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Well for this weeks trip we decided to head to Sprigger bank again, we decided to camp at Fiesta Key KOA campground, personally I much prefer camping in the Adirondack Mountains to camping in the Florida Keys, at least in terms of just camping. Campgrounds in the Keys tend to be dusty, and more like a parking lot then the campgrounds I am used to. But you are on a tropical island, in the Florida Keys, next to the best fishing and diving in the country, so it’s a trade off.

Our First day there we tried to snorkel on the ocean side of Long Key but the visibility was terrible and for the most part it was wash. That night I collected fish carcasses from some guys who had been fishing on the reef, I was pretty stoked I got a whole bucket full. So the next day I cast netted some pilchards around the boat slips in the KOA, then hair hooked some pinfish and we headed out to sprigger bank. This time I headed north past the bank, and luckily the massive amount of lobster traps weren’t there. We anchored in about 8 feet of water, and filled one chum bag with menhaden chum and the other with fish carcasses and then waited.

The first things that showed up where some ladyfish and some catfish, lady fish are kind of fun to catch when they are on really light tackle. Catfish although mostly universally disliked, make great shark bait. Just cut the catfish in half behind its bony head and use the back half as bait, sharks love it.

Anyways it was pretty slow until the tide changed then the sharks started to show, in total we caught 8 sharks, 1 Black Tip, 6 bulls and one big nurse. Which to me is great shark day; we pretty much avoided the lemons, which in my opinion are only a hair above nurse sharks in their sporty ness. For the most part lemons don’t jump and don’t run that much it’s sort of like reeling in a log. Small lemons are ok on light tackle but bulls, black tips and spinners are by far the best. At least 4 of the sharks jumped several flipping end over end, and some spun like a top out of the water.

I switched the 30# ande line this trip with 50# gorilla braid, which performed extremely well, I also tried some 65# spider wire stealth, which performed like crap, losing the first 2 fish that hit the baits.

We loaded up with pilchards, and the hit inter-coastal waterway by about 9:00am; it was an hour and a half ride from Key Largo by boat, probably could have made it faster but had to slow down a bit to consult charts etc.

Sprigger Bank is located north of the Long Key Bridge on the edge of the Everglades park. Since we arrived on a holiday there were already a few boats sitting right on the bank, so we headed a bit further north and anchored on the edge of the Everglades park. The area is swamped with lobster traps, I mean literally covered. You have to get to the edge of the Everglades in order to have enough room to for a hooked fish to run at all.

We got there and threw in a chumsack, and quickly had a couple Gaff-topsail

Catfish hit our baits. They are pretty much considered a junk fish, although< I have heard people eat them. Catfish is a sought-after fish in the freshwater and I'm not sure if the saltwater variety tastes different but I have never taken the time to find out. We kept a couple to use for cut bait.

Shortly after the tide changed, the bluefish and mackerel started showing up. We quickly coolered a few and then just were fishing catch-and-release, and in the course of the afternoon we boated a little over 20 bluefish and 5 or so mackerel, and had numerous others cut us off. We didn't use steel leaders, just used a short length heavy monofilament, around a foot of 60 lb test line.

As the afternoon progressed I threw half a catfish out on about a 3 foot heavy
steel leader, and shortly after had something cut me off. So I put the other
half out with about 8 feet of steel leader. In about 20 minutes a decent-sized bull shark hit the bait, and jumped clear out of the water. A six or seven foot shark makes an awful big splash, and was it was pretty awesome to see. About 30 seconds later he threw the hook and was gone.

I was using a 10/0 eagle claw circle, which apparently had too small a gap between the hook tip and shank for that size shark. I usually use a Gamkatsu 8/0 4x circle hook for shark rigs, and so far that size has been very effective on hooking medium and small sharks on the lip, especially when they are given very short drop back time.

I made a few more shark rigs and set out another half a catfish, and a third of a cero mackerel, but had no real luck. The swarms of bluefish were tearing into dead baits like a school of piranhas. I don't think any bait stayed around long enough to attract another shark.

Florida Keys Fishing Information

The Drop Anchor Resort and Marina is so far the loveliest and most unique place we have stayed in the Florida Keys. It's tiny and it was built a long time ago, but the owners have made the best of their existing structures, by concentrating on the interior decor. They seem to have put a lot of time and resources into creating the most beautiful rooms, while keeping the room rates to a minimum. Each room is uniquely designed and really breathtakingly gorgeous. I mean really...when you open the door to your room for the first time you will really be pleasantly surprised and delighted at the overall effect of the decor, as well as the tiny details they've worked in to each room, making the experience just wonderful, making you want to come back. For example, in our room they didn't just install a new ceiling fan: they purchased a ceiling fan with wicker blades and a distressed metallic housing, to blend in with the Casablanca-style furnishings and decor of the rest of the room. The bed linens included a crisp white bedspread, with a subtle waffle-weave design, where a plain white bedspread would have achieved the same overall look, at probably a cheaper price. This attention to detail puts the Drop Anchor at the quality level of a good resort, a step above just a good motel. The wonderful thing is, the prices are reasonable!

Drop Anchor Resort is also one of the few resorts or motels that have a place to dock a boat. After Hurricane Wilma wrecked so much in the Florida Keys, including docks, it's hard to find a place you can just drive up to in your boat. Since we arrive by boat and are always looking for new places to stay with docks or a sea wall, Wilma has really made things more complicated. So many botels/motels/resorts lost their docks in the storm, and most haven't had them rebuilt yet. We called a bunch of places but very few are back to normal yet, as far as docks are concerned. The Drop Anchor has a seawall, and it's on the ocean side (Wilma created a storm surge that approached the Keys from the Bay side). Their sea wall is, however, a little tricky to get to. The problem is, the canal leading up to their sea wall is only about 2 feet deep at low tide, and the last bit of the path way to the seawall is not marked, so if you go astray , you are in 1.5 feet of water. When you make your reservation, ask for detailed instructions on how to approach by water...which canal markers to follow, and what to do at you approach the rocks at the end of the canal. Basically you just hug the wall and don't cut any corners as you make your way around the corner past the trailer park next door, and over to the sea wall of the Drop Anchor. Try not to go at low tide, because it'll only be about 2.5 feet deep.