Gone Fishin’ in Stuart, Florida
I have never been much of a fisherman but during our stay in Stuart, Florida I got a chance to try my hand at the reel and really begin to enjoy the leisure, thrill, and fresh fish that this sport brings to the table.
During our stay at their home in Florida Amanda’s cousins Katie and Dave “showed us the ropes” of fishing for tuna on their ocean-going fishing boat. The day before that Dave and I went onto the river in his smaller boat to set traps for stone crabs to and fish for trout.
The beginning of fall marks the start of stone crab season in Florida, and each year Dave and Katie set their stone crab traps in the river nearby their home in Stuart. I helped Dave bait the traps with pig feet and chicken legs, close them up and toss them over the side of the boat until only the buoys could be seen bobbing in the clear blue water.
Each week Dave and Katie return to pull up the traps, remove the stone crabs, pull off their claws and throw the crabs back into the water. The crabs survive to eventually re-grow their claws, making stone crabs one of the most sustainable sea foods available.
Immediately after the crab claws are harvested they are brought home and boiled to prevent their quality from deteriorating. Delicious stone crab claws grace Dave and Katie’s table throughout the winter when they often have an abundance of sweet, meaty and fresh stone crab claws–and usually enough to share with friends!
After the traps were all set Dave and I went fishing for trout and bait fish. We cast our fishing lines and spent some time slowly trawling around the river with our fishing lures trailing behind the boat in search of Dave’s favorite trout fishing spot. However, the water was very high and we had trouble locating the high point in the riverbed where Dave usually locates large schools of trout.
We did not find trout right away but we did notice the whiskered snout of a manatee peeking up out of the water for air. Dave aimed the boat in that direction, cut the engine, and we coasted alongside the plump and shady underwater forms of a manatee mother and calf as they grazed on the tall sea grass of the river. Now I know why manatees are often refereed to as “sea cows!”
Eventually Dave and I found a good spot to fish for trout near the bank of the river where we hooked and reeled in a few of these spotted, silver-bellied beauties. One of these trouts was legal size, over 12 inches long, but we released him anyway—to grow bigger for next time!
Between bites I tried my hand at cast net fishing for bait fish. The cast net was a circular net with weights all along it’s outside which helped it to spread out when thrown and sink quickly in the water. When pulled in the net bunched together, trapping fish inside the net until released. I learned how to throw the cast net by holding it with both hands and by the teeth and winding up my body and flinging it towards schools of small fish. I then hauled in the net which was often filled with generous amounts of small ballyhoo or jumping mullet.
The next day we put our baitfish to good use, taking them out to the ocean to fish for tuna. We woke up early that morning, boarded Dave and Katie’s boat and shipped out. Our boat maneuvered through a channel lined with houses, like a nautical neighborhood road paved with water instead of asphalt! We then came to a freeway bridge that was too low for our boat to pass under intact. Dave, our captain, radioed into the drawbridge operator to open the drawbridge allowing our boat to pass through, and we were headed out to open ocean.
Once out to sea Dave baited the hooks of his heavy-duty fishing reels. He even had one hook that was fixed with a special weight to send it to a greater depth. He then cast the lines out behind our slowly trawling vessel and secured the rods in rod holders located along the edge of the boat.
The next step was to attach the fishing lines to small clips on edge of the boat and on the outriggers that extended off both sides of the boat. Using the outriggers kept the lines away from the boat, covering more area in the water and preventing lines from becoming tangled. When a fish bit, the fishing line would snap loose from the clip and the rod could be taken from it’s holder and the fish reeled in.
We got three bites that day, two of which were tunas. This was a slow fishing day compared to what Dave and Katie are used to, but it was very exciting for Amanda and I. Of course, Dave and Katie let us have all the fun reeling in both of the tunas! Amanda caught a beautiful silver and black striped skipjack tuna and I reeled in a sleek blackfin tuna.
Both fish were fairly small in size but very good for eating so we decided to keep them. Dave unhooked the fish and wrestled them in the cooler to take home. When we arrived back at Dave and Katie’s home Dave filleted our lovely tunas into eight ruby loins. We then sliced the fillets and ate the tuna sashimi style with just some soy sauce and wasabi. I have never had fresher tuna!
During our stay in Stuart, Florida my interest in fishing was thoroughly piqued. I enjoyed being outside on the water, learning the strategies and techniques of fishing, experiencing the thrill and satisfaction of catching fish, and savoring the reward of eating a supremely fresh fish that I had caught (or at least helped to catch) myself!