Summer is definitely here! It's hot and muggy, and the yellowtail snapper and dolphin are climbing into the boat. Last week we had some young visitors from North Carolina looking to bend a pole. Stephen Strachem and his three young boys (6, 9, & 10) joined me out on the reef for a half day morning trip.
Our first stop had them warming up with a variety of non glamoure reef fish. Parrotfish, blue runners, grunts, pigfish, juvenile snappers, and even one of the biggest Hammerhead sharks I've ever seen decided to swim by and say "good morning". Once the boys were good and warmed up it was off to deeper water and some fish for the grill.
I marked some fish on the bottom machine, and dropping the hook. We proceeded to fill the box with 2 dozen nice size yellowtail snappers. The boys were hot on the rods, and I couldn't get the sandballs down fast enough. I think even Dad got to reel a fish in after wrestling the rod from one of the young bucks. We left them biting and headed to the barn.
Friday had Jeff Weber and his girlfriend Christy joining me for a much anticipated dolphin trip. What was special about this trip was it was their first time fishing for dolphin, and we had to rescedule a previous trip due to the weather. We awoke to a rain storm that had us wondering if they where ever going to see a dolphin? The skies cleared, the seas were flat and we had a nice ride out to deep water.
In about 1200' we hit paydirt and found some terns working a weedline. Our first pass had us on a couple of schoolies and we got the skunk out of the box. The school followed and you know how the rest goes. For about two hours we caught about 30-40 dolphin using light tackle and a variety of baits. Cutbait, jigs, topwater plugs, everything that hit the water was fair game. We kept enough for one limit and released the rest to grow bigger.
Making our way back, we stumbled upon a frigate bird in about 600 feet and Christy made short work of a 20lb bull dolphin that hit a small blue and white Islander Tracker. "Christy are those arms still sore"?
We decided to try a little bottom fishing with the last hour and half of our trip. Can you believe those pesky yellowtail snappers were still biting? Not to be outdone we put 16 yellowtails in the box and toasted the Fish Gods for a great day.
This week proved to be a little less action packed, "yeah right"! On Wednesday Frank Lopez-boy of Miami, his cousin Betty and her husband Bill joined me for a half day of bottom fishing. Due to the lack of current, the yellowtails were a bit more leary of our baits and not exactly on their feed. We had to work a little harder, but still managed to boat over two dozen yellowtails, a nice 8lb cero mackeral, and a 30 and 34lb black grouper that couldn't resist a live snapper dangling in thier faces!
I hope the bite stay hot! The gray snapper should be gettng ready to spawn on the next full moon and will be "snapping" at night. The reports are good on the Humps, as blackfin tuna and dolphin have been plentiful. Give us a call, and lets get you out on the water!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Ron