Florida Key over Christmas Break

[randlemanboater]

Just checked the forcast......sunny the whole time but a couple days it says 58 for the high.....still better than what we have had here so far, the coldest December on record according to the NWS.

[Steplift 72']

I am jealous, it's normally nice here but 34F now really is tough. The Keys are great, but last time I was there was in 2005 and it was expensive. Did meet a guy from Wisconsin that spent 4 months there every year, a small RV, 1/2 ton truck and a 14' canoe......caught a few grouper for dinner every day. Beautiful water and good fishing, but the restaurants aren't that great if you're from Louisiana.

[randlemanboater]

It was sunny and about 58 degrees today with a 20 mph north wind. So we went about a mile from the campground and caught 9 grouper and a yellowtail snapper.

Most of the grouper were 18-20 inches, the first one of the day, on the first cast, was 23 inches....they have to be 24 inches to keep.

It was a lot better than dealing with people crashing their cars in the snow back home.

[dboyd351]

Originally Posted by THEFERMANATOR

Watch the weather forecast closely during that time of year. Winter time in the KEYS is VERY unforgiving when it comes to the weather and its unpredictability.

That's true, BUT if a big cold front comes thru try going shrimping!! The shrimp in FL Bay get up and move on the cold fronts and you can take a spotlight and long handled, telescoping shrimp net to the cuts between the islands and dip up shrimp at night. If they are running good, you can get a few gallons worth.

I did it at Adams Cut in Key Largo when I lived there, but the runs happen all up and down the Keys.

You need a GOOD headlight/spotlight, a fine mesh shrimp net and to figure out how you can access the cut.

Local knowledge of how to get to a place to dip them can be very important. Ask at Bait shops (where you will buy the net, too), as well as asking any fishy looking locals that happen to be friendly (they get inundated with tourists down there and can be reluctant to give up information). You can also drive US 1 at night and look for the lights of people shrimping along the cuts. They will only be doing it if you get a lot of North wind.

The best headlight/spotlights are mounted on a headband or hat with a seperate battery that sits on the ground/deck and has a powercord running to the light. People often make their own and use things like track lights for the bulb. I've got one made by Western Rivers with a battery that fits on your belt and its pretty good, too. Some of the newer LED lights might be good, too.

If you are dipping from shore you need a telescoping aluminum net that has 3 extensions and goes out to maybe 18 feet long. There are a lot of places you pretty much need that much length.

People do it from boats, too, and it is even legal to pull a "trawl" type net if it isn't too big, but it can be a real circus from the boats weaving through confined areas at night, at least at places like Adams Cut.

Dress warm, too. You don't think of the Keys as getting cold, but if you are standing alongside a cut for hours at night with a north wind blowing, it can get chilly even down there.

Good luck!! If you get some they will be the best shrimp you ever ate, both because you caught them yourself and because they are so fresh.

I miss the shrimping more than most anything else about the Keys.

[dboyd351]

Originally Posted by Steplift 72'

the restaurants aren't that great if you're from Louisiana.

Try the grouper cooked in sherry at the Fish House in Key Largo and I bet you'll change your tune.

[randlemanboater]

Originally Posted by dboyd351

That's true, BUT if a big cold front comes thru try going shrimping!! The shrimp in FL Bay get up and move on the cold fronts and you can take a spotlight and long handled, telescoping shrimp net to the cuts between the islands and dip up shrimp at night. If they are running good, you can get a few gallons worth.

I did it at Adams Cut in Key Largo when I lived there, but the runs happen all up and down the Keys.

You need a GOOD headlight/spotlight, a fine mesh shrimp net and to figure out how you can access the cut.

Local knowledge of how to get to a place to dip them can be very important. Ask at Bait shops (where you will buy the net, too), as well as asking any fishy looking locals that happen to be friendly (they get inundated with tourists down there and can be reluctant to give up information). You can also drive US 1 at night and look for the lights of people shrimping along the cuts. They will only be doing it if you get a lot of North wind.

The best headlight/spotlights are mounted on a headband or hat with a seperate battery that sits on the ground/deck and has a powercord running to the light. People often make their own and use things like track lights for the bulb. I've got one made by Western Rivers with a battery that fits on your belt and its pretty good, too. Some of the newer LED lights might be good, too.

If you are dipping from shore you need a telescoping aluminum net that has 3 extensions and goes out to maybe 18 feet long. There are a lot of places you pretty much need that much length.

People do it from boats, too, and it is even legal to pull a "trawl" type net if it isn't too big, but it can be a real circus from the boats weaving through confined areas at night, at least at places like Adams Cut.

Dress warm, too. You don't think of the Keys as getting cold, but if you are standing alongside a cut for hours at night with a north wind blowing, it can get chilly even down there.

Good luck!! If you get some they will be the best shrimp you ever ate, both because you caught them yourself and because they are so fresh.

I miss the shrimping more than most anything else about the Keys.

Thanks for the info....I will look in to it.

I do know it can get cold in the Keys.....it was 47 this morning with a nice 15 mph north wind.

[Big Lar]

Yea I know all about the cold weather in Florida. I am forced to live here year round. The summers in central Florida are not so bad rarely gets much over 90, but always comfortable on the Gulf.

Grouper will be closed in fed waters in the Gulf for the next 6 months except for red grouper. Oh by the way that is for recreational fishers only, the commercial guys can still do their thing.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Big Lar

Yea I know all about the cold weather in Florida. I am forced to live here year round. The summers in central Florida are not so bad rarely gets much over 90, but always comfortable on the Gulf.

Grouper will be closed in fed waters in the Gulf for the next 6 months except for red grouper. Oh by the way that is for recreational fishers only, the commercial guys can still do their thing.

I know all about it, this is why I sold my boat a few months back.

[phatdaddy]

looks like a good time was had by all.

[randlemanboater]

Here are a few pics from the trip. We ended up catching 31 Grouper most too short to keep, (29 Gag, one Black, and one Red Grouper big enough to keep), a bunch of Mangrove Snapper, a couple Yellowtail Snapper, some silver fish that tasted like flounder, a few jacks, and a bunch of other small stuff around the bridge pilings.