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Key West trip nets
birthday
catch
 | | Mark Clabaugh
Western Union sunset. |
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Hello folks, I am writing you from the Conch Republic, Key West, where I have been fishing aboard the Reel Eazy with Captain Buddy Rogers. After the storm, Captain Buddy decided that Key West was the place to be for the winter and headed South. I went down just after New Years for a nice visit during the week of my Birthday where I am 32 for the 10th time in a row.
On my birthday, Captain Buddy Rogers and his wife Alison hired a guide to show us the ropes in Key West Sailfishing. The morning started off like so many other mornings for tourist fishing in far away places with a stop at the local bait shop, Key West Bait and Tackle right there at Schooner Wharf where we were docked. I of course used this excuse to go shopping for cool artificial baits, etc before the trip which I actually bought the bait that landed my fish!
 | | Clabaugh displays his birthday catch. |
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Sailfishing is a little different from what we have always done and contrary to my thinking we used smaller baits to catch these fish. My artificial bait of choice, a skirt, which I used was rather small and James, our guide, requested that we buy small ballyhoo. The ballyhoo was used both plain and with skirts with almost equal effectiveness.
As we headed out of Schooner Wharf for the Gulf of Mexico toward the mouth of the shipping channel and during the ride James showed me how to rig the ballyhoo baits 2 different ways.
The first way, he used a light wire leader leaving a ¼ inch or so of the leader at the end of the wrap where he connected the hook. You would then push the hook through the gills out the belly leaving the eye of the hook at the lip of the fish. You would then push up through the ballyhoo's lip with the ¼ inch remaining leader wire securing with a small rubber band wrapping and attaching the rubber band to the small excess leader wire.
The second way was to use a mono leader attaching a light copper wire to the eye of the hook. You would then thread the hook through the ballyhoo at the gills. Then you would push the copper wire through the eyes, wrapping it 4 times at the mouth and 4 more at the bill breaking off the excess bill.
Both ways were equally effective and we caught a nice sailfish, king mackerel, bonito and several Mahi Mahi with these rigs. In fact, on my Birthday I caught a really nice sailfish which also provided me an excellent opportunity to try out Captain Buddy's new Murray Brothers fighting chair mounted in the fishing cockpit of the Reel Eazy. Captain Buddy restored the chair just for this trip knowing that there would be some billfishing in the Keys.
So, back to the fishing story … After trolling for about an hour we heard the drag rip off one of our reels … I looked to the back of the boat and watched as the sailfish first skied trying to spit the hook. James, having been here many times before, let the fish run for a few moments then jacked him up for the hook up. I fought the fish for about 10 minutes before we landed it. It was an exciting fight in which the fish skied at least 4 times and a couple where he was completely out of the water. We boarded the fish, took some photos and released it to fight another day.
Alison Rogers caught a really nice Mahi Mahi which was bigger than my Mahi Mahi and the largest fish that we returned to the Marina with. According to Captain Buddy's T-Shirt rule Ali won the T-Shirt for the day. She also won the T-Shirt for the hardest fighting fish when we foul hooked a bonito … we were all hoping for another sailfish but settled and were happy for the excitement.
When we returned to the marina my birthday celebration was not over, Captain Buddy and Ali bought me the nicest T-Bone steak at Fousto's in Key West and cooked it aboard the Reel Eazy on Captain Buddy's Green Egg Grill. If you have never cooked on one, this is a real treat and a great investment. Alison prepared baked potatoes and an awesome salad to round out my birthday dinner.
In a parting thought, I will include a Mahi Mahi recipe for this story since we advocate returning all billfish to the sea to fight another day. I would also like to thank Captain Buddy Rogers and his new bride Alison for a wonderful time and a great birthday.
Dolphin with Mango and Pineapple Salsa
The fish, Mahi Mahi, is also known as Dolphin or Dorado, but don't worry it is a true fish and not a bottlenose dolphin!
6-10 Portions of Dolphin (MAHI-MAHI)
The salsa
1 ½ cups mango, cleaned, ¼" diced
1 ½ cups pineapple, fresh, cleaned ¼" diced
1 ounce fresh lime juice
¼ cup red onion, ¼" diced
1 each green onion, trimmed, cut on bias
1 ounce fresh mint, chiffonade
1 each medium size jalapeno, de-seeded, 1/8" diced
¾ cup pepper, red ¼" diced
¼ cup olive oil
Taste sea salt
Taste cracked black pepper
First Peel, seed/core and ¼ inch dice the ripe mango and pineapple. Thinly slice callion on the bias using green and white parts. Combine diced red onion and red pepper in stainless steel bowl. Add mango and pineapple to bowl. Add green onion, limejuice, olive oil, mint, and jalapeno. Mix well.
Add salt and pepper. Mix well again. Taste, and adjust flavor where needed. Let stand for at least one hour under refrigeration. Over hot fire, and a well-seasoned grill, begin to grill dolphin, which is brushed with a bit of olive oil. Grill mahi until fish begins to look opaque on one side. Thickness of the fish will determine how long the fish will take to cook. Turn dolphin over to complete cooking. Remove dolphin when opaque throughout.
Serve dolphin and top the dolphin with ½ cup of the salsa.
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