The sun rising over Key West Harbour

The A team consisted of Robber; Sergeant Geoff who got promoted yesterday and Chris the AJ who also got a citation. Our Captain was Big Bill and we were on the Cool Water.

Days like this are a rarity at this time of the year

The B team was Keith and Cruncher who were with Captain Manny.

The A team had a plan and after buying some Goggle Eyes from the bait boat we set out to fish a wreck in 240’’ of water hopefully for some Red Snapper.

Unfortunately no one had told the snappers and first drop down a reef donkey (AJ) was hurting Geoff’s back, it was the Chris’s turn and it was the same story.

A monster amberjack. Bringing these up from 200 ft involves plenty of HURT

Robber was under fire for not having a go but was forced into it and no one would take the rod off him when it bent double.

The AJ has brought Robber Marlow to his knees

Being an Admiral he set the scene with an 8-minute battle with an Amberjack a tough target to beat.

Plan B was set in motion; the idea was to slow troll a whole Bonito on the beastie gear for a Hammerhead.

How's this for a bait ??

This was trolled around for about an hour around the wreck but no Harry.

Then another boat close by reported seeing a big Mako and by big I mean about 600lbs.

More slow trolling but no Mako.

Plan C was next, fish the whole Bonito alongside the wreck 240’ down hopefully for a giant Jew Fish or the Mako which may have gone down.

This was Robbers last chance for another P.B and we had the tackle.

The plan was to have so much drag on the reel that humans couldn't pull it off, the rod would be in the holder and if a fish was hooked the boat would hopefully drag it clear of the wreck.

On our second drift the rod arched over and Robber was on the reel, note the rod is still in the holder, with this much drag it could be man overboard.

Everyone thought we had a Big Jew Fish, but we were wrong another greedy AJ had taken the whole Bonito and Robber slowly cranked it to the top.

It was decision time and the crew opted to have a last shot at the Tarpon, they jumped two and landed none.

Not a brilliant end to the adventure, but how could you complain about an AJ every drop after all they are fish and they do pull....and pull....and pull !

The B team were also having a tough day although they did catch some big yellowtail snappers.

Robin Cruncher mentioned that he hadn’t caught a Permit for 16 years; Captain Manny said he could change that.

A 10-mile run to the Permit Patch and the last cast of the trip Robin and Keith had a double hook up and both landed their Permits.

A Permit on the last cast of the trip for Cruncher

And one for Keith also

A nice way to finish.

All in all it was not the best fish catching trip, it started off brilliantly with 36 Tarpon to the boat in the first two days. Then it was patchy.

The Shark fishing was exceptional with the A team boating 26 on one day.

Robber had a P.B Lemon Shark estimated between 230-250lbs

A Big Bull Shark over 200lbs, Tarpon up to 120lbs and some superb Tunas.

Chris the AJ who prior to this trip had only caught fish up to 16lbs had dozens of fish up to 100lbs. Geoff broke the AJ record for the most caught.

Keith and the rest of the shipmates also had many great fish.

This year we had no broken rods and reels, mainly down to Daiwa.

Super Kensaki rods did the business and without doubt must be the best travel rods for the price in the world.

A variety of Daiwa reels were used and everyone has an incredible drag, without a good drag you will not land anything of any size.

Yes we had the bad luck stories mainly revolving around broken hooks, that's fishing and it can happen.

Relaxing in the Raw Bar after a hard day on the water

All of the shipmates hope you have enjoyed our Big Adventure.

Keith - Without his organisation none of this would happen

And goodbye from Roy - He writes all of the words (although not neccessarily in the right order)

Our message is simple, if you want to do this don't leave it to late, because you will not be fit enough to do it.

This was judged as Picture of the Week

Signing off

Robber MarlowикониикониПравославни иконииконописikoni

Captain Manny

This time we found the Thread Fin Herrings there were millions in a weed line; my guess is that they were spawning and within 15 minutes we filled the bait well.

Using 6 hook Sabiki rigs it was often 6 fish every cast.

Catching the bait can be as much fun as trying to catch the monsters

Captain Manny who is Cuban decided on a very long run in fact 44 miles to a place where few white men know about, except Keith and Roy because they had been there with Manny a couple of years ago.

