PARROT FISH CAN’T RESIST THE JOLLY GREEN GIANT
THE second stage of my trip took me to the lovely Village of Islands – Islamorada. It’s more or less a strip of road that widens out to a hundred yards or so in some spots. Yes, it’s as narrow as that.
At the southern end of the town is Bud’n’Mary’s Marina, where black groupers inhabit the caverns under the dock and, if you’re very lucky, it’s sometimes possible to extract a small one. There are also some very pretty species such as pork fish, sergeant-majors, tangs and bluemouthed parrot fish.
Catching parrot fish is particularly tricky, but they like sweetcorn. I included a can on my first shopping list and threw a few grains in on my first sortie.
At first just sergeant-majors and other pretty fish dashed out from the rocks, soon joined by small mangrove snappers.
Using my lightest rod, I tied on some 6lb leader and impaled a grain on a fine size 10 hook.
I threw in half-a-dozen more bits of corn, dropped my baited hook in after them, and within five seconds had my first parrot fish hook-up!
I added mangrove snappers, white grunts, blue-striped grunts, yellowtail snappers, schoolmaster snappers, houndfish (like garfish, but with very menacing dentistry, that leap and tailwalk, living up to their ‘poor-man’s marlin’ tag), and a couple of others I couldn’t identify.
I fed the resident black groupers with squid and had my first sight of a very impressive golden moray eel that was living in another crevice.
I only saw its head and shoulders the first couple of times then, on my last day, it swam right out, exposing its full 4ft-plus body. I’ve caught one of these before, from a boat, and one is quite enough, thank you!
Hopefully I’ll be back again next year. I’ve plans for a couple of back-country charters to find some snook – their numbers have bounced back following a deadly cold snap eight years ago – and perhaps even a permit from the flats.
Better start checking flights...