"Dr. Drill" & his crew were responsible for catching 100 mangroves, 7 other species, and a couple of nurse sharks in 1/2 days fishing. I just had to show the local "also rans" that when we don't go offshore, we can still fill the boat with lots of fish.

JP and Maggie caught their limit of dolphin a couple of days later. Offshore still pays big dividends. They added a 30 lb. barracuda and a blackfin tuna for some added sport. Capt. Pips low rates and our good catches are keeping us busy during hurricane season. Come have some fun with us!

When is the best time to catch Mahi Mahi? When you get here and fish with us. 1st mate David is shown in both photos so folks will be reminded that however good your captain may be, he is only half the combo required for success in fishing. There are even a few days out of the year that the mate works harder than the captain (good one?). Our "off" season package deals fit even the scantiest budgets; call Capt. Pips Marina & Hideaway and see...

You guessed it; if not fishing, fishing. That's what vacations are for. For the last 2 weeks my wife Julie and I have been vacationing and celebrating our 31 st anniversary and her birthday (can't use #'s; we just call it Julie Appreciation Day). Bass fishing with my friend Larry in Citrus County (halfway up the state). After several days of fishing and being spoiled by Debbies' gourmet cooking we took to the Gulf for some scallops. Bay scallops are sweet and there are basically 2 ways of getting them. First is to spot one (usually in the tall grass), dive down in 3-6 feet of water, and while picking up the one you saw, look for others under the grass. Second (my way; lazy man's; little effort; good results) is to take a long handle net and while snorleling, dip the scallop in the net while still floating. You may have to cover a little more territory but it still takes less work (that's a good thing). George joined us and we were able to get enough for a couple of meals.

TWO DAYS WITH MOM & you guessed it---yard work. A most opportune time for her to get a letter stating her trees needing trimming, roof cleaned, and 3 handrails needed to be added to her porches so that her home owners insurance will stay in effect. Thanks to Larry, we did the work in short order and still had time to visit.

ON TO THE BAHAMAS: 4 night Freestyle cruise on Norwegian Sky. Great rates during hurricane season; balcany for $299 ea. (great "come-on": actually cost $475 each with tip, taxes and medical ins.); still a bargain. Great trip with stops in Freeport on Grand Bahama Isle, Nassau (a must stop to see Atlantis; go early and stay late), and their private island for swimming and enjoying their artificial reef. We found the shopping to be no different than shopping in Key West, with only a name change on the articles; BAHAMA MAMA being the exception. WE did it, loved it, would (and will) do it again.

FISHING IN THE KEYS NEXT WEEK---what a wonderful grind. Hope everyone is having as much fun as we are during these hard times. Brings to mind the SHOCK TO THE CASHIER when we checked out and our only charge (you can't pay cash) on the boat was $28.75 (that's twenty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents). That was for all the sodas you can drink while on the boat. We did leave a nice tip for the cabin crew.

Drug free

Being raised and raising a child drug free is the only way to go. Thank God that the people we take on charters are here for the adventure and not for the drugs. During my past 6 years chartering in the Keys, I have been blessed to have had only one person intoxicated and his wife sent him below while she enjoyed the fishing. Our clients have shown me that fishing is just down right more fun sober. Have yet to see a cold beer ruin anyones fun and have also seen it takes very little for the beer drinkers to satisfy that urge while fishing. Guess I'm just proud of the folks who get high on adventure; everyone knows I do.

Our last dolphin trip fed the family and all the restaurant help. We released enough fish to have 2 good days worth of fish next time out. Reef fishing is still good and the 150 pound sharks really make a half day fishing go bye in a hurry. It's HUMP time again for tuna and large dolphin in that area. A one degree water temp has been lingering at the wall and the big fish are still there for the big game hunters.

Our annual weather is moving in and we will get slow. Fishing and lobstering is still great! The weather is slow moving and folks can plan their trips around it. Bad weather loads us up with some great floaters, so come on down between the storms. Captain Pips also has rental boats and package deals for all the venturers.

