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Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 81
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 25, 2009 - 10:57 am: | |
We had trips Friday and Saturday on Father‘s Day weekend. Friday was with our good customer Jon (frequent flyer) and Saturday was with the Muniz group. Both days were extremely hot and the seas were flat.
On Friday Jon and his friend met up with Devon and I, at 6 AM, since he had an early flight home to Atlanta that evening. Jon had orders from his boss (wife) to bring home fish since they had a Father’s Day gathering on Sunday. He wanted Dolphin or Tuna. OK! Hopefully the fish got the memo.
We left the slip and made our way straight to the Ballyhoo patches. We pulled them up in less than 5 minutes but when I say they were finicky, that is an understatement. We collected as many as we could, along with some speedos, without spending the whole morning working for bait. I took a heading for the edge and we set up shop! Not a breath of wind blowing, and the ambient temperature was already uncomfortable. I made my way about the area and absolutely nothing was stirring on this flat sea. I made a choice to run out and look for something interesting to fish. I saw some scattered weeds and dropped some trolling lines. After some long miles and out to 1200’ we found a few Sooty’s working. I closed the gap and got in front of them. BAM! Dolphin on! Jon worked the chubby schoolie to the boat and it was respectable enough to put in the fish box. A single? What’s up with that? We got back on the remaining 2 birds and down goes another rod! Once again we have a schoolie with no followers. Hmmmm! I made a few more passes and realized the birds were working small baitfish under the weeds and not the school sized stragglers hanging around. One more pass and the down rod goes off. Wahoo? Big Dolphin? Nope! Another schoolie takes to the surface and once again he was alone. Good grief, this is some slow fishing. We worked the birds for a while and finally gave up on them. Suddenly I hear Jon ask his friend, “What are you doing?“ He is taking his underwear off! As he cleans up and pulls his shorts on commando style, he tells Jon, “Never trust a fart!“ HE HAD A SHART (fart with leakage)! We laughed until our sides hurt and tears flowed!
With the morning gone and only 3 school Dolphin and a shart, we decided that maybe some Mutton Snapper would oblige us. As we were pulling lines, the down rod trips and we have a small fish on. What the heck? A 3 pound Barracuda comes to the surface and we know for sure now, that we are heading in for some bottom fishing, for sure! I pushed down the throttles and the wind gave us a bit of relief, cooling us down for a few minutes. I pulled the reins on the 600 ponies as we reached out spot. Little current, about 1/4 knot, and things are not looking much better here. We made a few drops and managed to jig up an Almaco Jack which we released. Several more drifts and we get another Caribbean Spotted Mackerel (Cuda) but a much larger specimen this time. We worked the area hard and at last, we got to see pink, as a decent Mutton comes to the top.
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I pulled the plug on the bottom dropping as time was running out. Devon set up the lines to live bait the edge for the remaining time. Devon was working a speed jig, as usual, and I heard the “grunt” as he hands off the rod to Jon. As we see color we realize it is a Blackfin Tuna. Not big, but not a football either, more like a rugby ball. That was the topper for the day as we ran out of time.
As The BEAST headed home we told Jon that coming on a mission for certain species (groceries) usually leads to a slow day and too much Guinness on an empty stomach can also lead to a ventral faux pas. This is a common fact!
Saturday Will Muniz, his wife Heather, her brother Austin and their friend Dustin joined us at the dock at 7 AM and we headed out. They are all Redfish and back country fisherman from Ft. Myers and wanted to try out some offshore fishing. Miami and The BEAST were their choice. We asked them what they would like to do and they told us they had no preference. Good, we’ll put you on fish! Our first stop for some Hardtails was uneventful so we went to spot #2. Ahhhh, much better, as we filled the starboard live well in short order. I turned the power up and headed for some Ballyhoo to round out the port well. Nothing happening at 2 different spots. We couldn’t raise a single one! OK! We’ll play the hand that is dealt to us and go with what we got, plenty of Runners and a half dozen crabs. Our first stop was to see if we could catch a Permit. The seas were calm but a good wind ripple was present and the water clarity was not good at all. We only gave this a fleeting attempt and bagged out for the Grunt & Sweat wreck. I knew these guys would appreciate a big Amberjack. We arrived to find almost no current again as the day before. Oh Boy! We need a magician! After a few drifts and no takers, not even a bite on a speed jig, we contemplated hunting Dolphin. Trouble was there were 2 tournaments going on and everyone out there was hunting Dolphin. One more shot! We headed for a deeper wreck, hoping to find more current. We arrive to find just that and a good drift! OK. Let ’em rip!
We dropped one live bait down and Devon taught Dustin and Will his method for speed jigging. I’ve got to hand it to them, they picked it up quickly. The first takers turned out to be back to back Boneheads (Bonito) but the very large kind. We had hoped they were Blackfins but not quite. We caught 4 in a row with the last fish getting bit in half by a Cuda that followed it right to the boat. We gave him the rest of his meal.
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The next takers were a troop of Almaco Jack on the jigs and the live bait. The Amberjack woke up from all the commotion and finally joined in. Will felt the power of these fish as he hooked one up on the speed jig.
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Heather was hooked up too! I’m not sure who had who the fish or Heather! She is a gamer though. She never gave up, never passed the rod off, and worked her fish to the surface with steady resolve. Kinda! The fish had to put some doubt in her a half dozen times.
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The speed jigs kept ripping and the live bait kept getting eaten, time after time. Will was on a break and Devon was working the jig and bada boom a solid hook as he passes it off to Dustin. The depth of the bite and the give and take of this circular fight, let us know it was another tuna type. Was this another big Bonito? NOT! We finally see color and it’s a Blackie and headed for the cold steel. Whoot there it is! Austin is on the boards with a good 18# Blackfin Tuna.
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A few more drifts and the live bait gets the nod. Austin takes this one after only a short rest. It’s a Donkey for sure! I thought we were going to lose Austin over the side as the fish took his chest to the gunnel several times. Like his sister, he was a gamer with plenty of fight in his slight frame. It took some time but he brought that wreck donkey to the surface and it’s a whopping 50 pounder, almost half of Austin’s weight. That was fun to watch. Yes, the fish is hanging from our T-top rigging… Austin only wishes he could one hand press that much.
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We packed it up at the wreck and headed offshore to look for some Dolphin. We relearned the lesson, don’t leave fish to find fish! After some long, hot, time spent searching and only finding a micro-Cuda, we headed back in to try some Muttons. Nothing happening there, the current was stagnant. I called that attempt a swing and a miss and had Devon pack it up for the run back to the deep wreck as time is slowly closing out on us.
Arriving at the deep wreck we see the only conditions that had changed there was the wind direction. Good current! We went after them again. This time they were not quite as cooperative but we still managed to catch them. Dustin, who was never at a loss for words, announces that he has a lock on the Almaco’s. He sure caught his fair share of them.
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I had Devon pull the lines as the fat lady starts humming and we made one last ditch effort to try for a Permit again. The water was no better that afternoon than it was in the morning so we gave it up and pointed the bow west toward the barn.
I must say that Devon and I cracked on Dustin a lot throughout the day. He was just too easy, if you know what I mean. A great sport, with a great sense of humor, and about 12 or so, Heinekin! I think we all had a good time. We stayed busy most of the day with a total of 4 Bonito, 6-8 Amberjack (30-50#’s) 8-10 Almaco’s (Dustin‘s forte‘), an 18# Blackfin (sashimi), and a micro-Cuda (not worthy). I’ll bet a dollar to a doughnut there were some tired people in Ft. Myers on Fathers Day!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 80
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 15, 2009 - 10:10 pm: | |
Sunday afternoon, our normal fun crew decided to go on a little excursion to try and cash in on some of the good edibles being caught. We were looking for Dolphin and Blackfin Tuna. Amy and Devon (my daughter & son-in-law/mate), Missy (my daughter), Uncle Al (Devon’s uncle/my friend), and myself, all met at the slip at 1:00 PM. Our plan was to do some grocery fishing and then when the sun set, head over and scout out the Cubera’s to see if they were ready yet.
We took our leisurely time loading up and at 1:30 we turned the snarling BEAST out. We made our way to bait stop #1 and loaded up on Hardtails. I reset the throttles once again to cruise and the snarling turned into a purr as The BEAST set into a smooth gallop towards bait stop #2. We arrived and dropped the chum bag and the Speedos, Ballyhoo, and host of others found the slick in short order. The B’hoo were not so easy with the sun directly overhead but we managed to get 2 dozen or so along with some Speedos. With the wells teaming with fresh bait we made our way offshore. I pulled up just off the edge contemplating a start there, for Blackfin. We set out the riggers and I noticed a prominent color break not too far offshore. I powered up and in a minute reached the color line. WOW! It was so distinct it looked like a segment out of Offshore Handbook 101. We set up shop and it didn’t take long.
First up were some “schoolie” Dolphin with the nod going to a rigged squid as it was being put out for the center rigger. That was quick, but a bit too small, though! Well, if we can’t eyeball the fish and need to make sure by measuring it, we consider it too small. Devon and Uncle Al were working some speed jigs during the interim and I hear the telltale, “Ugh“ sound from Devon. Devon works his fish to the boat and, yes sir, it’s a nice 12# Blackie.
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Then my Penn electric downrigger takes a crap for the umpteenth time. Not to be deterred, we put a weighted line down. The action was on again with “schoolie” Dolphin! Suddenly, I noticed the down rod start to bend over and I jumped on it. The big guy scores a 20# cow.
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We continued on, hanging tight to this area. The action was slow enough to allow conversation and laughs, yet fast enough to curtail the offshore boredom that can occur. Uncle Al, Devon, and Amy each jigged up a Blackfin in the football size. Sashimi or seared… they were destined for soy and wasabi on the table.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-14-2009-3.jpg
The time is passing into late afternoon and the sun is trying to make the horizon. The Dolphin kept sweeping through in waves and a Hardtail on the down rod gets toasted by a big Caribbean Spotted Mackerel (Cuda). Missy was our designated Dolphin catcher.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-14-2009-4.jpg
Out of Bally’s now, we decided to start the Cubera hunt. I pushed the levers down and made the cruise to our favorites spots. Still a bit early when we arrived so we made a short run to a Mutton spot. Nothing much was happening. Uncle Al put down this lime green/chartreuse monstrosity with a Dolphin belly strip on it, that we named the “green hand grenade“. We ribbed him about that rig, on his beat up old spinning rod, for a drift or two. Third drift and you hear Al muttering “Uh, uh, c’mon… FISH ON!” We laughed until our sides were splitting and imagined a big Black Grouper coming up on the green hand grenade. Not quite, it turns out to be a 20# wreck donkey. I couldn’t resist jumping in the picture and holding up the “bomb”! Al released the Amberjack.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-14-2009-5.jpg
Getting dark now, we set up, for the Big Snapper’s. The current was strong through the area and the drifts were quick. The darker it got the more the sonar is lighting up. Got to be Cuberas but they aren’t biting anything. Matter of fact, nothing is biting at all, except 2 or 3 more Cuda cut offs. As the night progresses it appears the conditions are just not right and possibly a bit too early. Enough is enough, and we pulled the plug on the trip and pointed The BEAST toward the barn. I guess we’ll have to wait a few more weeks until the fish want to play.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Alan Sherman (Shermana)
New member
Username: Shermana
Post Number: 10
Registered: 10-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 03, 2009 - 2:33 pm: | |
South Florida’s rainy season has finally taken hold and brought us some much needed heavy rain that our lawns and shrubs have needed for months. These rains spark some excellent fishing in North Biscayne Bay and Flamingo. As the freshwater enters the canal systems the salinity dams are opened to keep the canal levels from over flowing and this freshwater as it makes its way to the saltwater side of the dam becomes a feeding station for snook, sharks, snapper, redfish, barracudas, jacks, ladyfish and tarpon. Tiny baitfish and crawfish are flushed through the dams and then become stunned by the saltwater making them easy pretty for the predators. Once the freshwater has flowed into the bay for sometime the predators are pushed out over the grass flats where the brackish water is more to their liking and these fish will stay in these areas and continue to feed for most of the summer. In Flamingo in Everglades National Park the freshwater triggers the snook, redfish, goliath groupers and other predators to flee the extreme waters of the backcountry and that puts them in Whitewater and Oyster Bays where they are easier to target. It also pushes these fish into Florida Bay and the river mouths and creeks again making them easier targets. All of this freshwater set the tone for the whole summer and by far the summer is my most favorite time to fish Flamingo. Last year and years in the past my clients have enjoyed double digit catches of snook and redfish on a single day’s charter fishing Florida Bay and Whitewater and Oyster Bays.
During the summer months I suggest booking half day charters in North Biscayne Bay. I like starting if possible at 7 AM and finishing a charter to 11 AM taking advantage of the time span when the fish are more active and then also fishing from 4 in the afternoon to 8 in the early evening. Another good charter especially if the winds are down which they are a lot in the summer is a charter from 6 to 10 in the evening for some hot catch and release tarpon and snook action. Offshore fishing in Miami can be great as long as the winds stay light for kingfish, dolphins, bonitos and an occasional sailfish. When fishing Flamingo in the summer I still like the 8 hr. charters because Flamingo has so many spots to fish it allows you to be somewhere throughout the day where fish are still in a feeding mood. I also run a charter that requires traveling as much as 40 miles from the Marina to rockpiles and wrecks where permit, cobia, mackerel, large jacks and goliath groupers are available. I charge an extra $50 for this charter to cover the extra fuel but this trip can be quite exciting.
Summer is a great time to take the kids out fishing and the late afternoon or evening charter in North Biscayne Bay is a good charter for the kids.
Regardless of the charter your interested don’t let the summer rains scare you off from having a fishing trip of a lifetime!
Recent Catches:
Today I am fishing Gerald and Paul and we start in North Biscayne Bay. A large school of Spanish sardines has been providing me with plenty of quality baitfish for my recent charters but today they are nowhere to be found. We head over to Haulover Inlet and I spot a lone pelican diving and yes there is bait there. We Sabiki rig enough for a few hours of offshore fishing and head out to 100 feet of water. The first bait in the water gets eaten by a 25 pound sailfish and Gerald makes quick work of the sailfish that was caught on a Daiwa Tierra 3500 reel loaded with a 14 pound Berkley braid and a Key Largo rod. A quick couple of pictures and we release the sail unharmed. Back to fishing and a half dozen missed strikes and a storm forces us to head for cover. We hide for a few minutes under the Haulover Cut Bridge and then quickly catch a few more baits and then try our luck at some snook fishing. Before we head in the guys had release three snook and Paul caught a nice 32 inch 10 pounder that was kept for dinner. Paul’s fish was caught on a live free lined pilchard hooked to a #1 Mustad long shank hook.
Today I am in Flamingo with Carole Neidig and her father Walter. Walter had read a lot about Whitewater Bay but had never fished it before so that is where we would concentrate our efforts today. Casting ¼ ounce Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp shrimp and Pogy’s Carole and her dad caught and released one nice redfish, six snook, two goliath groupers that had to be carefully worked out from under the mangroves, loads of snappers, jacks, ladyfish and barracudas plus at least a dozen sea trout of which six big ones were kept for dinner. Walt lost a nice redfish plus a sight casted goliath grouper and Carole pointed out a Bald eagle sitting on a tree top.
Back in Flamingo today with Mark and his 8 year old son Will. Today we are going to fish Florida Bay! We head to a baitfish flat and quickly catch a bunch of pinfish and ballyhoo and then head for our first spot. Unfortunately another fisherman has beaten us to the spot so we head to spot two. Here we use my Power Pole Anchor to hold us off an island point as we cast live baits on a Hook Up lures, live baits under a Cajun Thunder and Gulp baits on a Hook Up lure. The Cajun Thunders get a few hits but no hook ups when Will gets a big bite and is quick into a monster 10 pound redfish. The tide is running hard and the large red just won’t come to the Stow Master net. I can touch the leader but I can’t get the fish in the Stow Master. Each time I think we have him he runs off again. Will keeps working the fish but you just can’t catch every fish you hook and this one gets away. A touched leader is a legitimate catch so Will has part of a slam under his belt. Mark misses a couple of small snook and we are off to spot three. This is a nice grass flat and there is lots of pinfish and small ballyhoo on this flat. Will is getting a hit on almost every cast using a Cajun Thunder with a live ballyhoo. Mark is casting the Hook Up lure and constantly getting hit. Before we leave this spot we have caught a dozen sea trout with most being in the three pound class plus a Spanish mackerel, lots of snappers and a few catfish and had a giant shark check us out. The next spot is Lake Ingram where Mark catches another nice trout and Will hooks up to a 40 pound tarpon that ate a live pinfish under a Cajun Thunder. The tarpon jumps at least 4 times and makes some great runs and Will is doing a great job on the fish. Will really needs this tarpon because it is the hardest of the Grand Slam fish. The tarpon makes another head shaking jump and the leader parts and the fish is gone. We settle down and get back to fishing and quickly loose a snook and a mystery fish and catch a few catfish before heading to our last spot. Will has fallen asleep but Mark continues to cast the Hook Up lure and Gulp shrimp and catches a few snappers in this spot. We spooked two large snook but no hits so we head back to the ramp. On the way in we have a bunch of bottle nosed dolphins playing in front of the boat.
Well that’s how this past week went and you can clearly see the possibilities that South Florida has to offer fishermen during the summer.
Well that catches us up for now!
Give me a call and let's go fishing!
786-436-2064
Check out my new web site and see your monthly catches and pictures.
www.getemsportfishing.com
Check out my report in the Miami Herald's Sports section under Fishing Updates each Thursday, the Florida Sportsman Magazines South Florida Internet Fishing Report (www.floridaspotsman.com), my monthly Action Spotter Fishing Report for the South Region in the Florida Sportsman Magazine each month or tune into the Florida Sportsman Magazines Live Radio Show on 1080 WMCU on the AM dial or listen on the internet at www.1080wmcu.com every Saturday morning from 7 to 8 AM and here the up to the minute fishing forecasts from some of the top Capt.'s in South Florida like Capt. Jimbo Thomas on the Thomas Flyer, Capt. Bouncer Smith on Bouncers Dusky, Capt Skip Bradeen on the Blue Chips Too out of Whale Harbor Marina, Capt. Wayne Conn on The Reward Fleet, and more.
