Florida Charter Recs

[Allan Childers]

Gentlemen,

The Mrs. and I are heading off to Florida tomorrow. My first time. Hitting up Ft. Lauderdale, Keywest, Islamorada, and Coconut grove. Would like to get at least one day of backwater fishing for Tarpon or Permit.
Any backwater guide recommendations would be helpful.

Schedule:
4-5 Ft Lauderdale
6-7 Key West
8-9 Islamorada/Cheeca
10-11 Coconut Grove

Any of your favorite places to eat or watering holes would be good too!

tight lines,

Allan

[CaptPatrick]

Allen,

Email or PM John Brownlee for the best local info...

Br,

Patrick

[PeterPalmieri]

If you want to sight cast I'd recommend

http://www.doublehaulcharters.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Allan Childers]

Awesome... thanks for the intel!

Anybody been to the IGFA museum? Since I'm in the neighborhood. ;)

[Buju]

Allan,
I could put you in touch with some of the most renowned flats guides in Islamorada... Consistant big-tourney winners.
Availability may be an issue with them, as their usually booked months in advance, but October is generally slow season.

Several good offshore guys as well in the Islamorada area... But you may wanna do your offshore in KW, and flats/bckcntry in Islamorada?

DInning- Islamorada
Ziggy and MadDogs- Dinner & cocktails ...MM-83.5-ish bayside
Kaiyo - "FL / Asian fusion"-sushi/traditional seafood/...just south of Cheeca on the old hwy
Chef Michaels- classic French(?) style cuisene-(great hogfish dish)- Dinner...just south of Kaiyo on old hwy
Ma's Fishcamp- downhome lunch joint... just south of Chef Michaels/ across the st. from World Wide Sportsman
Island Grill- Good lunch fare on Snake Creek- good ahi-poke... MM86-ish

IGFA museum is OK. Kinda like a Bass Pro Shops with less stuff to buy. But, don't sweat it because the Bass Pro Shop is right next door- coincedence?

Lemme know if you want guide /captain info...

[Allan Childers]

Looks like B31 comes through again.

Buju,

I've been going offshore a lot here in San Diego and killin' em, but getting the %*&$ kicked out of me in the process. Yellowfin, Dorado, and Yellowtail (amberjack) have been WFO lately... really good but late season. Should be still on in late Oct fingers crossed.

A nice calm day of backwater fishing is what I need. Those Tarpon are calling to me brother. If you could pass along the contact information I would be very thankful.

Thanks for the dining and grog tips! hogfish huh? I'll give that a shot.

BTW: Cracker is one kickass band.

tight lines,

Oh man... how did I forget? Tackle shops/fishing supply? In Hawaii I'm always hitting up the local shops for some "secret weapons" to bring back. Cap'n Bobby/Chasin' Tail turned me onto a good one last time. That place was the real deal. What places do I need to hit in Florida?

[Eddy G]

When in Islamorada, the Lorelei is a great sunset spot. MM 82 bayside. Look for the Mermaid. http://www.loreleicabanabar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eddy G.

[Buju]

Cool Allan... Theres a good mixed bag available this time of year on the flats & backcountry, but afraid that the tarpon migration is a spring & early summer gig. There are always some resdient fish available to bend a rod, but the real madness and big fish are April thru June.
Very good bonefish now... The redfish in the back are the best they've been in years.
Plenty of snook around despite what fisheries mngmnt wants to say.
Some good permit action going off too.

Capt. Bou Bosso (305) 395-9465 - great easy going guy, very knowledgable, a true up & comer of Islamorada's great guides. Has brand new HB skiff.
http://www.captboucharters.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Capt. Brian Helms (305) 815-0617 - Also a pleasant guy, very knowledgable, many tourney wins and responsible for IGFA records... Has 2 Skiffs & Also has a Conch27 (Hunt hull) for reef and offshore trips.
http://www.islamoradaflyfishing.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Capt. Steve Freidman (305)-393-FISH - Good dude, great for multi species targeting. Has HB skiff & Pathfinder bayboat
http://afishingguide.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Capt. TIm Klein (305)-852-1512 - One of the best bonefish guides alive.
http://www.jabo1.com/assets/projects/sc ... /klein.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Capt. Mike Ehlers (305)-393-0650 - He's been at it for nearly 40 years... great tarpon guide, but can obviously put you on whatever you want.

