With beautiful weather today we started by running offshore. Stopped on a current line in 700′ and caught a Sailfish. We then found two schools of Dolphin and caught a dozen fish. It’s still a little early for dependable Dolphin fishing. We had another Sail bite in 550′ but pulled him off. We then ran inshore and anchored on the reef for the afternoon. The Yellowtail Snapper responded and we caught several dozen 2lb fish and also a 20lb King Mackeral.
Today we concluded fishing the World Sailfish Championship Tournament. After a great start, (6 on day one) we only caught 1 more fish the rest of the way. We were 1 for 1 on day two and never saw a fish today as the bite shifted way to the west, out of range for all but the fastest boats. We ended up finishing 29th out of a field of 101.
First day of the World Sailfish Tournament. There were over 100 boats entered, including many of the best Sailfishing teams in south Florida. We caught 6 Sails on the day and are currently in 5th place.
Today we practice fished this morning in Advance of the World Sailfish Championship Tournament which begins tomorrow. Wind was 25 knots out of the NW. We caught 1 Sail and hooked a very large Hammerhead Shark on a kite bait, he ate through the leader after about 5 minutes. We quit fishing about 12:30pm.
Had a beautiful weather day today, maybe too pretty for good fishing. We tried Sailfishing first and caught some kingfish and bonitas but no Sails. We then dropped on some wrecks and caught several Amberjacks and lost several large mystery fish. We finished the day anchored on a 135′ ledge and caught 4 Mutton Snapper, 1 10lb Red Grouper, a 15lb Margate and a large Porgy, all good eating.
Today we had another group with kids who were looking for action. We anchored on the reef edge and had the big Yellowtail on top and biting. The current on the reef which had been running to the east has switched back to the west in the last day or so and that has got the Yellowtails really biting. We had a 30lb Cobia swim up and hooked him but he got away. We also had 6 or 7 Kingfish and a couple of bonitas. The last hour and a half of the day we got off the hook and slow trolled with the kite. We hooked and caught a 50lb Sailfish which was a nice way to finish the day.
We had a morning half day trip with 3 generations of the same family. I brought 10 dozen live shrimp and we started out anchored on a patch reef in 30′. We caught Ceros, small Yellowtail and one keeper Mutton. We then reanchored on the deeper reef and the big Yellowtail came right to the surface. We had a 30lb Cobia swim up but lost him, also caught a few schoolie Kingfish. Lots of action and lots of good eating fish all in half a day.
We had plenty of small and med pilchards today and ran directly to the “end of the bar”. We had a light south wind and medium east current with clear water. The Amberjacks were swarming, eating both baits on the top and bottom. We could see the Yellowtails but they were really wary and we only caught 4 although they were all good sized. Got a nice Black Grouper of 17 lbs who ate a pinfish. The Speedos showed up and we caught several dozen for bait but couldn’t get past the Jacks. We got off the hook and slow trolled the speedos in 150′-180′ for the rest of the day, ended up with a 20lb Tuna, several barracudas, and several more Jacks.
Spent both today and yesterday Sailfishing with the same group of anglers. Yesterday we had light south wind and flew the kite along a color change with Thread Herring for bait. We had two Sail bites and caught them both. Today it was glassy calm and hot, the color change was pretty much gone. We couldn’t get the kite up so be slow trolled in 140′ to 170′ working to the east from the Sambo’s to American Shoal. Had Three Sail bites and caught one. We also hooked a Hammerhead Shark we saw tailing and landed a few Bonitas. The fishing was very slow for everyone.
Tried to reef fish down to the west again today but it was very slow all morning with gin clear water. Finally east of the CB buoy in 55′ we got a bite of Ceros and small kings going in the afternoon and had plenty of action.
