Big pin key fishing lodge/resort

[Permit53]

I am going to be staying with some friends at the big pine key fishing lodge/resort. We have rented a boat for one day and was planing on convincing the group to do a little fishing. I am the only one that has a passion for fishing so i am sure my rods will get very little use. However since we will be out there I wanted to know where to fish around the area. The only fishing in the keys i have ever done has been on the bridges. just looking to put the group on some mangroves, small grouper, and possibly some cudas. I made up a few cuda tubes, but aside from that my chum, bait, and cast net will be staying home.

[Swordslayer71]

When will you be there?

[Permit53]

next weekend.

[Swordslayer71]

I'll shoot you a pm sometime in the next couple days, I'm on the water out of Summerland almost everyday from May-September. I'd go ahead and bring the cast net though. I would plan on buying 3 blocks of chum, 2 packs of frozen ballyhoo and a box of squid for a "short" trip to the reef. They are usually very cooperative this time of year.

[Permit53]

Sword,

Thanks for the PM you sent to me earlier in the week. That's what this site is all about!! I look forward to sharing a report with everyone when i return from my trip. Its been 8 years to the month since I have been able fish the keys and now that the Navy is in my rearview mirror its looking like a lot more trips to come.

[cudaman]

Good luck fishing man, just make sure you are not doing so in the Sanctuary Zones.
http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/fknms_map/welcome.html

[Permit53]

Thanks for all the tips guys! It ended up being a pretty windy weekend, but that did not keep us from going out on the boat. Both girls got sea sick within 5 minutes, which i had already expected, but still bummed me out. I ended up taking them out to Looe Key which has some of the most impressive snorkeling i have ever seen. I would highly recommend this site to anyone wishing to enjoy some underwater time. Its roughly 5 miles off of big pine key. Once everyone was settled down and the girls felt well enough to do some fishing i set out anchor and started chumming over a ledge. Within 5 minutes we were all pulling up some nice flags, and short red grouper. Had one of the girls hook into a nice cuda which stayed on the hook long enough to give a nice jump. Nothing to interesting to speak of, but it was nice to get back down to the keys.