Fishing in Key West

We don't fish much but it seemed like the right thing to do.  We got some advice from the lady at the campground check-in desk who said, "My husband always takes the Tortuga IV and likes them."
Since we didn't have any better tip, we took that one.

Jon and Kelly were here for Christmas and we picked Monday to go out on the boat.  Jon called and found we could just line up at the dock and buy our tickets.

After we got some Cuban coffee.

 The ship mates were cutting up bait which Jon and Kelly were looking around the boat.

We claimed a spot off the stern and put our tickets onto a fishing rod.

 As we left the harbor, you could see a couple of cruise ships docked at Mallory Square.

Then we talked with our neighbors and had our picture taken.

We went out for about an hour and stopped at our first area.  It wasn't too long before Jon caught one!

I tried to hold it while Jon took the hook out.  Kelly wasn't too sure she wanted anything to do with it…

Then I caught a grouper.  It was the biggest fish I've ever caught.  But at 14", it was a full 6" too small, so it went back into the Straits for Florida.

A little later and Kelly hauled in a Yellow Tail Snapper.

And so did Jon.

They sure are pretty fish.  This little guy was too small so he went back in the water too.

We fished for about 2 1/2 hours and it took us about an hour to get out to our first spot.  Then we moved around a couple more times.  We got 7 or 8 keepers of yellow tail snapper, grunt fish, mackerel and a porkie.

So it was a good day.  The weather started out a little cool but it was only cloudy for a little while.  And we all had a good time.  We didn't get skunked, we caught some nice fish and no one threw up.  Yep, that is the first thing I think about when we talk about going out on a boat.  We weren't deep sea fishing, but we had enough waves to get a couple of guys on board looking a little puny.  But I took some Dramamine and it work.

The trip was a little less than four hours and at a great price ($44/each) so it was well worth it.

 After we got back to our slip, we waited for our fish to get cleaned.  And we weren't the only ones.

It took about 20 minutes and we were on our way with a mess of fish for dinner.

I cooked them on the grill and we had a nice meal together.

So that was our first and only fishing trip in Key West.  We had a great time!

That's it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles ~ thanks for joining us!

Until next time...