I have recently been wearing a lot of Columbia Sports Wear on my fishing charters and the new Blood & Guts shirts are amazing. I have had mackerel, cobia and snook just splatter me with blood and one good washing and the shirts are as good as new. Check out their web site at www.columbia.com
Sponsors: Yamaha, Bob Hewes Boats, Maverick, Minn Kota, Lowrance Electronics, Daiwa, General Motors & Chevrolet, Rapala, Mustad, Ande Lines, Pure Fishing, Gulp, Berkley, Precision Tackle, Cajun Thunders, Capt. Hank Brown's Hook Up Lures, Hydro Glow Lights, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Saltwater Assassins, Key Largo Rods, Lee Fisher Cast Nets, Smartshield, Master Repair in Stuart Florida, Power Pole, Stow Master Nets, superfishlight.com, Columbia Wear
Capt. Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Sportfishing Charters
786 436 2064
shermana@bellsouth.net
www.getemsportfishing.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 79
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 01, 2009 - 8:53 pm: | |
This past weekend was something to remember. Ed booked Thursday for Julio Sr. (76) and himself while they awaited the arrival of Julio Jr., Rich, and David, arriving Friday night from New York. They had Saturday and Sunday booked for all of them. Ed had recently been in a very bad auto accident and despite the doctors orders, came to fish, anyway
Ed and Julio Sr.(Papi), were anxious and arrived at the dock before we did on. We loaded the boat, secured all gear, and cast off the lines. We struck out on Hardtails so we proceeded to the bait patch for some Ballyhoo. Arriving to find another boat with a chum line already going, we went to another patch. We struggled there, until we finally got them up close enough to net, then motored offshore. The weather was beautiful, with 2’ seas, and a distinct blue/green edge right on the drop off. This should be a good day!
We no sooner got our baits out and we get bit on the left rigger by a nice cow Dolphin. The smaller bull, struck the long flat line. Ed was on the cow and as Devon was handing the rod to “Papi”, the bull charged under the boat finding the prop edge. The line cut and the arrogant bull spent the next 3-4 minutes jumping around the boat with the leader dangling from his lips as if he were laughing at us. Ed, with a full leg cast from mid thigh to his ankle, did a good job and landed his nice 28# fish.
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Devon reset our spread. Not much later and we had another cow Dolphin invade the spread and “Papi” is hooked up. He did his thing like the seasoned veteran he is. The fish came up to the boat lit up. Several more minutes passed and we boated the nice 20# cow.
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I worked the boat deeper toward the “Grunt & Sweat” wreck and we once again got bit by a pair of chubby school Dolphin. The guys managed to catch 1 of the 2. While working this area Devon dropped a speed jig and put the guys on a couple of AJ’s. “Papi’s” fish weighed in at 25 pounds and Ed’s was a nice 42 pounder.
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We continued to work hard in this area and scored another chubster Dolphin and a large Bonito. The downrigger missed several small Kingfish and then it fired off. Ed brought a 15# Caribbean Spotted Mackerel (Barracuda) to boatside for a release. Since we were running low on bait we decided to see if we could hunt up some Permit. Conditions were not good and the fish were not cooperating. I decided to try trolling some small baits for the remainder of the day. The day finished on a high note with a pair of Blackfin Tuna, 10# and 6# respectively.
I turned The BEAST toward home. Since we were fishing again on Saturday and Sunday, I stopped to try for some Hardtails. They were very cooperative this time and in short order we had about 20 in the live well which we penned up for Saturday.
Saturday started off with nice skies. To the west was a hint of what was to come. Ed, and “Papi” arrived with Julio Jr. (Jules), Rich and David, in tow. Jules and Rich were beaming with this chance to enjoy the weekend, fishing with their old man, and vice versa with “Papi”. We loaded everyone aboard, and secured their essentials in the dry storage. We untied The BEAST and we’re off, as we discussed the game plan for the day. WE picked up a few more Hardtails on the way out and then blasted for the Bally patch. The clouds began building as we made our bait for the day.
I arrived on the color change, not nearly as prominent and farther out. Devon set out our spread. The time ticked away slowly and the fishing equally slow. Fishing the surface was tedious and we were blanking out. The approaching frontal system had the fish in lock jaw mode. I decided to do the wrecks and see if the Jacks would play with us. Well, the skies began getting angry as they approached us. To make things worse, having already done a quick repair job on a spinning reel earlier, our 2 bottom rods stripped the gears in the reels and the drag blew up on one of the speed jig reels. What the H? Devon broke out the bent butt planer rod and also rigged the remaining speed jig rod for bottom fishing. What luck? We did catch smaller 25-30 pound class Amberjack one after another until the squall line got too close. We pulled lines and made a run for a weather window in the radar. OOPS! It closed up quickly and the rains and strong winds came. We slowed and began trolling in the rain with the bow to the wind. Monitoring the radar I found an area to slip through and out of the squalls. The weather tamed down and we once again went back to the wreck. Nothing happening! It had shut down! OK! Let’s go try this obscure wreck I have, and see if they want to play. Yes they did! We caught and lost fish and ground tackle until we only had a dozen big baits left. With overcast skies, Devon tried to talk the guys into doing some more surface live baiting, for the Sails, Dolphin, Tuna, etc. They opted to continue battling the AJ’s.
I lost count of the fish for the day but the guys were happy. With only 3 Hardtails left in the well, we headed for home but opted to NOT fish for tomorrows bait in this crappy weather.
Sunday’s forecast was for better weather. We agreed to leave an hour early and the guys showed up a half hour late. Jules was about to cancel the trip and opt for Plan B as we looked in the horizon to see another weather line stretching up our way from the Keys. The wind had picked up dramatically, preceding the line. The others persuaded him to give it a go. The morning sun should burn off the clouds and if the forecast was correct, we’d have good weather offshore. It was and we did!
We hit the bait patch and the ‘hoo were at the boat before the chum bag went out. We spent about 20 minutes collecting some Speedo’s and then I tossed the Calusa net twice and we had a bunch of baits.
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Offshore the water was blue and the seas had calmed. As Devon was setting out the 3rd line, it got picked up. He flipped the bail and it was FISH ON! Rich grabs the rod and a cow Dolphin catches some air! Several minutes pass by and the fish feels the steel and we have 20#’s of Mahi in the fish box.
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The sun breaks through the haze, and the grins are ear from ear, now. I’m hanging in this area and the downrigger gets the nod. Dave works a “snake” Kingfish to the boat. Funny… the big Dude catches the small fish! We missed several more bites on the down rod.
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Ed (Gimpy) was telling Devon that it would top off his trip if he could catch a Sailfish. The words were only seconds from his lips when Devon sees a Sailfish come up on the 20’ flat line. GAME ON! Gimpy “rod hogs” everyone out of the way. 5, then 10 minutes pass, about a half dozen aerial maneuvers, and this fish is nowhere near ready. 15, then 20 minutes pass, several more acrobatic displays, and some fancy boat maneuvering. 25, then 30 minutes and a 2 more futile attempts to get free, and we have him boatside for the tag & photos. This fish was the strongest and most energetic fish we’ve had this season. Devon lowers the fish into the water and with the utmost respect we tow the fish boatside for over 5 minutes until this warrior is fully revived and kicking his tail to go.
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Devon resets the lines and in 5 minutes we have another Sail up on the rigger line. FISH ON! Wait! There’s one on the flat line too. DOUBLE!! Jules takes the rigger line and Rich is on the flat line but tries, in vain, to get “Papi” to take it. In the interim he allows too much slack and, poof, like magic it is gone. Gotta stay tight on ’em boys! Down to one and this one gives up the fight in about 10 minutes. WOW! Look how beat up this Sail is. He has fought some battles before. His Sail is split in 2 places and they aren‘t fresh.
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As the afternoon progresses, the seas get flat and the sun is bright. The fishing slows down and Devon gets going on the speed jig. A few casts and as he works it up, I hear the normal grunting sounds from Devon, as the speed jig hooks up…Uhhhh! He hands the rod to “Papi” and he works hard on the fish. At 76 years old, his determination outdid his stamina and we put the lip stick in a nice 21 # Gag grouper. As the shutters snap, “Papi” wears a proud face for his boys!
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A little while later and I hear Devon grunt again. Good one! Rich works the rod and remarks that this is as tough as the AJ’s. Devon and I are guessing big Bonito and hoping Blackfin! As we see color the gold hue is evident and “whoop, there it is”, we have a Blackie! 20#’s of Sashimi hit’s the deck.
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A pair of large Cuda, 27# and 20#, end the day and this weekend excursion comes to a close. I point the bow towards the west and head for home. The guys sat up front, discussing the weekend. Plenty of jokes and razzing went on and the guys could dish it out and take it as well. I must say, other than that crazy accent, they’re a good bunch of guys with a great sense of humor. It was like fishing with friends.
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 78
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 11:02 pm: | |
This past Thursday, Friday and Saturday the weathermen said we were in for a big blow. I had repeat customers flying in from New York so I filled the fuel tanks on The BEAST so she would sit heavy and stable in the rough waters they had forecasted. We had booked, the Harbor Club again this year, for 3 days. Harbor #1 Charlie, #3 Yalkin and #7 Frank are regulars but this time, with plenty of forewarning, they brought along #6 Wally. Oh Lord, it didn’t take long to see why 1, 3, & 7 warned us! Let me make this short… Have you ever heard Andrew “Dice” Clay?
We met Thursday and the forecast was for 4-6’ seas. We took off and while we were catching some Hardtails, the 3 days of chiding, laughter, and antagonism, had begun. We loaded up one live well with Blue Runners and then powered up to cruise to a bait patch to collect some hoo’s. We arrived on a patch we had wanted to try and the hoo’s came up so thick we didn’t have to use the hook and line. A few throws of the net and the second live well was full.
I made the short jaunt out to the edge and the seas were lumpy. An occasional ground set of 5 footers but mostly a solid 3 foot chop. The winds were brisk out of the East. Devon set out a good spread and we began the day. The first fish came on the down rod and it was a nice 10# Blackfin. We reset and shortly thereafter we were covered up in schoolie Dolphin. We boated 3 out of 4 of these chubby lifters. The long rigger raised a Sailfish that was only window shopping. We missed several bites on the down rod for some reason and caught a small Barracuda. Then things slowed down. I took the guys to the “Grunt & Sweat” wreck, to let them wrestle a few AJ’s during the lull. The first drop was a triple header. 7 Amberjacks later and the guys were spent.
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I saw a Sailfish flopper and minutes later it was surfing the waves off the bow. We pitched a bait in front of the Sailfish but he ignored it. After several attempts to entice it to feed, the Sail sounded into the depths. This prompted us to end the “time filler” fishing and get back in the game. A Sailfish rises to the left rigger and it is game on for Charlie. One jump and the Sail is free. Devon hurriedly reset the lines, a brief minute or 2 passes, and we have another Sailfish on. Wally jumps on the rod and loses the fish on the second jump! WOW! The cloud that hung over his head was incredible, as was the joking and laughing by his group. As the day closed, I saw a school of Tuna passing in the wave face. Devon heaved a small speed jig and got and strike but no hook up.
As we made our way home the laughter was flying from gunnel to gunnel. Frank, said it was the banana he ate for breakfast. We told him that we really didn’t believe in that superstitious stuff.
Day 2 and the Harbor Club arrives as usual, at 8:30. Oh My God, the day is starting off with a bang. As I am explaining to Yalkin, that it was going to be sporty because the conditions were going to be rougher than the previous day. I turned my eyes back toward the bow to see the Wally, Frank and Charlie, standing there eating bananas. OK guys… let’s test that superstition!
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Well the bait was easy and the seas were rough. They were easily 6-7’ with recurring ground swells. I took my time getting across the rough, sloppy “edge”. I told Devon to set ’em up! A lone Frigate bird approaches the boat as Devon casts out the first bait. In a New York second, he feels the pick up. FISH ON! Frank, takes the rod, flips the bail and we are off to the races. This is a good fish! About 15 minutes later we see it is a nice Blackie. Yes sir. Devon wields a good gaff shot and Frank has a nice 30# Blackfin in the box.
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We put out the baits and this time we manage to get all 4 surface lines going when a rigger sounds off. Yalkin takes his turn and this fish is a hoss. Time goes by before we see color. This is the big brother to the previous tuna. The fish feels the steel and Yalkin is on the boards with a very respectable 34# Blackfin.
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I stayed in the area for a while but the school had moved on, so I worked deeper in search of some Dorado. We get teased by 2 micro schoolies that just tore up our baits. Just as we get readjusted, the flat line goes down and Frank once again gets the nod. Then the rigger goes down and Wally is at bat. Frank’s fish breaks the water and it’s a nice Cow. That must mean that Wally has the Bull. Yes he does! We landed both and we have a 20# Cow and a 30# Bull joining our Tuna in the fish box.
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During the afternoon, we raised 5 Sailfish and hooked up 2. Charlie’s Sailfish came on the down rod. He fought his fish to the boat for the tag. The release came only a few seconds later when the leader broke. Shortly afterwards, Frank hooked up and he completed his catch for the tag, photo op, and release.
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That pretty much summed up Day 2 with only one question remaining. How did Frank get so many turns on the rod? We laughed the whole day. There is never a lack of humor or conversation, with this crew!
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Day 3, Saturday, and the weather is breezy but the seas laid down a foot or two. The Harbor Club arrives at the crack of 8:30 and start the day off by eating bananas. We did the same bait scenario and are off to the blue water. On all 3 days of fishing the water was clean and blue just off the edge.
First fish of the day came on the down rod and Wally brings up a 4’ Silky shark. We worked the area a bit more and made our way out to the Dolphin zone. 15 minutes in the area and a pair of schoolies come to visit. The fight was short and the fish were boxed. We continued on our hunt. Charlie wants a nice Dolphin to top off his trip, after catching a Sailfish the day before. As if on cue, the rigger goes down and we are on a good fish. Charlie takes the rod and it breaks the surface revealing itself. We think we have another one on when we realize the Dolphin is caught up in the other rigger. I told Devon to cut the line. As Charlie works the fish closer we see that we have cut the wrong line. Holy Crap! The line is tangled and knotted on Charlie’s hook! The fish is on the line we cut! OK. We pulled the hook up, grab the other line and quickly tie it to Charlie’s leader. Thankfully the fish was tired and posed little fight during this process. Charlie cranked the fish in and Devon struck her with the gaff. Charlie has his respectable 22# Cow!
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I worked in towards the edge and then back out, time after time. The down rod goes off and Yalkin is working for several long minutes when we see color. What the heck is it? We are in 140’ and had the bait down to 70’. Yalkin just caught a 10# Mutton Snapper.
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The down rod gets the nod again. This time it is a very strong fish and Wally is up. Several minutes later we’re still in a major battle. Finally, we see color! It’s a 37 pound “Donkey”. Give me a break. Wally is totally spent from fighting the fish and his nerves. Too funny!
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The day continued on as we caught an 8# Skipjack, and the down rod found 3 Kingfish.
I throttled up The BEAST and headed for the barn. The Harbor Club had 3 good days of fishing and trust me when I tell you, there was never a dull moment while fishing with this crew!
I have to finish by saying thank you, to World Cat, for building such a capable, stable, fishing machine. That 3 day trip could’ve been miserable, instead, it will go down in the books as one of our most memorable.
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
http://www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 77
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 - 10:11 pm: | |
On our last 2 trips we saw relatively calm seas, light winds, and warm ambient air temperatures. So far we haven’t been subject to those nasty afternoon thunder boomers but I’m sure it is only a matter of time.
Our trip with Homestead local, Brian Morris, included his business associate and son, Dan and Denver. We met up at the dock at the usual time and cast off our lines. This day we decided to forego the usual bait stop and take our chances with a few Hardtails we had caught on the way out.
I immediately made my way offshore and into the deeper blue water to search for some Dolphin. We found some scattered weeds and Devon dropped our spread and we began to “do work”! We worked the area for a short time as we headed for deeper water. Bonk, Bam, Zing! Lines were ripped out of the riggers and flats! Green and yellow flashes let us know we had found our mark. We were hit by some decent sized school fish. This scenario played out a time or two again and we boxed 6 Dolphin in total. As things settled down and we lost track of the fish, we spotted birds working on the horizon. I made the turn and in a few minutes we were on them. Looks like Skippies to me. We had a long shotgun line out and I made a few wide turns. To my surprise the short flat line takes a hit. Dan worked the fish to the boat and judging by the fight it was definitely a tuna. Yes sir! A nice football Blackfin greets us. Devon snatches it out of the sea and quickly preps it, to preserve the flesh, then dispatches it the ice. We continued to worked the birds for a while and never got another bite. Those Skipjacks can be frustrating, to say the least!
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We packed it in and I took a cruise heading for the wreck. Dan and Denver are from Minnesota. Once again we had someone aboard who was discussing walleye and salmon. OK boys, get a load of these back breakers. We worked the wrecks and gave each one of them a shot at some AJ’s to 40 pounds or so. Done deal. The guys tapped out in the second round!
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I had Devon pull lines and we made our way toward the Permit hole. Permit are not quite the bruisers that our local Amberjack are, but they do take a place on the tough fish list. We worked the area and conditions were not helping us. As the fat lady was warming up her vocals to end the day, we managed to get young Denver hooked up and he boated a 15 pounder.
