SNAKES ON THE BOAT!!!

Captain Mike DeStefano called me over to his dock today to check out a situation he had on his boat. There was a hissing snake under the seat of the boat.  I thought it was a Copperhead but after Mike's grandchild did some google research we found it was a harmless Corn snake.  We got it off the boat unharmed

Corn snakes are not an endangered species. However, they are listed by the state of Florida as a Species of Special Concern because they face habitat loss and destruction in the lower Florida Keys. Corn snakes are often mistaken for copperheads and killed. They are also popular as pets. They are the most frequently bred snake species for pet purposes. However they are sometimes captured in the wild to be sold as pets. This does not seem to pose a serious threat to this species at this time.

Corn snakes help to control rodent populations that may otherwise spread disease.


All or part of this information was provided by the Animal Diversity Web and Museum of Zoology of the University of Michigan

Mixed Bag

Captain Warrington and his daughter Laurie caught a mixed bag this morning including grunts and trout.

Shark

Captain Jim Dowling caught this 3 foot 6 pound Bonnet Shark yesterday.

TROUT

Captain Charley Best and friend Paul from New Jersey did some late afternoon back country fishng and caught a few 17 inch trout.

Shrimp Time

Wilmarie and Captain Dave Perkins caught a lot of shrimp the other night.  Wilmarie's dog Otto enjoys walking around with a shrimp in his mouth and don"t try to take it from him.

GATOR

Captain Jim Dowling fished with his brother-in-law Ken a few days ago and snapped this picture of an alligator with a bobber in its jaw.  Jim was wondering what became of the fisherman on the other end of that line..

SHRIMP

Captain Glenn Warrington took the family out shrimping in the creek last night.  They did pretty good but the mates got cold and they had to come in early.

DOCK SHRIMP

After having a great Wahoo dinner at Guy and Sue's last night I took a walk out onto their dock with my shrimp net and bucket that I just happened to have with me and caught about three dozen nice size shrimp and a few crabs.  I didn't have a light so it was difficult spotting them, but tonight I will have a light.

SHEEPSHEAD

Captain Glenn Warrington's daughter Laurie and granddaughter Jenna fished the creek yesterday and Laurie caught this 18 inch Sheephead.

GROUPER

Captains Glenn and John  teamed up and tore up the back country yesterday.  They caught these Gag Grouper along with Jacks, Trout and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Ranger

This is a picture of two Rangers that have been stopping and checking out boaters in the park.  Make sure your safety equippment is ok and your fish are legal.

Wahoo

This 168 pound Wahoo was caught in Bimini the other day by a friend of Rudy.  Trying to find out the name.

5 Pound Walleye

Captain Bob Randall caught this 5 pound Walleye ice fishing on Bear Lake MI.
Bob will be fishing the Keys next month.  Watch out Snook.

Saw Fish

Jim also hooked this saw fish yesterday and released it unharmed.  He saw a few of them in shallow water.

Trout

Captain Jim Dowling from Cromwell Court has been catching his share of nice size Trout this year.  He caught this one near Lake Key with a shrimp tipped jig.  He was fishing with his friend Greg who caught his limit of trout.

35 Inch Snook

Ray and Ed did some trolling in the Cape Coral canals and caught a few Snook including this 35 incher.  They had it on the dock because they had to surgically remove the treble hooks.  It was released unharmed.

Sea Urchin

Pat and I fished for awhile tonight and then did some bullynetting and caught these three lobster.
That is a Sea Urchin that I scooped up.  I stepped on a few of them in Jamaica, it was not fun.  Those spines are like glass and they get enbedded in your foot until they work themselves out.  And they cause a great burning sensation in your foot until you pour vinegar on it.

First Snook

Captain Glenn Warrington got the first Snook Of the season.  It was 22 inches.

PERMIT

Captain Dave Perkins had a shrimp charter last night but the shrimp weren't running so Dr. Brian Rank threw out a gulp shrimp on a light Trout rod and caught this 30 pound permit.  It took about twenty minutes to land it.

Red Fish

John, a snow bird from Tennessee, just got a boat and already he is out catching Red Fish.

Nice Dolphin

Charlie Wilson caught this beauty recently.

Big Red Fish

12 year old Eddie Demiglio fished with his dad eddie and caught a few very nice Reds on spoons and plastic.  All were released unharmed.

Captains Three

Captains Gus, Carlos and Eddie went off shore yesterday and caught 6 King Fish, 6 Mangrove Snapper and a few Yellowtail.

Mixed Bag

Ray and a few friends, Louie, Bruce and Jim from North Dakota fished near Pine Island and caught Jack, Sharks and Trout. That is Jim with the Bonnet Shark and Louie with a small Permit.  Bruce, not pictured caught some trout and Lady Fish.

13 POUND MUTTON

Captain Carlos Jemenez  is holding a 13 pound Mutton Snapper he caught yesterday.

TROUT

Pat caught this 22 inch trout with a jig tipped with a shrimp.

A RED FOR GUS

Gus and I went out to catch a few Redfish today.  Since he had a bad back I did not want to put him into some very heavy fish.  He caught this 8 pounder right away.  We released it hoping we would get a few more but that was it.

SAWFISH

RED FISH

I went backcountry alone this morning and caught a few Red Fish.  I released them all except one that swallowed my plug.
I saw a Saw Fish swimming along side my boat for about 100 yards then later on I saw what I thought was a Red Fish in the mud and threw a plug to it and started to reel in and it was another Saw Fish that I snagged.  Luckily it came loose and swam off.

Sheryl, her uncle and Craig went out to get some lobster yesterday and also did some spear fishing.

Pat and I did some Grouper fishing this morning and caught these two under size Gags.

Nice Catch

Bob caught these seven and eight pound Steelhead and three pound Brown Trout yesterday in the Little Manistee River.

Self Portrait

Captain Randall took this self portrait of himself and a seven pound Steelhead.  This looks like it should be hanging in a museum.

My cousins Ray and Judy and I did some backcountry fishing today.  We caught a lot of Jacks, Ladyfish and one Black Tip Shark.  We also caught this small Gag Grouper.

Captain Gus Ramirez and Captain Carlos had a good day yesterday aboard 'Wahoo VIII".  They caught nineteen Dolphin, some Kingfish and a ten pound Mutton Snapper.

SHARK

Danny Ritter from Miami fished with Captain Dave Perkins Saturday and caught his first Black Tip Shark.  It  gave him quite a fight even jumping a few times like Tarpon.
Captain Perkins is back in the Keys after doing a bit of fishing on Lake Michigan.  If you want to go back country or offshore Captain Perkins is the guide you want to fish with.
Check out his website in the links section "Keys Fishing Guide" or copy and paste www.captaindaveperkins.net

Blue Fish

On Wednesday Ray, Judy and I fished Pine Island Sound and caught a mixed bag.  Of course Judy is always the first to catch a trout.  I am holding a gulf of Mexico Bluefish that must have wandered in to the sound.
We were were doing good until it started to rain and we started to freeze.

Red

I went over to the west coast Tuesday and fished with my cousin Ray in his canal and caught this Redfish.