Hey everybody. It has been way too long since my last report. We have been very busy fishing.
We have had a lot of sailfish, some dolphin and kings. Bottom fishing has been a bit tough with an occasional mutton or grouper. We had one trip with a bunch of almaco jacks and then none the next trip.
There have been tons of tarpon rolling in the inlet and off south beach, however I think they are trying to starve themselves to death. This is the worst tarpon season I have seen in all my 30 years fishing for them. They are here and will bite someday.
So let me tell you about a couple recent trips.
Last week we had 4 guys from England out for the day. One chap named Ray had never fished before. He saw the worst and best of the sport. First he developed food poisoning ( symptoms were vomiting every time the boat rocked or rolled) then he caught his first fish, a 39 pound african pompano. Then his second fish was a nice wahoo. His pals caught 3 amberjack to 30 pounds and a big barracuda.
Another trip we trying for sails and bottom fish. We caught 1 sailfish and nothing off the bottom for hours. We tried one more wreck. In three drops we caught a 9 pound mutton snapper, a 10 pound american red snapper and an 18 pound black grouper. We have fished that wreck several times since then without a bite.
We went swordfishing a couple times and caught a couple swordfish including a 175 pound beauty by Steve Nichols.
Elise, Camille and Marina brought their parents down for a few days of fishing. Camille and Elise caught 4 sailfish and a small shark. Marina was recovering from a shoulder injury, so she gave great moral support.
This week has been good for sailfish. Monday we caught 2 of 3 sailfish, 5 dolphin, 2 bonito and a mutton snapper.
Tuesday we were fooled by a bad weather forecast.
Wednesday we caught 10 out of 14 sailfish, an 18 pound dolphin and a 5 pound dolphin, an 18 pound barracuda, a scamp grouper and a skipjack tuna.
Thursday the same guys wanted to try the bottom fishing and caught 2 scamp grouper, a mutton snapper, 2 sails, 2dolphin and a king mackerel.
Today we fished with the Powell family. Everybody caught their first sailfish. Randy caught 3, Kathy caught 2 and John caught 1. They added a dolphin, 5 kings, 2 bonito and an amberjack for spice.
We are planning summer swordfish and snook trips for the coming months. We have a few trips left for sailfish and tuna or tarpon in April, May and June. Let's go catch some.