Its amazing miles of ocean with hardly any fish then an oasis of fish over a wreck or just a few rocks.

This location was a small sharp drop off where the water went from 220” to 230” along a shelf.

It was just over an hour away and a very pleasant ride in near calm conditions.

The fish finder was showing a few fish and Captain Manny skilfully positioned the boat so we could fish down the drop off.

The plan was a couple of flat lines fished with threadfins on the top and then bottom rigs with a 6 ounce sinker, the current and the colour were perfect and we were optimistic.

Last time Keith and I fished this spot we bagged up on Huge Mutton snappers and some Tuna then we were plagued with sharks.

Robber had a cunning plan quickly hatched, the fish showing on the scanner were off the bottom and big, Amberjacks were first option and in 220” of water could be very painful so he told Chris to have first drop whilst Robber played with setting up the flat lines.

Chris pulling hard

What a good choice, within seconds of the bait hitting 220” Chris was into a powerful fish that Robber told him would be a big Mutton Snapper or Grouper.

15 minutes of grunting later an AJ came to the surface.

First Amberjack of the day to Chris

A great fish but not target species and now an aching back was mentioned.

Robber during this time had pulled the hook on two Tunas and was not a happy bunny.

Lemon Geoff was next on the bottom rig and it was the same story, more pain.

Robbers skilfully landed a Tuna after a hectic fight and guess what he had foul hooked it in the cheek.

Roy's turn for arm aching action as he plays a tuna

The Tuna is safely in the boat

Sweat was now falling off the crew and it was decided we would time the quickest AJ landed.

Everyone had a go and we got it down to less than 10 minutes per fish, but the pain was showing, even Robber looked like he had been thrown overboard he was that wet with sweat.

Lemon Geoff had sweat falling off his nose and this was cooling the reel.

In between Robber who was concentrating on the flat lines hooked another fish that smoked the reel, after a fierce battle it was a nice King Fish, guess what foul hooked again, he is lucky.

Robber's foul hooked kingfish

Robber being a nice person let Chris and Lemon fish the flat lines and almost immediately they had a double hook up with fish that headed straight down.

A double hook-up of Amberjacks for Geoff & Chris

Different fights to a Tuna so it was guess the species time.

We all got it wrong because after 20minutes of sweating and even more grunting two big amberjacks were in sight. These were on 12lbs outfits with 20lb braid and as you can see they really can bend rods.

Cutting to the chase, the shipmates landed 4 Tunas, 1 King Fish and 13 Amberjacks, that meant at least one fish was being fought all the time they were out there.

What a fantastic day as eight of the AJs were taken off the surface.

Lemon Geoff was told that one of his surface fish was an Amberjack his little face dropped a mile after a 20 minute fight,  however Robber had seen that it was a Tuna when it took the bait.

Smiles all round, it's a Tuna instead of an Amberjack

Eventually big smiles all round as Lemon saw the funny side.

What a great day, the shipmates had a long run home and were very tired, they clocked 96 miles from leaving the dock, this adventure is for men only.

Chris the Wrasse was promoted to Chris the AJ.

Lemon Geoff was promoted to sergeant and Robber is still an Admiral.

No pictures from the B team, but we understand they also had a good day.

Tomorrow is Day 14 our last day in Paradise, watch this space.

Catching bait was the problem and our usual Threadfin Herrings had done a vanishing trick.

They had got progressively harder to locate over the last few days.

However both teams battled on but it turned out to be hard work.

A last resort is often the Amberjacks; if they weren’t so easy to catch you would consider them to be a brilliant fish.

They can be big and really pull hard, often in deep water over wrecks sometimes it’s all you can catch.

For most anglers 1 is enough 2 are painful and more than that is serious back pain.

Pulling them up from 200ft of water is serious hard work.

Over the years we have seen many a strong man beaten by AJ’S.

Cruncher Morley with another AJ

Not to be deterred both teams made the most of a very hard day and boated several.

It is not uncommon for the shipmates to do a round trip of 100 miles in a day and to do that you need some serious horsepower.

This is not one of our boats but 4 x 300 horsepower is pretty awesome, so is the fuel bill at just over ½ gallon per mile.

Serious Horse Power !!

The marine patrol has the same engines on a much faster boat that will exceed 60 miles per hour; you can’t outrun one of those.

