# Dry Tortugas Trip with Capt Yuri during Thanksgivings in 2012



## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

It seems everybody is ready for the trip.
Frank/Josh will pick me up on Thursday morning after making bait on a bridge on the way to Key West.
I packed my carry-on rod case.
I can manage to put 5 Black Hole two_piece conventional rods in it ( 80g, 150g, 250g, 350g and 450g), but butt sections are 4 because the but section of 250g and 350g are interchangeable. 
I am leaving from Newark Airport, NJ tomorrow morning. See you guys on Thursday morning.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

The flight from Fort Myers to Key West was a delightful surprise. It was very small plane with only 9 seats. I never thought this kind of small commercial airplane is operating in the US. Pilot said Vacation in Key West starts here and he is right.










my carry-on rod case goes into the wing.










Pilot was like a tour guide. 


















Key West


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

As soon as I arrived at Key West on Nov 21, I made a short tour of the old town.

*Key West*


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Blue Heaven Bar & Restaurant


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

*Nov 22*

Frank and Gilbert picked me up at Inn at Key West and went to the boat. Josh and Dennis were catching bait at the dock.

Here are pictures of the boat. The boat is very roomy and six fishermen can fish very comfortably.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

After relaxing on the boat, we went to old town of Key West.









Sloppy Joe's Bar













































Then, we went to Hoghous Restaurant for dinner. Hoghouse is just next to the Yankee Capt.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

*Nov 23*

We got most of groupers on the first day. 
I started to use 450g Black Hole Cape Cod Special two-piece rod along with PE10 filled with 100 lb leader line/80 lb Jerry Brown Hollow. The choice of jig is my reliable 8 oz Flat Hammered diamond jig.

Red grouper fishing was great. I had a few 10 - 15 lb red on the jig before I got a monster.
I knew immediately the grouper is a big one when I hooked up the fish on 8 oz Flat Hammered diamond jig. It pulled very hard on heavy drag, but I could manage to lift the fish off the bottom. Once I brought up the fish in mid water, I felt safe and I was thinking about loosening drat a little bit, but then the monster pulled hard again taking a lot of line and
the fish could manage break 100 lb leader line. 
I usually use 100 lb leader line for grouper fishing, but it is not safe enough on this trip and I changed to 120 lb leader line. 
Capt Yuri told me later the spot holds many big black groupers and the monster must be a big black grouper.

I don't know how many reg groupers I caught on 8 oz Flat Hammered diamond jig on the firest day and other fishermen on the boat were very impressed with the effective of the jig.
Whenever I go grouper jigging, the jig is the first jig I use because I have confidence with the jig as it always produced for me in the past.

when Capt Yuri moved to deeper spots, we saw mutton snapper and I swiched to light Black Hole Magic Eye jigging rod rated to PE2.5(25 lb) line rating with PE4 reel spooled with new Black Hole white braid/40 lb leader line. I choose Black Hole Taifun 200g jig first.
It didn't take long I had my first mutton on the jig. 
After catching 2 mutton on the jig, I experimented to add strip of squid on hook as we normally do for seabass jigging. 
It was apparent mutton snapper hit the jig more with squid strip added.

I covered bottom and mid depth with the jigs and most of hit came when I bounced the bottom with jig. After this trip, I was convinced that you got to bounce the bottom with jigs if you want to get more hit from mutton as in the case of other bottom fishing on jigs.
Don't believe what others say.

I also paid my attention closely whether it is true or not that jigs would scare off mutton as some regulars of the Yankee Capt claim. 
I fished along with other 4 -5 guys who used bait. After this trip I would regard their claim as a joke. While I was bouncing the bottom with jig next to them, they constantly got hit with bait. I found Capt Yuri loves to use jigs and I asked about his opinion. He said mutton snapper hit jigs regularly and don't believe jigs scare off mutton. 
Jigs are designed to attract fish not to distract fish. If their jigs scare off mutton, they must use wrong jigs.

After wonderful dinner with fish we caught, we resumed fishing. After I caught many groupers on heavy gear, I started to use ultra light Black Hole Magic Eye/PE 4 reel for night bites.
It was a challenge to land a decent keeper grouper with such a light tackle, but it was ultra fun.

first grouper on 8 oz Flat Hammered diamond jig on the trip.