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Brad Essick has fished with us several times over the years, and he was here in Miami on a business/busman’s holiday. He decided he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go fishing with us again. He came alone. We met at the dock at 7 and we asked him what fish or type of fishing was his preference. He said, “It doesn’t matter, just keep me busy!“ I made way for an area to catch some Blue Runners and we managed to quickly catch a half dozen or so. Off we go!
Considering the Dolphin bite of yesterday, I decided to head out into the general vicinity of our previous catches. Holy Cow! What a difference a day makes. That area was void of life. No birds, no weeds, no debris, nothing! After the boredom set in on us, I hollered to pull lines and let’s get this guy on some fish. We ran in from our position in the inky blue depths and as we approached the 500’ line we found birds working Skipjacks. Once again I made the wide turns and to my surprise the 2 flats and a rigger get popped. Dolphin! They must’ve been working the fringes of that school of Skipjacks. Brad managed to catch and boat them all. We stayed on the birds and pitched small speed jigs at them and Brad caught 2 Skippies on this 15# spinning setup. A short while later we attracted too much attention and boats began running up into the school, splitting them and sending ‘em down. The schools would pop up a good distance away and it began to get tedious. I left them to the other boats. I put The BEAST on plane and made our way to the AJ’s.
Now you’re going to get busy Brad. Each drift produced a fish and Brad didn’t cry uncle, not once, not even close. He backed his words with a smile on his face. 10 fish later, he had caught them with live bait on heavier bottom tackle as well as speed jigs on 30# spinning tackle. We vent/released all of these wreck donkeys to fight another day!
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He wanted more, so I suggested a try at some Permit also. A smile and a nod and we were off. As we approached the Permit spot, it was as congested as a public boat ramp on Memorial Day. There was a sportfish there and a spotter in his Tuna tower telling his anglers where the fish were. Other boats crowded him to within inches, as if they had no idea how to catch these fish without his direction. That might just be the case. A very short while after we arrived, the big boat pulled out of the area. A few short minutes later and all the other boats were gone too. There were only 2 of us left there! COOL! We worked the fish and Brad went 3 for 4 with the largest fish being 18 pounds. We released the 3 Permits also, to continue the rituals that had brought them there.
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With a half hour or so left, we pulled out from these fish and tried to top off the day with a Sailfish. We put out the last of our live baits. Nothing came of that and I pointed The BEAST for the barn. On the ride in, Devon and I couldn’t believe that Brad had caught 3 Dolphin, 2 Skipjacks, 3 Permit, and last but surely not least, 10 Amberjack, all by himself. He was a fishing animal, a glutton for punishment! However, Brad did confide in us, that his muscles would be feeling it in the morning!
Speaking of muscles! You guys have just enough time to hit the gym and tone up for Cubera Snapper season. That time is fast approaching again and several days have already been reserved.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 76
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 07, 2009 - 11:05 am: | |
We finally got a break in the weather as the winds laid back this past weekend. Saturday we met “Walleye Mike“, of Nassau Vision Lenses, who is a Florida transplant from Minnesota. He brought along his friends, Mary and Manny. “Walleye Mike” and crew were all newbie’s to offshore fishing and we wanted to make their day!
We unleashed The BEAST at 7AM and made our way towards the Bay. I throttled up the twin 300 Suzukis and made a quick cruise to the bait patches. Conditions looked good even though we had almost a week of 25-30 knot winds out of the east. The water was clear and clean and the seas were light to moderate. We set out the chum and the bait was slow in coming. When the ballyhoo finally arrived, they were finicky, beyond belief, swimming up to the baited hooks and turning their nose up to it. Now isn’t this a peach? The crew managed to catch about 15 or so and I was about to pull the plug on the deal when a few ‘hoo’s got stupid, passing within the limits of a long toss of the net. I loaded up the 10’ Calusa and heaved it at the passing baits. The timing was right, the net opened perfectly, and I caught a few more as they made a dash to elude the net. Now we had enough bait, considering this is the time of year where we do several types of fishing in a day.
We made the short run to the blue water and set out our spread of live bait. Conditions offshore were beautiful with clean, blue water, all the way into the edge. “Walleye Mike“ had been telling us about his BIG Salmon and how hard it fought. I told him that his Salmon doesn’t hold a candle to our offshore fish. Now, with that being said, I have to make him a believer! Minute after minute rolls by and we have absolutely no action. Not today, guys! Precious time is ticking away. I gave Devon the nod to pull the lines so we could get Mike, Mary, and Manny, the Triple M crew, on some fish.
I took a heading for some Permit. We arrived in the area and immediately marked fish on the sounder but they didn’t want our offerings. Devon and I worked hard but it wasn’t to be. What in the world is going on? I backed out of that area and made a short run to another prime spot for some Amberjack. I have to get these guys on some fish. We dropped a live ’hoo and Devon and I worked 2 speed jigs. Bam, Boom, Bam, we have a triple going! This scenario played out several more times. Mary and Manny were spent! “Walleye Mike” learned quickly, how to use the speed jig and he finessed his fish to the boat as if he was catching those, bad to the bone (ha-ha), walleye. I suggested we try for some Dolphin and Wahoo as it appeared they had enough of these bruisers. We boated 3 fish, and vented/released that many or more. I think “Walleye Mike” has a newfound respect for the fight of our AJ’s and that BIG Salmon of yesteryear, now takes a back seat!
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I pointed the boat offshore and we began a trolling search. Devon had 5 lines up and 2 down as we made our way out to 500+ feet. The water color and clarity was perfect, but there was little in the way of weeds, debris, birds, flying fish, etc. The further out we went the less we saw. It was a liquid desert! I made the turn and headed for the “edge” and our Mutton spot. It’s getting to that time of year for them and they should be hot and heavy. We arrived, pulled our gear, and immediately made a drop. Nothing! We set up several more drifts and all we could muster was a couple of cut offs. Those dreaded “Caribbean Spotted Mackerel” had taken the area. This has been one tough day and the time was gone.
The fat lady was singing and I didn’t want to end the day like this. On this note, I made the run back, for one last ditch attempt to catch a Permit. We arrived and once again, I marked fish. Devon was perched on the bow and could see them deep below, but not in great numbers. After several attempts, I told “Walleye” to keep feeding line because the drift was fast. He would know if he got a bite. Our offshore fish don’t nibble! About 30 seconds later, “Walleye” says he feels the bite and I instructed him to close the bail and come tight on the fish! Game on, boys and girls! “Walleye Mike” hooked this fish well away from any obstruction and once again, worked the rod gingerly. Good thing! After about 10 minutes we got this “garbage can lid” to the boat. To quote Devon, “That’s a nugget!” WOW! Nice fish! “Walleye Mike” just boated a 32 pound Permit and the hook was almost straightened out, looking like a comma. Now THAT is the way to end the day.
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Way over time, I pointed The BEAST for the barn. The Triple M crew, Mike, Mary, and Manny seemed very satisfied with the day and definitely happy with our determination to make it so! Sometimes you have to go that extra mile. Right?
NOTE: Please abide all manatee idle zones! For those who complain about, or don’t obey the law of MANATEE IDLE ZONES in your area! This is why these laws exist! Honestly, isn’t this what it’s really all about folks?!?
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Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Alan Sherman (Shermana)
New member
Username: Shermana
Post Number: 9
Registered: 10-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 - 1:18 pm: | |
April is quickly passing us by and the Spring fishing will be past soon as well! If you haven’t had a chance to experience some of the fine fishing that we have had recently don’t worry because there is still plenty of time before the heat of the summer is on us.
Weather conditions change often in the month of April and this has happened at least once a week recently. With each temperature change and rain storm our fishing has changed as well.
Fishing in North Biscayne Bay has been pretty good recently with enough variety to keep the anglers happy. Lots of sea trout have been available on many of the grass flats and as of now wwwfishreports.net our biggest has been a 4 pounder caught on a live Spanish sardine fished under a Cajun Thunder. Most of our catches have been made on Cajun Thunders and live shrimp or baitfish but Hook Up lures tipped with a Trigger X shrimp or Gulp soft plastics have worked as well. The Rapala Twichin Raps, Skitter Walks and X Raps are seeing plenty of action as well. Many limit catches have been made on many of our charters but most of the fish have been released to spawn and create new populations of sea trout. Large jack crevalles have been roaming the bay and on almost every charter we have hooked and released or just lost at least one large jack and many small ones. Spanish mackerel and small kingfish have been scattered throughout the bay and a few bluefish have made it to our baits as well. Snook have been available and some big ones have given us a thrill but not made it to the boat. I haven’t seen any tarpon recently but that doesn’t mean that the next cast won’t produce one. Lots of barracudas and a few snappers have also been caught on many of our trips in the bay.
Offshore fishing has been good but everyday has been different with the many weather changes we are experiencing each week. Spanish mackerel, kingfish, bluefish, bonitos and dolphins plus some sailfish have thrilled my clients recently.
Fishing in Flamingo has been good but not great due to high winds from the south to northeast. These winds have muddied up the water and then add the sudden drop in temperatures and the fish have been hard to find but feeding when you do find them. The good thing is that warmer conditions and recent rains will keep the fish moving out of the way back waters and put them into areas that produced great catches of snook, redfish, tarpon, sea trout and many other species. This area will be good for many months once we get out of April.
Freshwater fishing has been outstanding with low low water conditions almost every freshwater canal or lake has had loads of bass and panfish competing for the same food. These conditions can mean hook ups or strikes on almost every cast.
Recent Catches:
Gene H and his daughter Ashley and boyfriend Rajeev teamed up to catch snook, trout, snapper, mackerel and bluefish while fishing Biscayne Bay for four hours.
Mel T and wife Mickey scored on two out of three snook and jacks and then went offshore and released bonitos and kingfish and hooked up on a double header of sailfish but both fish were lost on the light tackle we were using.
The Asher family caught loads of sea trout to three pounds plus barracudas, jacks and mackerel in Biscayne Bay .
The Gomez family took home a bunch of sea trout and a mackerel caught in Biscayne Bay during a four hour charter. The family released a bunch of small kingfish, jacks and barracudas.
Evan, Lilia, Vivian and 5 year old Ariel had there hands full catching lots of sea trout in Biscayne Bay .
The Weinstein family caught loads of sea trout to four pounds plus mackerel, jacks and barracudas fishing Biscayne Bay for four hours.
Ralph M., Terry L and I fished up in Ft. Pierce and caught and released snook, trout and jacks in the Indian River and then went offshore and had a field day on Spanish mackerel and bluefish.
Eddie L fished Biscayne Bay and offshore and caught jacks, barracudas and snappers inshore and then offshore lots of Spanish mackerel and bonitos.
Check out my new web site and see your monthly catches and pictures.
Well that catches us up for now.
Give me a call and let's go fishing!
786-436-2064
Check out my report in the Miami Herald's Sports section under Fishing Updates each Thursday, the Florida Sportsman Magazines South Florida Internet Fishing Report (www.floridaspotsman.com), my monthly Action Spotter Fishing Report for the South Region in the Florida Sportsman Magazine each month or tune into the Florida Sportsman Magazines Live Radio Show on 1080 WMCU on the AM dial or listen on the internet at www.1080wmcu.com every Saturday morning from 7 to 8 AM and here the up to the minute fishing forecasts from some of the top Capt.'s in South Florida like Capt. Jimbo Thomas on the Thomas Flyer, Capt. Bouncer Smith on Bouncers Dusky, Capt Skip Bradeen on the Blue Chips Too out of Whale Harbor Marina, Capt. Wayne Conn on The Reward Fleet, and more.
I have recently been wearing a lot of Columbia Sports Wear on my fishing charters and the new Blood & Guts shirts are amazing. I have had mackerel, cobia and snook just splatter me with blood and one good washing and the shirts are as good as new. Check out their web site at www.columbia.com
Sponsors: Yamaha, Bob Hewes Boats, Maverick, Minn Kota, Lowrance Electronics, Daiwa, General Motors & Chevrolet, Rapala, Mustad, Ande Lines, Pure Fishing, Gulp, Berkley, Precision Tackle, Cajun Thunders, Capt. Hank Brown's Hook Up Lures, Hydro Glow Lights, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Saltwater Assassins, Key Largo Rods, Lee Fisher Cast Nets, Smartshield, Master Repair in Stuart Florida, Power Pole, Stow Master Nets, superfishlight.com, Columbia Wear
Capt. Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Sportfishing Charters
786 436 2064
shermana@bellsouth.net
www.getemsportfishing.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 75
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 16, 2009 - 9:34 am: | |
We met Norm and Logan at the dock for a ¾ day trip. Norm’s mission was to give 9 year old Logan, a S. Florida fishing experience. Devon and I got their gear secured and we cast off the lines. I powered up The BEAST and we made our way out to the bait patches.
On the way, we made an attempt for some Blue Runners which was fruitless. We arrived on the patch and set out a chum slick. The Ballyhoo were slow in coming but they finally showed. Once again, we had a difficult time getting them to feed on our baits and they wouldn’t get in close enough to toss the net on. We pecked away at them until we had a dozen or so. Since we had planned on doing various types of fishing that day, I called it a wrap and we headed offshore.
The seas were solid 3 footers and the water was a nasty blue color. We set out our normal spread and sat back waiting for the story to unfold. The first bite came on the down rod and the hooks pulled. The same scenario with the second bite. Devon worked a small speed jig, got a hooked up, and handed the rod to Logan. Logan worked a small Bonito to the boat. A while later the flying fish began showering inshore of us, and were coming our way. A lone Frigate bird was on the deck just 50 yards from our baits when the short flat line popped off. Drop back… and hooked up. Norm was on the rod this time and after a few minutes a “snooter” came to the surface. We managed to get another jump out of the fish and the hook came loose. Bummer! We reset and had another bite on the down line. This time Logan managed to bring in a healthy Silky Shark. They wanted a picture so Devon grabbed the Silky and brought him aboard. Before we could get in position for the photo the shark twisted his way out of Devon’s hands and was gone. Anyone who has ever tried to handle a shark knows exactly how strong, even the smallest of them, can be. This is why we normally don’t bring any sharks aboard. We had one more bite on the down rod that had the drag screaming, but once again, the hooks pulled during the fight. Hmmm.
I asked Devon to pull the lines as we arrived at a wreck. One drift and I could see the fish on the sonar screen. Second drift and Devon sees the fish well below the surface and presents a bait to them. “He’s eating! He’s on!” Devon yells as he passes the rod to Logan. Logan works the fish, with some help from Dad, and after about 5 minutes we get a beautiful 20# Permit in the boat.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-13-2009-01.jpg
We made several more drifts but the fish stayed too deep to get a bait to them, effectively. Logan remarked that he wanted a Dolphin, so we packed up the rods and headed offshore.
If I tell you that there were a gazillion flying fish, everywhere we looked that day, it’s no exaggeration. We managed to troll up a small Dolphin and Logan was on the boards with a Mahi-Mahi.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-13-2009-02.jpg
We continued on our Dorado hunt. I spotted a half dozen “Black Backs” (Sooty Terns) working the water. I bumped up the throttles and made my way over there and we quickly hooked up another Dorado. This scenario played out several times with 2 Frigate birds joining in and we ended up with 3 Dolphin in the 10# range.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-13-2009-03.jpg
Time has run over and Norm decided to extend the trip to a full day so we could try some bottom fishing on a wreck. Not a problem! I throttled up and we made our way through the now 4-5’ seas to our favorite bottom wreck. When we arrived, Devon was ready to go, bottom rods in place and baited as usual. Sometimes, he amazes me at how he does that in rough conditions while running 22 knots. The current was ripping to the north and a 20 knot wind. We managed a bite on each of several drifts. 2 of the bites were cut off, most likely those dreaded “Caribbean Spotted Mackerel”. Norm caught a nice Amberjack and Logan pulled up a decent Almaco.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-13-2009-04.jpg
We never got a snapper bite because we just couldn’t hold bottom under these conditions. As the day drew to a close we made our way back to the barn. Although we didn’t have a banner day of catches, under the conditions presented to us, we did 4 fishing techniques and hooked/caught 6 or 7 different species. I believe we gave Norm and Logan the experience they were looking for.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 74
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 12, 2009 - 10:05 pm: | |
This report is going to be short and sweet! We decided to have a family day. My 2 son-in-laws, Devon and Charlie, my daughter, Amy, Devon’s uncle Al, and I went out for a day of just pulling on the rods.
We decided to do the wreck thing with a bit of trolling thrown in for good measure. We hit the first wreck mainly for Permit but Devon couldn’t leave the speed jig alone and hooked up to an AJ, first thing. Frankly I don’t have a clue why these fish are given such a bad rap because they are true bruisers on any rod, especially a jig rod. They just lack the glitz and glamour of the other more sought after species, but they are ultimate back breakers. The first stop of the day yielded, 3 for 7 on Permit (23, 18, and 15 pounds) which are no slouches themselves, and 3 AJ’s (47,43 and 28 pounds). We gave up there when the 6th boat moved in and then some guys came into the middle of us, dropped some dive balls onto the wreck and began diving. The fish turned off immediately from all the commotion.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-11-2009-01.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-11-2009-02.jpg
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The next stop we made was at a wreck for some bottom fish and we scored 2 Mutton Snapper, 1 Barracuda, and 1 Almaco Jack (10#’s). After a short while of this we decided to troll for a while in search of some Dolphin. The Dolphin didn’t come out to play but we did get a small Blackfin Tuna and a nice Wahoo of 23 pounds.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-11-2009-05.jpg
Since we were fishing this trip for the fun of it, I took the opportunity to video some of the action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eankQllCH_U
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Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 73
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 09, 2009 - 9:45 am: | |
We met Scott and Skylar Smith, a father and son team, at the dock on our last trip out. We went through the normal introductions and shoved off. Skylar is a member of our armed forces in the US Navy, stationed on the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. As a proud veteran myself, I wanted to show him an extra special day if possible.
