this knot if they are hunting toothy critters. I showed the knot to a trout guide from Colorado and he loved it for tying the wire from his mackerel fly to his shock leader. It is a variation of the uni-knot invented by Capt. Jeff Rogers in Kona. The wire version goes something like this:
1. Take your mono and wire leader and line them up in the same hand.
2. Take the mono and start a uni knot. Make your first two turns of the uni knot around both the mono and the wire.
3. Fold the wire back own itself from the main line to the terminal end. Get your self about six inches of over lapping wire until you learn the knot.
4. Make your next four turns of the uni knot.
5. Pull the tag of the uni knot to slightly snug the uni knot around the wire.
6. Pull the wire (both tag and main, at the same time) snug with the uni knot.
7. Tightly snug the uni knot.
8. Use the lever method used in the haywire twist to break the wire tag off flush.
This creates about the smoothest transition from mono to wire you can make.
Finally, the old clinch knot or fisherman’s knot. Just pass the mono through the hook eye. Twist the hook about six times while holding the main and tag. Pass the tag back through the hole created by the mono at the hook eye, and snug it up while holding the hook and the tag end. A little saliva will help it slide. I finish it off by putting the hook around a cleat or any thing securely nailed down, then double wrap the mono around my hand a pull pretty hard. You may want to wear a glove on your pulling hand. This isn’t a pretty knot, but with 200 to 400 pound leader, it’s plenty strong for 80# grouper gear.
Now you have six knots to play with, the last two being rarely used. So these knot are list in order of importance. Next we’ll see what to really do with these knots.
My basic trolling rod rig: Use the spider hitch to make a 10-foot double line on your rod (maximum of 15 feet can be used for 30 plus pound tackle per IFGA). Use the Bristol knot to add 15 feet of heavier mono leader (20 foot for 30 plus pound tackle). Finally tie a locking snap swivel to the end of the leader. This whole set-up is called a wind on leader. Using this wind on leader, all of your lures should be rigged with just under, five foot of leader to be IFGA legal.
This system greatly reduces the space required to store your lures and I have never been on a boat that had enough storage space. It also makes changing lure or rigs a lot quicker also. If the knots are properly tied, they should run smoothly through the guides of the rod with just the slightest catch under pressure.
Basic bottom rod rig: Slip a small (1/8 to ¼ ounce) egg sinker on your line and tie on a good size swivel, size 5 say for 30 pound gear to a monster for 100 pound gear. The egg sinker helps prevent tearing up your tip guide if you wind up too far.
Spinning rod for big fish rig: Same set-up as a trolling rod but limit the double line to 3 or 5 feet, and the leader to 5 or 6 feet. You can go longer with either the double line or leader, but it’s harder to cast.
Bait casters and light spinners for everything else, tie direct to the lure or rig. A short double line might be needed to reduce chaffing on structure occasionally, but not very often.
Next we’ll get into basic terminal rigs.
Dill Cobia
Use 1 to 1 ½ pounds of Cobia loin steaks. (Remove all the bloodline and divide the filets lengthwise. Slice the halved fillets into ½ to 1” steaks). Season the steaks with salt, pepper and dill on both sides
Use half and half butter and olive oil (EVOO) in a hot skillet, two tablespoons of each. Sauté the steaks for two to four minutes per side depending on thickness. Each side of the steak should be nicely caramelized with the center nice and moist. Don’t over cook. Remove to a plate.
Put about ¾ cup of thinly sliced green onions and ¾ cup of sliced mushrooms in the skillet and remaining oil sautéing stir occasionally until translucent. Add about table spoon of butter and a tablespoon of dill near the end.
Deglaze the pan with a ¾ cup of beer (white wine if you prefer), and then add about ¾ cup of clam juice. Let this reduce by a ¼, then thicken with two teaspoons corn starch blended with two teaspoons clam juice. Add a little lemon or Key lime juice to taste.
