I posted here last year before my keys vacation and some of you guys were a big help. Last year was pretty low-key just involving my gf and 5yo daughter. We had rented a boat for 3 days and stayed at the Royal Hawaiian Botel. We mainly just fished under 7 mile bridge and at Bamboo Banks. It was a badass experience, but a learning one at that.

On 8/16 I have a house rented for one week right on the western edge of Marathon very close to 7 mile bridge. We rented a 23' Mako (recently refurbished with new engine) for 6 days. There are 4 of us so far, including myself (the women are staying home!). One of the other guys has some Keys fishing experience as he's been down there several times but the other two have not.

I just so happen to notice that we will be down there for lobster season I have one of those Top Spot fishing maps this time around which will help. There is only one lobster area listed and it's kind of far (north of Big Pine Key I think). The guy who I'm renting from included a brochure detailing all the rules and regs about lobster season so I'm covered there. My buddy's brother is coming down from Ft Myers for one day (that first Sunday) and he's a certified dive master so that should help with the lobster excursions but I don't want to be totally unprepared. Max dive depth will be 15 feet. I have fins, snorkel and mask, gloves, and that's it. I may purchase a little, but deep net and a tickler as well.

Any advice that anyone can give regarding lobstering in the keys for a beginner would be greatly appreciated! I'm not looking for coordinates (unless you want to PM me some lol), but more of where to look for the tasty little critters. I was thinking about looking along the reef outside of the protected areas but there's not many spots that are 15' depth or less. I remember reading somewhere about searching for them around bridge pilings but with caution obviously because of the current.

Any recommendations on bait, tackle, where to go, etc would be helpful as well. For fishing bait, we plan on using shrimp for the smaller fish and pinfish for the bigger boys out on the reef. Since the pinfish are so damn expensive, I plan on buying a pinfish trap (a smaller one) at this place in Marathon for $40 and try to catch em' instead. I read sandy areas are best (next to grass) in 5-6 ft of water marked with a 20 oz bottle tied to the cage. I'm gonna weigh the cage down with a little bit of rebar and use either fish or chicken carcass, cat food, microwaved chicken wings (nuked!) for bait. And the openings have to flow with the current. I'm already worried about some asshole stealing the trap so I may try it in the canal where we are at first.

My buddy wants to go trolling for dolphin. I read that the gulf stream is a great place to go, but I think it's beyond our reach with the boat (25 miles). Hopefully we find some within ten miles from shore. Don't really want to go out further than that. Thanks!

Get a good long sleeve dive shirt, the corral can cut you pretty good.  the technique is pretty simple, tap the lobster with the tickle stick  to get him to back into your net.  try to grab them in the middle of the body, they always try to get away.  watch out for the eels, they arent friendly.  if you hear a thumping sound from a hole, that means  dont grab their antennas, they break easy.  make sure you have a dive flag as well. also fish the weed lines for dolphin,  and try the marathon hump for tuna.    

Also, kill every lionfish you see.

I'm definitely grabbing a dive shirt and also a speargun for those lion fish And holy shit man those eels are ferocious! Just watched a few vids with eels attacking divers. They always seemed to have been followed or disturbed for a little while before they become aggressive. I will avoid the slithering creatures at all costs.

The hump is 27 miles from Marathon which is beyond what the insurance policy allows (25 miles from anywhere along the keys) so that won't happen. But thanks for the suggestion! We will be busy hitting those Top Spot map GPS coordinates as there are a shitload on both sides of the island.

Don't get a speargun for lionfish it's overkill.  Just get a short three prong hawaiian sling.  Also try the Marathon end of Seven Mile bridge on either side.  There is great bottom for lobster.  Maybe a little deep for snorkeling unless you are good.

7-mile is a pretty good spot for lobster. "Back in my day" you could dive in at midnight on the first day of mini-season. There were so many that I'd grab one in one hand then drop my light as I grabbed a second and headed up for a breath of air. I'd swim back down for my light, and repeat the process. We hit our limit in less than an hour, went back to camp for a nap, had lobster for breakfast, then went back out to replenish.  The current can be bad through there, some times we had to tie ropes around our waist to keep from being swept out. Snorkeling at night under the 7-mile bridge is an experience.  The ignorance of youth is a special thing. I've got lots of stories about lobstering in the keys. Some good...some not so much.  

