Hello, friends and anglers. As you know, the local inshore saltwater has been rather muddy lately due to the rain and wind. This, along with the extensive heat, has kept the fishing to a minimum.  
However, far south of our area, this has not been the case. Actually, the fishing hasn’t only been good — it’s been great.  
My lifelong pals, Will Darsey and Neal Patterson, just returned from a Key West fishing excursion along with Will’s wife, Carol, Neal’s daughter, Catherine, and her boyfriend, Robert. Neal reported that July 14, the party departed from Stock Island Key around 8 a.m. and arrived at their fishing destination (Eye Glass Bar) about 9 a.m. Eye Glass Bar is approximately 10 miles northeast from Key West. The water was calm and the breeze was light, but the temperature was in the 90-degree range.
After anchoring the boat, the fishing action started immediately and was continuous. Neal reluctantly admitted that Will caught most of the fish that day. According to Will, it was because Neal was hard-headed and would not change his bait from artificial to live. Will reportedly used small silver minnows as bait and, amazingly, did not use a sinker but relied on the hook’s weight to sink the bait. Catherine reported the total catch to be 48 yellowtail snapper, 12 mangrove snapper and two dolphin.  
Catherine also told me that by 11:30 a.m., the fishing party was ready to head back to the dock. Neal said that they had so many fish filets that they ate fried fish, grilled fish, blackened fish and fish stew for three days.      
Remember what Ol’ Tight Line always said: “Get out there and go fishing, and if you do, remember to always keep a tight line.” That’s it for this week.

Living the tight-line life on the coast,
Tight Line Jr.