Chad & Joe from La. found more than the schoolies for me. This girl put on quite a show of acrobatics for the guys first time offshore venture. The schoolies were in 600' finally; where they should be this time of year with the gulf stream out 18 off the light. Seas were rough! After landing supper, we came to shallow water and had some fun catching all the local varieties on knocker rigs.

David and I look forward to seeing these guys again with hopefully some calmer seas. Even Les Miles would be proud of these LSU anglers.

Waiting for photo. Where oh where did the schoolies go? There were frigate birds on tuna from 600' to 1,000'. Tuna were fun to catch, but our client wanted a dolphin. Weeds were broken and scattered from 400' south, lots of bait, but only small jacks knocking out baits down. Fortunately I did my homework and was aware the gulf stream had moved out and the cooler water line was at 1,000'. At 1,000' ('bout 30 miles) we found 3 frigate birds and about 50 other birds running rampant. Hooked up a large gaffer bull dolphin that kept us occupied for the next half hour. A small boat came up and caught the cow and in doing so put the birds to flight. All the birds left in every direction. Another 5 miles south looked like the barren sea; no birds or weeds.

The good news! This was Clint's first trip offshore fishing and just wanted to experience catching something bigger than the bass and catfish he was accustomed to catching. Thrilled not only with catching more dophin and tuna than his family could eat on their visit but also by the offshore adventure of the hunt; the blue water, fishing the rips, seeing the tuna breaking water while chasing bait, the flying fish, the white knuckling from the bridge (3-5' seas in rips). According to Clint, he had one of the most exciting and memorable experiences of his life. Let us not forget our first big catch offshore nor think that you have to catch a wheel barrow full of dolphin every trip to have a successful trip. It is still fishing and fishing in the Florida Keys is absolutely the best. Clint is topping off his trip by taking his family to Sombrero light for some snorkeling. That too is awesome!

Come to "Capt. Pips Marina and Hideaway" and fish with Capt. Gator & David for the experience of a lifetime.

David & Tonya made Capt. Gator proud again. Bonnie helped with the catch and 1st mate David shows off the complete catch. So many fish that I'm certain everyone caught fish today. We caught fish at 450 feet and ran accross school after school never going further than 650'. Today was action day with lots of fish on light spinning tackle. Quite a relief after their large catch yesterday. Good job everyone for catching over 200 lbs of fish 2 days in a row; everyone will sleep good tonite. Gee it's great to be a Florida Gator in the keys taking these Seminole & Ga. fans fishing; we all won!

Capt. Gator had lots of Gator help and even a Bulldog fan. Gator fans Bob (not shown) & Bonnie (rt) from Pompano Bch, Florida brought their son David and sweetheart Tonya to Marathon for a fishing adventure of a lifetime. So many large gaffers; enough for several fish fries.

The big boys finally moved in from offshore. All these were caught within 20 miles of shore. Do not know a better way to entice you to come fish with us at Captain Pips Marina and Hideaway.

Capt. Pip's owner Johnny Maddox wanted in on the fun David and I have been having offshore fishing. Needlessly to say we readily obliged; the extra challenge of finding a big fish for the boss could not be passed up. Calm seas and poor fishing reports the day before added to the excitement. After checking the offshore temp charts, I decided that the 1000' (the wall) was not the place to start and I would need to find something that would hold fish without going so far. The first bird line in blue water was at about 600' (also the edge of the gulf stream), had quite a bit of "broken and scattered" weeds and had birds looking East to West. The bait was scanty at best and we only fished about 10 minutes before deciding to look for a better "fishy" location. Another 2 miles and I spotted a very nice "rip". Several birds were feeding off the random weeds in the rip. You could almost smell the fish, like a bream bed. I just knew we would find something. With a full spread and David and Johnny having to clean numersous lines, my 30 minutes of patience was fast running out and "WHAM" the starboard outrigger and shotgun went off. They hit so hard you could feel the boat jolt, and nobody screams any better than those two when they get excited. David had the bull and Johnny the cow. The bull was jumping as though he was fouled hooked and after 10 jumps spit the hook. Towing the cow seem to limit her jumps and after about 15 minutes we had a nice 23# cow in the box.

