Well it's the start of a new month. And we want to start by wishing the (Polisher) a happy 40 TH birthday.
Well on the 1 st we took out Mike and Mary from parts unknown. We had a good day trolling up and down the reef we ended up catching 8 kingfish and 8 bonitos.
On the 4 th Stan and Chris from Oklahoma caught 6 kingfish, 2 bonitos and 1 dolphin.
Than on the 5 TH we had Logan, Jenny, Natalie, Kory and Adam from Helena Ok and from Pompno Beach Florida. And we ended up with 7 kingfish, 4 bonitos and 1 nice barracuda.
Well, on the 7 TH this was a special trip. We got to go to the Bahamas for a few days. This time I would work the cockpit and we got Captain Bud Randall. He would run the boat. Bud has been fishing the waters around South Florida and the Bahamas for many years now. So between the two of us, we felt our chances of catching some nice fish were pretty good. Our anglers included Steven, David Wolfe, David Walker, Nick, Justin and Jim. We also brought along an 18' Flats Boat and about 10,000 lbs. of food and drinks. The food and drinks were a real pain to load into the boat, but as it turns out, it was well worth it!! The breakfast, lunch and dinners were as good as they get.
On the first day, on our crossing the Gulf Stream, we tried to catch some dolphin (Mahia Mahia). Since we had two boats, we spread out to try to find any debris that might be holding some fish. And yes, Jim, Justin and David Walker did go all the way to Bimini in that little Flats Boat. The ocean was like a piece of glass and we could not ask for a better day to cross.
We were running late and we did not want to miss clearing Customs, so we did not get the chance to fish as much as we wanted to, but we did manage to catch a nice triple tail. That evening the rum and the beer were going down quite nicely and then to top it all off, Steven made a killer lasagna. (We all slept good).
Well the next morning, after a nice breakfast, we all piled into the big boat, except for Jim and Steven. They were going on the small boat to try to find some lobster for dinner. We were heading south on the big boat, our destination was a little island called Ocean Cay. Ocean Cay is about 18 miles south of Bimini and I know the bottom pretty good down there. So, I figured once we got there, I could put us on some good diving spots for hog fish and lobster. We got out in deep water and started trolling south. We were trying to find dolphin or billfish on our way down.
Steven and Jim were doing the same, only they were going south on the shallow water, hoping to find some lobster on the way.
Well we got lucky – our first bite was a billfish and Justin jumped on it. The fish was jumping pretty far away from the boat and I was sure it was a white Marlin. But David Wolfe thought it was a sailfish. Well after some debating, Justin proved me wrong. When we finally got the fish to the boat, it was a monster sailfish!! Nice going Justin. And David Wolfe was right this time.
After a little more trolling, we caught a dolphin, about a 10 pounder. Once we got down to Ocean Cay I took the guys to where I knew there was a big Air Condition Unit on the bottom in about 18' of water. There were only 2 lobsters but we did manage to get both of them. Well we were feeling pretty good about our catch and we were sure we were doing better than Steven and Jim were in the little boat.
This is until they met up with us. Much to our surprise, not only did they have a live well full of lobster, they were all alive. They had hit the mother lode and they caught every one of them by hand. We all got together and had some ice cold watermelon and a few good laughs.
Then everyone got together and decided to dive on some deep crevices we found. I was watching them from the boat and I noticed that they kept going down and the coming back to the surface. They kept talking to each other about something. After about 30 minutes of this, I was curious about what was going on.
These guys were very experienced divers and the bottom looked great, yet no one was bringing anything to the surface. So we went over and ask them what was up. They told me that the bottom was full of big fish but they were all groupers. So I said, great, what is the problem – groupers are great eating. Well then they told me about grouper. These guys were all from Grand Cayman Island and apparently the diving there is great. But the groupers are so curious, that they would swim right up to them and this made them an easy target. They also told me that the grouper population all over the world was being depleted. So these guys would not kill any grouper. So grouper would not be on the menu. But that was fine, we had to rough it with dolphin and lobster, black beans and rice (I can live with that).
That same afternoon we were joined by Tim who had just flown in from Nassau. Tim is a photographer in Nassau and he had brought his camera with him. We would later find out, we were very glad he did.
Well the next morning after another good breakfast, we all split up into difference boats and headed out. I had put out all the baits except for my favorite lure. When I started letting my favorite lure out, I noticed that the line was all twisted up. So I brought it back in, cut off the lure and let the line back out to untwist it. Then I crimped the lure back on and lit it out and put the line up in the rigger. I turned around to get a drink and bang, my lure got hit. The line was going off the reel so fast I was afraid I would run out of line. Well Tim jumped in the fighting chair and everyone helped clear the rest of the lines. David Wolfe ran up to the tuna tower with the camera in hand. Tim was doing a great job with the fish. Captain Bud kept the boat pointed at the fish perfectly and everyone else was cheering Tim on. After about 30 minutes, we had the Blue Marlin at the boat, estimated weight between 350 to 400 pounds. I held the fish still while Bud put his hand right down the fish's mouth and removed the hook. Well, needless to say, the high fives and the beers were flowing. That was the highlight of fishing that day so we went and checked out the bottom around the north side of Bimini. We dove the roads to Atlantis, a must see.
That night as we all gathered around for dinner, we started checking out the pictures. And WOW these pictures came out great!! If you ever find yourself in the Grand Cayman Island and want to have some pictures taken (vacation, wedding or whatever), look up David Wolfe. He may not be the cheapest photographer on the Island but this guy takes a picture that makes you feel like you are right there (www.davidwolfephotography.com)
Well our ride home was pretty uneventful as far as the fishing goes, but it was another perfect day to cross. Steven, thanks a million for a great trip, one of my best trips to the Bahamas. You guys were great. See you guys again soon.
Well on the 12th we took out Bob and Julie from ST Louis and we caught 3 bonitos and 2 kingfish.
Than on the 15th our luck started to change we took out Rich, Steve, Ed, Leo and Stan from Atlanta, Pittsburg and from Chicago and we had a killer day. We started out trolling the reef and only caught a couple of kingfish. Than we went off shore and got 7 nice dolphin and 1 sail fish.
Than on the 16th we took out Charlie and his son Charlie from parts unknown and they caught 3 kingfish, 3 bonitos and 1 nice dolphin.
Well on the 18th Derek and his son Derek were joined by their friends Joe and Donny for a night of sword fishing off Fort Lauderdale. On the way out there we did manage to catch a nice dolphin and as the sun was starting to set we starter to put out our sword fish baits. And than we had a bite and mean bait we fought this fish for over an hour and when we got it near the boat we could not believe what we were looking at. It was a 10 foot tiger shark on a mono leader believes it or not we caught this 500 pounder on mono. Well after that we put our baits back out and we did finally catch a sword fish about a 100 pounder. Well guys thanks for a trip we won't forget.
Than on the 19th we took out Rich, Criss, and 3 other guys with some reel bad hand writing so we can not read their names all from Florida and we did have a good day catching 3 nice dolphins, 7 bonitos, 2 kingfish and a nice black fin tuna.
On the 23rd Donna, Hubert and Amy from St. Louis caught kingfish and bonitos.
Than on the 30th Keith, Mark, Ariel, Ely and Fernando all from Texas caught 3 kingfish, a black tip shark and a black fin tuna.
That same afternoon a regular customer of ours Denzel from West Virginia came out with us but our luck was not as good as his last trip this time we had to settle for 3 barracudas. Don't worry Denzel we will get that sailfish for you next time.