I throttled up The BEAST and made our way out to our local bait patch. Uh oh! The current was slowly running out and the winds had The BEAST laying 90 degrees to the current. The Bally’s wouldn’t come up! This is not the start I was looking for. After 15 minutes we pulled the lines and motored to another patch. This spot had almost the same conditions but the boat was more inline with the chum line and the ‘Hoos rose to the occasion. Once again we had a wrench in our spokes when they decided to be extremely wary, hanging way back, and not wanting to eat the baits we offered them. I hate when this happens! Slowly we picked off one, then another, until we had just short of a dozen. Devon was working on the Pig Grunts for baits to drop on the wrecks. I was becoming anxious as we were wasting valuable fishing time, but time is useless without good baits. Finally the Ballyhoo got stupid and made a mistake. They got too close to the boat and I loaded the Calusa Cast net and fired out a long toss which opened nicely. The net throw saved our butts as I got enough baits to make the day. We shoved off from that spot and made the short 2 mile run to the edge.
Devon put out the normal spread and we began our hunt for fish. The seas were nice at 2-3‘ and the water was a stained blue color. We worked the edge for a while but nothing much was happening. We missed one bite on the down rod when “Die Hard” called me on the radio. He reported to me that the bite was extremely slow and he had only boated one Sailfish and a couple Dolphin, first thing that morning. He hadn’t had any action since. Great! It’s hard to show someone a good time if the fish won’t cooperate. I stuck it out for about an hour and 45 minutes and then suggested we work some wrecks. Skylar and Scott were all for that! Being from Missouri, the largest fish they had caught was a 40 pound Flathead Catfish, so Devon and I figured we could probably top that.
I powered up the 600 ponies on the stern and headed for one of our favorite wrecks. First drop was a Pig Grunt and Devon worked a speed jig. While working the speed jig he was teaching Scott and Skylar the technique and then gave them each a jig rod. They quickly got the hang of it, which I must say is unusual. Scott felt the crushing strike of a fish as it inhaled his jig and put a severe bend in his rod. He passed it off to Skylar who was working the fish to the boat when the leader cut. Hmmm, must’ve been a ‘Cuda! During that fight Devon was working one of our small jigs on a 15# rod, in the mid depths. Bam! Fish on and Scott took the rod. 15 minutes later and we still don’t see any color. We’re now at the 30 minute mark and we have color. NICE! A 36 pound Amberjack on 15# gear. Scott remarked about the power of saltwater fish in comparison to their freshwater counterparts of equal size.
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We continued to work the wreck with successive drifts. The current and winds were bucking each other and the drifts were very slow and precise. We managed at least one hook up on each of the drifts and several doubles as well. Not one of the live baits drew a bite. We lost 2 more fish to the wreck and caught a couple of small Almaco Jacks.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-4-2009-02.jpg
At this point Skylar’s luck at feeling the actual strike on the jig, had not happened. Speed jigging can wear you out quick! Skylar made another drop and as he worked the jig upwards, he finally got to experience the smashing strike. He fought this fish on the 40# jigging rod and the fish battled him every inch of the way. There’s color! The big AJ gives up and blows his air. Devon hoisted the fish aboard and Skylar was on the boards with a 47 pounder.
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Alright guys, let’s give something else a try since we have some time left. We pulled lines and motored to another area. Marking the fish on the sonar, I told Devon to get ready. As we drifted the area we tossed 2 baits over. Nothing. One more drift and nothing! Then, as often happens, the fish seem to rise becoming more aggressive and BAM, we are hooked up. PERMIT ON! Skylar and Scott fought fish until we ran out of bait losing 6 fish to the wreck. Scott did manage to get a big one to the boat but it made one more run and pulled the hook. These fish are so powerful. Stopping them from going wherever they want is a tough job for the angler. OK, we’re into overtime, extra innings, and no live bait left. I asked Devon to try one more shot with an imitation that I have been wanting to try for a while now. Usually these fish won’t even take a dead natural bait, but what the heck. My guess is, you’ll never know unless you try. Right? We got into position and BADA BING, we have a hook up! Skylar worked the fish and we got him to the boat. Devon put the net under this 8 pounder and we have the catch. Although a smaller cousin to the previously hooked fish, we ultimately ended the day with a catch!
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-4-2009-04.jpg
The last I heard from Mike aka “Die Hard”, he had caught a couple more Dolphin but never saw anything else. Scott and Skylar were extremely happy with us making the move to wreck fish instead. They were extremely impressed with the power of these wreck “donkeys” and equally astounded by the power of a Permit. I guess the “freshies” that they fish for in Missouri, will have to grow some shoulders to impress them now!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 72
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 03, 2009 - 7:10 am: | |
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 turned out to be an April Fool’s day, for sure. No one played a joke on us but circumstances of the day turned out to be anything but normal.
I began the day by getting up late. I hustled to load my bait, gear, and ice, into the truck so I could get my hind parts to the marina on time. Devon and I arrived at the same time and we were finished readying the boat as the crew arrived. Jon, Chuck, and Eddy stowed their gear and we pulled lines. Jon is a regular on The BEAST who loves catching those Sailfish, but it turns out he was on a meat hunt this time. The “weathermen” called for 15-20 knot winds out of the SE with seas of 3-5 feet.
We made the run offshore to our latest bait spot and never had to back off of cruise speed. No big seas yet! We set out a block of good double grind chum and the bait, although slow in coming, finally came up thick! Trouble was they were finicky eaters, so I broke out another flavor of bait and they began eating readily. The 3 guys began pulling in the primo hooker baits and the well was filling nicely. The bait never got into cast net range and this was no surprise. That’s the way this day seems to be headed. Of course, by the end of the season, even the dumbest fish swimming can figure out that the “big white thing” in the water is not their friend. We got enough bait for the day and made the very short run to the edge.
Arriving on the edge we found the blue water was more of a dingy green for a good distance out but the seas were only 2-3‘ with occasional 3 set ground swells of 4 feet. We set out our 4 top lines and sent another one down. We decided to fish north of our usual area to try for the food fish. Our morning was following suit. The fishing was sort of slow and the bites that we did get were robbing the baits but not getting hooked up. I figured the bite to turn on around noon. 11:30 AM and we had a Tuna boil 3 times on a bait and the 4th time he pulled it from the rigger and left an empty hook. 30 minutes later the down rod makes a run and we are finally hooked up. As the fish is being worked by Jon we see the colors of a Dolphin. Sure enough! The fish gets closer and we can see it is a nice cow of about 15 pounds. Devon collects her up and puts her into the fish box.
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Time is passing and we decide to work the wreck to give Chuck and Eddy a shot on the rods. We arrive at the wreck and fire down 2 speed jigs. In short order one of the jigs is inhaled and the battle is on. Chuck is fighting a nice sized “Wreck Donkey” Don’t get me wrong, I use that term affectionately on these Amberjack because they are stubborn as an ass when trying to get them to the boat and Devon and I enjoy eating them, either fresh in the fryer or smoked. Devon grabs the 35 pound AJ and flips him into the boat.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-1-2009-02.jpg
Second drop and one of the jigs gets eaten again, but Eddy gets schooled as the fish takes everything. Third drop and this time we sent down a 14” Yellowtail for one of those real Donkeys with shoulders. In seconds, the Yellowtail attracts the attention of the previous fishes bigger brother. Eddy is knuckles down on the gunwale with a big fish. After and few more back breaking minutes we put a shoulder harness on Eddy and he has a bit easier time controlling the rod. Finally the fish comes aboard and it is a fine specimen of 50 pounds. We boxed that fish too.
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General consensus was that they had enough on AJ’s in just 2 fish, so we went looking for some Africans or Permit. We had brought some prime baits just in case. Arriving at the next spot, I marked the fish on the sonar and we sent down the bait. Devon was standing on the bow and yelled back that he spotted them below. Nothing doing! On each successive attempt, the fish were marking lower and lower in the water column. Jon made the call to leave it and suggested trying to troll up some Dollies, Blackfin, or Wahoo. We switched up and left the area in search of Dolphin.
A nice spread of baits, as fresh as you can get, and we’re heading out into bluer waters. We sent one down for Wahoo as well. I went out deeper, zigged and zagged, sped up and slowed down, fished open water, weeds, and debris. Nothing was happening. Jon now tells me that he had to get in a bit early to meet up with a friend in Davie. That changed things quickly. I made the decision to go back in and work the edge for the remaining half hour. Once again I zigged and zagged from 120’-200’ and with 10 minutes of time left the 50W down rod starts screaming. Everyone gets excited with the thought of a nice Wahoo, big Blackfin, or smoker Kingfish! The line begins rising and suddenly a “snooter” pokes his head out of the water. This is the first time I ever heard Devon say “Crap! It’s a Sailfish!” Chuck is on the rod and the fish is playing tough, staying deep, then once again makes an attempt to get air and shake the hook. This time we see the size of this fish and our excitement rises to a feverish pitch. Chuck worked the fish to the boat, Devon grabs the leader positioning the fish for me to tag, all without incident . Oh my God! That fish is a PIG. Devon asks if they want a picture and the unanimous vote was… Heck yeah! Devon strains to pull the fish aboard carefully as possible as Chuck slides into frame for the photo op. A few quick seconds pass as the shutters click and Devon lowers the fish back into the water. The huge fish was ready to go, pulling free of Devon’s hands to swim away. I conservatively guestimated that fish at every bit of 80+ pounds. A real SLOB!
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/4-1-2009-04.jpg
We didn’t get much for Jon’s meat list but the day finished of with a bang! The big bite of the day, surprisingly, turned out to be a Sailfish playing an April Fool’s Day joke on us. Or did he?
Capt Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Alan Sherman (Shermana)
New member
Username: Shermana
Post Number: 7
Registered: 10-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 02, 2009 - 12:05 pm: | |
Spring is definitely in the air and the fishing is starting to reflect just that. One of my favorite places to fish is North Biscayne Bay mainly because it has a great population of sea trout that can reach six pounds and during the month of March, April and May these fish are spawning giving my clients the best chance at their catching one of the biggest sea trout of the year that this Bay has to offer. Because these fish are spawning I suggest releasing the bigger fish to give them a chance to release their millions of eggs to be fertilized by the smaller males. My last three bay charters have produced large numbers of sea trout to just over 4 pounds caught on live shrimp and pilchards under a Cajun Thunder and on Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp soft plastics and Rapala X Raps, Twitchin Raps and Skitter Walks. Along with the trout we have had snook during the daytime, jack crevalles to just over 14 pounds plus lots of barracudas and ladyfish. I expect to see some Spanish mackerel, bluefish, pompano and maybe a cobia to be caught by my anglers in North Biscayne Bay anytime now. Tarpon have been scattered in the Bay but most have been hitting at night.
I am not fishing South Biscayne Bay as much now due to the warmer conditions. The warmer water pushes the groupers out into the ocean and the mackerel, bluefish and pompano are now starting to head north for the summer. During the Spring and Summer I only fish the South part of the Bay to target bonefish, permit, sharks and barracudas for a select few that know my boats capabilities and are OK with fishing the shallow flats from my 22’ Pathfinder Bay Boat.
Flamingo is a destination I like this time of the year. With warming conditions snook, redfish, tarpon, sea trout, cobia, tripletail, jacks, ladyfish, permit, pompano, mackerel, bluefish and sharks can all be targeted in one full day. Fishing select areas for short periods of time will allow me to cover a lot of Florida Bay and the Gulf and into Whitewater Bay during a full day charter giving my clients a real chance at catching a Grand Slam. The bugs are still months away from being a problem and last year we were able to catch, snook, redfish, tarpon, goliath groupers, sea trout, snappers, jacks and ladyfish on Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp baits or a Rapala Twichin Rap by casting to mangrove shorelines in Whitewater and Oyster Bays .
Recent Catches:
David Lang and his sons Alan and Ryan fishing North Biscayne Bay caught and released over 20 sea trout to 2 pounds casting Hook Up lures tipped with a Gulp shrimp and live shrimp on a Cajun Thunder in 20 + mile an hour winds in four hours.
Alex, his step son Alec and his nephew Alec fished North Biscayne Bay and caught over 30 sea trout keep nine to 3 pounds and releasing the rest during a four charter. The trout were caught on Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp shrimp and Cajun Thunders with live shrimp in 25 mile an hour winds.
Jerry Chaves and his grandson’s Jake and Spencer teamed up to catch and release 4 snook, four jack crevalles to 14.5 pounds, lots of ladyfish and barracudas plus over 50 sea trout to four pounds during a ¾ day charter in North Biscayne Bay while using live shrimp and pilchards under a Cajun Thunder and Hook Up lures tipped with a Gulp shrimp.
Today I am fishing with Gene and his granddaughter Lauren in North Biscayne Bay. I n our first spot the trout bite is going strong when Lauren hooks a trout that keeps getting bigger as she fights it. Next thing we know a tarpon in 125 pound class is in the air and then as the tarpon starts to run the trout Lauren origionally had on her line slides out of the tarpons mouth. We land the trout a fat 3 pounder but the tarpon is gone. We see one more tarpon in the 4 hours we are on the water but catch more trout, barracudas a small snook and a snapper before calling it a day.
Well that catches us up for now.
Give me a call and let's go fishing!
786-436-2064
Check out my report in the Miami Herald's Sports section under Fishing Updates each Thursday, the Florida Sportsman Magazines South Florida Internet Fishing Report (www.floridaspotsman.com), my monthly Action Spotter Fishing Report for the South Region in the Florida Sportsman Magazine each month or tune into the Florida Sportsman Magazines Live Radio Show on 1080 WMCU on the AM dial or listen on the internet at www.1080wmcu.com every Saturday morning from 7 to 8 AM and here the up to the minute fishing forecasts from some of the top Capt.'s in South Florida like Capt. Jimbo Thomas on the Thomas Flyer, Capt. Bouncer Smith on Bouncers Dusky, Capt Skip Bradeen on the Blue Chips Too out of Whale Harbor Marina, Capt. Wayne Conn on The Reward Fleet, and more.
Check out my new web site and see the monthly catches and pictures.
I have recently been wearing a lot of Columbia Sports Wear on my fishing charters and the new Blood & Guts shirts are amazing. I have had mackerel, cobia and snook just splatter me with blood and one good washing and the shirts are as good as new. Check out their web site at www.columbia.com
Sponsors: Yamaha, Bob Hewes Boats, Maverick, Minn Kota, Lowrance Electronics, Daiwa, General Motors & Chevrolet, Rapala, Mustad, Ande Lines, Pure Fishing, Gulp, Berkley, Precision Tackle, Cajun Thunders, Capt. Hank Brown's Hook Up Lures, Hydro Glow Lights, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Saltwater Assassins, Key Largo Rods, Lee Fisher Cast Nets, Smartshield, Master Repair in Stuart Florida, Power Pole, Stow Master Nets, superfishlight.com, Columbia Wear
Capt. Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Sportfishing Charters
786 436 2064
shermana@bellsouth.net
www.getemsportfishing.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 71
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 19, 2009 - 6:09 pm: | |
This past weekend we did 3 trips. 2 of our trips were children 13 and under. The seas were favorable for good fishing (3-4’) but the not for all people involved.
Day 1 we met Shawn and Matt at the dock, loaded everyone aboard, and unleashed The BEAST. We made our way across the Bay and out to the south bait patches. The bait took its time showing up and were finicky to say the least. We struggled but finally managed to catch enough for the day, although an hour later than usual. These bait fish are getting wary of the big white thing in the water because of the daily fishing they get during the season. I powered up and made the short run to the “edge”. As I pulled back on the throttles, Devon began setting out our usual spread.
The Kingfish were on fire for the first 30 minutes. We missed a few bites on the downrigger but then caught 3 decent fish in the 10# range. Things went stale for a while and we couldn’t even buy a bite on any of the jigs. Then suddenly we see a green/yellow flash by the short flat line and a nice young Bull Dolphin eats the bait. Matt jumped on the rod and after a few jumps and what seemed to be a prolonged broadside fight, Matt led the Bull to the steel and we boxed the fish.
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Devon reset the baits and we spent the next hour searching with no results. “Lines in! Let‘s go do some bottom fishing.” The currents were slow and inline with the winds so I could jog the boat in place and as if on a sky hook, remain almost stationary. This allowed the baits to stay in the strike zone much longer. The first strike was an African Pompano complete with 3 feet of trailers on all it dorsal rays. What a beauty! The second drift attempt resulted in a small Barracuda. We made several more drifts and the next bite was a double. About halfway up, one rod got very heavy and then very light. You guessed it. We boated a nice Mutton Snapper and a nice Mutton Snapper head! OK! Time to move on!
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As the clock wound down we worked the edge trying to collect a Sailfish for our duo. The remainder of the day was uneventful and as the old saying goes, “What will be, will be.” On the way in I ran to some of the other bait patches to check on available bait to see if we could expedite the bait catching process for the next trips.
Day 2 was a trip I scheduled with my neighbor, Phillip Delgado, who was taking his son Noah on a trip for his 9th birthday. Along with them were Phillip’s daughter Megan (12), and Noah’s “bestest” buddy, Connor (9)! I was taken aback by the fact that Noah, when asked what he wanted to do for his birthday, told his Dad that he wanted to fish with Jim.
We shoved off and headed out for bait, as usual. This time we went to one of the other areas that we had scouted out the day before. The bait came up good and though the tides and wind were bucking each other, the kids managed to catch plenty of “primo” hooker bait for the day. I tossed my Calusa net and pulled up a couple dozen “netters” to round off the live wells. I fired up the Zukes and we made our way to the edge.
In the first 5-10 minutes of fishing, a Sailfish rose to the short flat line and Noah was hooked up to his first Sailfish ever. He fought it like a seasoned veteran and after about 10 minutes of fight and aeiral acrobatics, we had the fish boatside for the tag, photo op, and release. At 9 years and 1 day, Noah completed his first Sailfish, catch and release. Good job, little buddy!