Time to find more fish. The next two miles were full of tuna breaking the water as far as you could see. Another two miles and another rip with the same scenario as the last. Time to fish again. Rather quickly we had on a bottom hunter. It hit a rigged bait and headed for the bottom. You guessed it, 18# tuna. The rip was long and we fish on till we hooked up with the 30 pound Bull Dolphin in the picture.

We had our 3/4 day of fishing in and plenty to eat. Don't know where the "schoolies" are and as long as we keep catching the big-un's, who cares! Ahhhhh fishing in the keys; it just does not get any better...

Practice

Capt. Dallas will love this one. When business is slow, what do you do? Practice! David called and said he would like to help his neighbor become a better offshore fisherman and wanted me to run the boat. Being a good neighbor myself, I donated the time. Another "AWESOME" offshore adventure here in the keys was in the making. Lots of bay grass and green water out to 650'. For those with their own boat, that's 11-12 miles offshore. The first birds we fished in the blue water brought us a nice baracuda (for our friend Omar at Porkys restaurant). Next stop was some schoolie dolphin. The warmer water was beyond the wall (1000 ft.) and it was full of football size tuna. We saw a large billfish greyhounding on the outside of a school of waterbreaking tuna and ran it down. It passed on all our expensive baits and came to the flat line and ate a pink C&D unrigged lure. Chopped David's head off in the phone camera photo, but the quality of picture is getting better. We left 1300' and got a "skippie" tuna for the neighbors wife. Every mile was a new set of birds and school after school of small tuna. Now it was time for a trophy dolphin. Run and gun style. 2 birds instead of 20 or 30 was the key to finding a feeding dolphin. With our irresistible spread, hooking it up was almost certain. Getting it in the boat is what fishing is all about. The first jump let me know it was over 20 pounds and of coarse the more it jumped the bigger it got. At 100 yards, a 25 pound fish looks like a 45 pounder and we were VERY excited. I still get "buck fever" when a big fish gets on. David is shown w/dolphin.

Hopefully his neighbor learned something; his angling and seamanship skills had a lot to be desired. He was kind enough to give me a break from the helm while he proceed to try to break my back (and his boat) with a pounding that I thought only novices trying to show how fast and stupid they could run a boat. He did not appreciate my comments and I was in so much pain that I really did not care. If anyone wants to show what a pounding their boat will take, do it by yourself and let others watch from the beach.

Captain Pips knows well enough that even a sore back cannot ruin an offshore adventure here in the keys.

Mangroves and fireworks

Mangroves DO grow to filet size. Millions of one pound mangroves are eaten annually, but during the spawn 3lb average is more to your liking. Bad weather slowed the charter business but never the fun of fishing in the keys. We caught these nice mangroves while watching the fireworks. If we were shark eaters, we would have cleaned just as many sharks. AWESOME is a word created in and for the Florida Keys. In the water or on it, true adventure starts here. Come see why...

Happy days

Cell phone camera did not do these nice gaffers justice or much for my smiling face. The two hanging behind me were at 20 lbs, holding tuna, and a nice cow with a partial bull head (u figure). The fish were scarce and the radio was silent. Peanut dolphin at the reef but good fish were well offshore. We had a 3/4 day and got good fish at 35 off the beach. By the time we caught these, it was time to come home. However, I have never had a charter that would complain about catching these nice fish. Lots of people are conditioned to the fact that with a North to Northwest wind the fish won't bite this time of year; wrong again. You just have to be willing to go the extra mile to find them. Lots of weeds inside and some lines with bait on them. All the right conditions, but no fish (except thousands of tuna). For those wanting tuna, drop your lines back, kick up the throttle and run those rascals down. Billy baits and "tuna killers" from Dave's tackle will do the trick.

