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2016 Islamorada OT Report & Photos


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It was great to join my buddy Dave Nickles ("Limitless") at the 30th Annual MOT!  And, it was so good to spend some time with old friends and to meet some new ones.  Thanks Skip, Charlie and the rest of the Maverick Boats team for such a great time.  Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

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2016 OT was the first calm-winds event since 2011. We went down to Breezy Palms a day early and found 10 other Owners there already. It was great seeing all the old friends and meeting some new folks.

We ran offshore on Friday morning and caught a bunch of decent Blackfins at the 409 Hump.  We broke off and ran another 10 miles offshore. We found two pieces of Bamboo and only caught one Dolphin off them.  We then buzzed SW and found the only patches of seaweed in the Dead Sea. We trolled by them and picked Dolphins off the biggest patch on each pass. Only ones and twos though.. The school never came out.(?)  On one pass we caught two good Dolphins, and chunked. No other fish came out. We found out why:I gaffed my fish into the box and went to hook my son's fish.  He leaned over the side to wrap the fish and a Blue Marlin came out from under the boat and crushed the Dolphin.  The leader broke and the Marlin swam off with the fish. We both stood there with our mouths open as the Marlin circled down under the boat.  Awesome event !

We worked the weed patch closer and caught better fish.. till the Googan Fleet showed up. Six boats converged and cut in front of us and tossed baits at fish we were fighting.. We had plenty of fish to vacuum seal so we cleaned up the cockpit and headed home.

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We took Saturday off and snorkeled patch reefs from Long Key up to Snake Creek looking for Hogs, Lobster & Grouper..Sadly, only 4 legal Hogfish were taken and one small Grouper and zero Lobster were seen.  The Barbecue Bob's dinner was some of the best BBQ chicken I have ever eaten. The awards turned into an auctioneer reading raffle ticket numbers to beat an imminent squall.. What great prizes were donated by PowerPole, Engel, Yamaha, Costa and Breezy Palms.. Others as well..

What a great event..  Huge thanks to Skip, Elliott and Charlie !!

One last photo as I pulled my boat on Monday morning..

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Jenny and Hector's Brother were still sleeping, I'm sure..

Woodsie

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Our first OT and we had a blast!  A big thanks to MBG and all of the sponsors for putting on a great event. Not too many companies will go above and beyond like you do. Very much appreciated.

Thanks Jenni, Omar, Elaine, and Hector for letting us hang with you guys. Was nice meeting some of the other forum members and putting faces to screen names. We met so many nice people. Already looking forward to next year. DSC_1064.JPGDSC_1069 (2).jpg

 

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