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As we jogged around in the 3-4’ seas, Connor began feeling it and laid down on the bean bag. Megan and Noah caught several Kingfish before Megan began to feel the effects of the oceans motion.
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Now we’ve lost 2 of our anglers and they’ve both lost their breakfast. While both Megan and Connor are laid out in the bean bags, Noah is steadily watching the down rigger rod. He knew that this rod gets most of the action and wouldn’t move more than 2’ from it. Whoop, there it is! Noah was on it in a flash and this fish was a bit stronger than the Kingfish he had wrestled up to this point. As the fight finally reaches the point of seeing color we are not sure whether he has a Cobia or a Shark. A few more cranks and we see the fish is a small shark. Noah has no care at this point because he is all into this fishing thing.
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After a while Noah lets me know he would like to try for and African or a Mutton, so, off we go to give it a shot. Arriving on our favorite bottom location, I am disappointed to find a strong current with the winds blowing the same direction, affecting the drift even more so. The first drift or 2 were uneventful, not even a bump. We made another and I tried to power into the current a bit, but it twisted the boat’s drift out of shape, and I abandoned that idea. We made a few more drifts trying valiantly to keep the 32oz weights on or at least near the bottom, and our only return was a small Barracuda. We gave up on the bottom fishing
The time is running short so we put out a quick spread for the last 20-30 minutes and the baits immediately get covered up with chubby Dolphin. We had 3 hooked up and Megan, Noah and Phillip (Dad) on the rods. Megan lost her fish at the boat and Noah’s fish flipped off the jig as I tried to lift it over the rail. Sorry, Buddy! Dad’s fish was the only one that made it into the fish box.
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I guess a picture does say a 1000 words. Even the ones that were sick had smiles on their face. Hmmm… Was it because of the fish we caught or the fact that we were headed for dry land? I know that Noah would still be fishing if we were out there. This is one kid that, in the future, will be writing his own fishing reports. He is ate up with fishing, just like the crew of The BEAST.
Day 3 was a half day trip with Will and Will Jr. We turned out The BEAST and ran a faster cruise across the Bay for the bait patch. We knew we didn’t need so many baits for a half day, and that was a good thing. Arriving at the bait patch we found the bait to be staying well clear of us. Long casts and some little tricks were necessary to boat enough baits. Twice they came up close enough to get a net on and I did. Off to the blue water!
As we worked around the area we noticed quickly that the down rod was noticeably silent. This is our “go to” action getter, just not today or at least, not yet! We did have a school of heavier, lifter Dolphin come in and we picked off a pair of them.
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Finally the down rod sounds off! Little Will climbs on the rod and manages to wrangle a nice Kingfish to the boat. Devon and I are still shaking our heads about the lack of noise this rod produced on that day.
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Time is getting short, unfortunately, so we made our way to a spot that is always good for a bite of some sort. As I arrived, my sonar lights up like a Christmas tree and we make a few passes around these fish. The down rod gets the nod and it is a good run and then it falls silent to pulled hooks. We reset and make a few more passes before cutting our losses and calling it a day. Devon starts working a speed jig through the blips on the sonar screen. BAM! FISH ON! Big Will takes the rod and the fish is off to the races. 2 strong runs and Devon and I are believing we are into an Amberjack. A few minutes later and it appears to have gotten hung up in structure. No, wait! The GPS is showing that we are moving, not stationary. Work him, put the power to the fish! A few short power pumps and the fish is once again moving upwards toward the boat but Will is still in a fight. As color begins to show, it appears to be a moderately sized Jack. No, wait! Devon and I lean over the rail and he yells out “African!” “That is a garbage can lid, if I‘ve ever seen one!” I yelled back. We collect ourselves and go into boating mode and promptly deck the fish. Will has just caught a beautiful 30# African Pompano specimen.
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Wow! We pulled the rabbit out of the hat on that one. Although this half day trip had a low fish catch by numbers, we were abuzz about the quality. I pointed The BEAST for the barn, and on the trip home there was a constant chatter about this catch. Pretty work, guys!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 70
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 13, 2009 - 3:22 am: | |
We spent a few days fishing with Steffen and Silmara from Munich, Germany. This was there third trip to fish with us and we always seem to have a good time and catch some nice fish.
The husband and wife duo met us at the dock along with brisk ENE winds. We unleashed The BEAST for day 1. As we headed out through the channel toward the bay we reminisced about the past 2 trips. I powered up and made way for the bait patches.
We arrived after our brisk run and set out the chum to begin the bait catching process. The bait was ravenous. I’ve never seen them act like a pack of Jack Crevalle. All we had to do was move the bait about 18 inches and a half dozen would charge to eat it. Needless to say we had our bait quickly and made our way offshore. As we arrived on the “edge” we were greeted with 2-4’ seas and some bigger. This is not a problem for The BEAST or this seasoned couple. We set out our normal spread.
The waters were a bit dirty and more green than blue. In minutes we began getting bit on the down rod. The only problem with this is that they are “snake” kingfish that seem to expertly miss both hooks in the bait. We suffered through those misses and connected with a nice 12 pound Kingfish, and then another. We boxed these fish and the next player was a nice little chubby Dolphin(fish) on the top line. We worked the area over pretty good and caught 2 Barracuda and another 12 pound Kingfish. The radio was buzzing about some Dolphin coming down the edge and we managed to get a double on these chubby “schoolies”.
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The bite slowed down considerably and we debated on doing some bottom fishing but since Steffen wanted to catch his first Atlantic Sailfish, we decided to keep at it since we were also fishing the next day. We had a strong bite on the down rod again and when Steffen worked the fish to the boat we were pleasantly greeted by a nice 20# Kingfish.
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With the day winding down and a limit of Kingfish we decided to pull the downrigger and work the top baits only. Of course we are almost always working a speed jig. Steffen is working a small 1 oz jig on 12# spinning gear and connects with a small Bonito. As the day is drawing to an end he hooks up something big on the light speed jig gear. About 10 minutes later we see this very large ‘Cuda surface. That was an awesome catch considering the light tackle, 40# mono leader and the teeth on that fish.
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We called it a day and headed for the barn. There is always tomorrow and Steffen asks if we are available to extend another day as well. Sure!
Day 2 was a little bit calmer as the Husband wife team show up at the dock. They told us that they took 2 dolphin filets to the restaurant cook and had them cooked for their dinner. They prepared them 3 different ways and both agreed that they were delicious. With the morning pleasantries out of the way we headed out speaking of yet another beautiful promising day. Devon remarked that we very seldom go 2 days without a Sailfish. I told him to bite his tongue.
The bait patch was somewhat tougher that day and we had to work a bit harder to catch the bait. It was perfect when they bunched up real nice and I tossed my 10’ Calusa net over top of them. Now we had a couple dozen baits to top off the hookers in the wells. We pulled the chum and headed out for the blue water.
This second day saw better conditions with clean blue water, ESE winds, and a ripping current! “This looks good!” I told Steffen. Within minutes of putting out our spread we hooked up a nice little “gaffer” Dolphin. This Cow gave us a show with aerial leaps and a good tug for Steffen. We dispatched the fish to the fish box.
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For some reason the down rod was stagnant and we had little action on it, only a few cut off or hacked up baits. Then at 11:45 a Sailfish comes up on the left long. Crap, we missed it! Suddenly another appears on the left short and this one eats heartily and he feels the sting of the hook. Off to the races! Steffen is so excited, you can see it in his reactions to the fighting fish. Devon tries to calm him down a bit and he then expertly works the fish. After a very short fight, we have the fish boatside for his tag and Steffen’s photo op. One snapshot and Devon puts the fish over the side. He is still sort of green so reviving was not an issue. As Devon released his bill he kicked his tail twice and was gone to the depths, sporting his orange TBF tag.
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We continued working the top for another hour and then decide to do some bottom fishing. I arrived at our spot and Devon dropped 2 lines with 2 different baits. Several high speed drifts (ripping north current) over the spot resulted in a 30# Amberjack, a Barracuda, a beautiful African Pompano specimen complete with long fin trailers, and a pair of Mutton Snapper.
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We finished the day working the edge but it was uneventful (I hate daylight savings time 3 weeks early). We cleaned up the Mutton Snapper for Steffen and Silmara to try, for dinner at the restaurant.
Day 3 arrived and we met at the dock. Silmara let us know that she thought our Dolphin was much tastier than the Mutton Snapper. Devon and I agree! We turned The BEAST out for this last day of the Steffen-Silmara sea safari! We made the run to the bait patch and it seemed much shorter for some reason. Upon arrival the seas were calm and the bait was finicky as can be. We could watch them swim up and nudge the bait and then simply swim off. We pecked away at them for some time until we had enough for the day. Ugh!
Arriving on the edge we were less than optimistic. Calm seas, light current, and blue/green water. Oh boy! We worked the water for some time and only caught one small Kingfish which was quickly released. I wanted to change up and try trolling deeper for some of the Dolphin that had been in the area. Being a day before the full moon we put 2 rods down for Wahoo too. Finding a barnacled bucket floating in the water, we made a pass. A small Tripletail, a Filefish, and a school of 3” hardtails, but nothing doing. I made another pass taking the bucket on the other side. Nothing! I ventured another 300 yards and found a large piece of rope covered up with small Bar Jacks. 3 passes on that and we score the big 0! One more pass on the bucket and Nada! Enough already! Pull ’em! we’re headed for some bottom fishing.
Arriving on our spot we made our drops and even this was hard. We managed to dredged up a decent Almaco Jack, a 7# Mutton, and Bonito, for all our efforts.
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As the day is winding down I am trying my best to salvage a hard day as we worked the edge for a while. Once small Cero Mackerel was all we could pull out of the water until quitting time.
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I decided to give it a bit longer (another hour) before throwing in the towel. Lo and behold the right rigger gets 3 big crashes but the fish doesn’t get the bait. Crapola! Wait… another pass? Fish on! A strong fish staying deep and Steffen is put to work. After a good fight the fish starts doing the death circles and we realize we have a Blackfin Tuna coming up. We put the small steel to the fish and prepare him for the fish box.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/3-10-2009-03.jpg
Alright, we packed up and headed for home. Man, what a tough day. We needed to be magicians more than fisherman. Devon cleaned the Blackie for their dinner. We discussed their next return trip in November during our lengthy farewell. They are great people, with no unrealistic expectations. Devon and I truly enjoy fishing with this couple, each and every time.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 69
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 - 11:48 pm: | |
My last 2 trips this past Thursday and Saturday were a blast. Much better weather was forecasted and the fishing, well, let’s just say it was comfortable!
Early in the week, Trollin’ Tom and I had discussed the possibilities of getting out for some Wahoo fishing following the full moon. Another day of trolling was OK with me since I would be live baiting on Saturday. We picked Thursday since I had other commitments at the boat show on Friday and the seas were supposed to be laying back to 2‘ or less. We met as usual, at the crack of 10 AM and quickly prepped The BEAST. Once again we set out at cruise, omitting the bait catching sessions. As we reached the edge we were greeted with 2-4’ seas. Laid back? Not yet it seems. We slowed to trolling speed and put 2 lines down with naked ballyhoo and then set up 2 lines on the rigger, 1 lure and 1 naked ‘hoo. We also set out a Williamson Live Mackerel and Tom said he either wanted to lose it or take it home crippled.
With the gear out and the speeds set we began searching. An hour after we began the winds laid back dramatically and we were fishing on calm waters. Slicks began to form and we found a good weed line with some heavy mats in the almost 600’ depths. As I passed the first set of mats, one of the deep rods fires off and we are hooked up. The fish is no match for the rod and we quickly get it up to see a nice Weehoo, of about 10 pounds. Then the other line goes off. As we get this fish to the boat, it is the bigger brother to the first, approximately 12-13 pounds. A few minutes later the weed line runs out.
Taking a wide turn we take the time to check all of the baits and de-weed them. Big Mac on the shotgun line got hit and his plastic tail bears the crippling scars of a Wahoo bite. Dang, 2 for 3! We now resume the hunt going upstream in the current. As we get back into the good weeds I notice my rigger bouncing and the rod tip jerking. I looked back and there was a nice gaffer Dolphin jumping out of the water. I grabbed the rod and as I began to reel, the line breaks. We had a major malfunction with the rigger clip and it cost us the fish.
I kept working south from one slick to another as time is passing. Finally I found another good weed line in a slick much farther to the south, but nothing was happening. I changed to a lure/Bally combination on the down rods. As I am about to change course for another location, I spot a pallet in the water. It was tough seeing the pallet because it was so water logged it was actually under the surface with only a small portion of the corner breaking the water, from time to time. I made a pass by this pallet and both down lines fire off. One fish wins his freedom and the other 10# Weehoo comes to the boat. As I stow him in the fish box, Tom hurriedly gets another bait down and it immediately gets hit but once again the hookup wasn’t to be. I jump in the cockpit to help Trollin’ Tom get some fresh baits down. I take a visual on the pallet and a visual on the chart plotter track lines and I even took a quick turn to give me another reference point on the plotter. When we got everything back in the water and the cockpit back in order the winds began to pick up and the slicks disappeared. That’s great! I returned to the area where the pallet was and we couldn’t find it. I made a search grid attempt, considering in drift, and we searched the area for an hour. We never saw the pallet again. I can’t begin to tell you how angry that made me!
We had an uneventful ending to our day and we packed it in. We ended up 3 for 6 on Wahoo bites and lost a nice Dorado too. We tucked our tails and headed home, BUT, we each had some good filets for the dinner table.
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Saturday, was a trip with a local family, the Evans. We had originally planned on the previous Saturday but the seas were too big for our plans, so we backed it off to this past Saturday. This was to be a learning/fun trip. Art has his own boat but wanted to tweak his skills by seeing how we do it. He brought his wife Tammie, along with his 2 sons Kyle and Casey. The original scheduled Saturday would’ve been a lesson in holding on, not fishing. This day the seas were placid as a mill pond. We met at the dock at 7 AM and turned The BEAST out.
Our first attempts at bait only produced 1 Hardtail and 2 Goggle Eyes so we headed out to the bait patches for some Ballyhoo. The waters were extremely calm, no wind, and the chum slick was prominent, but moving slow. We could see the Ballyhoo coming a hundred yards off. When they finally arrived, they kept their distance. We struggled! While we were picking away at them with the hooks, Devon spots a Barracuda stalking and scaring the bait. He takes down a rod, pins on a Bally and fires it our in the vicinity of the sighting. Fish on! Kyle takes the rod and this Cuda puts it on him, complete with some nice aerial moves. Kyle finally subdues the fish and we take a few photos before releasing him. As we took the picture, this Cuda gets the best of Kyle by slapping his tail right across Kyle’s face. Well isn’t that a fine, “Good Morning“!
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The Ballyhoo are finally getting closer to the boat so I tried to toss the Calusa net over them. Twice! Both times I got a zero return. You could see them skitter off before the throw even left my hands. We finally captured enough hookers to fish the day. Everyone out there was struggling with bait in this calm sea without a breath of wind.
We headed out and as soon as we hit the edge we set out our lines. The first bite was on the downrigger and mighty Casey was at bat. It took him a few minutes but he boated a nice little “Snake” Kingfish.
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We missed several other bites throughout the morning with baits coming up slashed or missing. We had a bite on the long flat line and Kyle took this one. As Kyle gets it close to the boat we see it is another Barracuda. C’mon Kyle, we aren’t Cuda fishing, or are we?
The fishing was slow to say the least. The winds began to pick up a little and the waters began to show a tiny wind chop. Getting late in this ¾ day trip we decided to check out some bottom fishing. Man, that was worse yet. We made several drifts in 2 locations and only ended up with mangled baits to show for it. With quitting time drawing near I decided to go a while longer and see if we couldn’t make this a better day. I told Devon to rig up for more Kings and Sailfish, our standard set! As we made our way north in the slow current we instantly started getting bit. It appears the bite had turned on a bit. We hooked up on the downrigger and Casey again brings a “Snake” Kingfish to the boat. A miss or two on the d/rigger and BAM… the d/rigger lights up! This time Kyle is at the rod and this fish almost pulls him over the live well. Kyle works the fish like a trooper as the fish works Kyle like a spoiled dinner! After many minutes we see color and WHAT? A monster Caribbean Spotted Mackerel? No one told me that they were bringing Kyle the Kuda Killer on the boat. This fish whooped his little butt, but in his defense, the fish was bigger and almost outweighed him.
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5 minutes pass and we get a run on the down rod. This time Art (Dad) took the rod. We could tell by the runs that this was a nicer Kingfish this time. Art brings the fish to the boat and Devon puts the steel to this 15 pound fish. As the photo op is completed and they are putting the fish in the box, the short flat line pops off. I know what that is! I grab the rod and feed the fish. Here we go! I flip the bail and start reeling as the line comes tight I hand the rod to Art who has made his way back to the cockpit again. The fish makes a short run again and heads for the sky. Sailfish on! Well, for a minute, maybe. The fish spit the hook on the first jump.
We fished for a little while longer and then wrapped it up for the day. Kyle the Kuda Killer had scored 3 Barracuda, mighty Casey and Dad teamed up for 3 Kingfish, and Art also got one jump out of a Sailfish. Poor Mom (Tammie), only got to catch some sun rays and a boat ride.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/2-14-2009-04.jpg
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 68
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 1:45 pm: | |
My friend, Trollin’ Tom and I went out for an afternoon of fishing. He loves to troll for fish and I welcomed a break from live baiting the edge. We always seem to have a good time whether we catch or not. We picked Friday for our trip since it was a pre-frontal condition with winds from the SE at 10 knots and light seas. The front was positioned to pass through the area later that afternoon.