The Capt. Pips team strikes again with this award winning catch. The "run & gun" method is what it took to find big fish Thursday. Schoolies were on the reef and a few were scattered at the edge of the gulf stream but the gaffers were well offshore in 1500 to 3000 feet. The Campbells' will eat more than soup for the next few months. Pictured L-R; 1st mate David, Rosey, Capt. Gator, Ron Campbell.

Wahoo were the big game fish of the day for Capt. Bobby Manske along with some schoolies and triple tail.

It does not matter where you are from or what kind of fish you usually catch, you have had a great day on the water when you bring in a catch like this (we released half as many as we brought home). Come to the Florida Keys and join in on the excitement.

Bragging rights is what it's all about at Capt. Pips Marina and Capt. Gator "slams" them again. You saw Ron & Rosey with last years dolphin a couple of articles back. Well, they brought Ron's good luck charm Suzanne and sure enough, they topped last years catch. Ron & Captain Gator are holding the 28 lb bull while Rosey shows off his nice gaffer. Suzanne shows one of her many catches of the day and 1st mate David is all smiles with this big triple-tail.

Amazing how the bite changes. The other day we were catching keeper schoolies in 65 feet of water while snapper fishing and today we had to go 33 miles to find a big fish (that's what they ordered). Stay tuned; we will be at it again Thursday and have to top what we did today. Gee this group is a lot of fun...

THE NEXT DAY:

I just got a phone call (noon) from Ron checking on the type of grouper he just caught on the spot 1st Mate David gave them on their guide trip Saturday (pays big dividends to use a guide). The Peanuts (tiny mahi mahi; dorado; dolphin; tiny schoolies) were more abundant than the yellow tail snapper while bottom fishing. Now you know why people come here year-after-year for vacation. These folks KNOW how to have fun...

Tina's trophy as promised. Did not have my camera on board, so we had to wait for the phone photo. Missed Tina's smile, but you can rest assured it was ear to ear. This sail is a bit larger than our normal winter variety and is going to be a lovely mount for Tina.
Offshore in the Florida Keys is always an adventure. This bad boy hit our DDD on the flat line in 650 feet of water, with the lightest tackle of course.
Capt. David Hoffman got the tail end of things here but still caught the biggest dolphin of the day.
Captain Gator & David thanks our guests for one of our most exciting offshore trips.

"SLAMMERS" keep on coming. According to the radio, fishing was tough; and it was. It took 3 1/2 hours and a lot of running and gunning to find enough bait to hold fish. We started with triple tail on a nice floater (smiling Pete is showing you). Another 5 miles out and the schoolies finally showed up but did not "school" behing the boat like they are suppose to. Had to catch them 1 & 2 at a time on the troll. 5 more miles out and we ran down some tuna (Blue Devil Alex got the skippy and Larry got the black fin). 5 more miles out and we finally found enough bait to hold some big fish and red shirt Larry finessed the big bull. They put me in the picture to let me show you that the schoolies were legal size.

Captain Gator does love bragging rights and has been blessed this year with more than his fair share. Again, I thank Dave Herberholz for the fine rigging and gaffing and our guests for their fine angling skills.

For those folks that brought their boat and the fine folks in the rentals that can't understand that the fish may be in 100' one day and 1,000' the next need to "rent a guide" to enhance your trip. It's a big ocean and a guide can teach you what signs to look for other than "run for the birds" and fish the weed lines. Knowing where the charters and guides caught fish today will NOT help you find fish tomorrow.

Thanks Johnny & Barbara at Captain Pips for letting me use all that fuel today; we needed it to find the fish. They do what it takes to keep their clients happy.

True Adventure in Paradise

The dolphin adventure began with over 100 "Flipper" dolphin (porpoises) jumping and nudging at the bow of the boat just off the reef. What a sight in the crystal clear blue/green waters of the keys. The next show was put on by hundreds of "peanuts" (less than 20" mahi mahi dolphin) greyhounding after flying fish, then following the 2 that bit on our outriggers and schooling behind the boat lighting up the water with their Florida Gator blue, yellow, and green colors.