I couldn't count how may grouper I got on the jig on the first day.









Dennis fighting a nice Jack with a light tackle. Dennis is young kid. He love talking and he is genuinely nice kid. I had lots of fun to fish with him.


















I used Black Hole Biter jigs for mutton, but grouper couldn't resist to swallow it.









I know assist hooks on top of a jig is very popular nowadays, but I still like to use hook at the bottom of a jig. Also some like to use long jig for groupers, but I feel I get more hit using short jigs.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Trigger fish loves to hit jig though it has very small mouth. A nice triggerfish caught on Black Hole Taufun jigs. I don't know how many species I caught with the Black Hole Taifun jig on the trip.









First mutton snapper on the trip using Black Hole Taifun jig.









Second mutton on the trip









Dinner time


















Frank, Gilbert, Dennis, Josh and myself.
I met Frank for the first time on the trip, but I felt I met an old friend as we exchanged emails for long. He is the charter master of the trip. I have been chartering so many times and I know how much he was dedicating to make this trip successful. Thanks Frank for the invite. We are going to fish together many many time in the future.
Gilbert is simply hardcore bottom fisherman and a fine gentleman from Canada. I hope we had another chance to fish together soon. 
Dennis is only 17 years old, but he has so much knowledge about fish and fishing. His big smile is a big asset to him. I am going to ask him to fly up to North when bluefin bites are hot. He just loves fishing. I fished with Josh for giant in P.E.I. in Sept. He loves fishing like others on the trip and he knows how to relax while fishing. I already made a plan to fish in Bermuda with Josh and Frank next year. I feel very fortunate to get to know them and fish together. They all have passion of fishing and they are very considerate to others on the whole trip. Thanks guys.









After dinner, we resumed fishing. I started to experiment jigs with strip of squid and mutton snapper responded very well. For tuna or grouper, it doesn't make much difference to use jigs with bare hook or with hook sweetened strip of bait. But some fish like seabass or golden tile respond very well to jig when strip of bait is added.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

*Nov 24*

When Capt Yuri moved the boat last night, I couldn't resist to sleep. Gilbert said this spot has lots of red groupers.
So I switched to use 450g Blackhole two-piece rod/PE10 reel. It didn't take long to catch two nice red groupers on 8 oz Flat Hammered diamond jig.



















Nice mutton by Gilbert









Dennis catching a kingfish with light spinning tackle.









Nice mutton by Frank









Mutton on Black Hole Biter jig


















*Tutle on a jig ?*

I have fought many strange fish in my life, but I never imagined I would hook up a turtle on a jig.
But it happened. While bouncing the bottom with Black Hole Taufin jig using super light Black Hole Magic Eye PE2.5 (25 lb) jigging rod/JM PE4 filled with BlackHole PE4 line, I hooked up with something heavy.
It didn't make headshakes and just pulled hard. I thought it was a big shark. After giving and taking line for long, I finally brought it to the surface. Someone shouted "Turtle !". Yes, it was a big turtle.
So I pushed the drag lever to full position to brake the line. But I couldn't break the line because the turtle swam toward me when I pulled hard. Tug of war continued for a while. Then fortunately the turtle got freedom when the hook got broken fortunately. 
I couldn't believe the light Magic Eye jigging rod held the whole fight. 
Capt Yuri told me later that this was only second time he saw turtle was fought on his boat.

Nice red grouper on Taifun jig again using light Magic Eye jigging rod.









Gilbert is very experienced mutton snapper fisherman and he only used bait for mutton.
But he joined jigging mutton after he saw me catching mutton on jigs.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

we were hungry after long hour fishing and T-bone steak and fresh fish were not bad at all. 


















While we were having dinner, I watched screen full of spots. Capt said he stored about 3000 numbers.
When we asked whether he doesn't mind someone steal his number because GPS number is shown on the screen. He said with smile that number doesn't mean any thing if he doesn't know when to fish and how to fish the spots.









Fishing resumed after dinner.
nice yellowtail on Taifun jig.









