In the Midwest , we know the name of the farmers we move around to for our honey , bratwursts and maple sirup — and we harvest most of our fresh produce 100 feet from our back threshold . But it took a late journeying to the Florida Keys to empathize what sustainable fishing is all about . Under the proficient guidance of Captain Kevin Johnsen , owner ofFlorida Keys Reel Adventures , a sportfishing charter operator out of Hook ’s Marina & Dive Center in Marathon , Fla. , we learn to hook and cook our own fish . One thing is for sure : What we rust was going to be what we get .
Our Florida fishing adventure demand stead just as a study was resign by the non-profit-making Oceana , one of the globe ’s declamatory sea conservation radical , which find that nearly one - third of all the Pisces bought at supermarket , restaurants and sushi restaurants in 21 states were mislabeled . For example , near 87 - pct of the snapper samples failed to be snapper , the study find . To complicate issue , more than 80 - percentage of all seafood take in in the U.S. is imported , according to the National Fisheries Institute trade radical . A 2009 Government Accountability Office report on seafood species substitution or dupery found that only 2 percentage of seafood is actually inspected .
One style to avoid eating mislabeled fish , of course , is to pick up and cook your Pisces ( or seafood ) yourself , whether it comes from the Atlantic Ocean or Lake Michigan . That ’s what we did . Our photo essay below written document our 4 - time of day fishing trip — our first in the saltwater of the Atlantic . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
The large living coral Witwatersrand in the existence — and the only one in North America — rests about 5 miles off the shore of the Florida Keys , which stretch out from Key Largo down to Key West . The temporary hookup and bank Reef , along with the legion crash that have happened there , provide abundant habitat for more than 500 species of fish — many of them the best tasting in the world .
Our head trip set forth at 9 a.m. with Captain Kevin supply everything we ’d need include bait ; ice for the “ kill box , ” where our arrest were to be kept ; fishing licence ; and as it turn out , a Bonine oral contraceptive for Lisa , who start out to get a bit queasy as presently as we arrive at some modest waves . ( After about an hour , she joined the merriment in earnest.)John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
Upon comer to our first spot about a nautical mile out in 15 - understructure - deep weewee , Kevin ran through the basics of deep - sea fishing because we had never fished in the Atlantic .
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
“ Once you sense a bite on the line , quickly shut the bail , then reel in the sluttish slack on the seam and set the rod with a rapid jerk up that allows your hook to be caught in the Pisces ’s oral fissure . While keeping the line teach , reel the Pisces in . ”John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
Captain Kevin made fishing seem almost too easy , but our son , Liam , pick it up in less than a twosome of minutes . ( We grownup had to work a number more at it , taste to finger the chomp on the phone line . ) Captain Kevin name the fish as promptly as we pull out them out of the water . By the end , we could key them , too . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
The middle Keys offer humankind - class fishing and Captain Kevin found plenty of Pisces less than a mile or so off shoring using a advanced Fish Finder and harnessing his age of experience in commercial fishing , a licensed USGC Master Captain , diver and as a nearly womb-to-tomb Keys resident .
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
“ Over a time , you develop an heart for spotting great fishing . It ’s all about the breaking wind , current , water temperature and weather , and knowing where to find the good places where schools of fish gathering . ” he enunciate . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
We lease Captain Kevin to take us “ mixed bag fishing ” on his 24 - pes SeaCat catamaran , one of the most static boat on the undecided weewee . Between the three of us , we managed to enamour more than 50 fish of numerous coinage , tossing back any that were not large enough or that were out of time of year . Liam managed to hook a Mahogany Snapper , a Pisces the Fishes more ordinarily found in the Bahamas .
A cold front passed over the arena during our excursion . For the first hour or so , before the moth-eaten front , we could n’t reel in the fish tight enough . To step on it thing up , Captain Kevin baited our crotchet with unrecorded shrimp and helped us cast out into the waters about 50 feet from the back of the boat . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
“ Feed the line and permit the sweetener float naturally with the current , ” Kevin advised us . “ The fish are unbelievably voguish and you do n’t want to do anything that might look out of the average . ” The “ ordinary ” relate to tugging at the melodic line or reeling in the shrimp against the flow . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
To better our chances of sneak dinner party , Kevin placed a mesh bag over the side of the gravy holder with a auction block of frigid chum , anchor up North Atlantic Menhaden Pisces the Fishes with Pisces oil added in . It ’s called “ chumming . ” This fish - nutrient smorgasbord is dump over the side of the boat to attract fish looking for an easy supper . Then we wait for our “ target species , ” such as a mature Yellowtail snapper , to move in and mistake our baited hook for chum . passably soon our dinner party was on the line . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
“ We ’re make a fishery by the means we ’re fishing , ” says Kevin , referring to how sportfishing has really helped the sportfishing stocks for many coinage in the Keys . “ For every fish keep or killed , we ’re feed about thirty others . ”
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
“ Because every fish is caught on your course , there ’s no waste , no by - catch , ” he adds . “ If the Pisces is out of season or too young , they ’re just return to the ocean . That ’s a sustainable piscary to me . ”
Just as the cold front lapse over with clouds , wind , a hazy rain and stirring of the weewee , our destiny set out to track down out . We cast a few more lines as the sunshine popped back out with little success , and then pulled the anchor . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
“ There ’s a lot of structure here , ” says Kevin , as he set up up our little sportfishing operation about 2 miles away , where there ’s more coral and rocky formations underwater than the flat sea skunk hayfield of our first stop . This translated to new species of fish . Instead of adding to our killing box , we snagged a toxic and inedible , but nerveless - looking , Scorpionfish , plus plenty of juvenile snapper . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
“ I call it an ocean lottery , ” express mirth Kevin , when we asked at our third and terminal sportfishing patch about going out into the deep weewee for the much prominent migrating fish like mahi - mahi ( dolphinfish ) or Yellowfin tuna . “ you may drop a mountain more metre and disbursal but come up back empty handed . ”John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
“ My goal is to break out the charter sportfishing mold , ” explains Kevin , as we steer back to shoring . “ scores of masses look for a fishing trip . I sell a head trip designed peculiarly for you . I need Florida Keys Reel Adventures to be the vas for my customers ’ risky venture , not some preconceive packaged excursion on a so - call party boat ( group gravy holder ) or six - pack charter . My customers order the experience they need , the fish we catch and the place we go . We can go fishing , flirt around on a secluded sand bar off a secret island , go ocean kayaking into a Rhizophora mangle , or snorkel over a patch reef . ”John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
“ I ’ve see thousand and thousands of fish , especially when I worked in commercial-grade sportfishing , ” tell Kevin as he starts to clean our pile of fish on ice . Brown Pelicans have already gathered just off the dock where all the scraps — everything but our filets — terminate up depart . In a thing of minutes , he fill our pliant bag full of fresh Pisces filets , about 15 pounds or about a week ’s worth of baked fish filet , fish sandwiches and fish greaser . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
The experience would n’t have been all over without a lesson on fish cleaning , so Kevin give Lisa some cursor . In total , our 14 keepers translated to about 7 Cypriot pound of Pisces the Fishes filets worth $ 140 at retail . John D. Ivanko / farmsteadchef.com
That eve , we savored the first of many delicious fish sandwiches we prepared at our rental star sign in Marathon ’s “ Little Venice , ” just down the road from the marina . look out on the Atlantic and the canal , we enjoy the flaky , mild cracker in the same way we might savour our eggplant parmesan : one bite at a clock time .
We ’ll be share one of Captain Kevin ’s recipe in an coming post , so come back for more .
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
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John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
John D. Ivanko/farmsteadchef.com
