Christmas in the Keys

[Takaya]

My son and I are talking about taking our wives to the Florida Keys after the first of the year.

He and his wife like scuba diving, he and I like fishing. His wife has never fished and my wife will read her book and find what she wants to do and be fine like she has for the last 40 years. I have been fishing the Texas Gulf
Coast around Aransas Pass, Texas 2 or 3 times a year for the last 40 years.
but the lateness of the season and their diving interests rule out Texas.

I have a small 13 foot boat with a 15 hp outboard. I dad took it off shore many times and one time in a norther on Corpus Christy Bay there were 5 boats up to 25 feet following us in rather than negotiate the way them selves. The little plastic boat now fiber glass reinforced will bring me back from very rough places. Very wet and shaken up but back.

I am looking for an area that good reef diving can be reached with a small boat and have some good fishing. I would like to jump a tarpon or two but good fishing is more important to introduce my son's wife to fishing. A weakfish or supper will impress her more than hooking a tarpon bigger than she is and not catching it.

We will of hire a guide and dive boats some of the time but they are considering scratching their rat from the race and enjoying life before they get too old and crippled like I did.

All ideas are welcomed.
Gordon

Gordon Couger
Stillwater, OK
www.couger.com/gcouger

[spiffman]

That is kind of small to get out to the reefs. Even in the middle keys the reefs are alteast three miles away & it can get a bitten rough out there.

Now towards Miami to Hometsaed you can go out to Elliot Key whitch can be reached by the bay, and there are some cuts where you can vetnure into the ocean. There are some reefs just east east of them wich I plan to explore myself to see if there is anything as briskly itneretsing as I've seen on the charts.