There are literally hundreds of world renowned flats captains in Islamorada... so it is hard to narrow it down to a few. You can also contact places like the Lor-e-lie ( http://loreleicabanabar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) or The Green Turtle/Florida Keys Outfitters ( http://www.floridakeysoutfitters.com/Fl ... shing.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) and put it in their hands. They usually will have a roster of 20+ guides and will set you up with whomever is open for the dates you're here.
The guys I listed, I know them personally on varying levels and wouldn't hesitate to send anyone their way.

Tackle shops to hit would be the Tackle Center (on the grounds of the Lor-e-lie) and Florida Keys Outfitters (On the Green Turtle grounds)... Green Turtle is a good place to eat as well- great breakfast, lunch and dinners...
Have fun

[Hueso]

http://www.islamoradasportfishing.com/f ... guides.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe this could help.

[Craig G]

One of my favorite watering holes/lunch spot with docks is South Port Raw Bar on Cordoba Rd. In Fort Lauderdale. Also Shooters on the intra coastal just south of Oakland Park Blvd. Is an iconic South Florida restaurant. My wife and I went there for dinner tonight in our 31 Bahia Mar. Supposedly the best hamburgers in the country are at Le Tub in Dana Beach, or maybe Hollywood on the intra coastal. I have not been there yet though. Excellent burgers at the Sand's in Pompano Beach on the intracoastal across from Houston's which is excellent and more upscale. Bertramp's favorite place is Blue Moon Fish Company, just north of Commercial Blvd. On the intra coastal, which is an excellent restaurant for lunch and dinner.

[Allan Childers]

I'd like to once again thank you guys for the tips on making the most of our trip to Florida and the Keys.

In Ft. lauderdale we woke up kinda late due to our flight from Houston to Miami beign switched to a later flight. Had some great coffee and pastries around the corner from our hotel at:

Pan'e Dolci - Italian Bakery
3341 East Oakland Park Blvd (Oakland Park & A1A), Fort Lauderdale, FL

Hit up the IGFA Museum and Bass Pro where Molly walked out with some new dresses. Hard to believe, but I couldn't find anything that I "needed".

Had a fantastic lunch at:

Laura's Cuban Restaurant
2723 Hollywood Blvd (Hollywood blvd), Hollywood, FL

Ropa Vieja was out of this world. If I was in the neighborhood I would go back in a second.

Ended the night at the Mai Kai. As Tiki places go this is Mecca and I was not dissapointed. Did the dinner and show and subjected myself to the "Mystery Drink".

Got a late start agian and we hit up Pan'e Dolci again and picked up a SunPass and refreshments for the ride down south. The SunPass deal worked out really well. Easy to set up on your mobile phone and check your balance.

Fueled up in Homestead and continued to blaze a trail south with a stop at:

The Wreck Galley & Grill
58835 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL

Had the Grouper Tacos and Molly had a Cajun Blackened Grouper Sammich. Really good food, beer was cheap, and plenty of "charcter".

Made it to the Sheraton in Keywest with a nice view of Smather's Beach from the balcony. After getting settled in we walked into town and had some Mojitos and Painkillers to wash down our Conch Fritters. Ended the night at the Rum Bar with a DOF of El Dorado 15 and a La Gloria Series R.

Watched the sunrise from Smathers Beach and got eaten by the sand fleas. Saved the morning by getting Cuban Cafe Con Leche and pressed bread at:
Kim's Kuban
2300 N Roosevelt Blvd, Key West, FL

Checked out Hemmingway's house and the six-toed cats.

Ate a late lunch at:
Havana 1
1101 Truman Ave., Key West, FL

Ropa Vieja was good, but I'd say second place to Laura's in Ft. Lauderdale. I did get some free fishing secrets here from the owner.

Took the rest of the day easy and enjoyed a few beers on the balcony and called it a night early.

Woke up to watch the sunrise again (from the balcony free of sand fleas) packed up and headed over to Kim's for another round of coffee and bread.
Re-stocked the refreshments for the ride to Islamorada and headed off.

Stopped off in Big Pine Key to look around and hit up
Jigs Bait And Tackle
30201-30499 Florida 5, Big Pine Key, Florida

Molly LOVES tackle shops and can't get enough of them... really she does!

Stopped at 7-MIle Bridge to take a walk on Old Seven. Saw some Turttles cruise by.

