Key West Lobster - Lobster Fest 2013

We headed down to Lobster Fest in Key West for the opening weekend of Lobster Season. The first thing we did was search for where to "Snorkel for Lobster in Key West" we had very few hits and searched for any information on where to go. Someplace close to shore, someplace that may have lobster. We weren't expecting much since we were new to lobstering and weren't really sure if we would catch ANY at all. We rented a boat from Spencer's Boat yard and for a very reasonable price we have a boat that could hold 12 people even though we only had 7 it made it quite comfortable. The cool thing is we did find a few places to go right in the local area and not far away so we wouldn't burn much gas and would still have a chance to Snorkel and find Lobster. It was kinda rainy and cloudy but we had some sun which helped with the water clarity.

As you can see from the map that we only tried one area but we are sure there are many more locations and if you look at a GOOGLE MAPS satellite image and look at these locations you can see how the ledges look on the map and can possibly find many more.

I know this is a very simple post BUT If I would have had this info it may have helped US tremendously. The ledge is literally a square that was dredged and is now a ledge that looks very prominent. We saw many lobster holes as well as other fish, octopus and Barracuda, including Goliath Grouper and Lobsters. I believe this spot holds a lot of lobster but during the sportsman's mini season it is probably hit pretty hard.

Make sure you have your license, your dive flag, measuring device and a tickle stick. Good luck and I hope this helps. I posted this same post on my other blog.

Fishing Clearwater

We had heard that there is good fishing on low tide near the Clearwater
Bridge. We decided to head out and test the waters. We got to the site
after maneuvering through the traffic to get there and parked at the
little parking area just on the west side of the bridge on the south
side of the road. It worked out to be a good spot to park and launch the
kayaks. It was a little muddy and we had to drag them a little farther
than normal but all in all a good place to launch. The first thing to
note is all the boat traffic that hits this channel. We headed straight
across and to the island area right across from where we launched. The
tide was low and we could see the drop off and the grass near the island
was exposed. But we were able to troll back and forth along the drop off
and cast some top waters and jigs going from deep to shallow.  Initially
I tried a few different style gulps and had a few nice strikes but
nothing aggressive enough to hook up. Then I noticed that there was
quite a bit of commotion on the top with schools of bait and fish
swimming through them feeding. I switched over to top water and that
seemed to do the trick. The fish started biting and after a few hook ups
my buddy landed a Trout, Redfish and Snook. The trout and redfish were
keeper size and the Snook, of course we let go.
        We will be heading back here in the near future and trying it
out again. It may be a little better to try this spot during the week
when there isn't as much boat traffic.

Big Redfish - Spring is Hot

Well Spring fishing seems to be really picking up. Here is Tim with a huge Red.

I havent been able to get out on the water much my Job has kept me on the road However I do know that the fishing has really been good so far this spring.