My Dutch friend and I went out of Key Biscayne today. We caught some bait cast-netting about 100 ballyhoo, a couple dozen Cigar Minnows and about a half dozen Spanish sardines. We headed out and began the drift in 150. Soon thereafter I released a undersized Mutton-Snapper. We reset the drift and Yap<my dutch friend> hooks a nice Bull Dolphin on a 'carolina rig'. A few nice jumps, a nice gaff shot and we have a 20lb Mahi going nuts on the deck! We reset the drift and again Yaps rod goes off <carolina rig "wire"> with an even bigger 'fin starts jumping<est. 25-30lbs>, races towards the boat and spits the rig in his face boat side. Very heartbreaking. Both fish hit cigar minnows on while meanwhile my cigar on mono has been untouched. The we reset once again and my stradic8000 starts screaming, but we see nothing jumping. I get the boat started<w/rod in hand> and following the fish as it is about to spool me. Meanwhile Yap is reeling in the bottom rod and the other flat lines. The Sailfish put up an awesome aerial display. A few minutes later the sailfish was released. 1/2 on fins and 1/1 on Sails on what was going to be a 'bottom fishing' trip.
We reset for another drift when in the distance i spot a dozen birds. We reel in the lines and head towards them. Clouds of ballyhoo are being assaulted but we are unable to identify the culprits. We pith a couple of hoos along the edge of the cloud with no success.
That was enough offshore. We headed towards the bottom spot only to add a couple legal yellow tails and mangrove snappers to the cooler.
I also forgot to mention 3 small sharks that hit, 1 on the flat and 2 on the bottom. A lot of life out there and a fun day on the water!
