The Rooster and the Chicks in Key West
Musing on the Keys
April 2001

by Chuck Bunce

When my wife told me she was going to Greece with one of my daughters, my first thought was "This sounds like a perfect excuse to go fishing in the Keys". My wife would be chaperoning a group of High School Seniors, including my daughter Melinda, on a 3-week tour leaving in mid June. In order to maintain a semblance of equitable balance I immediately started arranging a spring break excursion to Key West for my other two daughters, Marley and Bethany, and I.

My first action was to call Capt. Billy Rabito in Marathon to reserve a 2-day charter. The slow economy had slowed the charter business and Billy had 2 days open during Bethany's college break week. Marley, who does film production for commercials, wasn't booked for that time so the cosmic forces were aligned.

I've been going down to the Keys for about 30 years and still believe it is as close to paradise you can get in the USA. On my first trip, back in the early 70's, I had driven down in my van to help my sister move to the Key West Naval Air Station where her husband was stationed (tough duty). I couldn't believe the beauty of the water, reef, flats, snorkeling for lobster. Even the conch was still fairly plentiful though that didn't last long. I drove down when you still had to cross the old, original Seven Mile Bridge, below Marathon, and I was enchanted.

Key West still retained some original charm, unique character, and a strong dose of 60's freedom and rebellion. I was still in my 20's and major temptation of every form was unavoidable. I was traveling with another brother-in-law who lived in Naples and had several buddies who made a living from shrimping and other importation and this was the society that introduced me to life in the Keys. For me this was a seminal event. I'm not sure I've ever completely recovered. Over the years I've returned many times, sometimes with just my wife, with other couples (including the infamous Mark Levy and his long-suffering wife Nancy), and with the whole damn family. I've even come down with the IdiotSportsmen. That is a story that deserves telling all by itself only I'm not sure any of us remember enough details to tell it.

This time was a little unusual. A 50ish old fart like me with two beautiful young women in attendance. There weren't two more beautiful women on the island and we got lots of stares. People thinking how lucky I was for all the wrong reasons. Of course I did nothing to correct their impressions. We had flown down from Lauderdale in a small, single engine commuter, flying low over the everglades, with me in the co-pilots seat checking the scenery. A few years ago, somebody (mostly Federal Government taxpayers/you and I) had spent over $100 Million to build a large, big-jet landing strip in the middle of the "glades" to serve as an annex to Miami International. They were going to build a high-speed rail link. Plans changed, politicians and developers got wealthier, no production airliner ever landed there. The huge strip is still there, a concrete monstrosity in the middle of the 'glades. It is used a few times each week by small plane students for take off and landing ("touch and goes"). It might pay for itself in 100,000 years.

We picked up our convertible at the airport, took a reunion tour of the island and checked in to the Key Ambassador, where Marley's old friend from high school, Melody was Ass't. Manager. I squired the chicks out to dinner (Louie's Back Porch) considering how lucky I was for all the right reasons. I left my daughters early the next morning to drive up to Bahia Honda to meet Billy Rabito. I have fished with Billy before and he knows his shit (Capt. Billy Rabito, Marathon Key, FL, 305-743-6010). Billy will find the fish. He has 30 years of experience fishing the flats, great eyes and knowledge, and a beautiful Yamaha-powered 17' Maverick skiff.

The morning was beautiful. Clear and calm if a little chilly. For me these flats are as beautiful as it gets. Gin-clear water running with the tides between the ocean and the Gulf, 4" to 3' deep. Beds of all kinds of grass and sea plants. Black Urchins, lobster, crabs, fish of every sort. Conch before it was decimated. Before we started Billy said that a cold front had come through a couple days before and lowered the water temperature. He had been out the day before and seen very few fish. Water temperature is critically important. There is a range of 6 or 8 degrees within which fish will feed on the flats. If it goes out of that range they won't.