We stopped at Ma's fish camp for a Mahi sammich and conch fritters that we shared. We were determined to save room for Key LIme Pie and did. Molly got the pie and I tried the Hummingbird cake. The pie was great but the Hummingbird Cake was out of this world good.

After lunch Molly was really looking forward to Worldwide Sportsman with here latest aquisitions at Bass Pro in Ft. Lauderdale. She came up emptyhanded here but I manged to get a few thing that I needed. The replica of Hemmingway's Pilar was cool and it's nice that you can climb in the thing. The Tarpon hanging out waiting for a free lunch at the dock was something to see. There were some big boys there. After that we checked into Cheeca Lodge. Abosolutly stunning view from our balcony of the water. We didn't waste anytime and grabbed a tandem kayak for a short paddle. We each have our own kayak at home, those Hobie Mirage drives that your peddal instead of paddle. Lemme tell you, if you ever want to go from married to divorced in the shortest time possible, try a tandem paddle kayak.

We got cleaned up and met our friend Dave over at Lor-e-lie for beers and painkillers. Not a bad view of the sunset!
After a few mis-starts on dinner we ended up at Ziggy's for drinks and appitizers. Crab chowder and the Chicken Pate special for that night was great.

Molly wasn't feeling the bast so she decided to skip on backcountry fishing the next day. She was mostly worried that she was going to get sick I guess. I managed to twist Dave's arm into going and he picked me up at Cheeca at 7:00am and headed over to the Trading Post for box lunches.

We head over to the Siesta Marina down the road a bit to meet our charter. Time to chat with the dockmaster and a cup of coffee. Our captian Steve Friedman shows up early with his 17.5 HB skiff and were leaving the dock at 7:30am... right on the nose. Cap'n Steve heads us into the Everglades and after about 45min of running we're in calf deep water (remember I'm from San Diego). Well now we're drifing through the grass and mullet are boiling all over this strage place. We try to get use to the gear as best we can and Steve starts pushing us towards some finning Redfish. Those suckers are spooky and I doesn't help that Dave and I are doing everything we can to screw up our chances. Luckly Steve is a patient guide and eventualy my shrimp shaped plastic gets thrown in the right spot. My bait gets hammered and after a short altercation I have my first Redfish!



He gets released to fight another day and now we're tryign to get Dave hooked up. More silent stalking of fins poking up through the water. The wind dies down and the surface is a mirror. It's had to tell where the water stops and the sky starts. A few more stalk and cast attempts and I get hammered but fail to make it stick. Finally Dave drops a live shrimp in front of one and sticks it. With a little smack talk we get Steve to catch one on a spoon and does. Steve pushes the skiff around some more but the fish take a union break. We bug out and head back towards the highway and stop at some sandy bottom mangroves. Steve points out a cloud of sand in the water and I cast my live shrimp over. It gets hammered by something angry and after a short fight I land my first Jack Carvalle. For a little fish those things sure put up a fight and fun as hell on light gear. I get baited up again in time to see a boiler come out of the mangrove. Double hookup and Dave and I have a little better grade of JC. As quickly as they appeared they are gone and we head out to the ocean side for a try at some bonefish. The wind and sun aren't playing nice and Steve is forced to chum them in with shrimp instead of sight fishing. We get a chance at one but he doesn't hang around. The best we can do is get bait raped by some pesky needlefish. We head back to Siesta for some well deserved cold beers. I love that place, just what I imagined/hoped for out of Islamorada. Pretty easy to get attached to a place like this. I missed it as soon as we left.



After a few beers with the locals I head back to Cheeca to clean up and have a Painkiller of two before dinner. We decide to stay in and enjoy a dinner at the Chart Room at the Lodge. I thought I deserved a Rib Eye after all that hard work fishing and that Rib Eye was delicious! I ended the night with a Rhum and a Romeo & Julieta Titan.

The next morning we watched the sunrise and enjoyed a soak on the balcony tub. After taking our time checking out we headed over to the Trading Post to grab a Capicola Sub and some Mexican Cokes. We ate our lunch at Siesta Marina and headed out on the road towards Coconut Grove. Along the way we ran into a good size lobster.


If I had enough butter I would have kicked that bug's ass.

A few blocks up from the hotel in Coconut Grove was this place:
Lokal Burgers & Beer
3190 Commodore, Miami, FL

Molly had the cheeseburger served on a glazed donut instead of a bun. yes, it was good.