We met at the dock at 10 AM and shoved off shortly thereafter. Not concerned with catching any live bait, I throttled up The BEAST and we made our way offshore. As we passed the edge the water was a dingy blue/green and I decided to start at around 300’. A few scattered weeds in the area and we put out a spread with 2 deep rods for Wahoo and 5 top lines for Dorado. I set my course to the SE and about 30 minutes later we happened upon an obscure line of scattered weeds. The weed line was so faint that we had to get on the upwind side of it to keep the sun at our back and a visual on it. This also kept us from inadvertently passing back and forth through it and fouling our baits. A few more minutes passed and we saw a small flock of Terns working a big bait school around a small patch of weeds. I took the school well off the starboard side and the birds quickly directed their flight over our baits and it was, FISH ON! One of the deep rods sounded off and then the starboard rigger lit up. DOLPHIN! This is what Tom was looking for, his favorite offshore target. The fish on the deep rod came loose and the fish on the rigger rod was a good chubby “Schoolie”. Then the other down rod went off and we had a nice liitle “Gaffer” Cow on. As the Cow breaches the surface the other rigger sounds off and we have the Bull hooked up as well. OK! 2 of us on board and 3 fish going, this is going to be fun. We quickly dispatched the “Schoolie” into the fish box and Tom handed me the rod with the Bull and he took the Cow. I fought this nice little Bull up to the boat and Tom put his rod into “Rodney, the rod holder” and we gaffed my fish and put it in the cooler. Tom picks up his rod and re-enters the fight with the Cow. Suddenly, my fish, in the cooler, busts out and dang near makes it out of the boat as Tom takes a few swats to the back of his thighs. Tom never lost his composure, keeping the flopping fish in the cockpit with swift leg kicks. Finally, the melee’ is over as we put the Bull back in the box and gaff the Cow. We were laughing at ourselves and the situation… I guess you should’ve been there, to really appreciate it!
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After we cleaned up the bloody cockpit, we reset lines and resumed course. The weeds ran out and the birds were gone, so I turned the bow around and tracked back towards the hot spot. As we approached, the birds were once again dipping down on the water. This time we passed by and nothing happened. I made a large circle and came back against the current. As we passed by the birds, once again, they changed course over our baits and a double hook up was the result. This was a matching set of book ends, chubby “Schoolie’s” identical to the first fish of the day. We made short work of these fish and now had 5 nice Mahi in the box.
We worked the area for a while until the weeds scattered and the birds sat resting on the water. No fish… let’s move on! I continued out, setting a limit at the 600’ depths, and still nothing happening. Working our way back in to the earlier productive depths, the winds began turning like a clock. The front is moving in and we are now experiencing westerly winds with some scattered rain. The air was chilling and the seas were resembling a blender, tossed up by the increasing winds and quick change of direction.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the right rigger trips and I am on a fish that ate the small Tuna lure. The fish stayed deep giving me an idea that we might be eating Sashimi or blackened Tuna for dinner. Yes sir! Up comes a nice Blackfin Tuna which is quickly launched over the gunnels, prepped for the cooler and iced down.
The seas were growing wild, we were wet from the previous rains and chilled from the drop in ambient temperature, so we called it a day. Tom and I quickly stowed our gear and headed west toward home. We replayed the day as we cruised the Bay toward the head pin. Normally, this time of year, I want to be fishing the edge with live bait. The Sailfish were on fire, the radio was buzzing, and the boys working the edge were clocking them. That was not our goal on this trip, and it didn’t bother me in the least! Nothing can compare to a good day on the water, with a good friend, and a cooler of good eats!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 67
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2009 - 11:09 pm: | |
Sunday we had a trip with Dan Young and his friends Jeremy, Jim and Rob. They wanted to do a ¾ day trip and expressed the desire to catch a Sailfish as one of their main targets. Since it is getting dark about an hour later these days we discussed doing it as a late morning to dark trip. Doing it that way would improve the chances of catching one during the “witching hour” rather than pulling lines and heading home in the middle of the afternoon. They were all for that idea. Devon and I were also, since it upped our odds of producing a Sailfish and also allowed us to sleep in.
The group met us at the dock at 10:15 and we hustled them aboard and prepared to cast off. The BEAST was growling like a rabid dog, unhappy about the break we had in the streak of successive trips with a Sailfish catch. Devon and I unleashed her and she took us out though the channels well worn path, while we got to know everybody. I have to admit that the one thing that I truly love about charter fishing is meeting people from all over the US and other countries! I throttled up the 600 Suzuki horses and it was all I could do to keep The BEAST in cruise mode. We were intent on a mission of redemption for this trip!
Our first stop was to try and locate some Hardtails! It was not going to happen on this day. We worked the area and found nothing. The water gin clear and we could’ve seen them if they were there and, they weren’t. Oh great, not the start I was hoping for. I powered up again and raised my cruise speed a bit more as we made our way out to the Ballyhoo patch. We arrived on calm seas with light north winds and deployed the chum. The tide was 2 ½ hours from low, yet the chum was barely flowing. This is not good! After about 10 minutes the Ballyhoo began showing up but were hanging back and finicky. I was afraid we might have this trouble with our late start. Couple that with the fact that these poor guys were not quite getting the hang of Ballyhoo fishing. One guy was catching most of them but too slow to suit us. Finally they came in close enough to drop a net and I took a shot since we only had about 12-15 hookers in the live well. My 10’ Calusa opened up and covered the group closest to the boat. Wow! I’m feeling less pressure now. About 10 minutes later and the boys added a few more hookers to the well and I had another shot on the hoo’s, a bit farther out, but I decided to take it. I tossed the net to my limits and it opened in a beautiful pancake. As I began to retrieve the net the silver flashes let us know we would be on our way offshore in a few minutes.
As we headed offshore, I knew that the Mayors Cup Sailfish tournament was still going on and all I could think of was all those kites taking up acres of water and having to jockey for productive positions. The tournaments southern boundary was Careysfort Light which encompasses my favorite fishing area. I was mesmerized to find that the area was almost empty with only the usual 10 or so boats out there. I found out today it was because the BIG bite was up north this weekend.
We quickly set out our spread and began to “Do work”! First up was a nice fat Cero Mack on the down rod. The Down rod was not on fire Sunday but we managed to catch 4 more Kingfish and missed 4 bites also. We released the 2 short “Snakes“, and kept the 2 legals with the largest being only 10 pounds. The fishing was a bit slow which can be attributed to absolutely 0 current in the area. We were obviously the most active boat in the immediate area but the radio was silent and no Sailfish were sighted. This being the case we opted to drop the wreck a few times to see if we could get something to bite down deep even with the lack of current.
We arrived for the bottom drop and I told Devon to do the normal 1 line test drop while I set my drift. No current whatsoever! We were moved slowly out of the zone only by the light breeze. I motored back over to the start point and gave Devon the nod and he dropped the 2 lines. The first drift was uneventful. Pull ‘em up! I adjusted a bit and again gave the nod. We fired down 2 baits and a minute goes by and the back rod gets thumped. As Dan is bringing it up, it gets a major jolt. Something just ate his bite! As we get it up close to the surface, we realize it’s a dang ‘Cuda that engulfed the fish and hook. With only 50# leader showing out of his mouth, the leader cuts as Devon is trying to lean over to lift it aboard. We wanted to see what it was that we had on initially, but he was gone in a flash with the evidence. Let’s try that drift again. This time Rob gets the pull on the front rod and we have a fish coming up. That’s what we wanted! A nice 7# Pinkie (Mutton Snapper) comes aboard.
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About 4:45 now and we hear a boat to the north about a mile, radio that he had a double up. Then my friend Al on Better Dayz relays to me that he had a single Sail up and jumped it off. I turned to the guys and asked if they wanted to try for that Sailfish since the bite could be sparking up a bit. Initially they wanted to keep dropping for Muttons but Devon convinced them that this is why we came out late, to maximize our chances of catching a Sailfish during the “witching hour”. They decided to go for it. Al remarks about a huge bait ball of sardines passing by him. We set out our baits and got into Sailfish mode. Almost an hour goes by and I see the bait ball moving north towards us. Knowing full well that these concentrations of bait hold predatory fish around and below them, I made a point of staying in close proximity to this school of hor d’ourves. 15 minutes before sunset and Devon yells out, “Fish on the flat line!” As Jeremy grabs the rod the right rigger goes off. Devon tells Jeremy to “Wind tight and get on him!” Devon comes tight on the rigger line and passes it off to Rob. DOUBLE!!!! Dan is so excited he is screaming “Wooohoo’s” as he runs to the cockpit to watch. The pair of Sailfish go airborne as if they are synchronized…then again, a second time. Another “Woohoo” from Dan, then Jeremy’s fish charges toward the boat and he can’t get up the slack in time. The fish comes unpinned and just that quick, we are down to one. Crap! Rob is tight on his fish and I get him to move forward as I put the bow of The BEAST on the tail of the fish. A few more minutes and we have the fish boatside for an attempt to tag. The fish is waddling and not giving me a good dart shot, then takes off again on a half hearted run. We get it back to the boat and I get the tag in. Devon grabs the bill and removes the hook. We pulled the fish aboard for a photo op of Rob‘s first Sail. We put the fish back overboard and I bumped the throttles in gear as Devon climbed into the splash well to pull the fish upright until it revived well enough for a good release. Devon sent him on his way, wearing his new, bright red tag!
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The BEAST was satisfied! Vindicated! The earlier growls had turned into a “cat”- like purr as I pointed her nose toward the barn! Rob was in awe of the power that our offshore fish have. He remarked that he wants to have a mount made of his first ever Sailfish. You see, Rob is from England and until Sunday his biggest fish was a 2-3 pound freshwater trout. Congratulations Rob! After all these years, I still know how you feel!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 66
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - 10:27 pm: | |
During all this unstable weather we had 2 outings that we were fortunate enough to miss all that lousy weather. Fortunate?… Oh, really? The weather this past week has been feast or famine with incredibly lumpy seas, followed by very calm, and then throw in the largest full moon of the year with a dribbling north current. We did the best we could with what we had. Our customers were happy but Devon and I didn’t think it was up to Beast standards. It could’ve been much better but I guess it could’ve been a whole lot worse.
We met Alex and his buds at the dock at 7 AM for a ¾ day trip. The moon that night was twice the size of normal, or so it appeared, and the seas were calm. We headed out the channel while exchanging information. Our first stop for bait proved fruitless for Hardtails so we blasted out to the patch reefs. We arrived to find an almost slack tide but thankfully the bait came up and we could hold them there long enough to collect enough for the day.
We made the short run offshore and got setup. To say the fishing was slow, would be an understatement. Even the downrigger was silent like deaf ears. We finally managed to find a Kingfish or two, that would bite the baits and tear them up, but not get hooked up. Finally Devon had a hair jig working and got a bite. As it was coming up to the boat, way to easy, we were hoping it was something worthwhile. A Sand Tile. Oh Boy! Time seemed to drag on and we were making plans to regroup and change strategies. The radio was eerily silent, and we never saw a boat working a fish. Then as we were about to pull the baits, we got a bite on the left long. Nice hit, man that fished crashed the bait. Alex jumped on the rod and was into a decent Dolphin. A little while later and the fish felt the steel of the gaff and flopped into the fish box. Well that’s a little better.
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We stayed with the decision to change the game plan and forsake a shot at a “Snooter“. Instead we went to work on a wreck to see if anything was happening. The fish were marking on the sounder but we couldn’t buy a bite. We made several drifts only to come up empty, when finally something took the bait as they were cranking it up. The fish felt solid and then for a split second it felt even more solid. We saw color and then the unmistakable image of the dreaded Caribbean Spotted Mackerel appeared. That’s a Barracuda to those who don’t know BEAST lingo. As we pulled it into the boat for an unceremonious dehooking we noticed that the second pull was that of a shark. The Cuda was shredded from the dorsal area south to the tail. We tossed it over and wished him luck in getting home. Speaking of home… we called it a day and tucked our tails between our legs as we ran for the barn. This day broke our string of successive trips with a Sailfish catch. The next day, I heard the seas got snotty and those that went out, absolutely tore up the Sailfish. In all my days, I’ve never heard the saying… You should’ve been here tomorrow!
Mark and Mike, a father and son team, called on Friday to check in for their Saturday trip. Since I was open on Sunday we switched the ¾ trip to Sunday since their stomach survival rate on Saturday’s forecasted seas, would’ve probably been measured in minutes. Sunday had a much better forecast of 2-4‘ but forecasts being what they are, they missed the mark by about 2-4’. Flat calm! Oh boy… here we go again!
Devon and I met up at the dock and readied the boat. Mike and Mark arrived a short time later and we fired up The BEAST, heading out for the bait. We were pleasantly surprised when we collected some Hardtails, quickly. I ran a faster cruise speed to get to the ballyhoo reef because I was anxious to redeem myself from the last trip. We scored quickly on the bally’s and we were off and set up. Once again the current was only trickling to the North and the weeds were everywhere. GREAT! Here we go again! We spent a considerable amount of time clearing lines and looking for clean water to fish effectively. The grass, finally moved out! The down line was working better today, although we missed the first 2 fish. Then the hair/bally combo jig gets another Sand Tile. Whoopee! Well at least the skunk is off the boat. Then the deep rod sounds off and Mark brings a decent 10# Kingfish to the boat. That’s better.
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Mike is up next, and a short while later, the d/r fires off again. With minimal resistance an 8# Kingfish greets the boat. Once again everything is in position and we worked the area but this time we dropped the down rod much deeper. 15 minutes passes, then 30 minutes, then fish on! This time the clicker is singing and the fish takes a 50 yard run. Mike takes the rod and we are guessing the species. Well, we were hoping it was something other than a Kingfish this time, but it wasn’t. Even though it was another Kingfish, it was a nice 15# fish.
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With that last fish behind us the bite turned off. Through all this time we saw no boats jockeying on Sailffish, and heard nothing on the radio except of a straggler Dolphin or two. I asked the M&M boys if they wanted to go hit the wreck and try for some bottom fish or keep plugging away for a Sailfish. They opted for the bottom fishing. We arrived at the spot and setup. Little current and a light easterly breeze made for long drifts over the productive zones, but would the fish eat today? First drift is a test drift with one line. Nothing doing! I got my mark and we set out 2 lines on the second drift. Nothing doing… Until I started cranking up the bait. Bam, fish on! Mark grabs the rod and the fish pulls his knuckle toward the gunnel. Next run and Mark, being from Pittsburgh (no ocean there), is not ready for the power of our wreck fish. With over 20#’s of drag pressure, I thought this long, lanky, 15 year old was going to be pulled overboard. He finally gets it up to color and we see it is a chubby Almaco Jack.
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We vented the fish and sent it home to grow up. This drift was working out, so I headed back for my starting point. We baited and dropped the lines again. OK guys, approaching ground zero, get ready. Bada bing! Mikes rod twitches and then starts bending. This one is acting like the fish we were after. There’s color. Yes sir! Mr. Mutton Snapper is home. We leadered it to the boat and after a picture or two, we iced down a nice 12#er.
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The next drift was uneventful so we decided to try 2 more drifts before we called it a day. The next drift we were on line and the spot showed profoundly on the sounder and Marks rod started pulling down slowly. He reached for it but I told him it was the bottom and quickly cranked up a turn or two. It tipped again and I took one more turn. After a couple more times I saw the drop off and I quickly set the rod in free spool so the bait could fall down the drop to the bottom. I locked the spool and the rod bent over double. Mark was into a nice fish. We were speculating we had another nice Mutton, judging by the fight. Here comes color! What the…. Cubera? Yes sir, not the 30-50# fish we catch on live lobster in the summer, but definitely a respectable Cubera Snapper caught on a Ballyhoo.
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The last drift was a zero so we stowed our gear and got ready to make our run back to the garage. The Sailfish bite turned on as we powered up and the radio was sounding off with singles, doubles, and a triple. The M&M guys didn’t care at that point, they were happy with the day and their Pittsburgh Steelers were going to play for the AFC Championship in a few hours. I’m sure they are ecstatic now… their Steelers are going to the Super Bowl.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 65
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 09, 2009 - 6:11 pm: | |
Friday, Jan 2 we met James, his wife, and 2 small children at the dock. They wanted to do a half day to introduce his little kids to fishing. The children were 2 and 4. I have to tell you, I was not that excited about it because the kids are required to wear their life jackets at all times and usually get a bit whiny. This was not the case. The kids were the most well mannered children I’ve seen in many a year. The day was a bit on the blustery side but we decided to sneak a peek outside to see if it was doable. We ran to our bait patch and the seas were about 2-3 feet so we decided to let the kids enjoy catching some bait. While catching some of the bait Devon pinned a bait on a hook and free lined it into the chum. Several minutes passed by and then the bait got eaten. James cranked in a nice Mutton Snapper. Shortly thereafter he announced that we needed to head for the calmer backwaters as he was getting that queasy feeling. We spent the rest of the morning on a grass flat letting the kids catch Pinfish. All in all, James was very happy because the kids enjoyed themselves and the day was a success in his book.
Saturday, the 3rd, Devon and I met Brad Waugh and his son James at the dock. I’ve fished Brad before and we had a good trip. We had no problems making bait except that the tide was running into the wind and throwing the cast net was a mission. We had more than enough “hookers” and put the “netters” in with the Blue Runners, then headed offshore.
As we reached the edge we met about 100 boats that were fishing a Key Largo Sailfish tournament. Kites flying and boats slow trolling, Oh boy! We started off in an area that was the least congested, somewhat south of the pack. It didn’t take long and the d/rigger sounded off and we were into a nice Kingfish.
