The day of the Muttons Sanppers (Bridge Fishing)

[Rare]

Back to Back Keys Trip- June 17th-19th 2011

Big Kudos to Ricky & Ron for picking me up & my gear! Because of last week heat wave we wanted to do things a bit different & not stay on the bridge, but break out of the heat & then come back when the sun is not looking to murder anyone.

We got there a little after 10:30pm. John was waiting for us already & we were soon setup our gear. John landed some nice greys before we got there, but told us the cat is on the hunt. Just about every bait we sent out we were rewarded with a catfish... I had a crab out & it did get smacked by either a Poon or Permit. It went under the tunnel & I was getting line back but the line was fraying badly on both side of the tunnel.  When I was reeling in & saw the fuzzy ball of mono, I knew it was close- then game over.

Morning time came & I started to setup Permit Fish. Ron, Ricky, & John  started setting up as well for the morning bite. First to get hit was Ron on a crab. He had good control of his peremit till one of the rods were in the way on John's cart & he slack just a bit & Permit was lost. I was next & this lovely Permit was a terminator. He worked me till the very end & wouldn't give up. I have the thumb to prove it. *LOL* Thanks to John for dropping the net & the guys for clearing out the way.

We left the bridge around 10am or so to grab a bite to eat. We went to Robbies, then headed to Bass Pro to pick up some fishing items. We chilled a bit, then pretty much slept in the car with the AC fully blasted.

Once we got a fare amount of sleep, John came knocking & we loaded up again to headed out. Not more then 10mins with my line out, I got hit, but I wasted way too much time. A waverunner went under the tunnel at the same time the reel went off. As I went to cut the line before the waverunner would  spooled me, the wave runner went one way, the line went another way. I was on a Permit- What are the odds in that?! (twice for me, 1st time was a boat long ago) Time was wasted & I wasn't able to get the right angle & lost it it so much line out.

The guys later on were having fun with their light rods getting greys in the 12-14 zone. My first mutton came in at 8:30pm when I was setting up the lantern. At first I thought it was  someone else rod that wasn't with us clicking hard...Then 30 sec went by & noticed it was my lite rod at the other end. I got my first mutton keeper. 2nd mutton rolled in at 11:45pm.

The turning point was fresh caught whitebait. I had to work to get these boys up with John. Because poons were there it made it hard, so I dropped the line at one end of the tunnel & worked them out. Nice size horse mixed in with medium size. 10-12 is all we got. John got about the same amount. About 1:01am a nice 15in grey came in. Went to bed & had a mixed bag of bonnet & Atlantic shark nose sharks. Some showers came through & the bite went off with back to back hits with muttons- As soon as Ricky helped me with the mutton the line  started to go off - another mutton.

The last mutton was I believe 20in & I had to work for him. He went to mach 3 with his run. I thought it was a bonnet head because I landed one not too long after that & it was fight like that one. When he didn't move left or right & started digging I was pretty sure it was a Mutton. At the end, the fresh bait was gone & the bite shut off pretty much after that. Thanks to the  "Key West Crew"  :toast:  another good time out!


Tally- 5 muttons in the 16 1/2~ 20inch. 1 Permit & a 15in fatty grey/

No boca Grips but put it in the 19lb-21lb zone


Some much needed R&R


Chow time




Back in the Deep South *LOL*






















My brothers having bfast- Crabs & benedict eggs on english muffin  :toast:

[conchydong]

That's some pretty good bridge fishing. Congratulations on the snappers and nice permit.

[Rare]

Thanks, Conch

Taking a trip to the Dry Tortugas in October with 6 guys in hopes of bring in those 12-20+lb Muttons. Deep dropping for golden tilefish & looking for that big blacks grouper as well...But Muttons are first on the list for me.

[conchydong]

Sounds great. They are catching some big genuine red snappers off Dry Tortugas now also. If they don't shut it down you may get a shot at them also.

[alantani]

nice photos!  i missed it.  where are you guys fishing?

edit:  oops, got it!  key west!