On This Page:

• Gone Fishin' by Manny Luftglass

• Century Village Sunfish Sailors

• CenWest Fishing Club News, 2011-2012 Season

Last Updated 04/27/2013

GONE

FISHIN'

By

Manny Luftglass

Manny Luftglass (above) and his wife Karen own a townhome in the Fountains in Lake Worth, FL. They travel south to it from New Jersey as often as possible. Manny spends most of the winter in Florida fishing. He is the author of "Gone Fishin" For Beginners". Mr. Luftglass writes this column for the Condo News print newspaper.

THE RED GUYS ARE BACK!

Vermillion snapper, them’s the red guys I mean, and quite a few of them are being caught on the local drift boats, in spite of continuing overly strong south east winds. As a rule, the prevailing winds down hereabouts are generally cranking from the south east and on top of that, the current usually heads from south to north. They call this a "north tide" and no matter what I do not accept that term. However, since it runs to the north from the south, maybe, just maybe, it might make sense to call it a "north tide". The bottom line though is that if you combine a north tide and a southeast wind you get extra strong current moving the boat along and that makes holding your offerings near the bottom kind of tough to do.

Vermillion snapper are generally caught in water depths greater than 150 feet and in fact, the better action is usually found in 190-210 feet of water and getting to bottom and holding anywhere near there is very difficult to accomplish.

However, especially for the boats sailing out of Pompano Beach, the action has been pretty doggone good. As an example, I fished on the Fish City Pride on Sunday afternoon, the 14th, and caught nine vermillion snappers, my second-best tally of the year. I caught ten of them before the season opener on 4/1 and had to release all of them that day. Also making their way over the rail for me on the 14th were two pink porgies, two chocolate chip porgies, a sand eel, two sand perch, five trigger fish, two remoras, and a grunt.

In my other six trips since we last met, I caught my usual gang of bottom feeders including another dozen or so vermillions, ten+ porgies, and a batch of other critters.

My suggestion to you would be to bring two rods, one stiff and one light with you. The stiff rod should have a reel with braided line and it should be rigged with three size 2/0 Mustad model 9175 snelled hooks, baited with a little strip of squid and a small piece of a fillet of sardine. This works great in deep water where the vermies and trigger fish are feeding.

You second outfit can also have the "guppy rig" just described, but it should be on a bait-casting outfit for fishing in shallower waters.

Hey, the wind will slow down one day soon, we all hope. Meaning though, there are fish out there, you just have to use heavy enough sinkers to get you down where they eat.

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

Depending on who’s shoes you are walking in, this has either been a dreadful winter season on the ocean, or maybe a pretty good one, and some may even consider it doggone fine. Since my shoes were made for walking towards fish, I have to say that it’s been okay.

Sure, I haven’t caught anything heavier than six pounds yet. And, yes, the only two monsters that I had on were sharks that ate fish that I was in process of reeling in. On the other hand, in less than 40 trips to date, I’ve nailed the pool eight times and won a discount ticket in two outings so all in all, "taint bad at all.

It all depends on your rig and style. The overwhelming majority of anglers that fish the local four-hour "drift boats" try for big fish, with large baits and hooks, stiff rods, big reels, heavy line, etc. And nearly all of them merely are soaking bait. Those of us who fish for small fish catch them and my friends, when the rod is bending and a critter is fighting, it’s all good.

To be repetitive (sorry), my rig consists of three snelled size 2/0 Mustad model #9175 hooks, tied so that each foot long leader is separated from each other by several inches, with a four to six ounce bank sinker at the bottom. Key, by far, if you want to catch porgies in particular, is the fact that your bottom hook must dangle below the sinker.

In my past six trips I have boated sixteen porgies to 2-lbs. Fifteen of them, count them, 15, were hooked on the hook that hangs under the sinker. This isn’t "proven science" but to me, it is as close to it as you can come-I am certain that porgies feed at bottom, facing down. I’ve caught loads of snappers and trigger fish this season on any of my three hooks but again, 15 out of 16 porgies ate my bottom hook’s small piece of squid and fillet of sardine bait.

99% of everyone else who fishes small hook/big sinker outfits use two snelled or looped hooks that hang well above the sinker by as much as 16 to 48 inches. And yeah, they catch fish too, but since there have been more porgies caught locally this year than in most prior ones, and because they taste fine and fight well, if you want porgies, use a snelled hook that rides along the bottom beyond your sinker. Yes, you may get hung on bottom that way but such are the risks one must take to catch fish!

4/1 is "Opening Day" for vermillion snappers and these pretty fish are caught at bottom in deep water and many are not bested by my dangling bottom hook but still, that hook catches some also.