Our boats have much more sensible engines and this is Cool Water captained by Chris Garcia running at a mere 40 miles per hour

Coolwater is one of the boats that we regularly use

On checking through our pictures we found one that we are sure was planted.

Mischievous Keith looks like he is about to do something very naughty, cant imagine what.

What's going on here then ??

Its only tough shipmates that can stand the pace, Keith looks tough, or is he in pain?

Playing big fish without a butt pad can lead to some nasty bruising in tender places

You will notice that Robber always wears a butt pad; you supposed to get wiser as you get older.

Robber Marlow always has a butt pad at the ready

A tough day for everyone, but that's fishing.

Both teams off to early beds, tomorrows another day and some cunning plans are in the offing.

The weather forecast is for no wind so it could be an exciting adventure.

The shipmates were rested and ready for another Big Adventure, tactics and meticulous planning was the order of the day.

Off shore fishing had been slow and with slow tides and low tides around midday a decision to go shark fishing on the flats was made.

Captain Mike aboard the Coolcast was going to take us to a secret location that few white men knew. It seems that I was one of them because I had been there before.

Captain Mike

The A team today was Cruncher Robin, Chris the Wrasse and Robber Marlow it was hot and humid but the shipmates were now hardened and were pacing themselves.

The secret location was a long winding channel with flats both sides, the problem was it was between flats with only a couple of feet of water available to gain access.

Captain Mike skilfully got us into position and our fresh Barracuda and Bonito were hung over the side to attract our target species.

After about 30 minutes the chum slick was about ½ mile long snaking its way over the flats, which were at high tide averaging 4 ft of water. Visibility was excellent and soon our first customer arrived, it was a Lemon shark and we decided that only one of us at a time would target a fish until we hopefully had several to go at.

To cut to the chase sport became hectic and we were soon into double figures with several fish approaching 100lbs being skilfully released.

Chris the Wrasse plays a shark to the boat

Robbers arm was playing up so it was down to Chris to keep the count going up.

Chris's 20th Shark of the day

In case anybody is feeling sorry for Robber Marlow and his "bad arm", DON'T. The bad arm only comes into play when he's hooked an average size fish and can't be bothered to play it. The arm is particularly bad when he hooks an amberjack and he was most upset when I was sharing a boat with him a few years back. He attempted to pass the rod over only for me to refuse....the reel handle was on the wrong side...I'm left handed !.  I also remember him going out with Dave Burr tuna fishing around the shrimp boats. That day there were a lot of bonito around (they're like little tuna and fight like hell). Poor Dave had to land so many bonito that he was proper poorly for the next three days.

Robin also had some great fish including a couple of black tip that really smoked our 12 and 20lb outfits.

Come Back Please - Robin's fish heads for Cuba

Chris was awarded a special prize by landing a shark with his hook through the eye of a hook that had previously broken off, an amazing rare picture.

You have more chance of winning the lottery than being able to perform this trick

The Tide turned and we moved up the channel a few hundred yards to a better location.

It wasn’t long before we had several more sharks around the boat but way out on the flats were two real monsters.

One was a Lemon the other was a big Bull shark that looked like a mini black submarine.

These big fish aren’t stupid and are always out of range.

Robber caught a nice Jack and quickly had it out on the edge of the flat under a balloon.

This should have done the trick but despite some major chasing the big bull shark did not catch the Jack and it gave up.

We needed a new Indian trick.

Robin soon had the answer he hooked and landed a Barracuda and a fresh fillet was soon out there.

This Barracuda provided the bait for the big sharks

The big Lemon picked up Crunchers bait and the reel smoked as about 200yds of line disappeared off the spool, then disaster, the hook broke in half and it was gone.

Robber had been studying the big Bull shark and noticed that now and again it left the flat and disappeared into the channel, a new tactic was employed.

A sizable piece of Barracuda was cast way down the channel and it wasn't long before the beast was sizing it up.

These big sharks aren’t stupid and over the years we have found that the wire puts them off, so we use short pieces of around 20” and strike quickly.

The beast picked up the bait and Robber set the hook, the first run was over 200yds and it was looking like Robber would be spooled out.

