Patch Man Do Fishing Report

The next couple of pictures are documentation of a few fishing trips while working on the Patch Man Do. I got to give the Nomad Net a good workout hauling up a couple of large Red Grouper. It handled the test. The following pictures are of a small bonefish, a couple of porgy's, red grouper, and a pretty big barracuda. We caught lots of other fish, and some bigger fish, but when you are busy it's hard to get pictures taken of everything. Especially the spotted moray eel we caught... That thing was so ugly looking. 

Patch Man Do Fishing Trip!

Recently, Danielle and I had the opportunity to go out and spend a day on the Patch Man Do together. Captain John had heard that maybe there were some Pompano running through the area and he wanted to check it out to see if we could find them. Of course who am I to turn down a day on the open water... Luckily, Danielle was off from work as well and I could finally get her on a boat! We had a blast out there catching all sorts of fish... unfortunately none of which were pompano. I also happened to land my first bonefish.. Who needs to be in the flats? 

Species the Patch Man Do found for us this trip included:

Bonefish
Hogfish
Black Groupe
Mangrove Snapper
Yellowtail
Lemon Shark
Porgy
Cubera Snapper
Blue Runner
White Grunt

If you want to see more check out this short video and some pictures from our trip on the patch man do!!

 Patch Man Do 
**There is some graphic material in this video


**It should be made clear that in the video Captain John removed the head of the shark to bleed the fish out. If you don't bleed the fish the urine that is in the blood stream will spoil the meat. So since we were keeping the animal for dinner it was essential we didn't allow the meat to spoil. 

Patch Man Do Part 1

Yesterday work was winding down to an early close for me and Captain John Wambolt walks in and we started talking fishing. Well one thing lead to another and we were trying to plan a trip to go off shore on his boat to do a little patch reef fishing. Kirk was out helping him on his boat when John just asked "hey, you guys want to go out today?" I responded "Can we go in 30 minutes when I'm done with work?"

Next thing you know we're gassing up the boat and heading out in search of whatever the reefs may hold. Six hours and 9 species later we were hauling up the last and biggest catch of the day a 30 lb black tip reef shark. But that's a story for later...


Species we landed:

Black Tip Reef Shark
Sailor's Choice
White Grunt
Black Grouper
Barracuda
Cero Mackerel
Yellowtail 
Ballyhoo
Porgy


We may have had a larger mutton snapper on as well but the barracuda were causing a serious problem in that regard. Check out a couple of pictures and check back later for the video of the big shark!

Grouper Submission!

Todays photo submission comes from Captain John Wambolt of the Patch Man Do. They were out on the reef yesterday morning and they pulled up this 15 lb black grouper! This is a serious grouper with a very happy client! The cool thing about going reef fishing with Captain John is that there is so much variety to catch. One minute you are hauling up a mutton snapper and the next your into a big barracuda followed by a grouper that looks something like this! It really is an awesome experience without the hour boat ride each way!

Reefing it in the Keys

Today was my first opportunity to really hit the water since I have been down here and it was through dumb luck and working at Orvis that made it happen. I was working on Saturday and one of the captains came into the store and said his 1st mate never showed up today and was looking for someone to replace him for a trip tomorrow. "I CAN GO!" I'm sure I yelled across the store haha. 

It was an awesome day on the Patch Man Do and captain John really took care of me and our customers. It was a hell of a way to break into mating on the open seas with a near six foot barracuda to start the day... Awesome! The pictures below are what came next for the rest of the morning trip to the reef. 

Leaving the Ocean Reef Club behind

Stepano with a little blue runner

Don't be afraid to wave the jolly roger

Fighting a grouper!

Black grouper

After a morning on the boat I went looking, blindly, for bones... until next time.