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

A new kid will become available to us soon, a fish that has resided in our waters all winter long but was "out of season" until 4/1 so in April’s Fool’s Day you may feel like kidding around but as for me, I hope to be out in 200 feet of water on one of out local drift boats in search for that "kid", vermillion snapper.

These beautiful and tasty fish, bright red in color, are members of the snapper family and as with yellowtails, they too must measure at least a foot long from head to tip of either tail end to become a "keeper". You will be allowed to keep five of them if they are that long and often times, you can catch a "limit" in two or three drops to the bottom if rigged properly.

You may want to deviate from the rig that I use in order to keep in the game because boating a limit early means that you will not be allowed to keep any more and practicing "catch and release" may not be in the cards either because some of the "throw-backs" might get the bends on the way up from the deep water they live in, and not be able to get back down to the bottom. Sure, some will survive but some will not do so either.

Therefore, if the bite is good, just use one single hook, held two to three feet below a four ounce egg sinker, and bait it with a large piece of squid plus a large strip of filleted sardine. A 4/0 hook is used here and while some smaller vermies (a/k/a "red-eye" or "beeliners"), might get hooked you stand a chance of catching some of the bigger clan members that are on the bottom. And you may also boat a "yellow-eye" or mutton snapper that way too and they can be included in a legal overall snapper take home limit of ten fish.

My standard rig though will be in use, a three-snelled set-up of size 2/0 hooks held down at bottom by a 4 or 6 ounce bank sinker. And, hey, if I get my five fish limit quickly, I can always change over to a three joined rig of size 6/0 hooks to which I will attach a whole sardine and release out into the drift in search of a king mackerel or dolphin. It’s all good, right?

Recently, the Lady K and the two Pompano boats that I generally fish from, the Helen S VI and the Fish City Pride, have been catching plenty of smaller fish with a beast thrown in every now and then. (Usually not "now" but more like "then"). I fished with Art Dolgan on the Lady K on the 13th in a chilly northerly wind and while we caught loads of fish, few were worthy of much mention. However, we sure caught a load of undersized trigger fish.

In my last three outings, besides other fish, I boated nine nice porgies, a fish that was hardly ever caught locally until four or five years ago when they started to appear in large number.

These fish fight well and are good eating too. Small hooks are the deal for them because they don’t have a very big mouth.

See ya’ next time. Scuze me, gone fishin’.

ONE HOUR-MORE OR LESS

By the time you read issue, you will have changed the time on your clocks and you will have received a gift of an additional hour of daylight which is always nice. However, for those who get up early, that means that it will be dark an extra hour so, maybe, you will be able to sleep in a little longer before the light comes on outside?

To anglers, this means that they really can sleep in a little longer and stay out one hour more, therefore, a win-win occurs. With an extra hour of light, you can fish until 7:30 or even 8:00 p. m. before you can’t see any longer. Shallow water anglers will therefore be able to catch some lane and mangrove snappers and that’s a good thing indeed.

Captain Bruce of the Lady K told me that he produced a very good catch on a night trip the last week of February. With only five anglers, he put his guys into more than fifty bluefish as well as a mixture of the two snappers noted above that equaled another fifty fish. Clearly, this was a most unusual outing but still, look for night catches to improve as more daylight is available.

My recent outings have produced the usual assortment of small but feisty critters. In order, they included: 2/18 on the Helen S VI from Pompano Beach -- 16 fish including a pool winning two pound white margate. Then on the 21st, I also caught 16 fish on the Lady K out of Lantana. On the 25th, 15 little but tasty sand perch were in my overall catch of 29 fish on the Helen S VI. The last trip was on the 1st when I boated 15 different species of fish on the Lady K, producing 22 fish overall. My best was a beautiful 3-lb and yummy tasting file fish. Also in the catch were three porgies and a spectacular colored bright blue/green parrot fish that posed for a few pictures for the other anglers before I released it.

Once again, all of my fish were caught on a three-hook guppy rig baited with a little strip of squid to which I add a strip of filleted fish. This could include a cut-up bonito, threadfin, or sardine, they all add flash and shine to the presentation and little critters are all too happy to gobble ‘em up.

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

Well, truth be known, the king mackerel "bite" hasn’t come close to turning on yet. And for that matter, save for a few days, dolphin too have been relatively nonexistent. You can even add mutton snapper into the mix because if two "keepers" are caught on a head boat, that can count as a good day, However, as pointed out all so often in Gone Fishin’, you gotta’ "match the hatch" and the hatch in this instance means smaller fish are produced by smaller rigs and bait.