Have fun!

http://www.floridasportsman.com/2012/10/22/high-tech-lobster-tools/

Tow someone behind the boat to find lobster holes.

Make sure buy a saltwater fishing license with a lobster stamp.

http://myfwc.com/license/recreational/visitors/

I wouldn't be buying the speargun for just lionfish. We would try to bag other species as well although I'm not sure how well that will work with none of us being able to dive down that deep. Maybe I'll buy the speargun and someone else will buy the sling! This is the model I was looking at, the 100cm model http://www.amazon.com/Cressi-Comanche-Speargun-Ruber-Sling/dp/B004PSVNEU/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top.

Here's where we are staying so we'll definitely be hitting that bridge


EDIT: Actually thinking about getting a MAKO speargun instead, probably the Predator Pro. What's a good size, 100cm? I'm torn between 90c-110cm. Any direction would be helpful.

Decided to update this thread with a little over 5 days left until blastoff. I'm so f'n excited I can barely contain the giddiness. This trip has gone from mainly a fishing trip to "Hey, it's also lobster season, let's go find some lil' critters!", to then morphing into a spearfishing adventure. F**k trying to dive around any of the bridges, not even going to waste my time as a beginner with that. We'll probably split the 6 day boat rental equally on both sides of the island. Definitely going to hit those lobster holes on the bayside.

I purchased a Mako 110cm Predator Pro (and a pole spear) which arrives tomorrow. Also picked up a lightly used GoPro Silver 3+ for $200 (buddy is bringing his black 3+) and then purchased a bunch of accessories (underwater filter, speargun mount, Mako head mount, extra batteries, top quality micro sd, etc) for it. While the trip will probably be an equal mix of everything, I'm looking forward to spearfishing the most. If any of the vids we take are actually halfway decent, I'll post them up afterwards. Hopefully the weather is near perfect...

We use to dive the bridge just north of the 7 mile bridge and limit out it about 2 hours on lobster.  Be careful diving the bridges because the currents can be very strong around them and like others said, make sure you have dive flags.

Look for birds flying, grass lines and anything floating in the water and troll by it. You will be surprised what you will hook.  If you hook up a peanut (smaller dolphin) in a school, get him to the boat and leave him in the water (put rod in holder) and the school will stay around the boat.  We would throw cut ballyhoo as chum and keep catching them on spinning rods.

I almost got crashed into the Bahia Honda end of a bridge while messing with the Go Pro.











 

on the hot spot map there are areas that are labeled as SPA's - special protected areas. They are marked at the four corners with yellow buoys. Anchor up current outside the SPA and chum into the SPA and proceed to catch snapper.

as far as dolphin, the outside edge of the reef is approximately 4 miles from marathon. so you have another 21 miles to explore before running outside your insurance limit. The gulf stream is often right at the edge of the reef.

I've been on the hunt for a link that will show the distance from Marathon to the gulf stream. I'm pretty sure it's on the NOAA website but I can't find it.

Is the gulf stream really right past the reefs? If so that would be awesome. Everything I've read has pointed to it being farther out.

In the summer time the temp gradient (Sea surface temperature) is nearly impossible to discern where the edge of the stream is but, yes its usually well within your boundary. And dolphin travel well outside the edge of the stream.  

Please be carful around any Sanctuary areas you may be near.  http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/fknms_map/welcome.html?s=zones

Be careful? No, no, no - anchor outside, up current and chum them dumb fish right into my belly.

We stayed a week at the end of July just down the way from where you'll be. Didn't do much spear fishing, but plenty of trolling. We were catching bigger fish (30lbs) out around the 30-35 mile range, but there were schoolies all over between 7 and 20 miles out. Just run until you seen birds diving and then troll through them. You'll catch fish on probably half the passes. Use pink and blue or green/yellow and blue bubblers tipped with fresh ballyhoo. Or a naked ballyhoo is always a safe bet as well.








 

Found it!