The Bull Shark is now 200 yards away

The beast stopped for a few seconds, but then raced off with another 100yds, the situation was now critical as the bottom of the spool was showing and there was no time to pull the anchor to follow it.

Robber used another Indian trick and did the opposite to what most anglers would do, he reduced the drag rather than increasing it and it did the trick the Beast stopped.

This time there was no bad arm and slowly the beast was pulled back to wards the boat, it was a major effort with some very serious drag on the reel and sweat from Robbers nose dripping on the spool to cool it down.

200 lbs of Bull Shark nears the boat

Eventually after 45 minutes it was along side, a magnificent Bull shark estimated at 200lbs plus.

The photographs do not do it justice regarding its size. Another Personal Best for Robber.

The bull shark is released to fight another day

We finished the day with 26 sharks of various species, 1 Barracuda and several smaller fish, a fantastic day for the crewmates.

The B team were out with Captain Jack, Keith and Lemon Geoff was the crew.

They also went shark fishing in Jew Fish Basin, it was a slow start but eventually the customers turned up and they also had some great sport landing 14 sharks of various species.

A lemon shark for Lemon Geoff

Everyone was tired out so we dined at the Raw Bar eating some of our fish from the previous day, it was awesome and the perfect end to another great day in paradise.

Day 10 and the crew awoke to a fantastic sunrise with no wind.

The A team consisting of Robber, Cruncher and Harry were going out into the Gulf to fish one of the wrecks with Captain Jack Kelly aboard Windy Day.

The Team quickly caught several dozen pinfish for bait and sped the 40 miles in about 1 hour and fifteen minutes.

It was instant action with every drop down a variety of snappers fought over the baits; quickly the fish box was filling up with some great eating fish.

Robber tried bigger bait and was soon into the first Goliath Grouper, they were called Jew Fish but we have to be seen as politically correct.

The Goliath Grouper, such a pretty fish...this is a baby one

Not to be out done Robin also landed a baby goliath.

This is Cruncher Morley's baby Goliath

Harry then made it number 3 after a great battle on a 12 lbs outfit.

And another baby Goliath for Harry the Rat

The action continued with Robber taking number four.

Harry was nominated to be the first to try the Beastie Gear, an outfit made for men only, consisting of 200lbs line and a matching rod and reel. We knew if that rod bent Harry would be in serious trouble and rule 4 would be implemented.

Rule 4 is if you get pulled overboard you must pass back the rod and reel before any rescue attempt can be made.

It would take an awfully big fish to put even the slightest bend in this rod

Luckily for Harry the beast was not at home, these fish can grow huge and Robber is seen here with a previous one, which is classed, as medium.

Ths is a picture from a previous trip showing just how big some of these Goliath Groupers can become

Sport was hectic with the dinner fish but Robber on a smaller beastie outfit was soon being pulled around the boat by a monster.

Sweat was dripping off his nose on to the reel to keep it cool.

We haven’t any pictures of this because whilst this was going on Cruncher and Harry were jumping around trying not to get bitten by a Lemon Shark that Cruncher decided would like to come aboard.

After several minutes it looked like the battle could be won, as the fish was way off the bottom, then disaster a serious hook broke in half and the beast was gone.

That's the third time this trip that this had happened so Robber purchased some very serious hooks that no fish or human can straighten or break.

The B Team consisting of Keith, Chris and Geoff played tug of war with a succession of Amberjacks out with Captain Mike, tough fish that most anglers only want to catch one of because they hurt your back.

Chris with his first Amberjack

Two Amberjacks hooked at the same time - Double the pain !!

Keith's Amberjack

And an Amberjack for Lemon Geoff

In all a fantastic day, everyone very tired and will not be going to the Gym because they have done their training earlier.

Cruncher tackle testing

As I'm sure that we've mentioned, Cruncher Morley is the big boss of Daiwa UK. He takes the job very seriously and is seen here testing a new rod just before its release to Argos. Next time the fifth section of your Airity breaks for the third time you can be totally confident that it has been fully field tested and that the breakage is entirely your fault...the evidence is here for all to see.

Only in Key West !!

And finally another "revealing" photo that Robber sent over with the caption  "Only in Key West"....can't imagine what he's talking about !!. The angler with his back to us is Cruncher Morley, the other poor soul is Lemon Geoff