For breakfast the next day we tried:
Greenstreet Cafe
3468 Main Hwy. (Commodore Plaza), Miami, FL

It was meh... okay. Food was good but the service was slow as hell. Spend your money somewhere else.

Molly wanted to visit Vizcaya so we did. Talk about an over the top place. Well worth the time visiting.

The highlight of this day was our visit to:
Capt. Harry's Fishing Supply
8501 NW 7th Ave, Miami, FL

I really had to control myself here... sensory overload. I almost blacked out.

We visited Key Biscayne and the Lighthouse and stopped off to have a beer and bite:
Boater's Grill
1200 S Crandon Blvd, Key Biscayne, FL

Black Bean soup was forgetable but the shrimp and fried plantains were good. Coldest beer ever. No Name Harbor is a nice spot.

We finished up the day with dinner:
Jaguar Ceviche
3067 Grand Ave., Miami, FL

We got the Ceveiche sampler which was excellent. Molly got a Ceasar salad and I went for the Picanha. Wow... that was a good piece of beef. The Caiperinas were great too. We saved room for desert which was the right thing to do. We got the cheesecake. Sounds boring but it was anything but. Really fantastic with the Dulce de Leche. We headed over to Lokal again for beers and were treated like celebrities because we're from San Diego. In the craft brewing world San Diego is Mecca so they wanted to know all about the breweries there. I really liked a beer from Tequesta Brewing Co. called Gnarly Barley... good stuff.

0400 we were up and packing to head to MIA.

Landed in San Diego at 12:30 and ate lunch next to America's Cup Harbor.

All in all not a bad vacation. Gald we went all the places we did in Florida, but next time I'd spend as much time in Islamorada as possible. Quaint little town with a fishing problem... just my speed.

I would recomend Steve Friedman as a guide without any reservation. He sets realistic goals, is ontime and prepared, patient, and is passionate about what he does. For anyone doing backcountry fishing for the first time I would do a full day (8hrs) to get the most out of it. Talk with your guide and before hand and practice at home with what you are going to use. I never sight fish here in San Diego and never throw any plastic/bait that light, that was a handicap, but I struggled through it. Lesson learned.

[Buju]

Great post Al... did your homework on the details.

I'm glad you hooked up with Steve. Was that based on my rec, or just chance? Him and I used to be pretty good friends and we've fished together many times in the past.

Good choices on the Rhum (Barbancourt?) and smokes. Romeo y Julietta is always a consistent winner, as is the Series R. Ma's H-bird cake is ridiculous. I agree on Islamorada- its a good spot.

[Allan Childers]

I picked Steve for a few reasons, mainly your recomendation. He was honest without being condesending. Chiefly in regards to flyfishing. I've never done it before and I was willing to give it a shot, but Steve was concerend that it was alot to learn. He was 100% correct. Generaly I don't toss anything less than an ounce on 20# mono with a Avet SX or Penn 500 out here. Wind isn't as much of a factor when you're throwing something that heavy. A little shrimp with a tiny split shot is another thing. When I go out there again I'll invest the time practicing here to make the most out of my next charter with Steve (I'll pack an 8' 10-25 with a Avet and 3/4oz Shimano Waxwing as well).

Another factor... he takes credit cards. Yeah I know it's a PITA and the CC company skims 3% off the top, but in this day and age it's a fact of life. Yes a lot of the guys take checks, but I can't remember the last time I wrote a check for something let alone where the darn thing is. I don't like carrying a big wad a cheese in my pocket either, especialy when on travel.

Personal recommendations mean a lot to me and were 100% on the money (the charter and places to eat). I've been on my share of boat rides so just picking a guy off a list seems as sketchy as to me as the chainsmoking guy on the dock asking you, "hey buddy... you wanna go fishin'?"

I don't remember what I had for Rhum at Cheeca, but in KW Molly had the El Dorado 15 and I had Ron Metheusleum Reserva (RM is my favorite). When I'm in the mood for something less sweet Barbancourt and Mt. Gay Extra Old is the way to go. Give Plantation Barbados a shot. I bought some in Homestead for $19 ($14 out here). Not sweet or overly orangy/vanilla like Zaya or Ron Zacapa. I brought a few Ramone Allones with me on this trip too... but my absolute favorite would be Punch Rare Corojo Rubustos.

If you're ever out this way (along with the rest of B31 land) gimme a shout and I'll get you out on the water (or a beer in your hand).

tight lines,