My last two trips produced wonderful numbers for me but again, because I "rig" for action instead of "spooling" for big fish that are few and far between. This action can be reproduced if you do it right. For example, my friend Art Dolgan was out with another friend on Tuesday, the 12th, and they celebrated Lincoln’s birthday on the Living on Island Time out of Hypoluxo with lots of action. Funny though, on the way back in, another customer who was fishing far away complained about the lack of bites he experienced. This guy caught the proverbial "dork" and Art and his buddy boated around fifty fish. Sure, most were anywhere from small to smaller, but included in their catch were some nice trigger fish. So, action? Go small, via a "guppy rig."

I was on the Fish City Pride that same afternoon out of Pompano Beach and boated 36 fish, including 16 different species. Sure, many were modest but still I boated ten porgies of various varieties including two pork fish, two big pin fish, and six common porgies.

Three days later, ten hardy/dumb anglers (if you were on the boat, you might have called yourself "hardy", otherwise, the term "dumb" might apply instead) fished on the Lady K out of Lantana in a constant rain. Those of us who dressed for it fared quite well and stayed pretty dry. A few guys though got soaked to the skin.

I boated thirteen different species of fish, 29 overall, and some were pretty doggone nice sized. Three were Almaco jacks to 3-lbs, three were file fish, again, to 3-lbs, and ten trigger fish also managed to find my bait to their tastes. I also released another three pound fish, this being the first pink parrot fish I had ever seen.

Sorry to be so repetitive, but the rig remains quite simple. Three snelled size 2/0 Mustad model 9175 hooks are tied into my rig, spaced 15 inches or so apart, with the bottom hook falling below my sinker. It really helps to use a bank sinker slipped onto a loop instead of an egg sinker. I bait with a small strip of skinned squid and then add a small strip of filleted sardine or threadfin. This "sandwich" produces lots of eager eaters, every time out. Dropping some Bio-Edge liquid in sardine or herring scent onto the bait adds even more interest to the mix.

See you next time. Scuze me, gone fishin’.

Before anything else, a word of thanks on behalf of you readers as well as the boat skippers I fish with all winter long. And to whom, you ask? Frankly, to a source that many of you don’t always think of to say thank you too very often at all — to government!

A few years back, I was able to convince the good guys at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission to right a wrong and not only did they do that, they did it quickly too. I got my tail in a sling back in 1971 when I was trying to convince government to do something right and I was so frustrated that when a reporter called me to discuss the matter (recycling), I told him something that may not have originated in my brain but whoever thought of it, I said that "Government has two speeds, slow and stop, and maybe one day they will come up with a new one, REVERSE." The County Controller saw me two days later in the street and tried to rip my head off with his words but, hey, it was kind of true and maybe it caused some speed to occur.

Well, in three totally different outreaches to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission folks, each time was so wonderfully successful that I wanted to tell you about them. You heard some years back how much they helped me in researching my book, "Gone Fishin’ Florida’s 100 Best Salt Waters." I also told you about how great they were to right a wrong, allowing us to fish for blueline tile fish in state waters after first shutting down waters that were 240 feet or deeper. (Bluelines can be caught in state water, only two miles or less out to sea, in 375-450 feet of water.) That wrong was righted only seven days after the "wrong" took place on 2/1/11.

This last time, not only did I get a very important clarification of a rule from Tallahassee, I got it within a few days and both of the folks I heard from actually sent me e-mails about the subject on a Sunday from their own homes!

First was from Division Director Nick Wiley and then his Director of Marine Fisheries Management, Jessica McCawley, quickly wrote to me with great news. So what was the question and what was the news? My question was about the fish so many of us enjoy both catching and eating, the grey file fish. (Not tile-file, got it?) Jessica wrote and told me that grey ("Unicorn") file fish are indeed legal to keep.

At least three head boat owners had been of the opinion that these fish had to be released. Yes, other file fish still must go back and Queen triggers still have to be released but what some call by their nickname, "Florida Flounder" are "keepers" and of course, since they are so extremely tasty, that is great news for me.

Oh yeah, fishing? I was on the Helen S VI on Friday with my son-in-law Greg Morea, visiting from Connecticut, and we tore ‘em up! Sure, it was a bit chilly in a stiff north wind but the seas weren’t too big and the fish were quite hungry. In a check of my notes, I found that we caught sixteen different varieties of bottom dwellers and honestly, I lost count for only the second time in several years. As best as I could determine, we boated EIGHTY fish in the four hour trip. Sure, most weren’t deserving of any manner of bragging rights but we still had five banded rudderfish to 4-lbs, fifteen snappers, ten triggers, six porgies, and the proverbial partridge in a pear tree.