Here's the link which shows the gulf stream location: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/rtimages/key/gulfstream.png

The gulf stream is out of our range but we will definitely be trolling past the reefs looking for dolphin and maybe sailfish.

Edit: I didn't realize that I had another gulf stream image (so I must've found that link before but couldn't find it again until now) saved from July 25, 2014. It's interesting to note the fluctuations on where the west edge of the stream lies.
 

It fluctuates quite a bit.  I've been diving on some of the deeper wrecks around Key Largo and Islamorada and there have been days where it gets that close to shore.

I've dove the Speigel when it was running 6+ knots right over the wreck.

Hoooray - My first Double - better replace my mouse before the ATF finds out

You're a braver man than me - when it's ripping like that, I find more friendly places to spend my time.

I figured I'd give an update since the trip is all said and done. It started off bad, got much worse, then better from our lowpoint on out.

After a 24 hour drive straight through, we arrive to our destination on knight's key to find our house occupied. The owner had made the mistake of telling the wrong people (who he thought was us) when they called to walk in the pink house and get comfy. Their house was actually the crappier grey one kitty corner to ours. They immediately went out to sea, so we were stuck waiting outside for 4-5 hours before we could check in. For our troubles we were given some terrible rum, a bunch of key limes, and a few cases of Heinekin. The people didn't want to leave either I was told. I was picking up the boat when the confrontation took place.

The next day we head out to Sombrero reef for a little snorkeling and scuba to start the day. 3 out of 5 of us get seasick bad, myself included. What's weird is that I never got seasick before this trip. The fish at the reef loved dining on the vomit! I guess my brother took a dump out there and the fish gorged on that as well lol. We headed back in and grab some seasick medicine and then head back out. No one had motion sickness issues for the rest of the trip.  

So it's early afternoon and we decide to go to this coral hump maybe 1-1.5 miles south of East Sister rock. There was a drop-off right past it descending down into Hawk's Channel. Visibility was extremely bad at maybe 10-12 feet. We were anchored up there for maybe 2-3 hours before disaster struck. It's kinda hard to get a good sense of time (for me at least) when I'm out on the water.

All of us except the one guy drinking are taking turns either scuba or free diving. I'm having an absolute blast as this is my first time spearfishing and scuba diving. I only got one hogfish while I was down since I was more focused on the diving aspect. Three of the guys decide to go on one last dive before heading in while I stayed up top with my buddy and cracked the first beer of the day. Before they went down, we all noticed about an inch of water near the holes at the rear of the transom base. No one thought anything of it though really. The deck had been relatively wet all day and I vaguely remember there consistently being a pinch of water down by the drain holes.

Three of the guys depart while my buddy and I are more focused on conversation than anything else. About halfway finished with the first beer I turn around and now see maybe 6-8 inches of water in the rear of the boat now. Both my buddy and I are like "WTF!?!" Next thing you know it's about ten inches deep now. I lift the engines a little bit and we decide that we must cruise for a little bit and hope the boat self bails. We pull anchor, cruise shortly, turn around and come back, kill the engine, and then holy shit did the water surge into the boat's rear. Pretty much the whole transom is submerged now. We don't drop anchor again nor even think to. My buddy sits at the bow's tip while shifting his weight from side to side to counter the listing of the boat. I take the middle position and start calling the coast guard on Ch 16. At first the communication was crappy and garbled but we finally got a clear voice and made good headway. I gave them our current coordinates and frantically relayed the current situation.    

I see one diver off the starboard side get maybe 30 yards from the boat. I turned my head a moment and then they were gone. No sight of the other two yet. At this point standing in front of the wheel I'm thigh deep in water, which is now at the front of the boat. Our gear is sliding out of the back of the boat piece by piece. I saved most of it but lost many items were lost, mostly mine (fins, snorkel, pole spear, etc). I pulled one of the containers out of the rear side of the boat and try to block our gear at the front from floating out back. It's on this container that I think I badly cut my leg open, which I didn't even feel happen. Two boats arrive at virtually the same time. One is the coast guard boat which comes to the boat and picks the two of us up. The other boat was passing by while heading straight for my brother (the solo diver who i saw 90 ft away) and thank god they saw him and picked him up. After all three of us are on the coast guard boat, off in the distance I see this little yellow blip. One of the other two divers (who were brothers) had borrowed my speargun. He tied a little piece of yellow cloth (bandanna maybe) to the tip and thrust that fucker up as high as humanly possible. The coast guard then picked them up. Everyone is safe now. I finally noticed my leg after the CG pointed out the gash. Adrenaline had clouded any mental record of the wound occurring. The CG was awesome. Very nice and extremely cool people.