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As the day progressed we continued to catch a few more Kings all of which were decent sized. Suddenly we had a taker on the left rigger. A sailfish took to the air, spitting the bait, before anyone could get on the rod. 0 for 1! We reset our line and continued on. The day fell into a lull on the surface and I decided to take them to a patch of bottom that has produced well for me. On arrival, Devon dropped a Ballyhoo to the bottom and a Blue Runner down on the other rod. About 100 feet into the drift and the Ballyhoo gets eaten. James fights the fish and it is digging for the bottom. He gains the upper hand and then we see color. Nice Black! We stuck the fish and after a few pics, we loaded it into the fish box with the Kingfish.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/1-3-2009-2.jpg
Next drift and once again we get bit. This time the Hardtail gets the nod and Brad fights the fish. We are thinking it is possibly another Grouper but it turns out to be a respectable Amberjack, aka “reef donkey”. We made a few more uneventful drifts and then departed to get back into Sailfish mode for the afternoon bite.
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About an hour after we set up we saw one of the baits getting nervous and then a bill pops through the water. Sailfish! No… 2 Sailfish! Brad and James each grab the respective rods and Brad gets hooked up but James’ fish comes unpinned before he could get tight on it. Down to 1 and the fish is definitely working Brad. As this fish is dragging Brad and us all over the ocean, I realize once again why I like to fish down south. 3 or 4 of the other boats were courteous and got out of our way so we could fight our fish. Thanks guys! Brad worked on this fish for 35 minutes before we finally got a release on it.
We set lines out again and a Booby bird decided to come in and dive on a bait. Hook up! CRAP! Devon reeled him in and grabbed him. I held the wings while we unhooked him. Guess what?!? Circle hooks work good on Booby birds too! Devon chucked the bird out of the boat and it got up and flew into the flat line and tangled up. UGH! Once again we reeled in the bird and set it free. Brad took this as an omen and since he had a 1½ hour drive home, he called it a day. The days tally in the fish box was 3 Kings, 1 AJ, 1 Black Grouper and we released 1 for 3 on Sails.
Sunday January 4th was my daughter’s birthday. By now, most everyone is aware that she is also Devon’s wife. So, being a fishing family, can you figure out what we decided to do to celebrate? Correctomundo my friends… We went fishing! Since the Sailfish have been so good this year we also took along Devon’s Dad and Mom, Nino and Michelle. Nino has never caught a Sailfish and Devo was bent on getting Dad his first fish. We unleashed The BEAST and headed on our quest to let Amy enjoy her B’day on the water and get Nino‘s Sailfish.
We put about a dozen Hardtails in the well quickly at the first bait stop and then loaded the wells with live Bally’s at the next bait patch. We ran the short distance offshore and yes, the tournament was still going on. We set up our normal spread and began searching. Pop, goes the d/rigger and we are into a Kingfish. Amy masters the fish to the boat and we drop it into the fish box. We stayed busy on the Kings for a while and they were all nice fish well over the 10# mark.
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Meanwhile, Amy and Devon were working speed jigs and jig bally combo’s throughout the water column, producing a Red Grouper which, was a bit short so we vented and released it, a Sand Tilefish (released), and a nice Mutton Snapper which we tossed into the box.
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The d/rigger kept time moving by dredging up a Kingfish every now and again to pass the time and fill the fish box with good fish for the smoker.
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We sidled in, out, and around the pack of boats with not one rise to our baits. Hmmm! As the day was getting late, Amy was ready to call it a day. We reminded her that we were just entering the witching hour. At 4 PM, they called lines out, wrapping up the tournament. All the boats began dumping their live wells and we had also begun to chum out some of ours. About 15-20 minutes goes by as the ocean begins to settle down from the parade of Battlewagons heading in. Birds are working like crazy on the “freebies” that are scattered everywhere. Suddenly I noticed a Sailfish chasing a ballyhoo, about 100 yards away. I turned over to get in position to head it off. 2, 4, 5 minutes go by and nothing. Must’ve missed him! Another minute or two passes and suddenly we see a Sail up on the right rigger… wait there’s one on the right flat, there’s one on the left flat too… left rigger bait is dancing… OMG! There is a huge pod of Sailfish behind the boat and they are all fighting for our baits. One of the biggest groups of Sailfish I’ve seen. Right rigger hooked up and Nino is on the rod. We missed the left flat line and left rigger… baits gone. Right flat is on for a second and spit’s the bait. WOW, talk about a fire drill! Nino is still hooked up so we clear the cockpit to optimize his chances of landing this first Sailfish. Suddenly the fish charges the boat, greyhound toward us! The line is slack with a huge belly in it and Devon is screaming for his Dad to keep reeling… fast. He’s still hooked up although Nino thought he had lost the fish. The fish comes tight and takes Nino down and dirty! The fish had worn himself out with that surface display and within 10 minutes it was boatside for the tag. We had to pull this one out of the water for a “Nino’s first Sailfish” picture. We dropped the fish into the water and spent the next 5 minutes pulling the fish through the water, letting it regain itself. When the fish began fighting against Devon we turned it loose and with a few quick kicks of its tail, it was gone.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/1-4-2009-4.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0MGOxbh3u4&feature=channel_page
Mission accomplished! With 5 nice Kingfish, and a Mutton in the box, and 1 for a bunch on Sailfish, we turned The BEAST west, and headed for the barn. I really can’t think of a better way to ring in our New Year and Amester‘s B‘day! Everyone had a great time on all 3 days, and The BEAST and crew, got some good exercise.
Wishing a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year to all, from the crew of The BEAST!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 64
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 28, 2008 - 11:25 am: | |
WOW! We have been spoiled by all the calmer days we’ve fished so far during this Sailfish season. Sunday, was a horse of a different color! The winds were recorded at 20-23 knots dead out of the East. The seas were every bit of 6 feet for the entire day. It was the kind of day that keeps me pretty much pinned to the helm and Devon working his rear off in the pit!
We met Ethan and Lael Shapiro at the dock, quickly exchanged pleasantries, and then unleashed The BEAST. We caught about 2 dozen Hardtails quickly then headed for the Ballyhoo patch. As we were traversing the Bay, they told us of their last year’s trip in Islamorada where they fished 10’ seas for a whole day and only caught 1 short Mutton Snapper. Ethan and Lael expressed that they wanted to bring home some Kingfish for their Mother for dinner. Devon was quick to comment that The BEAST has good karma with Mother Ocean and getting a few Kingfish at the least, should not be a problem at all. Be careful of what you speak, grasshopper!
We arrived at the bait patch and the ‘hoo came up plentiful and quick. We caught about 4 dozen “hookers” and put them in a separate live well. I tossed the Calusa net twice and topped off the other well with the Blue Runners. I’d love to say we blasted out to the “edge” but the waters inshore were capping and rough so we took our time motoring out at about 20 mph. We arrived on the “edge” to find a 3-5’ washing machine chop with 6’+ ground swells and a strong north current. This was going to be “Sporty” to say the least. These conditions meant we will be working in the ditch for a good part of the day! Thankfully, my WorldCat 330TE provides a stable fishing deck, that makes this type of fishing possible.
We put out 3 top lines and one down line. Shortly thereafter, we had a taker on the d/rigger but it came unpinned. Devon reset the d/r and once again we had a bite. The line took a short run and then this fish too, shook the hook. OK! It’s going to be like this, huh? Devon pulled out a Horse ‘Hoo from the “hooker” well and sent it down to 80 feet. I idled this spread around for about 20 minutes in the area where we got the last 2 strikes. The Horse entices a strong bite. This one is hooked and hooked solid. Ethan jumps on the rod and quickly realizes this is going to be a fight. He is on the rod for almost 10 minutes when he passes it off to his brother, Lael. We razzed him about the switch off. Another 5 minutes and we can see some color but not make out what it is or even the shape of the fish, only seeing flashes of it about 75 feet down. The fish begins to take drag again and we are now chasing him. The whole crew was distracted with this fish when suddenly, Devon notices the right rigger has popped and the line is paying out. With half of the spool spent, he quickly begins retrieving it. Sailfish on! Ethan grabs this rod since he has never caught a Sailfish. A long belly in the line and the fish airs out! We had to convince Ethan to keep reeling until he came tight on the fish. We were using circle hooks and when he finally came tight on the fish, it went acrobatic again. This fish was huge, the largest Sailfish we’ve hooked this year.
Now the dilemma begins. It is really, GAME ON!!!! Both fish are heading SW and taking drag so I bump up the throttles. This scenario is going too well at this point and I guess the Sailfish realized this and changes course to the NE. Isn’t this a peach?!? We have both anglers, fighting BIG fish, and each taking line 180 degrees from the other. I put the boat in neutral as there is little I can do to help either angler at this point. The “Mystery fish” is on 50 pound braid so I tell Devon to put the heat (drag) on that fish. It isn’t working and the line is melting off both reels. Meanwhile I have to contend with 2 boats that begin crowding me. They aren’t listening to the radio so I yell to the one that I have a very large fish strung out right behind his boat, and thankfully, he heard me and powered out of our way. The saga gets hairy right about now! As the 300 yards of braid is almost gone on the “Mystery fish” and the Sailfish has taken ¾ of the line on the 20# spinner, we have to make a choice. We are guessing the “Mystery fish” is a shark, since it is acting as if we are hooked to a submarine. We chose Ethan’s first ever Sailfish! Lael begins to add thumb pressure to try and stop his fish as the braid continues to leave the spool and we are now on the mono backing. Before anyone comments that we should have put a float on one of the rods and tossed it over, I will tell you that we don’t throw $400 worth of equipment over the side, on The BEAST!!!!
Down to the nitty gritty, I turn the boat slightly toward the Sailfish and begin gaining line, one painful rod pull at a time. The Mystery fish is steadily taking line and then it ends with Lael almost falling onto the deck as the line parts with about 30 yards of mono left on the spool. Crap! We tried everything, but we just couldn’t stop him! Dejectedly, I start tracking toward Ethan’s Sailfish and bump up the throttles again to recover some line and notice the second boat is real close and about to cross my strung out fishing line. As I motioned to him, to give me room it is too late and he crosses our line only 50 yards from our boat. I grabbed Ethan and told him to stick the rod completely under the water, straight down as far as he could. Thank the Lord, it worked as the line passes the other boat cleanly. That was too close for comfort! The rest of the fight was down and dirty and after 35 minutes, we finally have his fish to the boat for a tag and release. We estimated this fish to be about 75 pounds and about 72” LJFT length. She was tired and in marginal condition due to the lengthy fight, so we revived her for over 5 minutes until she regained her mobility and swam away! The topic of conversation for the next hour was that of the lost “Mystery fish” which, unfortunately, overshadowed the event filled fight and incredible size of Ethan’s monster Sail.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/12-27-2008-01.jp g
Later, we tried for some Muttons and were marking the fish on the recorder but they wouldn’t eat. We did catch a big Caribbean Spotted Mackerel, aka Barracuda, while dropping the bottom. As the day wears on, we managed to catch 3 Bonito on speed jigs, and a small sub-legal (1 inch short) Kingfish on a hair jig / bally combo. The witching hour arrives and we are still working hard when Ethan says he saw something near the left rigger bait. The line pops out of the line clip, Lael takes the rod and is into a Sailfish. This time it was a routine catch and we had the fish to the boat in 10 minutes. We finished the day with another strong bite on the d/r which pulled the hooks after a few minutes.
We tried everything we could to get them a meat fish. Devon and I were flabbergasted! The rougher the day the better the fishing, usually, but it was sort of slow for us! Bummer! A cloud of bad Ju-Ju was definitely hanging over the Shapiro brothers!!! Lael and Ethan reassured us that they had a great time and that is just their luck on almost every fishing trip!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 63
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - 10:28 pm: | |
This past Sunday I took out a group of brothers, Scott, Ben, Sterling, Billy and their Dad, Wayne. We all met at the dock at 7 AM, Devon stowed their gear, food, and drinks. We pulled the strings on The BEAST and motored out into the Bay under placid conditions. Very little wind and very calm water is usually a sign of good boating and crap fishing. I throttled up the 600 ponies and we were off. We coursed the Bay and into the patch reefs to find the exact same conditions there. Oh well, we’ll try to make the best of it.
We arrived at our favorite bait patch and deployed the chum and within minutes we started seeing bait. We put 3 guys on the bait rods and started catching our days bait. About 15 minutes into it and the tide is starting to go toward slack. Oh boy?!? The bait started to get finicky and confused, moving in and out trying to lock in on the chum scent. I threw the net, but the mirror-like water let them see it coming. Each and every one of them successfully dodged the 10’ net. We had to work them with the rods some more. We finally had enough bait for the day and as we were securing the rods the bait came in to the chum, feeling secure. I loaded the net again and thanks to my old duck hunting days, I led the school just right with the net toss. Now we are definitely good to go!
We pulled off the edge and put out our customary spread. About 15 minutes into the day and the d/rigger went off. Billy brings an average Kingfish to the boat. Several minutes later and Ben has one on. After boating that fish it was Wayne’s turn.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/12-21-2008-1.jpg
With 3 Kingfish in the box within the first 30 minutes, the current really starts ripping to the north. Things are looking up. Shortly after the strong current began we had the right rigger pop off. Scott is hooked up to a Sailfish. Several nice jumps and a down and dirty fight for 15 minutes and the fish is led to a swift tag and release. This was his first completed Sailfish catch. Not a bad start for conditions on the ocean that more resembled the water of a secluded pond. The fishing is much better than we anticipated. As we’re BS’ing a bit, I caught something out of the corner of my eye and yelled, “Left rigger!” Before anyone could get to the rod the fish goes skyward, ejecting the bait . Too slow on the reaction time there, boys.
We hit a bit of a lull for about an hour or maybe a bit more. We all had enough downtime to eat some lunch. Devon and the other guys began pounding the water with speed jigs and jig/bally’s. They managed to pull out 3 Bonito and a Blackfin to stay busy.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/12-21-2008-2.jpg
As the afternoon moves along and the sun is up on the calm water I noticed fish marking deep and it looked like balls of bait. We dropped the d/rigger to 75’ but nothing happened. We checked the bait and Devon said let’s go to 80’ or so. I dropped it to 100 feet. 5-6 minutes later and we have a bite on the d/r. The fish is coming up! Yahoo, another Sailfish! As the fish moves to the right, the left rigger goes off. He brought a friend… Double! The right rigger goes off and yet another friend… Triple!!! No wait, fish #2 spits the hook so we are down to a double. Fish # 1 goes airborne and lands on the line of #2 and snap, we are down to one. That doesn’t happen too often! We brought the fish to the boat, removed the hook and placed a tag. Release #2.
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Devon gets the cockpit back in shape and sets out another spread. Yup, d/r to 100 again. It worked last time, maybe it will again. No more than 5-10 minutes elapsed and the d/r goes off. The fish is coming up! NO WAY?!? Yes way, another Sailfish and he brought a friend that eats the right rigger. Double! The fish are heading right at another boat, so I hailed them on the radio, and they politely gave me room. Thanks guys! The second fish is a monster. He clears the water twice and then #1 begins to jump and catches the line of #2 in his mouth as fish #2 is coming down. Can you believe this. Fish # 1 has jumped up into the line of fish #1 and pop, it’s a done deal. We are down to one fish and once again they bring it boatside for the tag & release. I am dumbfounded that this oddity happened, not only once, but twice in one trip. Un-flippin‘-believable!
OK, we regain our composure and set up another identical spread. As we pass some underwater structure the d/r once again pops off and Devon and I look at each other, totally stunned, as the fish is coming up to the surface. You’re kidding me? We realized there would we no third time when the fish stopped about halfway and then worked Billy hard. Maybe a nice Blackie? Nope. Instead we see color and realize it’s a Jack of some kind. As Billy works it almost to the surface we can see it is a 10# Horse Eye Jack. We boat him for a quick photo and release.
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With time running out, we packed it in and pointed The BEAST for the corral. There were plenty of smiles to go all the way around the deck. We managed to go 3 for 7 on Sailfish, 3 Kingfish, 3 Bonito, a Blackfin Tuna, and a Horse eye Jack. Devon and I kept the entire crew busy, most of the day. Not too shabby for a ¾ day trip. The fishing is off the hook… in S. Florida.
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a prosperous New Year, to everyone!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 62
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 8:09 pm: | |
On Monday my brother-in-law, Michael, called to see if I was available to fish on Wednesday. He wanted to take 3 of his employees fishing for the day. I was open and we did go fishing, sort of.
Michael, Mike, Robert, and Rolando arrived an hour late so Devon and I quickly, untied the snarling BEAST and made our way to the bait patch. The bait came up quick but they were skittish and to add to that, it was nearing slack tide. Everyone, with some coaching, got on the ball and began putting bait in the livewell. We lost Mike to that queasy feeling about 15 minutes into the process. I managed to coax the bait close enough to get 2 throws with the cast net and we were set for the day.
The seas were fairly good size, a solid 3-4’, and the winds were steady out of the East at 13-15 knots. We made our way to the edge and put out our usual spread. In very short order we had a small, sushi size, Blackfin Tuna on the speed jig. Anticipation was high as the fish tend to feed much better in the slop. But that’s not what was happening. We picked a sub-legal Kingfish. There seems to be an abundance of these small kingfish this year. Then the fishing seemed to shut down. Oh boy! I checked the celestial predictions for the day and surmised we would have to wait until about 1 PM to get into a good bite again. The wind and seas began to rise, reaching 18-20 knots and the seas were 5’ now. One by one we were losing our crew! Mike was out for the count and Rolando was next, followed by Robert. Rolando and Robert were taking turns leaning over the rail as Mike slept. Michael was the only remaining angler.