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

Wanna’ catch fish in the ocean? The answer has been simple for some, but not too easy though because it requires effort that anglers either don’t want to bother exerting or don’t know what to do to cure their miseries. I’ve told you over and over about it this winter and it all involves the simple and basic concept, do you want to use heavy rods and reel and big baits and big hooks and try to catch big fish? Well then, don’t do what I do. But guys who are targeting big fish aren’t catching many because our waters haven’t been exactly filled to the rim with many at all.

Yes, an excellent angler and retired professional wrestler, "Beauregard," goes out of Pompano Beach nearly every day and he does seek big fish and quite often, catches some. For example, I was on the Fish City Pride with him on the 11th and he caught the two biggest fish that trip, beautiful mutton snappers that weighed 8-1/2 and 9-lbs! Quite often, he does well as does another pro, "Captain Andy" who operates a charter boat up on Lake Ontario in season. But these guys are rare and worse, the fish are even more rare to find. The target species generally are king mackerel and they have not made an appearance of consequence this season at all. More often than not, no kings are boated on most trips. Worse, when I was on the Lady K out of Lantana on the 14th, a guy did hook a nice king and as he was bringing it in to be gaffed, a four-foot barracuda ATE IT! I won the pool with a 2-lb trigger instead.

But if banging your head against the bulkhead in futile search for big critters that aren’t there, as discussed often this season, go small and light. I use a bait-casting outfit with 20 pound mono and a three-hook "guppy rig.".I snell three Mustad model #9175, size 2/0 hooks on a foot of leader and attach each to a six-foot leader via dropper loops, keeping them separate from the others, and add a four-ounce bank sinker on the bottom to keep my bait in the target zone. My bottom hook rides below the sinker and this is why I catch as many porgies as I do.

I clean some squid of their skin and innards and cut them into small strips and then fillet some sardines or thread-fin shad into small strips as well. The squid goes on the hooks first, double-stuck, and then comes the fish fillet, hooked once. Dropped to the bottom, this produces loads of fish from 1/2 pound to 5-lbs. But this doesn’t end my effort. I always carry small jars of "Bio-Edge," a liquid formula that I either put some drops of onto my baited hooks or simply put a nice amount of it into my bait container to let the bait "steep" in it. This scent, added to my bait, truly produces excellent results. For example, in my last outing on the 18th, I not only took the pool with a 4-lb trigger fish, I also boated seven other triggers, a 3-lb Queen trigger, two porgies, two yellowtail snappers and one lane snapper, along with a dozen grunts, a strawberry grouper, four sand eels and five squirrel fish, just another day at sea, nice!

Scuz me, gone fishin’.

"GREEN GRASS SYNDROME"

Don’t get me wrong, I love to fish the waters of Texas. Lake Conroe? Man, wonderful action for a variety of game fish. And the "Gulf", doggonit, when it’s good it is usually very good and it usually is just that, good indeed. This has also applied when I fish the waters of inshore Galveston Bay. I caught a 39½ inch redfish one day on a local four-hour trip. But when I visited again a few weeks ago, hoo boy, it stunk, leastwise for the guy holding the business of end of my fishing rod. I caught five catfish and a 1/2 pound croaker. So in this instance, the "grass was surely greener on the other side of the road!"

However, locally, fishing has been quite good, even though the two favorite fish sought weren’t terribly active. King mackerel have been few and far between and snappers haven’t exactly torn up baits as soon as they are dropped down. But that simply means that adjustments are needed in such times and my "adjustment" is the one that I tell you about so often. It’s simple, really, fish a "guppy rig!" A guppy rig is a setup with which you can fish two or even three separate hooks that are baited with small pieces of squid with which a small strip of filleted sardine is added. Offset hooks as small as size 1 are used but I prefer to rig with a 2/0 Mustad model 9175 which is a very strong and sharp hook that penetrates a fishes mouth quickly and usually, very securely as well.

So the guys who use whole sardines draped over three size 6/0 hooks may hang their offerings down but 95% of the time, they come back to the boat with the whole baitfish either missing or worse, still securely impaled.

In my last times out since we last met the blue runners created havoc along the rail of all of the local boats. Whatever rig you used, the "blue dogs" were eating machines and either cleaned your hooks or worse, got hooked and that meant bringing the on board, removing the hooks and throwing them back to wait ten minutes before being able to eat again.

But I did catch loads of other fish on my guppy rigs, for example, on the 28th, daughter Jen, Grand-daughter Madison and I were on the Lady K out of Lantana in an absolute mob scene. They sold the boat out well before the 1 p. m. sailing time! Christmas week is always mobbed and other than my next trip, the boats are packed, rail to rail so to speak. Regardless though, we caught lots of fish besides blue runner. Jen actually boated three-at-clip trigger fish with her biggest a full four pounds! Overall we had 11 triggers, one sand tile fish, a pork fish, one white margate and a half-dozen sand perch.