Sea tow arrived on scene right after the CG did. The boat hadn't capsized yet. I guess Sea Tow monitors ch 16 and run out to boats in distress and then "holds them hostage" to the owners until anywhere from $1-5k is paid. At least that's what the rental agency said. The rental agency was annoyed that we didn't call them immediately. I had left my phone at the house and the phones which were aboard belonged to the divers down below and were all locked.

We asked the CG to drop us off at Sunset Grille because they didn't want to enter the canal where our house rental was. The sight I imagine was priceless. You had all these diners just awestruck when the CG dropped us off.  We were bloody and banged up and carrying random pieces of gear. Walked on through like nothing just happened lol. Went to Fisherman's hospital (really cool ER doc) and got 6 staples in the leg. News travels fast because the bait shop we used the following morning (with our different boat) had already heard of the rescue.  

Long story short we were given a faulty boat ( 23' Mako ) by the rental agency. Upon initially picking it up the boat was experiencing an odd fuel problem where the boat would die and then a grenade like device on the fuel line would need to be pumped/primed. Wasn't too happy about that. I was told the cause of the boat half sinking was that the bilge pump became clogged with a bunch of crap, which definitely wasn't from us.

The wound kept me out of the water for four days. Finally got back in the water on Friday (incident happened Sunday) for some decent diving before the trip was finished. I have other little odds and ends to update on but just wanted to get the sinking boat story out of the way. Will do so later.

Welcome to the "I've sank a boat club."

It sucks but at least everyone is OK and now you've got a great story.

 

I separated the hull of my 23 wellcraft from the cap. It busted three thru hull fittings.

Welcome to the club!

Seen a few sinkers in my day.  It's always advisable to check the waterline on the outside of the boat for a mental note and keep the bilge switched to permanent on.  But if yours was clogged that kinda negates that suggestion.  If you had the chance you should have ran the sinker at full speed for a while as doing so generally drains the boat, before you stop and it starts sinking again.

I wonder what plugged the bilge pump as they have a fairly big grid on the suction side

to prevent them from plugging up. Also you have to pull the plug in order to empty the bilge

while moving.



OP how was water getting in the bilge to begin with? It is always a good idea to plug all through

hull fittings anytime you notice the boat is filing with water. That problem will not sort itself out

on it's own. You guys are very lucky no one was killed.



 

I had a bilge pump try and burn itself up stuck in the on position while a few miles out. Fortunately I was able to open it up and pull the leaves out that were holding up the float switch. I haven't sunk one...yet. My buddy sank his old SeaRay and has tried to sink his current boat a few times.

In hindsight, I should have looked at the GPS coordinates for our exact location before the anchor was pulled. That way like you said I could've cruised for a little bit, gotten the water out and then came back exactly to where we were. Instead I just eyed it and just didn't go far enough to remove the water from the boat.  When you're an inexperienced boater (like myself) and a conundrum strikes, maintaining that logical train of thought becomes difficult amidst all the chaos.  

I was also concerned that if the divers surfaced while cruising around they might start swimming away from ground zero because they couldn't see the boat. My brother said when he surfaced he didn't see a damn thing. The swells were maybe 2-3 feet that day. It took him a minute before he saw the boat and started swimming towards it. He thought an underwater current had pulled him far from the boat. One of the brothers said he heard the anchor move but just thought it had shifted some. They never came up to check until their air was almost gone.  

One major area of concern is whether I should've dropped anchor again once we cruised back around. This would've been immediately after taking on that final swell while stopping which crippled the boat. I didn't think to do so but am wondering if it would've been the correct choice? My gut says yes but am not sure how the sinking boat would've reacted at that point dropping the anchor. Maybe it would've help stabilize the boat (while keeping us near the divers)? I don't f'n know.

