Thursday, July 30, 2009


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.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

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.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009




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!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009


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.

Sunday, July 19, 2009


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...

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

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...
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About Me

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A native Floridian (Panama City, Fl.) that grew up entertaining vacationers and is still loving every minute of it. Nothing is more fun than seeing you catch that fish of a lifetime, whether it be a tropy fish or a rare species. Got my captain's license in 1963 and still get "buck fever" when we catch a fish. Been fishing the keys full time for 6 years and vacationed here for 10 years prior to moving here. 3 children, 2 grand children and a wonderful wife of 30 years. Absolutely living the dream in Paradise.