Next time though, it was so cold ("How cold was it?" Johnny may have asked). Well, I fished on the Helen S VI from Pompano Beach the morning of the 30th and it was 49 brrr degrees at 8:00 a. m. Only a modest handful were dopey enough to venture out but there I was, in the pointy end, with four layers of clothing on and I clobbered fish! I had 25 sand perch, a two-pound pink porgy, plus six triggers, two lane snappers, and about twenty other bottom dwellers.

I was back on the Lady K on the 2nd and again, my guppy rig did wonders for me. Besides a wonderful tasty 3-lb file fish, I had two triggers, six porgies, and about 30 other critters.

Lastly, I was on the Helen S again on the 4th and had to release ten nice vermillion snappers that are out of season, plus four a bit to short pink porgies, but I also caught a nice "chocolate chip" porgy, six triggers, two sand perch, a "doctor" fish and another mess of blue runners.

Try it, you’ll like it!

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

Before anything else, Merry Christmas to all as well as a happy and healthy New Year! And before talking about fishing, a word of thanks to all who stopped by and say hello at the Flea Market on the 16th. I literally counted six people who recognized my name as the writer of Gone Fishin’ for Condo News and said hi. Chances are good that others also thought my name was familiar and didn’t say so and therefore, holy cow, Betty, lots of people actually do read my column, nice! Of course, none of them bought a book but, hey, life can’t be perfect, can it?

And now for a brief fishing report, brief because I’m heading to Texas well before our deadline and as a result, only got out three times since we last met. But each outing was fun so I’ll tell you about them by date order.

Instead of going to Lantana to board my favorite boat, the Lady K, I fished on three other boats a bit to the south. First was on the Helen S VI out of Pompano Beach on the 11th and for the first time this year, I won a pool! Most "pool fish" are kingfish or dolphin but none were caught that day and as a result, my "guppy rig" outfit produced not only a pile of fish but also the "pool". The fish was a 3-lb "Ocean Tally", a member of the trigger fish family. I also caught 28 other fish including a yummy 3/4 lb. graysby grouper and two porgies.

Next was an outing on board the beautiful "Living on Island Time" from Hypoluxo. While the boat is sure pretty, the fishing stunk though. They caught some nice fish in the morning but the afternoon? Hoo boy, p. u.! How bad, you ask? Seven "keepers" were caught among the dozen+ anglers on board. Yes, lots of blue runners also were boated and while fun, they aren’t exactly critters for the table. I had three of the seven fish, one being a porgy, another a white margate and I also bested a 6-lb barracuda that went for my baitfish that I held up near the top. Three yellowtails were boated by other anglers and a 7 lb king mackerel beat out my ‘cuda.

My last trip was also out of Pompano Beach on the 17th and, what do you know, I landed pool fish #2 of the season for me! This was a 4-lb. tally again. I also boated yet another great eating graysby grouper but grouper season ends as of 1/1 so if you want to try for a "keeper", you had better head out now! I also clobbered another 13 kinds of bottom dwellers that day. Included in the total were three lane snappers and three porgies.

But you bet I will be at the rail of the Lady K soon again.

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

Once upon a time, a New York columnist began his articles with the words: "Nobody asked me but ..." I think his name was Earl Wilson but whoever it was, let me steal that opening and use it now, if that’s okay with you. Therefore ...

Nobody asked me but ... I’m sure that many of you regular Gone Fishin’ readers know that I am not allowed to fish on several of the party boats that sail from our local docks. They include the three beautiful Blue Heron boats out of Jupiter and Riviera Beach as well as the Sea Mist from Boynton Beach. That’s because the regular skipper of the Sea Mist and one of the two owners of the Blue Heron boats banned me from sailing on their boats. Darn, I must have done something pretty bad, right?

Well, for my regular readers, you will remember that I complained about a few things that took place on those boats several years ago, after getting tired of the practices that bothered me. So if you never read about my fishing on those four boats now, hey, nobody asked me but, I don’t want to and am not allowed to either, that’s the reason, okay?

But there are five other big boats that are easily in my driving range that don’t play by the methods used on the four other boats so don’t run me any benefits, I got plenty of places to go play and catch critters galore.

They include the boat that is closest to my condo in Lake Worth, the beautiful and well run Lady K out of Lantana, and the two pretty boats out of Hypoluxo, the Southern Comfort and the Living on Island Time. Then a bit to the south I also like to fish on the Fish City Pride and the Helen S VI from Pompano Beach. Since the Lady K is closest to me and, frankly, charges less for senior citizens like myself, I fish on that boat more often than not and in fact, have only fished on a different boat once since Karen and I got to Florida last month.