They said it was a ton of fish scales that clogged the bilge. After coming home, I've been on the computer trying to find articles about Mako boats sinking. It's hard sorting through the articles when you don't understand most of the terminology. What I deduced was that for awhile Mako was using really cheap plastic parts for their plumbing and thru hull fittings maybe. Many of the threads I read said pretty much the same thing but this mainesail from this thread sounds like he knows what he's talking about. He references a 96' Mako. We had a 95'. Some fittings or lines were probably leaking into the hull which the bilge was able to remove until it choked. I am going to call the rental agency this week for an update as to what happened with that 23' Mako. I'm sure more info is available and I'm really f'n curious.  

This was only the 3rd time renting a boat. First time was a half day rental in Naples. Second time was for 3 days in Marathon. And the third time was the most recent trip (6 day rental). I don't know anything about plugs (or plugging anything) or where it was on this boat. I don't know where the bilge is or even what it looks like. All I know is that is pumps water out of the hull via the thru-hull fittings. As far as plugging the thru hull fittings I would have no idea how to do so unless someone showed me. When there was that 1/2-1 inch of water building up by the scuppers (right before that final dive), none of us had any idea as to what it meant. The deck had been relatively wet all day so it didn't really seem out of the ordinary The water went from 1 inch to many inches in just minutes. The last thing you expect when renting a boat is that it will sink on you, especially on the first day out!

Unbelievable; thank goodness you all returned safely.

a 20 year old rental boat is going to have more then a few issues.  Basically the minimum to keep it floating is fairly common.  



The number one thing I'm seeing wrong is that it had only 1 bilge pump, for a 23 it should be a minimum of 2 preferably 3.  That's just the rule of thumb, I'd guess the legal minimums are 1.  



No one was hurt, and thats the most important thing, things could have gone much different.



 

The first thing I did on my second boat was replace the single 700 GPH bilge pump to a 2500 GPH pump and add a second 2500 GPH pump both with their own float switches at two different levels in the bilge. To test I taped the floats down and flooded the bilge then kicked on both pumps. I have never seen water move so fast. It was like two fire hoses on either side of the boat.

I'd use a 700 gph in my jon boat.  That's big enough to keep up with forgetting the drain plug.  



I'd bet 5-700 gph pumps are the most common sold, because that's what walmart sells



2 completely independent systems are a must for something so critical.  The other thing that drives me crazy is that cheap bilge hose they sell.  That crummy seamed plastic crap.  Use sanitation line, it's smoother (no stupid ribs to hinder flow) and will last MUCH longer.  



 

a SeaTow membership is always a bargain.  About $70 bucks a year, turns a $1000 rescue into a zero extra expense rescue.

Memberships are fine for a standard tow, jump start, bring fuel, etc. But, once it becomes a salvage your membership no longer applies. Then BOHICA, hopefully you have good boat insurance.

 

I saw your post on THT - and saw a lot of the same advice/reactions there.  I was thinking "this guy HAS to be an ARFCOMMER," and had to laugh when I saw you mention that you had also posted this on a large firearms forum .  

As others have said - your luck outran your poor decision making on this one.  Going offshore in a worn out rental boat with no significant boating experience, no knowledge of the boat's systems, little to no safety gear and going ALONE (no buddy boat) is kind of a Darwin-tempting decision in my opinion.  I appreciate you sharing your story, because it should help others avoid such a thing.  

I'm gearing up for offshore excursions now, and am taking full training classes, getting my 6-pack license, buying a boat with redundant EVERYTHING, and even then - hiring an experienced captain to train me over the course of a few months.  In the spring I'm going to volunteer to crew on boats running north for the summer to get even more experience, and I promise you that I'll have the biggest ditch bag you've ever seen on those trips.  The sea will take you if it really wants you, and there's no such thing as being 'safe' on the ocean IMHO.  Being prepared is a whole other conversation.  You got lucky this time!  You may want to buy a lottery ticket....

Seems like overkill to learn how to run a boat, but there isn't anything wrong with your plan. If you plan to get your sixpack license I believe you can get your 25ton at the same time.

