Pre-Cana Reef Fishing

On Wednesday, February 10, the male members of the Keys wedding contingent went on a fishing trip aboard the SOZ, docked at Sundowner's Marina in Key Largo.

The weather was less than ideal. We all hoped that Mark, the only midwesterner, had taken his Dramamine. We headed through a waterway and a channel through the mangroves, stopping to catch some pinfish for bait along the way.

Out on the shadow reefs, we caught a variety of snappers: a bunch of small yellowtail, mangrove, and some big mutton snapper that we kept for the grill. We tried to get Boss to give this one a kiss.

Late in the morning, brother-in-law Paul hooked into a real rod-bender that struggled to find some underwater structure to break the line. "25 pound grouper," I said aloud.

It was a 25 lb. grouper. This fish would have fed the entire company, but due to a recent restriction on grouper fishing, we had to release it.

My brother John is known for his bad fishing mojo. When he hooked into a good fish, we all hoped he could reverse the curse.

And he did! He giddily displays a fat black grouper that we dutifully released.

Everyone having caught fish, we headed back to port through the mangrove channel.

Dinner that evening would consist of mutton snapper grilled three ways: lemon pepper, horseradish, or blackened.

John and I did some serious fish-grilling after dark out by the cabana.