Secret Spot Revealed

[Deep C]

Ok I'm done.... You can have it... Those that guessed Hawks Cay were wrong... Keys kinda right... We have been at Whale Harbor for the last six days and just got done with the ICBA tournament...
Last year I puffed my chest going in and we barked at the moon so thats why the secrecy this year...

Had a good time... Did about an hour a day of fishing each of the first three days catching two sails and a mystery billfish that for the sake of peace in the valley will call a sail... The rest of the time we spent running around and scouting bait and potential spots...
Come game time these guys turned up the heat... Its a new game that I got to watch close... You need a friend in the bait business if you want to play their way. Chumming with live goggle eyes by the dozens and pilchards by the net fulls was the ticket... Miami boys cluster and run kite to kite and you cant squeeze in... When one hooks up the others close in and that guy rejoins the pack at one end or the other when they're done catching the fish.
Not complaining. Cool to watch well oiled crews with game act it out and score big...
The good local crews worked showering fish hard and would be pitching from their bows while backing down on hooked fish. Top boat had tourney record 30 fish! Second and third had mid twenties and a few had in the teens... We finished about mid field with twelve... I won't bitch... One of our fish yesterday took nearly two hours and another took a half hour... Today we finished off with a tripple of 15lb black fin tunas...
Took second place dolphin and second place tuna and a king that fell well short... Got a G Loomis rod and a little bit of feel good for our efforts... Again better than a sharp poke in the eye.... That pales though in comparison to the great time I had with the boys... Guys were sharper than last year by a lot... We're comming along pretty good as a team considering the boss and his side kick have only a hand full of sail days under their belts and our guest had his cherry popped... Popped? Crushed! Dolphin, king, tiuna and sail cherries all gone....
The bow got crowded a lot of times this week...

Second place dolphin was a consolatrion...

As were the second and third place tuna.. (14.8 and 12.9Lbs)
The king didn't place...

This was the only little sail we got all week the rest were pretty good size including a pig yesterday...

Four each of the last three days was plenty enough to keep us happy.

[clt_capt]

Sounds like a good week. Are you sure that "King" isn't a spanish or a Cero - Just Kidding -

I guess I forgot that in South Fla, Pastel Houses are everywhere, not just in the Keys...

[gottaflylee]

Good show Deep...glad you got them...sounds if as the crew is comming along nicely...

[cravertosu]

Sounds like you guys had a great time!! Makes it all worth it even if you don't come out with money!

[Robja]

Congratulations Deep.

[Deep C]

Actually there was a little ka-ching involved with the rat dolphin but thats a story for another day...

Yes the crew is comming along very well... The boss and his sidekick have improved by leaps and bounds... We had very few, far fewer than usual in in the missed column. They were a whole lot better about clearing stuff and keeping baits in the water while we chased fish... If a rigger line was being brought in they had the clip down and ready to go back up by the time the weed was cleared or bait changed...

Hell, as cappy I kind of muffed one fish... We had baits dancing all over so all the anglers were holding sticks... I was bringing a bait in tight to the daisy and pulled the bait off... As I was reloading, the fish came all the way in... Ran the daisy right into the splash well by the motors then got in there itself... Kinda cool having a hot fish inches from you working its way back into the ocean. Even cooler is that it didn't cut any fuel or steering lines... Sucks though that there was no hook or leader in there ...

Made the 146 miles back to home port today in a nasty chop that had me slow to about 25 knots... Got in, tied up and went and got the big boat to bring to the slings and ready for a rather intense bottom job... All blocked, ready to lose ten years of paint and get fresh...

[Captain Michael Buffington]

sounds like fun. Make a little change too.What could be better?

Mike

[Questsportfishing]

sure looks like a gaff hole/mark on the backside...

[Deep C]

Nope... Never gaffed a sail in my life... He had some rasberries that looked like cookie cutter bites on him... Look back by the anal vent and there is a mark that starts on this side and worked up the other side that looked to be scarring but some kind of bad rash... I see that condition on some bigger dolphin over in the islands but rarely on billfish...

We release all sails all the time and non tournament billfish.. We have killed two qualifier whites and one blue in the last five years...

[GitchaSome]

NICE!!!! I Can't wait to see yall next weekend!!!!!