Just one trip north would be worth it, learn all the little things no one tells you about



 

It may be overkill for most, but when I take my daughters and wife offshore - we'll be able to deal with most that comes up.  I'm hoping to hit Abacos and Exumas next summer, so to me - doesn't feel like overkill at all!  For a typical fisherman hopping out to the canyons - definitely overkill!  

I also lack experience with the size boat that I'm acquiring, so insurance is going to require me to have an experienced captain on my policy, and he must be on board any time the boat leaves the dock for 1 year.  Given that a diesel needs to be run frequently - the captain's rider on insurance is going to be a real PITA.  I'm hoping getting a OUPV and appropriate experience on boats of a similar size as crew should eliminate my need for a hired captain on board every time I go to fill up with fuel or putter around the island.  I'll still hire a teaching captain for my first few major outings, and will be spending a lot of time with a mechanic getting to know my diesels, fuel system, etc.  I'm already working up plans for a fuel polishing system, additional/oversized bilge pumps (there are three on the boat already), secondary halon system, upgraded navionics, etc.  By the time I'm truly offshore on my own - I should feel pretty confident.  

I don't believe the OUPV ("six pack license") comes in lower weight limits any longer.  It is a standard 100 ton license for uninspected vessels and up to 100 nm offshore.  I'm pushing the limit on a 25 ton license, so hope that's the case.  

With all of that said - even for a 'runabout' boat or a rental boat I'm still going through a mechanical checklist before I untie the boat, and will always have safety gear (such as a ditch bag and EPIRB).  I like living, and would rather reduce my reliance on luck to continue living .  Again, no bashing on the OP.  He made some unwise moves, learned some lessons and lived to tell about it.  I'm sure we're all in the same boat

That's some serious cruising, have fun. Hoping someday to have my own boat big enough to do that.

Fixed it for you

sounds like you got a great plan to me!  



 

That I already have. FWB is good. But I miss having my own (note previous reference to being in the "I've sank a boat club").

glad all are well ,,this would be my luck  lol my wifes threating to plant flowers in my boat ..

We were only 1 - 1.5 miles off of Marathon when disaster struck. I wouldn't really call that being offshore but everyone's perception on how far offshore is varies.

Sounds like you are going all out with your training and that's a very good thing!  

Ah, missed that point .  I swam to shore when I ran out of gas 1.25 mile offshore.  You weren't in too much trouble if there wasn't too much current.  Still, a good lesson in boating and preparedness.  By the way - a boater who's running out of gas WILL stop and siphon yours in an emergency (particularly if you're on a lift right at the entrance to the only canal for miles).  Further, a fogged gauge isn't necessarily wrong.  I knew I had filled up last week, so ignored the fogged gauge with a boat FULL of people.  I took the swim home and kayak back with gas tanks straddling the kayak as punishment for such a stupid mistake.  

By the way - I meant it about not bashing you about your story.  I suspect if we started a competition on "stories of stupid things I've done and lived to talk about" - I could give you a run for the money (along with a few others here).  It's all good!  Thanks for letting us all learn from it.

Imagine if the electrical took a dump and killed the engine and radio after you motored away from the divers!



With currents and waves out there they could have been lost. I have heard one disaster story after another

all the years I have lived here and you better believe that you were very close to being another

one.



 

I could "what if" the situation to death but I already did that during the first few weeks after it happened (and during). Lots of those "what ifs" end with a shudder going down the spine. When I motored away I did not go far at all. Maybe 100-200 yards and then back. If the radio would have died we still would have be aided by the large boat that picked up my brother.

What if that other boat hadn't have been there?  You were close to not being here today.  You got lucky.  I wouldn't stop the "what if" game if I were you.  There's actually an entire forum on cruisersforum where people confess the mistakes they made on the water.  I've spent weeks reading through those threads, because they allow us to "what if" (in someone else's shoes).  It's valuable learning.  

By the way - how's your injured leg healing up?  Did you ever go see a doctor?  If memory serves - you're still a few weeks from having insurance, right?  Hope you're taking care of that.

I'll also apologize for the bozos on that other board who accused you of being a plant for a competing rental operation, etc.  I thought it was good that you didn't name the rental place.