This is a great job.
I really like being on the waters of Key West, Florida. I really enjoy seeing the wildlife I get to see. After 26+ yrs, I have so many regular customers that have become my friends. I understand when we go out fishing, some days will be good and some will not, but today was a Tough Day.
We had a 6 hr trip.
That should have been long enough to find some decent fish. Our original plan was to head out deep and look for dolphin. At the same time, we would hope for maybe a wahoo, tuna or a billfish.
We got out to about 750 ft of water
and we had not had a bite. Now the Key West charter fleet is pretty good about working with each other. Most of us realize the more people that go home happy after fishing here, the better business will be for all of us. So we do trade info via the radio during the day. So, I’m checking with the boats that are our further than I was and they are not catching or seeing anything encouraging. Some of the boats inshore of me had caught a few bonitos, tuna and dolphin. Nothing ballistic, but at least they were catching.
Even though we had 6 hrs,
I knew if I kept going south and did not find fish, I would not have time to go to plan “B” and go back inshore. So I made the decision to head back onshore. Sometimes you just have to play the odds.
As it turned out,
the boats that were out further all ended coming back inshore at some point or the another to find fish. So the decision to turn back was a good one. Unfortunately, we didn’t really do much once we did get back inshore. The bite was early, most of the good fish were caught during the time I was heading south.
Fishing is like that,
sometimes, you have to be in the right depth but you have to be there at the right time. Fish don’t always bite throughout the day. There can be a great “bite” going on, but it can end before you get there. It’s called “bringing the flowers” on the VHF. In other words, It’s over
We ended up
with 2 bonitos, 1 barracuda and 1 big blue runner. Not a catch you call the newspaper with. My guys were great, they were patient, but today, it was just not to be. I guess I just have to chalk it up to a tough day. Been there before. I will probably have them again, but I will never get used to them. in this business, you can’t carry over the frustration from one day to the other. It’s not fair. to the next days’ customers. So once we get to the dock I just have to let it go.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day