Boating; Charcoal Snapper.

The only problem we had fishing northwest of the Dry Tortugas National Park was the darned Snapper kept eating our bait on the way down to the Grouper. We discovered that our chumming was bringing the Snapper up to nibble our larger bait going. Eventually a good size Snapper would bite the hook and we'd reel it in but after we had our bag limit we had to stop chumming.

We fileted a number of them and ate heartily. Hot Tamale made a big Cuban salad and some black beans and rice. We nibbled at the fare but Phil and I really wanted just the fish. It had been a long day and we wanted to fish more. The respite allowed the Snapper to dissipate and right after we cleaned up we fished for some bait.

Ever time it hit the bottom we felt the strong tug from a Grouper and set the hook. Our reward was usually a good size fish who fought all the way up. We tossed them in the fish box and went back to work. The yawning started shortly afterward but the fish had to be cleaned and packed in ice. I was happy to have some PBR handy to have with my Sushi.

I set the GPS and the radar. Hottie took the first watch with Rico. I could here her squeals from the fly bridge as I fell dead asleep. Second watch was Punxsutawney Phil's and I took over at 4:30 am. Everyone was back awake at 6:30 am. We were hungry for pan fried fish, eggs and hush puppies.

Once Rico raised Boston Bob on the VHF we went back to fishing because we doubled the amount we could bring into the Park boundary's.

That's where the charcoal came in. At the fort there are standard size fixed charcoal grills. They were big enough to fit a small bag of self-starting briquets but we weren't cooking steaks. The fresh fish cooked very quickly so we divided the bag between two grills and cooked away. Cap'n Crunch and his Coast Guard buddy, Boston Bob, his wife and Ahab and Jean. Hot Tamale, Rico, Punxsutawney Phil and I.

The charcoal adds a special taste. It must harken back to our cave man days because I can't think of a better way to flavor fish. The aroma brought visitors and we shared what we could.

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