Remove from heat and return cooked fish steaks to the skillet to coat with sauce. Serve over rice, or believe it or not, grits if you know how to properly cook them
Use half and half butter and olive oil (EVOO) in a hot skillet, two tablespoons of each. Sauté the steaks for two to four minutes per side depending on thickness. Each side of the steak should be nicely caramelized with the center nice and moist. Don’t over cook. Remove to a plate.
Put about ¾ cup of thinly sliced green onions and ¾ cup of sliced mushrooms in the skillet and remaining oil sautéing stir occasionally until translucent. Add about table spoon of butter and a tablespoon of dill near the end.
Deglaze the pan with a ¾ cup of beer (white wine if you prefer), and then add about ¾ cup of clam juice. Let this reduce by a ¼, then thicken with two teaspoons corn starch blended with two teaspoons clam juice. Add a little lemon or Key lime juice to taste.
Remove from heat and return cooked fish steaks to the skillet to coat with sauce. Serve over rice, or believe it or not, grits if you know how to properly cook them
Fish Stock
Several of favorite fish recipes call for fish stock or clam juice. Clam juice is available at any grocery store and is a good substitute. If you have a large stockpot and a little time on your hands, making your own fish stock can be mighty rewarding. That big turkey fryer sitting in the shed is perfect.
One nice big grouper, snapper or cobia carcass is great for stock. Clean the carcass, removing the gills and innards. Chop backbone into three big chunks and leave the head whole if it will fit in the stockpot. If you haven’t all ready, remove the cheeks, they are tasty. Put the carcass in the stockpot, ideally this should half fill the pot. Add celery, onions and carrots, depending on the size of the pot, about two cups of each. Use the celery tops and you can leave the onionskins on if you like, this will all be strained.
Add enough water to cover, the about half again more. I only add about one table spoon of salt and a small hand full of black pepper corns, don’t add too much salt this will be reduced.
Fire the cooker and bring everything to a boil. Then reduce heat to a nice simmer, ice down the beer, and relax. Two to three hours of simmering is perfect, add a little water as need to keep the fish covered.
Any time after two hours you can turn the heat off and let the pot cool enough to handle. You can run up to the store and get some cheese cloth while it cooling since I forgot to tell you ahead of time. Run in the house too, and grab a real big bowl.
Line the bowl with cheesecloth and pour in all that tasty stock, fold your cheesecloth up so no scales or bones escape lift out slowly. Now you have a great stock, that a bit thin. I reduce this stock by half and add salt to taste at the end of the reduction. Don’t over salt!
The stock will store in the freezer for months or the fridge for three days, use pint size containers for soups and cup size containers for sauces. This is a lot of work but if you have the time you’ll love having this stock on hand. Try this quick recipe to see:
Bring one pint of stock to a rapid boil. In two small soup bowls or cups put about 2 to 3 ounces of fresh fish fillets, one green onion, cut fancy in three inch long strips, one mushroom button slice real thin, and a little fresh grated ginger. Pour the boiling stock over the fish in each bowl and let is rest for five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. This is pretty fancy looking and very tasty, if you have east coast Sheep head for the fish, you’ll be loving life. Snapper, grouper and hogfish are great too. Just keep the filet strips under a half inch thick, and they poach perfectly.
One nice big grouper, snapper or cobia carcass is great for stock. Clean the carcass, removing the gills and innards. Chop backbone into three big chunks and leave the head whole if it will fit in the stockpot. If you haven’t all ready, remove the cheeks, they are tasty. Put the carcass in the stockpot, ideally this should half fill the pot. Add celery, onions and carrots, depending on the size of the pot, about two cups of each. Use the celery tops and you can leave the onionskins on if you like, this will all be strained.
Add enough water to cover, the about half again more. I only add about one table spoon of salt and a small hand full of black pepper corns, don’t add too much salt this will be reduced.
Fire the cooker and bring everything to a boil. Then reduce heat to a nice simmer, ice down the beer, and relax. Two to three hours of simmering is perfect, add a little water as need to keep the fish covered.
