Shark fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys with Captain Steve Murray

Shark fishing in Islamorada Florida Keys with Captain Steve Murray at www.tarponheadquarters.com
Steve is a great guy and friend of mine.I miss fishing with him terribly. Steve and Eddie Gad owner of Sure Set Tackle taught me everything I know about salmon and steelhead. Years back Steve moved to Florida and has been rocking the guide scene down there ever since. Below are some of his experiences.



(written by Captain Steven Murray)
This next one is getting better on the edit.  It's two days worth of footage.  The audio isn't the greatest.
These guys come to the Keys and fish with me every year.  They are from Michigan.  This is a typical days fishing in Islamorada Florida with Captain Steve Murray.  A mixed bag of fishing for Mangrove Snapper, Speckled Sea Trout, Snook, Redfish and Shark.  We hooked up on the Stingray while shark fishing and we hooked up on the Goliath Grouper in a Snook spot.  It just goes to show you the diverse fishery we have.  When you are targeting one species there are a number of "other fish" you usually encounter.  

This next one is my best edit "so far".  The audio problem solved.  Two days of fishing.

These are two of my regular clients.  This is a typical afternoon/evening charter. (3pm-10pm) with Captain Steve Murray in Islamorada Florida.  This trip is very popular during tarpon season (April through June).  Tarpon are nocturnal feeders...so I run evening charters for them.  These tarpon average 100-150 pounds this time of year.  We start out getting some "eating fish" for the guys to bring back for dinner (trout and snapper), then a little shark fishing and then transition into the evening tarpon fishing.  You notice while we are trout and snapper fishing we encounter several ladyfish and jack creval.



Vintage "Murray"

Post Rain Chum Keeps Big Carp Around with Some Great Results

It seems as if winter just has not wanted to leave the party and he has been finally cut off and a friend has driven him home to sleep it off. It has been a long spring, still in the forties first week of May. We got some decent rain steady of a couple of days and went to check the local pond’s pipes for fish. 

After a rain water coming in and out of pipes brings manna from heaven to different species of fish. This includes bass, crappie, bluegills, and carp.  After a hard fast rain some carp are programmed to check the pipes for food, so much so that they can visibly be seen. This was not the cases this time. There is a large grate that brings water from one lake to the other. I wondered if even I could not see carp, was there still a small few that swam in the area anyway checking for rain candy. I decided to chum with boilies and cans of corn on my way to and from work.

I am a busy dad like many with a job kids and responsibilities and during the week days getting out is tricky. My awesome wife let me get each day for a hour to two hours a session.  Over about 5 sessions I was only skunked twice and one of those days I had one on and lost it.

I discovered that the chum kept these fish in the area a few days longer then if no chum were present. They were not stacked in the area, but there was always some there. Most sessions I got 1-3 fish! 

Most small lakes and ponds in the Chicago suburbs have carp and they are hardly fished. Most of these carp just don’t get European BIG. A ten pound fish is very respectable for a common carp. Many of these ponds also have grass carp stocked to control weed growth. They are usually low in number and extremely hard to catch.

The awesome part about this chum-post rain carparama was I never caught on fish under 20 inches long. The longest common carp being 31x20! It was a great feeling to catch these on my own boilies. I tried lots of flavors like strawberry, blueberry, grape, spicy orange, corn, and pineapple.

Corn, Pineapple,  and bread balls received the lion’s share of hits. I was caught by surprise and hooked a 41 inch 30 pound grass carp!! (footage below) in these short sessions I ended up with 11 fish totally with misses or loses of at least another 5. Grass carp and I have a little history. Last year I landed one and a second swam right through my old net. If you watch the second video you can see the next chapter in this story.

I plan to try to repeat this post rain pipe chumming for carp on other lakes after our set of good storms!

PART 1

PART 2

First Crappie and bass Kayak trip of 2014

March Ice fishing for Panfish

Jason and I arrived at a private lake in the darkness just before dawn.

Jason’s ION electric auger was the perfect choice for a lake surrounded by house at 5:30 am. We drilled in 5ft, 6ft, and 8. we expected the fish in the 8 foot hole the only one on the lake. But the fish were in 6 around the outside of the hole.

DupageAngler.com member Dark Star (Jason) caught a gill in the 6ft, so we set up shop.

The fish came in waves and we caught fish at a steady pace. The day started at 3 degrees and ended in 20. Fishing was nice and comfortable once the sun came out.

We caught the trifecta of this lake, Bluegills all big as or hand, crappie all 10 inches or better and a couple bass! Changing presentations was the key for me. Fish were caught on Swedish Pimples, Slender Spoons, jigs of all sorts, Little Atom Plastics, Aurora Lure Maggies, wax worms and spikes.

