The Christmas Season has arrived and our winter fish migration has started. We started the month out with Lars and Peter from Denmark and here in Florida and they got the month started out right catching several dolphin fish while we were trolling along the edge of the reef.
On the 2nd Nick and some of his friends from here in Ft. Lauderdale fished with us and caught a kingfish while we were trolling and then when we did some deep over some wrecks they caught a mutton snapper and a grouper.
On the 3rd Donald and Conner from New York came on board and although fishing was a little slow we did get into some dolphin fish when we were slow trolling the edge of the reef and the guys brought in 3 nice sized ones.
On the 5th we started the day with Jay from Indiana, Ronny from South Carolina, Wade from Ohio and Will and Alan from North Carolina and unfortunately the fish were still not biting, we tried several different methods with no luck but finally had some success trolling and the guys got to bring in some kingfish. Our afternoon charter trip was with Juan from South Florida and Robert from Alaska and fishing did improve a little, they caught a king mackerel while were we trolling and then they landed a nice sailfish when we had the kites up.
The morning of the 6th Matt, Harley, Bill and Jim from Michigan and Virginia joined us and unfortunately fishing was really slow, but this group did not let that get them down, they still enjoyed their time out on the water and when we ran into some fish trolling the reef they hopped right into the action and brought in a couple of kingfish and a cero mackerel.
The afternoon of the 7th Steve and Brad from Pennsylvania came aboard and they wanted to see what they could bring up from the bottom of the Atlantic; so we pulled out all the battle gear for deep wreck fishing and put them on some great sites and they did not disappoint. Everyone got their chance and everyone was victorious in landing and releasing some really nice golden amberjacks. Way to go guys!
The 8th brought Brian, Hunter, Sandy and Tracy from Louisiana to the Hooked Up and they were looking for some sailfish action so we made sure we had all the right equipment and set out to do battle. We put the kites up and suspended live bait from them and dropped dead bait below at different depths and distances from us and set in for the bite. It took a while but we the bite came and these guys brought in a really nice sailfish!
On the 14th Harold from California and Jen from Denver, Colorado joined us for an afternoon of sportfishing and brought in a couple of dolphin fish while we were trolling the reef and then did a catch and release of a nice sized sailfish while we were flying the kites.
Dave, Greg and Tony from Kentucky joined us for two full days of fishing on the 17th and 18th. We had a cold front come through Sunday night; yes the 60's are cold for us, so the fishing picked up. Since we had plenty of time with these guys we did several different types of fishing, we trolled with both artificial lures and live bally hoo, we did some deep drops and we put live bait on the surface with the kites and dropped dead baits down at different depths and these guys had quite the catch; they landed several dolphin fish, a cool shark and 2 nice sailfish! It was great fishing with you guys!
The afternoon of the 20th Sam, Chad, Andrew, Tracy, Danielle and Brent from New York joined us and let me tell you this group was ready to have a good time; and some of them did, the ladies, while others, the gentlemen, experienced a little sea sickness! I have to say this for the guys those, they did hang tough and continue to fish! Fishing was a little slow, we didn't get the bite while we were trolling so we decided to put up the kites and suspend some goggle eyes on top of the water and drop a couple of dead bait on the bottom to see if we could change our luck and it took a little while but the bite came, Sam put his sea sickness aside and jumped in the chair and landed a nice sailfish! Way to go!!!!
The morning of the 21st we were joined by Eddy, Sandy, Liz and Jamie from New Jersey and Jay and his son Jay Jr. from Detroit. We started out trolling the reef but the fish were not biting so we decided to put up the kites. It didn't take long before the bite came and eddy jumped into the chair and set in for a battle with a nice sized sailfish; before Eddy could get his fish to the boat we had another bite and Jay Jr. got to do a catch and release of another sailfish! That afternoon we had a sunset cruise with Renee and his parents and on our way in we decided to do a drop on the ledge and it didn't take long before Renee had his first Jack Crevelle in the boat.
On the 23rd we fished with Greg and Ty from here in South Florida and Washington. We started out the trip trolling south towards Miami and the guys caught a couple of bonito's and then we did some deep drops over a couple of different wrecks and they caught 4 really nice jacks. Good fishing guys!
Christmas Eve, Michael, Bradley and their dad joined us for some sportfishing. We started out trolling the reef but the fish were not biting so we changed up and did a deep drop on one of the wrecks and the guys caught a huge jack and then we changed up again and tried live bait on the ledge and the guys each brought in a barracuda!
On the 27th Bob and Adam from Oklahoma came out for a morning of sportfishing. Unfortunately the fish were not biting but the guys did bring in a king fish while we were trolling the reef.
On the 28th fishing picked up and Linda, Susan, Steven and Ryan from Chicago joined us for the afternoon and caught an almaco jack and 8 vermilion snappers when we did some drops and then to top off the trip they landed a really nice sailfish!
On the 30th Brad from Pennsylvania fished with us and although there were not a lot of fish around he did well catching a king fish and a sailfish out of the kites. Nice catch!
Joe from New York, Alan from Connecticut and Bob from New York joined us for out last fishing trip of 2007 and the guys closed the year out right by catching a huge hammerhead shark!