That was on December 4th when I boarded the Fish City out of Pompano Beach. I will head down there again before going north, but still, hey, 11 miles to a boat is better than a 35 mile one-way ride, right? On the 4th, I was up in the pointy end with my guppy-rig outfit and a few dolphin ("mahi-mahi") were feeding. Instead of re-rigging though, I hung my three-hook outfit down in front of a passing dolphin and, what do you know, it hit! After a great fight the mate gaffed the six pounder and it became my first mahi of the season. Add in another twenty or so fish that day and it was sure worth the long ride.

But since we last met, I fished on the Lady K three times too with substantial success. Last time out was on the 7th and I boated 35 fish including eight snappers, two porgies, a nice banded rudderfish and other critters including six trigger fish. On the 26th, I had my personal best trigger fish catch ever, boating 35 of them to 4-lbs along with 16 other fish in a four-hour trip. Lastly, on the 29th, i hauled sixteen fish onto the deck. All of this was again, via a three-hook guppy rig bait casting rod and reel with 20 pound mono.

Before saying bye for now, here’s wishing you and yours a very happy Chanukah as well as a Merry Christmas. And if you would like to say hi in person, I will be at the Congregation Aitz Chaim Flea Market at 2518 N. Haverhill Road, W. Palm Beach, on Sunday, 12/16. I will have all of my books there for sale and for anyone buying a book, I will give them a small sealed baggie of the fishing hooks I use.

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

Well, the beat goes on out of Lantana. It’s same old, same old, and if you know what you’re doing and aren’t trying to catch monsters, it is very easy to catch at least a dozen fish each time out. Sure, for the most part, the tourists walk off the boat with nary a fish. Many are happy to put their feet on land too because the wind has caused some mal der mer to assault the bellies of those who don’t quite have the very best of "sea legs." However, if you can handle a pretty stiff breeze, mixed in with some unfriendly waves, the ocean was filled with loads of small fish that have been feeding with abandon each time I headed out.

In my last four trips since we last met, I fished on the Lady K out of Lantana each time and caught a total of 106 fish, honest! Sure, none exceeded five pounds and most were much smaller too. But I wanted action and action was what I got. As the tourists stood at the rail hanging onto 50 lb. mono-using conventional boat rods rigged with triple hook set-ups in search of big fish, I was hanging onto a bait-casting outfit with only 20 pound mono. At the business end of my set-up was a 4 ounce sinker and three snelled size 2/0 Mustad live bait hooks that were baited with a small piece of squid and a little strip of filleted sardine or thread-fin.

In those four trips a total of five dolphin ("mahi-mahi") were boated as well as one or two king mackerel. But that’s very few big fish compared to the 106 fish that I lifted over the rail. And it really wasn’t all about holy cow skill on my part that did it, it was as simple a fact as I rigged for small fish and caught loads of them.

Of the so-called "quality fish" in my overall total were 14 yellowtail snappers (mostly "short" but still yellowtails), five triggerfish to 5 lbs., eight porgies, and five small but legal graysby grouper. I also released a short mutton snapper and more than a dozen short red grouper. In addition, I had at least a dozen other varieties of bottom dwellers and that really made for a whole mess of fun.

Now if you are so inclined, get out yourself, but if you want action, ask the mate to rig you up with a "guppy-rig" rod and head to the other side of the boat and catch a mess of fish yourself. No, you won’t get huge fish but you will get action.

Enjoy!

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

I’M BACK!

So Karen and I managed to survive the horrors of Sandy more than most but it was tough and go for a while. We live in the woods and are, in fact, surrounded by huge trees. But she had four of the largest and oldest (And, as it turned out, deadest too) taken down last year and we could see the decay in the base of the trunks, meaning that one of them might very well have clobbered us. We were without power for six days but again, we fared better than so many. A load of big trees blew down in the backyard but none were anywhere near our house so, again, we were, relatively speaking, quite lucky, especially because the generator Karen had installed gave us hot water, and electricity, albeit at considerable expense burning propane to heat everything. And, oh yeah, the 2-1/2 hour wait on a gas line wasn’t fun either nor was the ride to the auto train around one hundred or so trees that lay across the roads.

Oh well, that all seems like a bad memory and, hey, what a friend used to call "Silly Season" is over too so we don’t have to watch any more of those commercials that said "Me good-him bad", etc. Therefore, on to my favorite hobby, fishing, okay?

