3rd Trolling on the reef was very productive today for king mackerel. This is exactly what our customers wanted and they were solid in 90-130 feet of water. Along with the kings were plenty of Bonita. Conditions were a little rough with east winds as the remains of tropical storm Barry left the area. We tried to find some Dolphin offshore for a short time but decided it was more comfortable on the reef. There’s a good chance the Dolphin are biting out there for those who brave the rough seas.

4th It was a banner fishing day today. We were booked for an eight hour trip which is nice this time of year, giving us time for running around and finding fish. Seas were much calmer than yesterday with onshore winds still present but much lighter. We started trolling the reef in the morning to get a few quick bites and warm our customers up. The king mackerel and bonitas were there but not as strong as yesterday so we decided to try some deepwater wreck fishing. We scored some huge bites and released some golden amberjacks. Changing styles again we popped up a couple of kites with some live goggle eyes for bait. We hooked a spinner shark out of the kite. These acrobatic sharks are the white marlin of the shark family. It put on a great show for us, jumping high in the air and ripping line off our reel but it wasn’t meant to last with the monofilament leader we hooked him on. After it bit us off we decided to head offshore and try our luck trolling. As luck would have it we found some debris and caught three Wahoo and a bunch of dolphin. In all it was a banner day on the water and time for a cold one.

5th Today after trolling the reef and getting covered up numerous times we decided to try the bonitos we were catching as live bait. Trolling ten pond live baits is an excellent way to catch a really large trophy fish. This is exactly what happened as we got even with the spinner shark that bit us off a couple of days ago. This shark jumped a few times for us and put on a hell of a fight. We took this one home for a beautiful trophy for our customers, although we release most of the sharks we catch. Another great day at sea-time for a cold one.

6th We had some kids onboard today who had a great time and their hands full catching bonitos. It was tough fishing for other species today but these battlers wouldn’t leave us alone and we fought them till our arms were falling off.

7th The reef fish were biting well again today, trolling a little deeper in 110-170 feet of water. We hit the deep water wrecks and were surprised with a huge bite. Much later this turned out to be one weary angler and a beautiful trophy Golden Amberjack.

8th King mackerel and bonitos are still biting well on the reef and we got some good bites on the bottom again today as well. The fish did not have the size of the ones on Tuesday though.

9th Beautiful water took us offshore fishing today. The flat seas and great visibility lead us to find some great floatsome which the dolphin like to hide under. The highlight of the trip was catching ten Wahoo, which are the fastest fish in the ocean. This in itself makes this a banner trip because Wahoo are a rare catch almost anywhere in the world where they are found. We also caught quite a few dolphin, bonito, and a big barracuda.

12th With the success of our offshore fishing on Friday we decided to go offshore again today. We were rewarded with two huge fish- a giant Wahoo in 500 feet of water and a barracuda that was runner up. Both fish were caught on mono leaders making them that much tougher to land due to their sharp teeth. Time for a cold one.

13th Tonight we went offshore sword fishing. Trolling our way out 25 miles we found a large board and caught our limit of dolphin (ten per man). Already having a great trip we set up for the night to try and catch the worlds most sought after sport fish. This is a patience sport which promises great success or not a lot of action. We hooked a fish at around 10:30, which jumped a couple of times before charging the boat and pulling the hooks. A huge blast of adrenaline was felt by all just seeing this 100 pounder. We also saw one other fish swimming in our lights but couldn’t get it to bite. Maybe next time, they seem to be biting fairly well right now. A successful trip just the same.

14th Today we went off to look for some dolphin. We found an old hawser line floating offshore and grabbed a couple of dolphin and a twenty pound wahoo off of it. We also caught some bonitos on the reef for our anglers.

15th Tonight we are in pursuit of the swordfish again. As luck would have it we hooked into a sixty pounder for our lucky anglers. This fish jumped over our floats and put on a good show before coming into the boat. A beautiful trophy fish at any size, live bait fishing at night is the only way to get these battlers. This is a minimum 8 hour trip which we usually extend the time because we like to see one as much as our customers so please give it a try- What a rush!

18th The bonitos are so thick today it is tough to catch anything else. A few king mackerel are making it past them to our baits though. A good chance to go out and catch huge numbers of fish is here, if you can handle it! When you get tired of bonitos we can move offshore to look for dolphin, sailfish, and wahoo.

19th Same story as yesterday with the bonitos and kings.

20th Today we caught a nice smoker king mackerel along with plenty of bonitos for our junior anglers. Its never to early to get kids involved with fishing so bring them out, we will treat them right.

21st Sargasso weed is everywhere making it very difficult to keep baits in the water and clean. We did manage to catch an almaco jack on the surface along with two respectable barracudas. Snaking through the weed on the reef we got a couple of king mackerels and some bonitos as well. It was a fun trip for the customers, but a little aggravating to the crew. If this weed lines up in the next few days dolphin fishing should become outstanding-keep your fingers crossed.

22nd Dolphin are biting offshore and today we found a bunch of 5-8 pounders for our customers. Lots of fun on light tackle.

24th Today we stayedon the reef and slow trolled bonito strips and ballyhoo as our bait. The kings were biting good and we got a nice wahoo just outside the reef. Although these baits usually deter bonitos from biting a few ate our ballyhoo anyway. In the afternoon we did the same thing except we also fished the deep wrecks. Our customers got to fight something large for a while but we pulled the hook. I think tommorrow we might come back to find him......

25th This morning we hit the reef again after the good fishing there yesterday. We were rewarded with a few king mackerel and we decided to try the wrecks again. They were good to us and we faught a couple of golden amberjacks to the boat for release. One was caught by a twelve year old and did he looked whipped afterwards! In the afternoon we went back out and knocked the hell out of the kingfish. I hope the reef holds out like this for a while.

26th We brought a father and his two sons out this morning and they were in the right place for a good time. After trolling for a while and not having the luck we have grown accustomed to lately we tried the bottom. Our live bait today was a combination of blue runners and speedos. Typically speaking we catch our own live bait this time of year and today was no exception. In the beginning of the trip our customers helped us chum the bait to the boat and catch our supply on ultra light rods. We deployed a speedo to the bottom offshore and sat waiting. When the bite came we had our bait pulled off and then we missed another bite and had our hook bitten off, perhaps by a baracuda or shark. On our third try we connected with something that did not want to come to the boat. A half hour later the fish had led us to deep water way offshore but we finally saw the enormous brown shape of it below the boat. Seconds later the gaff was sunk in the head of a warsaw grouper that would later bottom the scale we had out at its max of fifty pounds. An awsome fish. In the afternoon we went right back out to the same spot and tried a blue runner bait-we were out of speedos. This also worked and we got another great fish.This was a golden amberjack and our customers decided to make a trophy of their catch to remember it forever. What a day, time for a cold one.

27th Today we had a tragedy and hit a board on the way out. Although the prop was bent we managed to salvage the trip and troll on the reef for a couple of king mackerel and bonitos. Moral was low but in the afternoon I went under the boat and changed the props over to our spare set so we are ready for tommorrow

28th Out on the reef there has been talk of a couple of sailfish. This is not the time of year for them yet but a slim few should be arriving now. Keep your fingers crossed and pray for cold fronts. We caught kings and bonitos in the morning today.

30th Jay Stafford joined us today, a regular on the Hooked Up. Fishing was slow so we caught some bonitos to bend the rod and show Jay a good time.

31st In the morning the kings were biting well and we half filled our box, we also got some bonitos. In the afternoon we pulled out our teath and got skunked for the first time in ages, how embarrasing. As the old saying goes "Thats why they call it fishing and not catching."

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