Any time after two hours you can turn the heat off and let the pot cool enough to handle. You can run up to the store and get some cheese cloth while it cooling since I forgot to tell you ahead of time. Run in the house too, and grab a real big bowl.
Line the bowl with cheesecloth and pour in all that tasty stock, fold your cheesecloth up so no scales or bones escape lift out slowly. Now you have a great stock, that a bit thin. I reduce this stock by half and add salt to taste at the end of the reduction. Don’t over salt!
The stock will store in the freezer for months or the fridge for three days, use pint size containers for soups and cup size containers for sauces. This is a lot of work but if you have the time you’ll love having this stock on hand. Try this quick recipe to see:
Bring one pint of stock to a rapid boil. In two small soup bowls or cups put about 2 to 3 ounces of fresh fish fillets, one green onion, cut fancy in three inch long strips, one mushroom button slice real thin, and a little fresh grated ginger. Pour the boiling stock over the fish in each bowl and let is rest for five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. This is pretty fancy looking and very tasty, if you have east coast Sheep head for the fish, you’ll be loving life. Snapper, grouper and hogfish are great too. Just keep the filet strips under a half inch thick, and they poach perfectly.
Mackerel Recipes
Smoked Spanish mackerel
Spanish Mackerel have a stigma attached because of Boston mackerel and other mackerel that make good bait and little else. Spanish taste more like Wahoo than they do like King Mackerel and are very tasty if properly prepared. To prepare Spanish for smoking, I fillet them, leaving the skin on and then zipper the fillets. This is accomplished by cutting down both sides the bone/bloodline in the center of the fillet and pulling the line out. I soak the fillets in salt water and ice for fifteen minutes or so just to make sure the fillets are really chilled and clean.
There are a variety of brining solutions you can use and most of them are great. I rarely brine my fillets before smoking. Normally all I do is season them with salt, pepper, paprika for color and a little cayenne pepper.
I have a fairly elaborate electric smoker that will hold about 150 pounds of fillets that I heat to 250 degrees. In the smoke pot, I use, button wood chips soak in water and a little apple juice if I have it. Cover you grates with foil and lay the fillets skin side down on the foil. I don’t over cook mine, usually 4 to 6 hours is plenty, depending on the thickness of the fillets. I want the fish cooked but still moist.
Once done, let the fish cool for a while, 5 to 10 minutes, with a large spatula, take the fish off the grate. Most of the skin will stick to the foil making clean up easy.
Smoke mackerel is best served with several cold beer around a cook fire.
Smoke Mackerel Dip
This is my version. There are lots of other great ones.
4 pounds approx. smoked Mackerel crumbled coarsely
1 cup slice green onions
½ cup dice celery
½ cup soften cream cheese
½ cup sour cream
1 package dry ranch dressing mix.
Throw the first five ingredients in a large bowl and blend it all together, clean hands is the best mixer. Sprinkle the dressing mix over it all and mix again. If the smoked fish is properly seasoned, no extra seasoning is required. A little mayo can be added if the fish was smoked a bit dry. The dip should be a little stiff, but should spread with a little difficulty. If you want it to spread more easily, add mayo and/or sour cream.
If you don’t have a smoker or don’t want to smoke the fish, then fire up your grille. Place foil in the center of the grill and place the fish skin side on the foil. I normally mix all my spice in a half cup of mayo and baste the fillets once on the grill at the start of cooking. Cook 10 to 12 minutes over medium heat. Let cool as before and serve with cold beer.
If you have any left over, here’s another good dish:
2 pounds grill Spanish crumbled
2 cups plain bread crumbs
½ cup sliced green onions
½ cup dice bell pepper
1 very finely diced Scot’s bonnet pepper
Garlic and cayenne pepper optional
4 eggs well beaten
Place the fish in a large bowl and punch a well in the middle of the fish.
Put the bread crumbs in the well.
Sauté the peppers and onions in half butter and olive oil (2 table spoons each).