*
landing a 100 plus goliath grouper with super light Magic Eye jigging rod*

Capt Yuri moved to deeper spot after dinner and I used same light Magic Eye/JM PE4 combo for mutton. 
After bouncing the bottom with Taifun jig for a while, I hooked up with a big fish. 
After battling with the fish us using 40 lb line for a while, I could move up the fish slowly off the bottom. I thought it was a shark, but it fought differently. 
Then, I started to think it could be a goliath grouper. 
Whenever I gain line, it got it back. after a long fight, the fish finally came up to the surface. Goliath Grouper ! 
It is no secret I love to catch big fish with light tackle, but I never dreamed I would land a 100 plus lb goliath grouper with a fluke rod. This has to be my highlight of the trip.

The main purpose of the trip was to test tackle and I am extremely pleased with the performance of Black Hole Magic Eye PE2.5 jigging rod and new Black Hole HYbrid braid line.



















*Mutton didn't like jigs tonight*
I had a great expectation to catch many mutton on jigs tonight.
But they didn't hit jigs at all. All other fishermen got hit continuously on bait, but I couldn't get single hit for two hours for unknown reason. 
We experience seabass don't hit jigs well on wreck while they hit jigs savagely on rocky bottom. It could be the same reason. Mutton on this spot might feed on something else. Or they might not respond to jigs well at night. 
Now, I had three choices. 1) To continue to jig until I get bite. 2) To go to sleep and 3) to use bait.

Gilbert gave me some tips how to use bait for mutton on previous day and it didn't take long to figure out how they bit and how to hook them. 
I used J hook first and it worked great. But when I experimented with circle hooks, I dropped a few mutton. When I went to back again to J hook, I had solid hookups. I fished all night and in the morning until the boat moved for deep drop.. There must be more goliath grouper on this spot because I lost three mutton on the way up. It was a fun day again.

Frank with a nice mutton









Gilbert working his bait


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Nov 25

*Deep Drop*

Capt Yuri ran to the east for deep drop spots.
As you know, I am not a fan of electric reels, but I wanted to see how they operate with electric reels while I jig manually. 
On the first drop, I dropped a couple of nice fish. Capt Yuri managed power drift so I didn't have any problem to use 550g jig. On the second drift Capt Yuri pushed the boat forward for some reason and I knew my line would be tangled with lines of electric reels though I fished on the bow.
After the tangle, I gave up fishing and asked Capt Yuri to make only one drift for jigging after they finished fishing with electric reels.

We didn't fish long and we caught snowy grouper and rosie on each drop.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Finally Capt Yuri asked me to jig.
Capt Yuri is very good at power drift and I could use a light jig though we fished 600 - 800 ft deep.
On the first drift, I had a big hit on my jig, but I missed. Then I got a big hit again and it pulled line very hard. I knew it could be 50 lb or bigger. After reeling for long from the deep, I was very disappointed to see a shark. But It was my first time to catch a hammered head shark. 
You never know what to catch next in this water. 
I used 450g Black Hole two-piece rod and JM PE10 filled with 60# Jerry Brown Hollow.




























I think not many fishermen try manual reels for deep drop in Florida, but they can use manual reels for bait fishing and jigging for deep drop with Capt Yuri.

We headed back to the dock after deep drop fishing. It seems everyone on the boat was very pleased on the trip.


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## mad marlin (Jan 17, 2008)

Kil when are we going again ? lol awesome report


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## red34 (Jun 2, 2004)

What a great trip! That is a lot of fillets!! I hate to admit it, but I think grouper and snapper is soooo much better than tuna


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## Ex Boat Capt. Carp (Jul 19, 2011)

Another nice report of some nice fish!! Way to go!! FISH ON!!


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

red34 said:


> What a great trip! That is a lot of fillets!! I hate to admit it, but I think grouper and snapper is soooo much better than tuna


I didn't bring any fish home. Dennis who lives in Miami must brought home over 200 lb filet of delicious mutton, grouper and other fishes.

I talked with a Capt I know today. I told him I don't understand why many fishermen there use such a heavy tackle for mutton snappers which don't go into the structures when hooked. He said it is because most of them are meat fishermen.


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## ksong (Jun 30, 2004)

Ex Boat Capt. Carp said:


> Another nice report of some nice fish!! Way to go!! FISH ON!!


Fishing Dry Tortugas with Capt Yuri is simply bottom fishermen's dream.
Capt Yuri said he didn't go where he wanted to go because of weather and still we had great catch.


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