It was a great day until a nice but concerned homeowner came out to check our permission. We talked everything was fine and discussed fishing for a while. Another homeowner thought we were out there arguing and called the cops. Thank god we were talking to the family I know when two cops showed up thinking were fighting with an home owner were trespassing!! Then we talked fishing with them as the admired Jason’s equipment

All in all it was a great especially after some great fishing and meeting the local law enforcement!

Pondboy's DuPage Guide Service Has Great Time Ice fishing

 I received a message from an old high school friend John M (DuPage Angler Member) and he let me know that his nephew, an avid fisherman had never been ice fishing before.

I called DA Member Dark Star (Jason) to give me a hand. My shelter will only hold two cold anglers at one time. His Frabillshelter and ice fishing skills would be a big help.

This ice fishing season has been sort of hit or miss and only a few honey holes have been regular producers. We picked a lake we call Star Trek because this lake has been a constant producer the whole season despite temps or time of day. My client John wanted crappies but I had to be honest with him that that they had been inconstant, but the lake I would bring him to had some beautiful gills.

DS and I arrived on the lake at O’dark thirty and started searching for fish after digging out his vehicle from a snow drift, which sucked, because I snapped my shovel digging him out.

Our first area in the middle of the lake, we were counting on being loaded with fish, was a blank wasteland so we drilled and parked on a sharp break that went from 4 FT to 10 FT very quickly. Both of our fish finders lit up like Christmas trees so the choice was an easy one.

Our clients arrived, got stuck in the snow as well, and then we started at it. My client’s nephew fished with me and John with DS. The young kid really seemed to like fishing with the Fish TV. Well lets face it, TV fishing is just pretty damn cool! The catching started fast and furious and I could not even set a rod up for myself the first hour as the young gun pulled fish in on almost every drop.

AuroraLures Magic Maggies caught quite a few gills and bass! A couple came on dead stick rods, and the rest jigs, waxies and spikes. The red spikes out produced their natural counter parts two to one. This winter, the red spikes have been working better everywhere we go.

The frigid morning started cold in the teens, but as soon as the sun rose it warmed up nicely and we now had perfect conditions. Layers and gloves came off and everyone was fishing in comfort. Thank God man, Finally no sub-zero crap to fight with!

The bite slowed but the fish would constantly come through about every ten minutes or so. As a matter of fact, anytime I would mention moving a few more would be caught and it became a running joke. DS and I switched partners because our techniques are very different. I was in a ShappellS3000 with a nice floor coupled with a Lowrance 4x color elite along with the Fish TV. Dark Star was in a brand new Frabbill with nice bucket seats coupled with a flasher color video combo.

John and I traded stories and threw the bullshit around about high school and common friends it was a GREAT time!

If you want to learn to ice fish and have a similar experience to this one please contact Pondboy’s DuPage Fishing Guide Service. I would love to hang out and fish with you! You can fish and create an AnglingAdventure of your own!!about high schoolaab have been regular producers. We pick a lake we c

The Attack of The Freeze Beast and the Slush monster

I like many of you got the flu, But I and missed a weekend of ice fishing. I was ticked. Monday night after work I decided I was going. My wife told me I was still pale and should not do it. Well she was right by the time I carried my auger down the hill to the pond and drilled, I was spent. So I went home and died on the couch.

Tuesday again my first thought was that I am going to get out on the ice tonight.  Right off the bat I ran into problems, I brought my hand auger this time and reopened the holes I had made the night before. The problem was the slush from my holes was frozen in to tiny ice mountains in the single digit weather. I tried to sit my shelter up on them and it was like trying to stand on one foot after an epic night partying.

Now things went from bad to worse. I have seen slush layers between the ice and the snow before but not this watery. There was a foot of snow, then 3 inches of wet ass slush, then two feet of ice. Usually I see this during a warm up, but it had been no higher then 8 degrees all day. It was now 1 degree and my doom was sealed. When the slush layer met the heat of my lantern it turned my shelter into a smoking Indian sweat lodge and I could hardly see to fish. What the hell? So tired, hot, and out of breath thanks to the flu and my asthma I conceded defeat and started to pack up. My retreat was terrible as well. Anything the slush had splashed on was immediately encased in ice. My boots, legs, auger, shelter, and everything in my otter sled!!! As I pulled everything to the van, I was out of breath and could not figure out why it was sooo heavy. I took separate trips up frozen hamburger hill. When I just had my empty sled it STILL weighed a ton. I flipped it over to find a 5 inch thick layer of frozen slush!! Finally I was back in my vehicle cover in sweat, legs burning, and hitting my inhaler wondering what just happened. I thought this sport was my relaxing stress free escape, I guessed wrong….

Darkstar72's Fishing Blog: Rippin' Lips with the Zipper

Darkstar72's Fishing Blog: Rippin' Lips with the Zipper: I got out on the ice early Saturday morning. Pondboy and I drove separately and DuPage Angler member JC1Crappies beat us to the pond.  JC1 d...