Man did today suck!
Resealed the valve cover last night and musta missed a spot as I spraypainted my er with oil. Then a breaker on my motor has been acting up and has become so sensitive that even going from clouds to sun trips it... Checked it out and it was fred so that had to be changed mid trip. meanwhile the oil was giving me a nice hot bath. Fishing sucked and other than one bonito and a sail bite we ate s***!
Yesterday we had a bunch of bonitos a couple mahi and a near disaster as a 13 year old kid ducking an ice cube thrown by a friend went overboard as I was comming in the inlet.
Today I had a great group show up and we were all surprised by the 4' slop that had built through the night. It was just a weird chop but enough to break up the weeds for a zillion square miles... We kept at it hammering our way through the sea of weeds and one of my passengers began laughing at the fish. That pulled the plug early and I will have to take the second half day with them on Wednesday...
Today I ran a private boat out of Key Largo. A few school mahi and a few gaffers along with a billfish bite rounded out a very nice day with some great people...
Today was the first of two "get it right" trips this week. I started out front and worked through my usual haunts with little to show for it so I turned and headed for an old area I havn't worked for a long time. The charter wasn't really interested in meat so I figured this spot might just provide some action.
And it did! We pounded a slob Mahi as we approached and with the 30lb bull in the box the day was looking up. Then we landed in the mother load of little tunny, false albacore, squiggle backs, or bonito... Call them what you will. This guy wanted to pull on stuff that pulls back. The fish were more than happy to oblige... For four solid hours I kept him entertained with them. Watching the tld 20's empty about half way and watching him fill those reels back up was a treat after such a slow week. He rock and rolled until his arms gave out. One of the bonitos got chased by a chunky blue marlin but escaped being eaten. It was a ball watching the contortions he went through holding the rod as his muscles cramped, the blisters popped up and the heat worked on him. Its been a while since I watched a grown man plant both feet on the fish box, hug the rod because his fingers were too tired, and have beads of sweat looking like a freshly waxed car across his forehead.
I tried to slide out of the school and was greeted by a sail. This one stayed stuck and was released after a twenty minute dead boat battle. As I pushed up the throttle after the sail a nice 30lb class wahoo launched twice and destroyed my inside rigger bait. Didn't bother us at all it was a great day. Say what you will about those tunny. If meat isn't the objective two dozen or so of those 20 pound torpedos will make your day!
After hitting the dock he bought an ice cold soda, not to drink but to cool his hands down
A last minute group of local cops gathered to join me after hearing of yesterdays bonito insanity! We hit the general area nd all four rods tried to kiss the gunwales. It stayed that way for over two hours when they waived the white flag and that they had enough... Say what you will again, but you gotta love a fish that can dump a 20 tld and still giving you fits at the boat...
Spent the day just cleaning up and getting caught up on other stuff. The radio sounded good with reports of kinghs, mahi, wahoo, blackfins , bonitos and even a few sails to be had out there...
Broke through the inlet this morn in my boat that was and still is runnin like a top. Slid on out past 200- then 500 then off to about 800. Scattered grass and flyers all over made me think it was gonna happen. Came through a real weedy area and the baits got dirty as I was starting to bring my rigger in to clear its weeds a big head wake shot at it. The water boiled for several seconds behind the weeded up offering but of course no hit. I dropped my flat back next to it but still no hit. I cleared the weed and was setting it back in the slot. Again I was getting into the thicker junk and headed for the hem. Bang Bang flat and inside rigger go off. I was figuring dolphin but looked back to see a fat white working the two baits over back and forth!
He gave me three shots and disappeared so I turned back in there. This time he came up and I was waiting . I know whites are no big deal up north or in the islands but we dont get many here so it was great to get one!
About two miles below there I see the little Bertram I also run with the owner on the helm. I could see he was running my spread and then see a fish pile into his spread. The color of this fish was intense. His son bowed it up and it turned out to be a spearfish! They released it and we went rigger tip to rigger tip and gang boinked a rip. Sudddenly theres two purple shadows and next thing you know we're both bowed up on blue ones in the 200 class. His came unglued but mine stuck. An hour later it was released and I was doing back flips!
Course was set for the shallows to now find a sail and do the slam. As we got back on the edge there was a gorgeous rip built up and a load of flyers. The bonitos were thick as could be and we couldn't keep them off the baits. After about ten of them one we had hooked shot up top and a big blue hammered it. I don't think we ever hooked her but we played with the 400 class fish for almost an hour almost reaching the leader on one pass. Alas it wasn't meant to be and we roared home. The marina was crowded and me with no trip for tomorrow told the guys to go ahead and fork lift my boat out to give them more dock space. Well they turned my Lee single spreader rigger into a pretzel . You know, today was so good I don't even care!
Spent the morning fixing my outrigger (from the fork lift) and watched in amazement the zillion or so boats heading out. Trading fiberglass seemed to be the order of the morning so I was happy with my decision to set mine on land even if it did involve some intense "aluministraightification". Just went back down to the marina after watching the girl embarrass the field at Indy. The cleaning table was sporting a small line of people with mostly reef species like kings, yellowtails and muttons...
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