Popular Post rubble Posted February 28 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 28 (edited) Just returned from 3 days in the ENP. We departed Founder's Park in Islamorada/Plantation Key at 8:30am on 2/24/23 and took the outside route to Flaming to check in at Ranger Station and Top Off fuel. The Fuel Pump at the dock on the outside is shut down. If you want fuel coming in from the outside you'll have to have jugs. Route out: Founders Park > Cotton Key > Shell Key Bank >Twin Key Bank > Rabbit Keys > Rabbit Key Basin > Sandy Key > East Cape Day Beacon > Flamingo > Broad > Rogers River Chickee. On the trip back we ran directly from Rogers River Chickee to Founders Park and logged about 90 miles in 2 hours run time. Fished mostly around Rogers River Bay. Both boats had slams. One boat had a Slam on Fly and Slam on Spinning. Plus the usual trash can slams. We brought all food into camp and enjoyed ground elk in chili and sloppy joes but did get to filet up one keeper red that resulted in a fantastic blackened appetizer. Weather cooperated. Warmed up on Saturday as wind died down and Sunday was hot and water was flat. Nights were clear and peaceful. Until somehow my phone started flashing on the console of the boat where I noticed texts were coming in. Apparently you can get some signal at Rogers River Chickee from time to time. Stands to reason if you had a cell phone booster on the boat, you could probably have signal throughout the ENP but why would you want to other than as a backup trouble plan. Edited February 28 by rubble change photo format 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE OUTLAW Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 Sounds like an awesome trip . 🇺🇸🏴☠️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 4 hours ago, rubble said: enjoyed ground elk in chili and sloppy joes ground Elk ? I always enjoy your ENP annual adventures..... Always great to see your pics... DC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Seither Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 Ground elk for chili and sloppy Joe’s with fresh red on the half shell! Absolutely y’all weren’t hurting on the food side! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubble Posted February 28 Author Report Share Posted February 28 I’m rolling with some old Eagle Scouts and Military guys. They rough it in first class now! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 3 hours ago, rubble said: I’m rolling with some old Eagle Scouts and Military guys. They rough it in first class now! roughing for me is the Everglades city motel dc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaSerpent123 Posted March 1 Report Share Posted March 1 Looks like you guys had great weather. Totally awesome adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mangroovin Posted March 1 Report Share Posted March 1 Awesome. Thanks for sharing.👊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Posted March 2 Report Share Posted March 2 Rubble, Thats a heckuva run fully loaded. Glad it was calm enough so you could run fast. What about the other routes ? Too heavy to idle the twisty mile ? Did the hurricane fill in those cuts by Dump key ? I love buzzin through the Dragover route too, but haven’t been back there since the storm.. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubble Posted March 2 Author Report Share Posted March 2 Marc, Don't think load was much of a factor. Capt didn't want to idle the long distance and prefers the outside route. Kind of a wide open type of guy. I'm comfy at 35-40mph. 50+ was not enjoyable but at least was a little quicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Posted March 2 Report Share Posted March 2 Gotcha ! It is a choice when it’s calm and there are no pop-up squalls that happen in the warmer months.. Runnin that fast is an effort but a lot of guys do it routinely. It is a pretty trip, no matter which route you take.. Great adventure report ! MM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurchy Posted March 14 Report Share Posted March 14 The dump key route south is fine, the one to the north that cuts through the islands is pretty shallow in spots on the west side and no more marker poles there. The dragover is all good. I have been running it quite a bit post-storm in my pathfinder with FMT in the tower 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.