After 5 hours of looking we had seen nothing. Not even Lemon sharks or 'Cuda. We even tried chumming to no avail. We were in areas I have seen alive with fish. Billy and I had shared opinions on the stock market, women, family, women, boats, and the merits of the Chesapeake Bay. Oh well, we still had tomorrow so we ran back in. I spent the afternoon at the pool with the girls, took a monster bike ride, and caught an excellent nap. That evening we strolled around downtown, did the sunset thing, the Mallory scene. Had dinner at Kelly's. What a life.

The next morning it is colder. Still beautiful but Billy is not encouraging, making noises about the temperature, etc. Being the understanding, laid-back type, I said, "Bullshit Billy, I don't want to hear your problems. Find me some fuckin' fish". Now Billy is not the type to decline a challenge. With an "allright goddammit, but you better catch what I find", we were on the way. Poling a boat across the flats can be hard work. Billy was working, poling and searching. His eyes are amazing. It takes years of practice to see these fish and silently maneuver the boat to within striking distance of their path, and he is incredibly good at it.

Finally he spots a small pod of "baby Tarpon" (20 - 25 lbs), lying in a trough, 60 yards away. The plan is to move the boat to where I can cast a shrimp into the current sweeping into the trough. Billy gets us to 25 yards and says, "take 'em ". I launch a cast. It has the distance. Bang, my shrimp lands directly on top of the trough and Tarpon scatter, spooked. Oh well, the day is young. Billy keeps working. Finally I hear "Permit, 10 o'clock, 40 yards, left to right". I don't see anything. We move forward. "12 o'clock, 30 yards, take him". I don't see it. "2 o'clock, 25 yards, throw the fucking bait". I catch a quick glimpse, launch a cast. Bang, the crab lands directly on top of the Permit and he is gone, spooked.

"Damn Charlie, that was a big, hungry, Permit". Billy keeps working. Finally I hear "Bonefish or Permit, 12 o'clock, 60 yards, It's coming through that grass bed and I can't tell which it is". Bonefish go for shrimp and Permit like crab. We had a rig for each. "I think it's a Boner, grab the shrimp". "Maybe a Permit, get the crab and be quiet". "No, see him, 12 o'clock, 30 yards, definitely a Bone, quick get the shrimp". I see him, turn to change rods, pick up the shrimp, drop the crab. Bang, the crab rod hits the deck. I catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bonefish accelerating to 100 MPH, away from us.

Billy and I don't speak for several minutes. You can't feel worse than I do and there is nothing to say. Finally Billy says "shit Charlie, this is difficult fishin. You've got to be lucky and good and you weren't either one today. On days like today you only get a few chances. It happens to the best."

I had dropped my daughters at the beach at Bahia Honda and it was time to go meet them. Billy had agreed to take the girls for a ride around the island, "if they weren't the stout type". As we pulled the skiff up to the beach and the girls came to the boat I looked at a grinning Billy who says, "I guess they sure aren't the stout type". The girls wanted to see a Ray so Billy runs us along a mud flat until we see 2 huge Rays swimming lazily along.

As he drops us off Billy asks me to send him a picture of a Permit I had caught with him on my last trip. "One of the biggest this year", he says. I start to feel a little better. My funk didn't last long with the girls around. They were in high spirits and wanted no gloominess. We had another great evening in Key West. Dinner at Martha's where we met Marley's friend Melody. The old rooster with 3 young, good-looking chicks. Certainly the envy of the island, in spite of my fishing incompetence. Life goes on.

The next morning in the pre-dawn at the airport, waiting for the terminal to open, we were entertained by the crowing roosters who live semi-wild in the brush. A couple of them were trying to outdo each other with increasingly strident "ERH-ER-ERH-A-ROOOS" and Bethany had never heard roosters crow. It was a delightful performance. Very Key West. I can't wait to get back.

Musing on the Keys: Splurging on a 5 day weekend with Susy at the Pier House, oceanfront. Glorious fishing days for me. Hulk Hogan (and his wife, kids and entourage) also staying at the hotel. Hulk, cavorting on the beach to the delight of Susy and Nancy Levy, in his bikini, with his little Hulksters.