Once translucent, pour the veggies and oil on the bread crumbs. Mix a bit, add the beaten eggs, and mix well.
Get the skillet hot again, with butter and olive oil, and sauté small hamburger size patties of the fish mixture. Cook until crispy on the first side and turn. Cook the second side about half as long as the first. Serve crispy caramelized side up. These are great just like they are, or serve with any creative sauce you like. Duck sauce, honey mustard or hot wing sauce, to name a few. A mango vinaigrette sauce is good with these fish cakes. Just deglaze the skillet with ¼ cup apple vinegar, stir in 1 cup of mango juice and reduce by half over medium low heat.
Spanish Mackerel have a stigma attached because of Boston mackerel and other mackerel that make good bait and little else. Spanish taste more like Wahoo than they do like King Mackerel and are very tasty if properly prepared. To prepare Spanish for smoking, I fillet them, leaving the skin on and then zipper the fillets. This is accomplished by cutting down both sides the bone/bloodline in the center of the fillet and pulling the line out. I soak the fillets in salt water and ice for fifteen minutes or so just to make sure the fillets are really chilled and clean.
There are a variety of brining solutions you can use and most of them are great. I rarely brine my fillets before smoking. Normally all I do is season them with salt, pepper, paprika for color and a little cayenne pepper.
I have a fairly elaborate electric smoker that will hold about 150 pounds of fillets that I heat to 250 degrees. In the smoke pot, I use, button wood chips soak in water and a little apple juice if I have it. Cover you grates with foil and lay the fillets skin side down on the foil. I don’t over cook mine, usually 4 to 6 hours is plenty, depending on the thickness of the fillets. I want the fish cooked but still moist.
Once done, let the fish cool for a while, 5 to 10 minutes, with a large spatula, take the fish off the grate. Most of the skin will stick to the foil making clean up easy.
Smoke mackerel is best served with several cold beer around a cook fire.
Smoke Mackerel Dip
This is my version. There are lots of other great ones.
4 pounds approx. smoked Mackerel crumbled coarsely
1 cup slice green onions
½ cup dice celery
½ cup soften cream cheese
½ cup sour cream
1 package dry ranch dressing mix.
Throw the first five ingredients in a large bowl and blend it all together, clean hands is the best mixer. Sprinkle the dressing mix over it all and mix again. If the smoked fish is properly seasoned, no extra seasoning is required. A little mayo can be added if the fish was smoked a bit dry. The dip should be a little stiff, but should spread with a little difficulty. If you want it to spread more easily, add mayo and/or sour cream.
If you don’t have a smoker or don’t want to smoke the fish, then fire up your grille. Place foil in the center of the grill and place the fish skin side on the foil. I normally mix all my spice in a half cup of mayo and baste the fillets once on the grill at the start of cooking. Cook 10 to 12 minutes over medium heat. Let cool as before and serve with cold beer.
If you have any left over, here’s another good dish:
2 pounds grill Spanish crumbled
2 cups plain bread crumbs
½ cup sliced green onions
½ cup dice bell pepper
1 very finely diced Scot’s bonnet pepper
Garlic and cayenne pepper optional
4 eggs well beaten
Place the fish in a large bowl and punch a well in the middle of the fish.
Put the bread crumbs in the well.
Sauté the peppers and onions in half butter and olive oil (2 table spoons each).
Once translucent, pour the veggies and oil on the bread crumbs. Mix a bit, add the beaten eggs, and mix well.
Get the skillet hot again, with butter and olive oil, and sauté small hamburger size patties of the fish mixture. Cook until crispy on the first side and turn. Cook the second side about half as long as the first. Serve crispy caramelized side up. These are great just like they are, or serve with any creative sauce you like. Duck sauce, honey mustard or hot wing sauce, to name a few. A mango vinaigrette sauce is good with these fish cakes. Just deglaze the skillet with ¼ cup apple vinegar, stir in 1 cup of mango juice and reduce by half over medium low heat.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)