Hello July 2009. Well almost. On June 29th our tough fishing spell went into trip two. This was the end of a short tough fishing run. We had a couple young men from here in town and after several good tarpon trips in a row the tarpon took the evening off. We trolled a couple of X-Raps along the jetties and caught two 15 pound snook to save the trip.
We took the families to Key Largo for the 4th of July. My niece-in law Alex and Abie's girl friend Yudith each caught their first mahi on the way down. We had a great time snorkeling off the keys. Dining at "Ziggie and Mad Dogs" in Islamorada on Friday night was super. And fresh Mahi the evening of the 4th was almost as good.
Malina and Marta with a huge grouper
On the 5th we fished with two couples from Wisconsin and newly south Florida. The girls ruled the live bait rods. They caught a 41 pound warsaw grouper and a 10 pound red snapper. The guys added 2 big almaco jacks, a scamp grouper and a 8 pound porgy. A couple bonito and a small cuda filled out the offshore action. On the way home everybody caught a snook.
Mike Day brought a few friends on the 6th. They caught 6 small dolphin, 10 bonito, a king and 2 amberjacks offshore. On the way in they caught 2 snook and 2 tarpon.
Our next trip was with an old school classmate and his grandson and a friend and his grandson. Larry, Robert, Calvin and Dave had a good day on the water. They caught a 25 pound bull and two 8 pound cow dolphin. On the reef they caught 2 kings, a 30 pound amberjack, 15 bonito and a 25 pound tuna.
Earl and Josh fished on the 10th. they only had a couple hours to fish, but caught a tuna, 2 barracudas, 4 kings and 12 bonitos.
Alex and Rachel slammed the Snook
On Saturday Charles and Pedro only fished a couple hours and caught a big barracuda and a large amberjack.
That evening we fished with Evan Goldenberg, his dad Alan, son Alex and daughter Rachel. This gang rocked the inlet with 22 snook, 7 barracuda and a big jack.
On Sunday July 12th we had the honor of fishing with IGFA president Rob Kramer and the Rocas from Spain. The plan was vertical jigging for the day. They finished the day with 30 assorted jacks to 40 pounds, a red snapper, a gray grouper and 2 bonito. Oh yeah, several sore arms to prove it.
On The 14th Roger and Tammy caught 3 kings, 10 bonito, a mutton snapper, 2 amberjacks and 3 spinner sharks. These sharks are a lot of fun as they run, jump and fight hard.
That evening we fished with Jim Mandich, his son Nick, Nichol and a guest. they caught 8 snook and 6 cudas in 3 hours.
Emilly got the big king
The 17th we fished with Ron Stone from St. Charles Missouri and his son Scott and daughter Emily. They had a great day catching a 15 pound mahi, a mutton snapper, 3 spinner sharks, 2 kings to 20 pounds and so many bonito we lost count.
That evening we fished with the Mike Simmons party and caught 2 sailfish, a tuna, a king and 3 bonito.
The 18th we were back out with Ron and Scott. They caught 12 kings, 20 bonito, a dolphin, 4 barracudas and Scott caught a sail to finish the day.
Scott got the sailfish of the trip
As you can see from this report, the action is good and the variety a lot of fun. Swordfish reports are very good for the daytime fishing. We will be out there trying for them this weekend. Snook action is great in the evenings. Some of south Florida's best wahoo action takes place around the full moon in August. The moon this year is August 6th. There are plenty of trips available, so let's go catch some.