We booked Capt. Jeff Shelar
out of Marathon Key. Jeff was GREAT! I recommend him for Poon
Tangling with live bait, offshore angling (fins, sails, etc), as
well as gulf-side wreck fishing. Here are some notes and pictures
of our adventure with Jeff.
Day 1:
- Fished 7 Mile bridge until around 10am. Had several swipes by
large tarpon. We were fishing livies (mullet and goggle eyes) on
the down current side of the bridges. Hooked one and Stevo fought
it for around 10 minutes. Then the poor 'poon was nailed by a 15'
Hammerhead Shark! He ate it in 2 bites!
- Went offshore after fueling up and getting some more rigs and
hit some schoolie dolphins. We were on the order of 20 miles south
of Sombrero in the damn shipping lanes - huge container ships
cruising by! Jeff expertly tracked birds and found a large school
of dolphins. We caught around 20 and kept 6 for fine dining! Jeff
called a buddy captain who had a charter in the area and that boat
pulled in 30-40 (they had 4 or 5 folks fishing) off the same school.
It was EXCELLENTE! That night Hooley and I took a bunch of the
mahi mahi to Castaways restaraunt and they prepared it in 6 different
ways. We feasted!
Day 2:
- AM: Hit the bridge for poons again. Several swipes but not a one
taker! :-(
- PM: Went around 10 miles west of Marathon into the gulf to a
wreck in about 15' of water. Caught some small blue runners and
used them to bait larger fish. Gil nailed a monster Goliath Grouper;
200lbs! It was quite a beast! Bill dance ain't got nothin'
on this busta! Stevo exacted vengence on the sharks by catching a
5 1/2 foot Black Tip shark, and both Steve and Gil caught the SAME
nurse shark (hooked it twice). We also caught a handful of nice
Mangrove snapper (15-17 inches). We released them since we had
mucho mahi mahi in the fridge.

Where's our luggage?
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Old Wooden Bridge
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Pics from our room
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Pics from our room
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Stevo fighting the 90lb Poon!
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Stevo fighting the 90lb Poon!
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Stevo fighting the 90lb Poon!
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Stevo fighting the 90lb Poon!
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Stevo fighting the 90lb Poon!
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What's that in the water?
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Jaws eats my poon
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Jaws eats my poon
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1/2 a poon
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Jaws eats my poon
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Jaws eats my poon
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Deep blue sea
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Deep blue sea
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Deep blue sea
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Fighting Schoolie Dolphins
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Fighting Schoolie Dolphins
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Fighting Schoolie Dolphins
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Fighting Schoolie Dolphins
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Fighting Schoolie Dolphins
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Schoolies are a TASTY TREAT!
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Schoolies are a TASTY TREAT!
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Caught around 20, kept 6
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Caught around 20, kept 6
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7 Mile Bridge aka Tarpon Alley
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Capt Jeff
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Stevo watching his mullet
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Anchor's away!
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At a wreck in the gulf
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Gil vs The GOLIATH GROUPER!
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Round 2, Gil's still smiling
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Round 3, Wow, this beast is big!
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Round 4, Good God!
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Round 5, Ouch ouch ouch
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Round 6, The pain continues
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Round 7, When will it ever end!
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The beast, defeated
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200lbs
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Eats small babies
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Bill Dance ain't got nothin' on this!
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Check out the hook!
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One last pic
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Stevo exacting vengence on the sharks
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Stevo exacting vengence on the sharks
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Stevo exacting vengence on the sharks
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Stevo exacting vengence on the sharks
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Stevo exacting vengence on the sharks
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Stevo exacting vengence on the sharks
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Stevo exacting vengence on the sharks
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5 1/2 Black Tip Shark
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Stevo exacting vengence on the sharks
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Hooley with a Nurse shark
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Hooley with a Nurse shark
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Catchin' Blue runners for bait
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Catchin' Mangrove Snappers too!
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Capt Jeff
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Gilligan's Island
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More gulf
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Capt Jeff's 26' Robalo
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The shark rod
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More Snappers
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Say Cheese!
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The bridge to No Name Key
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Sun set
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Sun set
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Gil and Stevo's Tiki Bar
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Gil and Stevo's Tiki Bar
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Gil and Stevo's Tiki Bar
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Gil and Stevo's Tiki Bar
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Gil and Stevo's Tiki Bar
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Photo album generated by album
from Dave's
MarginalHacks
on Mon Jun 9 14:23:04 2003