We kept looking and the next school we caught were "slingers" (keeper dolphin too small for the gaff). Then the aerial show began with Bens big bull. His 1st dolphin trip and He is now "hooked". After catching lots of "schoolies", we ran offshore to 1,000 feet (the wall) for the big one. Pictured L-R; David, Charlie, Ben, Capt. Gator.

Day 2 with Charlie and Ben took us the reef for some bottom fishing (Ben wanted a big shark and some yellow tail snapper). Saw a couple of birds just off the reef in about 150' water and could not resist the temptation to try for a tuna. It took all of 10 minutes to find and catch a tuna before we went and anchored. The Yellow tail were out in great numbers as were the hungry sharks. Ever seen a "scorpion fish"? These guys were amazed at the number of different species we catch (8-10 on an average day). Back to the sharks. Ben pulled in a 6 footer in only 30 minutes while Charlie took almost an hour man handling an 8 footer.

Thanks to Captain Pips for their special rates on fishing and lodging that lured these two great fishermen to us. Part of their package was a rental boat they took and caught bone fish the day before their charter on PaPa Pip.

Captain Gator and crew strike again. Better be careful for what you ask for, especially when in the Florida Keys. Tina Felton (holding the flag) asked for a "wall hanger" and we obliged with a 70+ lb. sailfish. She earned bragging rights and took almost an hour landing it. Capt. Dalvid Hoffman just wanted some Mahi Mahi for supper and landed a 20 lb. cow and 18 lb. bull. Like to thank them for feeding the employees at Porkys Bayside with the extra schoolies they caught. #1 mate (David) also shown.

As for the "how to do it", I can simply say, "different ways for different days". Conditions change daily and the more you fish an area the better your "educated guess" is going to be.

When the Gulf Stream is in close (10-12 miles) you can almost guarantee fish will be at the edge of the stream. Visit "Captain Pips" for more on Capt. Gator and charters.

School is definately in; schoolies are everywhere! It's that time of year for us to really enjoy our regular clients like Ron & Rosey(shown in the photo). They help with bragging rights because they can get the big ones to the boat. Just hate to talk about the one that got away.

There are so many exciting things to talk about when offshore that I can only mention them one at a time, like today. An acre of bottle nose dolphin; that's right, "Flipper". Big ones, little ones, dolphin everywhere. Jumping and escorting the boat from the bow to the stern. Fascinating, like they were doing their aerobics just for us. Catching fish, always exciting. Dolphin show, exultant.

Ron & Rudy will be here in 2 weeks. Just had to show their last year photo in lieu of the schoolies we caught today. A lot of cleaning today but certainly no bragging rights.

Kids for fun!

What a day for the Captain Pips crew. 7 year old Ryan caught his 1st dolphin. He was a sight to behold. He started the day with a "lit'l tuney", hauled in a small baracuda, and then totally got balistic when his 1st dolphin put on an acrobatic show just for him. Ryan was more than a "sport" and had us busting at the seams when he told his Dad, "good job Dad" after Dad landed his 1st fish of the day. Congradulations Dad for all the good manners and self assurance you have instilled in your son.

This is truly the time of the year for family entertainment on the high (actually low) seas. Bring your family to CAPTAIN PIPS and lets go for a fishing trip of a lifetime.

"SLAMMERS"

It's that time of year again when bragging rights at the dock come in the form of "slammers" (Mahi Mahi; Dorado; Dolphin over 25 lbs.). We stole the show with this 46 1/2 pounder on Monday. Added to the big bull was a 34# cow, 7 teen-agers (fish 15-22 lbs) and 6 schoolies.

Wednesday was almost as good and in some ways, better. After visiting other marinas we saw lots and lots of schoolies and very few "gaffers". Our clients wanted BIG FISH and we accomodated them with a 25 & 20 pounder. The schoolies were released.

So, if you are planning a fishing trip to the Keys, check our website at Capt. Pips and ask for Capt. Gator on PaPa Pip.

Pictured are David, Capt. Gator, and Bryan. Thanks to David (mate) for his expertise in rigging and Client Bryan for getting the fish to the boat. I can only take credit for getting in the right area. Thanks Guys!