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 Photo!

Captain John Wambolt sent us this picture from his haul this week! Pictured here is a 15 lb Mutton Snapper. The picture doesn't do the mass of this fish justice. It's a nice treat since the Mutton bite hasn't been all that great with the Barracuda and shark lurking around the patch reefs. Thanks for the pic John! 

Blacktip Shark!

We went out fishing with John Wambolt who is the Captain of the Patch Man Do in Key Largo, Florida.  The entire day was filled with excitement, constant banter and laughter.  Going into the day I wasn't sure how much fun we were going to have fishing the patch reefs, but it turned out to be an extremely memorable day out on the ocean!  

    Blacktip Shark Video!

Click on the link above to watch the video of the fight that Brian had with the 30-pound blacktip shark.  Although we hooked into a bunch of sharks, this is the only one that we landed onto the boat.  We hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed fishing on the Patch Man Do!

Patch Man Do
John Wamboldt (Owner) 
Reef Fishing (305) 522-4787

Captain John began fishing in Long Island Sound 20 years ago for stripers, bluefish, and flounder and moved on to offshore yellowfin and bluefin Tuna fishing. In Rhode Island, he was a mate on the Thunderfish, an offshore shark boat fishing for Mako and Tiger sharks. He moved to South Florida 6 years ago and worked aboard the War Bird as a mate before becoming the owner/operator of the Patch Man Do, a Reef Fishing boat. Captain John can take you to the patch reefs for snapper, grouper, and barracuda as well as a large assortment of other species.

Kirk's Heading Home

Unfortunately we didn't make our goal of landing a tarpon to add to the blog. My two days off work this week were completely rained/blown out. We had our chances at landing big fish but we just couldn't connect when the opportunity was presented. It brings me back to the first time I had an opportunity on that 2 foot 5 pound rainbow, I blew a golden opportunity then and I blew it this week with Kirk. That's okay though, it's the missed opportunities that make you try harder, it's the failures that teach you things. That being said, it would be nice to get a little positive reinforcement from time to time. But I am convinced those opportunities will come, I just need to put my time in. Next time Kirk comes to visit we will be well prepared to hammer some baby tarpon and whatever else South Florida has to offer.

For all of you missing your trout updates have no fear I'm sure Kirk will be back on Spring Creek in no time catching fish, flipping rocks, and name dropping. As for myself, it's back to the drawing board with techniques and patterns... I'm going super heavy jig style for the snook and peacocks of the canal fishery, and going brighter and medium weight for the tarpon. I want them to think I am dangling a nice wounded pilchard right in front of their face.

Treat of the Week

This week's treat of the week is brought to you by one of the many flats that I had the opportunity to fish while I was down visiting Brian in the Keys.  Everything was going fine and I was catching the usual barracuda while stealthily wading to cast at each new patch of mangroves.  Down here you never know what is going to come out of the mangroves to chase a fly.

When you are wading the flats you want to keep your eyes constantly moving for cruising shadows.  Today just happened to be a shadow that was a little bigger then the rest!  I looked behind me and I could see a huge shadow swimming a little too close to me while I was wading.  Sure I had watched 2 - 3 foot sharks check out what I was, but they did so in a harmless and controlled manner.  This shadow was way bigger then anything else that I have seen up to this point.    

What I had also forgot to mention was that that day was a little cloudy with a slight breeze.  When the sun goes behind the clouds you aren't given as clear of a view into the water and when the wind picks up it also camouflages the visibility even further.

Anyways, back to the story.  I am wet wading and this huge lurking shadow is being too curious for comfort.  I make a quick decision once the sun goes behind the clouds and the wind picks up.  Now I am left completely blind to where this thing might be swimming.  I had a mangrove system that I was fairly close to so I walked over slowly to the mangroves, climbed up and perched myself like a gargoyle to get a better view of this shadow.  I waited a few minutes and never got a chance to see what exactly this thing was. Which made matters worse because all I could think about was this shadow for the remainder of that day.  

I'm pretty sure it was a shark, because before I had seen the shadow I heard it's tail slap on the waters surface letting me know of it's whereabouts.  I will never find out what exactly it was but I knew I was at ease perched atop the mangroves.  

On that day you won shark, but we would get revenge the next day when we hooked into several of your friends on the Patch Man Do!               

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.