One morning in early March on the Flats North of Bahia Honda with Billy Rabito. Bright blue sky, 75 degrees, flat calm, no humidity, crystal clear water, flats alive with fish, no other boat or humans in sight. Fighting and losing 2 noble Tarpon before finally landing one. The incredible landing of my first Permit. The sting of losing the fabulous Bonefish that would have given me the Grand Slam. Unbelievable fighters these. Possibly my best day alive (so far).

Susy and I take the AutoTrain down with my brand new '81 Olds Toronado. Roll in to the Key Wester, oceanside near the North end of the island, one of my favorite places back then. Gone now. Heavy duty tennis during the day and heavy duty partying at night. A German movie company filming "Key West Crossing" staying in the hotel. B movie actors, actresses, and crew, some I recognized but couldn't name, sitting shit-faced at the bar next to me. The German producer, a formerly a ranked German Junior tennis player, and I locked in serious court battles in the heat of the day. Women watching us play, him in a bikini. Serious partying nights. Peeing on the marker at the Southernmost Point.

Early days, snorkeling off a tiny island near the reef on a clear calm day. Incredible visibility, fascinating sights. Swim over the top of a reef ridge and confront a large shark (bigger than me) not 4 feet away. Scared shitless. Did everything wrong. Shot to surface and splash swam back to boat. Stupid. Lucky.

Fishing the shallows off Bahia Honda, Oceanside, for Bonefish with Billy Rabito. A guy and girl standing in 5 feet of water 100 yards off the beach, right where we wanted to fish. As we slowly move in on them we see a large (at least 8 ft.) Bull shark circling them not 6 ft. away from where they stood, oblivious. Billy cranks the motor, runs close to them to scare the shark off and yells for them to look out for the shark. The guy says,"Fuck you guys. We're here first".

Running out to the reef on Rick Taylor's buddy's shrimp boat at dawn watching a school of large Barracuda running in front of us. Water clear as air.

Easter vacation with the family. A couple days in Miami to pick up Marley and see my sister. Down to Islamorada for a couple days of spring-break college kids partying, guys ogling my daughters (and wife), Reggae all night long. Down to Bahia Honda state park and a couple days at a cabin on the old quarry off the Gulf, an incredible live aquarium. Stopping on the way down at Matecumbe Key's "Feed the Tarpon" place. Sells small fish to dangle over the water at the dock where 40 or 50 big semi-domesticated Tarpon circle (and 50 Pelicans swim). A huge tarpon leaps 2 ft. out of the water to take the fish out of your hand. Kids shriek. Pelicans thrash. Very cool.

Fishing off the front porch/deck at the Bahia Honda cabin. Literally sitting in a rocker fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Decades ago limestone quarrying had left this deep water pocket/lagoon and these cabins are built at the edge. Snapper anytime you want (small but tasty). Tarpon roll feeding. Once Levy took a keeper Grouper. Stood up on the picnic table to show it to nearby campers. Once I hooked something very big. Not a Tarpon because it stayed down. Bottom fishing using light tackle. Fought it for 30 minutes. Several people from other cabins started watching. Finally I grew impatient and stupidly tightened the drag. Bang, it broke the line. Had to be a major Grouper but I will never know. Once caught a snapper and while retrieving it a 'Cuda takes the snapper and runs. Somehow hooked the 'Cuda and landed both on the deck.

Snorkeling off the beach at Bahia Honda. See 2 conch laying side-by-side with all their pink rubbing together. I guess they were doing what I think they were doing.

Mark and I running at speed in a 16' Boston Whaler through a channel (cut) between 2 small keys. Suddenly, not 20 feet directly in front of us a large (5' across) spotted Leopard Ray comes completely airborne chasing baitfish, coming right at us. It happens so fast that we don't have time to react. The Ray is 3' out of the water and can't possibly avoid a colossal collision with us. At the last possible second the Ray alters it's wings and veers off, splashing in the water just to the left of where I sat in the front of the boat, not 5' away. We sat in stunned silence for a minute, awestruck. A once-in-a-lifetime thing.