Sport fishing the Florida Keys and the Cape 2010-2011:  From the Catch to the Table

Sport fish the Cape opened its 2010 season sport fishing the Florida Keys.  The change of scenery –not to mention the bite - proved to be great move to the hot, sunny weather.   Every day we hooked into a medley of fish:  tarpon, grouper, snapper, amberjack, king fish and sailfish.   To weigh in tarpons close to 100 pounds is every fisherman’s dream and we caught plenty of them.  We took our daily catch to the Lazy Day restaurant in Islamorada and feasted on grilled, blackened and pan-sautéed fresh fish.  The spread was sensational and it brought to the table the thrill of the day’s catch all over again.  There’s no doubt about it - doing offshore and back country fishing just fired us up for the 2011 season fishing the Cape.            

Our Cape season opened fast - the 2^nd week of June – for striped bass and blues.  We averaged 25 to 30 bass a trip, the largest catch up to 43 pounds.  The fish migrated closer in shore in search of warmer water.   We mixed it up (both casting and trolling) off the Monomoy Ripps and caught lots of fish – some keepers, others catch and release - in the 40 inch range.   Good captains always need a good game plan.  With a leg up from my sightings in Florida, I knew to look at the concentration of bait moving up the Gulf stream and now across the Nantucket Sound.   The bait in the front of Chatham shifted north to Provincetown.  The tides and current movements made it possible to pinpoint the best time of day to catch particular fish.  Some of our biggest tuna caught took place early in the morning and late in the afternoon.  Two new anglers – a 12 and 14-year old – made our vessel and their parents proud as they landed their first blue-fin tuna between 160-180 pounds.