I got out twice since we got back, on the 5th and 8th, each time on the Lady K out of Lantana. I was on the afternoon sailing each day and managed to get a whole batch of fish each time. None were monsters but while using baitcasting gear and 20 pound mono with my "guppy" rigs, it sure was lots of fun. And the warm sun sure helped me forget about what we had left behind.

On the 5th, I boated 21 fish, three being porgies along with eight other varieties of bottom dwellers. The pool fish was a 4-lb rainbow runner. Bobby, the guy who keeps the boat’s reels in top working order, released a just short mutton snapper as well as a barely short king mackerel.

Then on the 8th, wearing a long sleeve shirt (boo-hoo), I literally lost count! My best guess is that I caught 43 fish including ten different varieties. I had at least ten yellowtail snappers (three were "legal"), plus three more porgies and three little but legal graysby grouper. A 3-lb cero mackerel barely beat out the huge blue runner I caught but again, was it fun? You betcha!

Thanks again to Betty for telling you about my latest book, #21 in fact. #22 is nearly done (for another author) and I expect to start #23 this month for yet a different author. But since I don’t go fishing every day, that leaves plenty of time for me to publish some more books this winter. Therefore, if you feel that you have a book in you but have no idea how to get it published, hey, I am a publisher. Not the usual kind that pays you a modest advance but in fact, owns your book and all of its rights. When I publish a book for an author, they own it and they pay me to get it published and I do all of the work needed.

So, if this is of interest to you, send me an e-mail to Mannyfishing@msn.com, or call 561-965-2813 any day between 10 am and 10 pm. If I’m out fishing, I’ll get back to you.

Scuze me, gone fishin’

PS: Happy Big Bird to you and yours.

NEVER-NEVER LAND

Simply, "Never-Never-Land" could be defined as "An imaginary and wonderful place — a fantasy land." It was a fictional setting in the play Peter Pan. And since I just came back from a trip to what I can best describe as Never-Never Land, let me tell you about it now, okay?

First off, since most of you Condo News readers reside on the east coast, from Jupiter on down to Delray Beach, a trip to where I went is kind of a haul. But is it worth it? Honestly, words cannot describe it well enough but let me try.

I sailed on the 65' fiberglass headboat, "Viking Gulfstar" out of Tarpon Springs, Florida on 6/29 and we returned to the dock on 7/1. We spent 44 hours at sea on the Gulf and frankly, if you can make such a trip, please, please, do it!

The boat is a 4+ hour drive across the state by car but my back wouldn’t permit me to do that. So I hopped on an Amtrak train the afternoon of the 29th and the 3-1/2 hour ride to Tampa was wonderfully comfortable. Hey, I could close my eyes, walk around, grab some food and not feel all cramped up in my car, right? A cab ride from Tampa to Tarpon Springs usually takes less than an hour and if you have never seen Tarpon Springs, it’s worth the trip alone to see the sponge boats, Greek restaurants, etc. But fishing was on my game plan and fishing was what I did, big time.

The boat has comfortable bunks for every passenger as well as a hot shower and clean bathrooms. The crew does a remarkable job of making sure you have a great time. When I was on this trip, there were three captains including Jerry, George and Paul. Co-owner Rich’s daughter Marissa is a skipper in training at the Merchant Academy and her friend Emily took a bazillion photo’s for the boat’s web site. Jerry’s son Jeff was one of the mates and he was joined by co-mates James and Steve.

Paul doesn’t drive the boat because he spends most of his time in the galley preparing a great variety of sumptuous food. There’s hot breakfast on Saturday and Sunday as well as lunch plus dinner on Saturday but the top of the top is the super meal he prepares en route back to the dock on Sunday. It includes grilled grouper and cold red snapper fish salad plus homemade potato salad and cole slaw. Homemade chunks of cake are provided as well as a basket of other snacks and, of course, the coffee pot is always filled. Cold water and soda is in a cooler in unlimited quantity.

Hey, there’s no TV. No newspapers, no radio, no telephone. That’s why I call it "Never-Never land" You are way, way out at sea and there’s no one nearby. You hardly ever even see another boat. Sure, the skipper can get help in a blink of an eye but when you are up to your shoulders in exciting fun, who needs help other than when you call for a gaff and then there’s always a mate next to you.

The boat provides live as well as dead bait. You can bring your own gear but they also will provide top of the line rods and reels as well as the necessary hooks and sinkers to do the deed.

And, the deed, you ask? How about being able to catch four varieties of grouper; red, gag, black, and rock hind? More? Try five kinds of snappers, mainly mangrove and vermillion but also some mutton, yellowtail and lanes. Now add in two kinds of porgies, trigger fish, amberjacks to 100 pounds, (yeah, 100!) and bar jacks’, and an occasional black-fin tuna, dolphin, king mackerel and false albacore.

