That looks like a lot of fun.
The fishing part, not the drive.
Would you use the charter again or were you not real impressed overall? You mentioned the boat wasn't what you'd anticipated.
It was, and yes I would, and will. The guy who was running the show really knows his stuff. Problem was that his regular ride is his partner's 35' Cat, the same one he was running down to Islamorada from Ft. Lauderdale the day of our trip. I got a text just as we arrived at the house showing one of two counter-rotating props on one of the boat's 350s GONE. He'd stopped to try to pick up a couple golden tilefish on some numbers and all of a sudden heard a loud whistling noise. Somehow the back prop had sheared off the shaft and went to the bottom. As such, the rig I booked him to run us out on was now going to limp down to the Keys and head for the shop. He said that he'd try to find someone to lend him another boat, as finding parts and last minute mechanic is something of a trick . Problem was that everybody was booked to fish.
He managed to talk to a buddy who had a cancellation and thus, us heading out on the 38' Luhrs. I have never, and I mean never been on a rig of such a size that rode so horribly. We were in seas less than two feet and I swear it seemed like we were in 6'-8's. STX actually got quite seasick out on that tub, something I've never seen in dozens of trips with him, many in fairly rough seas. I was shocked at just now badly that thing rode. Also, the Luhrs is *slow*, and the 30+ miles to the sword grounds in the Cat would've taken an hour. With the Luhrs it took 2.5 hours plus. Then of course we lost an engine on the Luhrs coming BACK. What are the odds? It threw a hose and there was coolant everywhere. We were all like, 'JFC, what's next, we spring a major leak in the fuggin' hull and there are no PFDs aboard?'
The guy and his mate worked their asses off trying to get us tight. This kind of fishing is seriously labor jntensive. You have to watch the rod 100% of the time, and adjust constantly due to changing depth. You have to stay on the numbers and run the boat continuously. It is NOT an exercise in just dropping to bottom, cracking a cold beer and putting your feet up as you bob around. The gear used is highly specialized and the proper baits and presentations are also key. Experience in detecting a bite is also so. Swords do not mash baits like tuna. Bites can be almost imperceptible. They will use their bills to poke at or whack the bait before coming back to eat, and being able to recognize the difference is important. You don't want to be hauling up when you should be dropping down, don'tcha' know.
Anyway, there's more but I've gone on enough. I know how much I bore people here going on endlessly...
LD: I know how it goes dude, but thanks. We struck out with swords and had some crap luck with boats and no bite. The day we were out there were about 20 other boats chasing swords, including the famed Nick Stanz. Of all the guys out there, only a single sword pup was hooked. We still managed a few fish--that were all damned delicious, BTW--
and we had a good time amongst friends. And that's more than half of the point anyway, in my book.