Seasons change but even with some fish being "closed" at times, you will always be able to take some excellent fish home. My trip ended at 2:00 a. m. on Sunday when my old bones just wouldn’t let me stay at the rail any longer. But those that did all caught at least one or two keeper-sized gag grouper. Not to run me any benefits though. My catch included four red snapper to 10-pounds, 16 mangrove snappers, a nice vermillion snapper, and ten or so assorted porgies. As for red grouper, there were tons of them biting and while I released 20 or so "short" fish, I also caught six legal-sized red grouper with two hitting ten pounds each.

I filleted some at the dock and brought some home on the train but of course, left most for the others since I simply had no room or muscle to carry what had to be way over one hundred pounds of holy-cow good eating fish.

So, "Never-Never Land"? Call the Viking Gulfstar and book yourself a trip. The number is 1-727-938-5300. There’s a fine motel nearby too.

Scuze me, gone fishin’.

Sunfish Sailors of Century Village

By Dot Loewenstein

Century Village's Sunfish Sailboats

Photo by Dot Loewenstein

CenWest Fishing Club Members aboard the Lady K

CenWest Fishing Club 

Condo News columnists

Alice and Al Roth. 

2012-2013 Season

Club Member Lou Maldonado  with his yellow tail fish  caught on the Blue Heron

Members and guests pictured:  Judy P, Madeline, Jamie, Margaret, Anthony, Peter, Chuck, Al, Alice, Cye, Ceil, Maryjane, Greg,Tom, Barbara, and Dennis.   Picture taken by the waitress

Club members  Lou Maldonado & Noah Neiman. Photo by Al Roth

Club member Greg Gorges with a trophy sized largemouth bass, caught and released in Century Village. Until next time take care  and stay well. New members are always welcome.  For more information  call Al – 242-0351. Photo by Al Roth

Club member Monty Warner with a trophy sized bass, caught and released back to our Century Village lake. The fish was caught an hour after our last meeting was adjourned.   Photo by Al & Alice Roth

12-12-12

Hi Everyone: Well, we had our first meeting of the year this past Wednesday, December 5th, and were happy to meet some of the new arrivals at Century Village who are interested in fishing. Together with our older members we should have a fun filled year with many new adventures for all of us.

Our meeting included an interesting demonstration in rod building by our Vice President Captain Mike Laden. He explained the goal for most people is that you are building the rod for yourself and the work that you put into it determines the pleasure you have in using it.

Our tentative plans for the season include pier fishing, boat fishing, lake fishing, and surf fishing. We hope to have a BBQ picnic on Duck Island and a monthly buffet breakfast at a restaurant in Royal Palm Beach. Fishing Club shirts are another idea that we also discussed.

At our next meeting in January we will actually put down definite dates in our calenders for all those events.

I can pretty much say for certain that on Wednesday, January 30th, we will be having a very competitive deep sea fishing contest with the Century Village fishing club of Boca. Details will follow, but however it turns out, it will be a fun filled day for all who participate.

Happy holidays to all! Al - 242-0351.

Welcome back snowbirds. We hope every-one had a healthy and enjoyable summer and are anxiously awaiting our 2012-2013 season to begin.

The CenWest Fishing Club of Century Village held their first meeting on Wednesday, December 5th, 3pm, room B at the Clubhouse.

It is important for all to attend so that we can discuss elections for new officers and plans for the upcoming and, hopefully, fun filled season. New members are always welcome.

For more information call - Al 242-0351.

Marathon in the Keys

Jarret (#115) crossing the finish line

with 22 seconds to spare.

Photos by Al Roth

Support team Heather, Shaun, Jarret (#115),

Jay, and Michael 

after Jarret crossed the finish line.

(6-13-12) 

Although Al and I traveled to Key West last month, we didn’t do any fishing. We were there to support our son Jarret who ran in the two day, 100 mile Marathon between Key Largo and Key West.

Jarret graduated in 1995 from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. After graduating the academy he completed seal training school and then elected to become a Special Operations Officer. His 10 years active duty service, which included time in Iraq and Afghanistan, where his specialties were underwater salvage and explosive ordinance demolition. At the present time, Jarret is a Commander in the US Naval Reserves.

This Marathon that Jarret raised approximately $80,000.00, is for the men and women who were lost or injured in the line of duty as EOD operational warriors. The team that supported Jarret through this ordeal consisted of four very loyal and wonderful comrades and Al & myself. Jarret completed the two day 100 mile Marathon with 22 seconds to spare (31 hours 59 minutes & 38 seconds). We are very proud of Jarret!