Around 1:30 the dinner bell rang and we began getting one bite after another. Robert would pop up to catch a fish but most of the time it was Bro-in-law, Michael, working the rods. The next 2 hours or more was non stop action, unfortunately, it wasn’t all fish. The sky was full of hungry Frigate’s, Terns, and Gannets. We were lucky enough to avoid the Gannets as that is usually and instant hook up, Normally, the Frigate birds aren’t fooled by hooked baits but they were on this day! The terns were relentless and poor Devon was getting a workout! We had lines picked up by the birds, only to drop them across the other 3 or 4 lines. If it wasn’t the birds, it was the wind. We even fouled the starboard prop twice, had to clear it, and hung the d/rigger ball in one of those deepwater lobster pot buoys. We pulled in the 4th line, only running 3 now, to keep the tangles to a minimum. But during all of this the fish kept coming. Michael was working a jig/ballyhoo combo and getting bit often. Meanwhile the d/rigger was going off. The surface baits were silent. Finally we had a good fish come on one of the top baits and we suspected a nice tuna. As we were nearing a visual on it, the fish screamed under the boat. It must’ve pulled the line into the running gear and it was gone. By 3:30 or so the fishing went slack and the birds left the area, for the most part. We had gone through a bunch of bait. As the witching hour began, we put the last of the lively baits out. Once again, we were screaming at a hungry Frigate that was hell bent on eating the left rigger bait. Suddenly the right rigger goes off and Michael is into a Sailfish. Yes sir! He worked it like a champ and brought it to leader twice for a legal catch. As I was attempting to stick a tag in him, I saw him turn his head towards the underside of the boat and he was off to the races and the line parted as we tried to regain our position on him. No tag, but it was Michael’s first Sailfish catch, none-the-less!
We packed it up and pointed The BEAST westerly, towards home. While running in we recounted the day. Although we never had time to get the camera out, we discussed the catch for our memories. A bunch of Kingfish, a couple of Cobia, a Blackfin, a Bonito, a Mutton Snapper, a Red Grouper, and a Sailfish. We had numerous mangled baits and the teeth marks held the explanation. Small fish! For some odd reason, many of our fish were not legal size that day. All were released except 5 Kingfish and the B/F Tuna. Hey, it was still fishing and catching, just not much eating! Just for giggles, we took a picture of Robert with some Kings for the smoker and the small sashimi Tuna.
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Mike said he would never set foot on a boat again, and Rolando was nodding his head. Robert who actually fought off the sickness for a good portion of the afternoon, during the melee’, actually wants a repeat trip. All in all they were a great bunch of guys with a good sense of humor. Oh yeah… that little Tuna never made it past the filet table!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 61
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 12:12 pm: | |
Friday… I took by bud, Trollin’ Tom out for a day of live bait fishing. We met at the dock about 10:30 AM and shoved off. Our intent was to get some more Kingfish for the smokers. We coursed the Bay and climbed onto the patch reefs to find seas looking like a we were on a lake. After a short run to our favorite Ballyhoo patch we pulled up and started bait fishing. They were thick as fleas on a hound dog. We hook and lined a bunch and then I went for the net. Crap, I forgot to put it onboard, today! Not a big deal, we simply spent a few more minutes with the rods and we were set.
We ventured off the edge in the glass like water and set out our spread. The fishing was a bit slow but we pecked away at them. The fish were not on a blitzkrieg feed, that’s for sure, but their size was above average. We managed to catch a 6, 12, 15, and 22 pound Kingfish and a small football Blackfin Tuna. We never saw a Sailfish or Dolphin and as the sun began to set, we called it a day. Tom and I always have a good time, fish or not!
Sunday… My wife Sharon and I met Devon, Amy (the newlyweds) and Uncle Al at the dock about 8:15 in the morning. Our agenda was a leisurely day of family fun fishing with some pictures and videos if possible. We unleashed The BEAST and the day began. First order to fill was catching our bait. Our bait patch was not quite as productive as on Friday but there were plenty of them all the same. Today I remembered my cast net. We collected more than enough baits so we left the patch and sauntered out into the blue water. I was not real optimistic as we were on a pre/post condition as a front was due sometime around noon. I were hopeful that things would turn on at some point, most likely later that afternoon.
Once again the water and winds were calm with bluebird skies. We put 4 baits out on top and 1 down. A short time into it as we see the small front line coming, and we have a Sailfish up on the long rigger bait. Sharon gets on the rod as the fish eats the bait and it is “Game on”! This fish was an acrobat and unfortunately we missed a bunch of video due to a malfunction of the camcorder. We broke out my camcorder for the remainder of the day. Sharon expertly worked her fish to a tag and release even though she hasn’t been fishing in almost 18 months.
The next 3 fish to feed were some average sized Kingfish and we took turns catching them. Then the small frontal line pushed through us with a slight drizzly rain for a few minutes.
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The skies cleared, the temps dropped, and the wind and seas picked up a bit. So did the fishing! The action became fast and furious for the last 3 hours or so, of the day. We caught another Kingfish and Cero Mackerel.
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We had a pleasant surprise when a 10# Mutton Snapper crashed a bait fished at 75’ in 125’ of water. This happens from time to time but not too often.
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Uncle Al and Devon were working speed jigs and Al got hooked up to a couple of Blackfin. Al wasn’t much of a believer, but the last 2 trips have sold him on those speed jigs!
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We also caught a pair of Cobia on the down rod and each time a group of them would follow the hooked fish but they were all undersized, not by much, and returned to the water to grow up.
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We had a Blackfin crash the long flat line and I took the rod. A few seconds later and Uncle Al hooks up to a Sail on the long rigger. We quickly boated my Blackie so I could post up on the helm to keep Al on his Sailfish. It was a very large fish, much bigger than average. Al has only caught one Sailfish before and jumped one off on a recent trip with us, so we were hell bent on getting him this Sail. He did a fine job and after 25 minutes on the 20# spinning rod, he led his fish to a perfect tag and release.
As the sun set we turned The BEAST towards the barn. We were in a holiday mood but instead of “visions of sugar plums…” we had “visions of Sailfish dancing in our heads“!!!
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You can also see condensed footage of the trip through the videos! 1st link is condensed of the trip, or if you prefer, the second link is only the Sailfish action with all the acrobatics!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9O9logwU-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuM-kqmD2PQ
This year we are experiencing an above average Sailfish season. I think the continuous back to back fronts are the main reason, but whatever the case, I am loving it. We have reduced our rates to reflect the decrease in fuel costs. So… Give us a call and come join in on the action this winter while the expectations are high and the fuel prices are low.
The crew of The BEAST wants to wish each and every one, Happy Holidays!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 60
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 - 5:53 am: | |
Well the wedding saga continues! Devon and Amy decided they wanted more fish for their reception dinner. So… dang it, we have to go fishing again and you ought to know by now how much I dislike fishing! Right? Wednesday was a blow out so we planned on going Thursday morning, no matter what. NOAA called for 2-4’ seas with the winds blowing 10-15 out of the north. No problem for a 33‘ WorldCat, she can handle that and much more. I’ll try to keep this report less detailed to curtail its length.
Devon brought his Uncle Al this morning and met me at the dock at 7:15. Al and I have fished together several times before on Cubera and Swordfish trips. I was glad to see him coming along as we would have more angler power on deck. We unleashed The BEAST and were off like a herd of turtles. We started off jigging up about 2 dozen Blue Runners and then headed for the “dink” Ballyhoo patch. Our game plan was to see if we could catch another mess of Dolphin like we did on Tuesday. Arriving at the bait spot we hook and lined a bunch, then cast netted some more, and in short order we had both live wells teaming with baits. Off we go to try and duplicate Tuesday’s trip.
We arrived on the edge to find that NOAA was way off on their sea predictions. The water was 2-3’ at most, with some small white caps from the winds. The sea clarity was a dingy blue/green. As we were setting out our first baits we hooked up a single school Dolphin and into the box it went. The Dolphin have all been a decent size so far this week, unlike the anemic looking fish in the spring. Next bite was a nice fish on the down rod which engulfed all the wire trace and managed to cut the mono leader. We managed to capture a Kingfish on the down rod shortly thereafter. For the next 2 hours we were in a lull. I grabbed my VHF mic and hailed a couple of my Captain friends out there. They were'nt doing anything either but, I wasn’t worried. I told Devon and Al that the conditions were going to come together about 1:15. Al worked a small speed jig here and there and caught a few Bonito. We ate lunch and BS’d while waiting for “the bite“.
Shortly after 1PM, the seas calmed, conditions got right, and the stuff hit the fan. We caught 4 Dolphin and reset the baits. Minutes later we had a triple header on Sailfish, up in the baits. One was a window shopper and one ate! While Devon was working the hooked up fish, the third Sailfish chased the bait he was after, into the rigger line and it got tangled. As Al and I were trying to shake the bait free, this fish was intent on eating it. His entire head and mouth were clearing the water as the bait dangled about 6” off the surface. He finally gave up and swam off. Devon brought his Sail to the boat for a clean tag & release.
For the next 2 hours we added 13 more Dolphin to the fish box, released several more Bonito, a small Amberjack, and raised 2 more singles on Sailfish, hooking and jumping off one of them. Tough luck Al. That stuff happens to everyone, from time to time. The last hour of the day slowed down again but we managed another Bonito and a Blackfin Tuna on the speed jig which Al didn’t think worked very well, until today! The last fish of the day, a beefy Yellow Jack, came once again on a speed jig.
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We called it a day and headed for the barn with a nice box full of fish. The total catch for the day was 5 Sails raised but only 1 caught, 17 Dolphin to 15 pounds, 6-8 Bonito, 1 each of Kingfish, Blackfin Tuna, Amberjack, and a nice Yellow Jack. Devon and Amy should be set for fish now at their wedding reception. I just hate when I have 2 trips, a day apart, like we had this week. Right? It sucks to be tired from catching so many fish. NOT !!!!!!!
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We will never turn this economy around if we don't start spending some money. Break open your piggy banks and let's go fishing. The experiences of the oceans beauty and bounty are worth more than the money, ten fold!
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Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 59
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - 10:29 am: | |
My mate, Devon, and my daughter, Amy, are getting married on Saturday. Coming from a fishing family, they decided they wanted to serve fresh fish at their Keys wedding. The best way to make sure the fish is fresh is to go out and catch it yourself. Problem #1 was that the weather forecast was for less than comfortable winds and seas all week. Devon has a 19’ CudaCraft and the mission was looking bleak. Being the good father/father-in-law that I am, we decided to give the 33’ WorldCat a workout and give it a go on Tuesday.
Devon and I met at the dock at 8 AM and quickly loaded the boat. We couldn’t find any of our friends or family that could make this Monday morning trip with us. They had trivial nonsense excuses like work or something of that nature, so we decided to go by ourselves. With absolutely no game plan set in stone, we unleashed The BEAST and headed out. My thoughts were to set sights for my Ballyhoo patch that had a majority of “dinks”. I figured it would be much better, to have more versatile small baits to catch anything that we might encounter. The winds were huffing about 18-20 knots but were out of the NW which gave us some smaller seas than anticipated. Arriving at the patch we deployed a chum bag and within minutes the “dinks” were congregated behind the boat. They were ravenous feeders and oblivious to the boat. We caught a few dozen on hook and then I broke out the Calusa cast net. A couple throws with the net and we had plenty of bait for the day. I fired up the Suzuki outboards and headed offshore on our quest. As we were making our way out we heard some chatter on the radio of a few Sails and some Dolphin. Dolphin? Hmmm. Now there’s a thought!
We hit the edge and found 4’ seas, the winds were solid, and the weeds were scattered along the edge to the 130’ depths. I shut down to an idle and we immediately put out 4 surface baits and 1 down rod. The seas, current, and wind, made me keep a fistful of steering wheel to keep the boat in position. About a dozen Frigate’s were circling around the area. Within a few minutes our first visitors came into our spread. A couple of fat school Dolphin which we quickly dispatched into the fish box. By noon, the winds were laying back a bit and the seas were slacking off. Devon and I had pulled the hooks on 2 mystery fish on the down rod and boated 8 Dolphin. Then a Sail came tailing towards the right rigger and ate the bait. Devon worked the rod quickly and in 10 minutes we had a good tag & release. Less than 5 minutes after setting the lines out again and we had another Sailfish up and eating the short flat line. I jumped on this one and approximately 15 minutes later the fish came boatside. We noticed it had a tag in it, and another line had become severely tangled around the bill and pec fins of the fish. I reached over the side and freed the fish of all the line and we clipped off the tag. I retagged it with one of mine and Devon held the fish boatside as I idled along to insure it was in good condition before we released it. Dang! I never thought I would NOT want to catch Sailfish but this was a grocery type meat day for us.
After the 2 Sailfish catches, we caught 2 Sharks (ugh) and the Dolphin continued to be relentless. We had doubles, triples, quads, and even had 2 of them eat baits 50-75’ down on the down rod. Several times we had fish pinned in the rod holders while we were working another rod. The cockpit was a mess and lines were everywhere, more times than I care to count. I believe we lost as many fish as we had caught. We had to stop several times to clear the cockpit, cleanup a bit, and recount our catch. Now it’s 2 PM and we have a boat limit (20) of nice fat Dolphin. It sure would’ve been nice to have had at least one more angler! We could’ve easily limited out with 4 anglers!
Rather than continuing to work the top, just to release fish, Devon stored away the spinning rods as I set my sights for a favored bottom wreck. Arriving there I checked the drift, rapidly to the north, and reset for our first drift. Whoop there it is! Up comes a nice Mutton snapper! We’re thinking we could spend the next hour or so, working this spot for a few more Muttons. Not to be! The next drift I hooked up and the line got very heavy, then it went slack. My Mutton just got eaten and the leader was bit off clean. WOW! It didn’t take long for the sharks to home in and take advantage of the free meal. We made 4 more drifts and each time we would get the tug, only to have the fish pulled loose of the hooks. Devon managed to catch a very large Spotted Caribbean Mackerel (aka. Barracuda) that ate his bait as he was bringing it up. We gave up and called it a day.
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As we were making our way across the Bay, we remarked of the fact that we would be in before dark, for a change! We also considered that we might try to get out one more time, weather permitting, while the Dolphin are still here. I told Devon that he already had a good mess of fish, to clean and pack, for the wedding reception. He looked at me smiling and said, “ Yep! Thank God my father-in-law is a charter captain!”
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Alan Sherman (Shermana)
New member
Username: Shermana
Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 7:15 am: | |
As I sit and write this fishing report a strong cold front has just pushed through South Florida and our temperatures are quickly dropping into the 60’s and eventually into the upper 50’s. At this point I think we can safely say that summer is over at least until things warm up again because this is south Florida and our temperatures typically rarely drop below 40 and normally stay a pleasant 70 to 80 degrees right through April. This is the time of the year for fishermen that prefer mild temperatures and a wide variety of fish species to target to get out on the water and try their fishing luck. Fuel prices have dropped by half from what it was when I was forced to raise my rates and I am happy to report that I have lowered my rates accordingly.
Flamingo in Everglades National Park is going through some changes now as water temperatures slowly drop. Shrimp are migrating through Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico and every fish that lives in Florida bay and the Gulf of Mexico is eagerly waiting for this tasty morsel to swim by their noses. Migratory birds are all over the place and on many days flocks of a thousand white pelicans and hundreds of Rosette spoonbills can be seen close up. Snook, redfish and tarpon are slowly retreating to areas that they will feel more comfortable in when a quick moving cold front moves into South Florida. All of these species will be available through the winter but now they are more likely to be available after a front has passed and water temperatures start to rise. On some of the colder days many of the snook and redfish, black drum and sheepshead will move into the deeper channels and rivers and require baits to be fished near the bottom where the water is a little warmer. These fish feed slower and require more patience then when the water is warm. Sea trout, ladyfish, jacks, bluefish and Spanish mackerel are more plentiful and because the cooler water temperatures are more to their liking these fish will feed eagerly on anything that resembles a live shrimp. On many days this fishing can be non stop! I like to head into the outer reaches of Florida Bay and into The Gulf where I anchor and chum as we fish for Spanish mackerel, bluefish, tripletail, cobias, pompano, jacks, snappers, groupers and sharks. As long as the tide is running and the chum is flowing the fish will be right at the stern and eating everything thrown in the water.
Before this cold front approached fishing in North Biscayne Bay was good for speckled sea trout for catch and release and many of these fish are over two pounds and can be caught on a wide variety of lures and baits. I try to target the sea trout with ¼ ounce Hook Up lures that I tip with a Gulp scented three or four inch shrimp, Rapala Twitchin Raps, X Raps and when the water is calm we through Skitter Walks for those explosive surface strikes and then when I fish natural baits we suspend live shrimp or pilchards under a Cajun Thunder float that attracts the fish right to your bait. Each technique that I just mentioned targets not just the sea trout but bluefish, Spanish mackerel, juvenile kingfish that make it into the bay as they follow the baitfish schools, pompano, snapper, grouper, snook, tarpon, barracudas, sharks, jack crevalles and ladyfish. All of these fish can be caught while fishing for the sea trout in North Biscayne Bay this time of the year.
South Biscayne Bay has started to heat up as water temperatures slowly drop. Already Spanish mackerel, bluefish a few pompano, lots of small to medium sized red groupers, jacks and ladyfish have moved into the Finger Channels and are available to be caught. Mutton snapper, yellowtail, mangrove and hog snappers will join these fish soon. It is an easy fishery where soaking live shrimp or dead baits on the bottom for the snappers and groupers and the porgies while you fish a few baits on the surface for the mackerel, bluefish and pompano can keep you in action most of the day and if the winds get strong this area gets better.
Offshore the fishing has been very good with good runs of mackerel and bluefish along the beaches that have been taking place since October and kingfish being caught in depths from forty feet out to just over 100 feet of water. Along the bluewater color change schools of dolphins have been pushing through for weeks and the sailfish have showed up early this year. The offshore fishing can be done from my 22’ Pathfinder Bay Boat but all of my charters start in the bay and then on the calmer days I might venture offshore to target the bluewater species but that is a decision that only I will make as the trip progresses through the day.
Check out my updated Web Site’s Photo Page and see if your picture made it to the site! www.getemsportfsihing.com
The Holidays are just around the corner and what better gift for yourself, friend, relative or business friend then a full or half day fishing charter aboard the 22’ “Get Em” Pathfinder Bay Boat.
Recent Catches:
Jonas fished with me recently in North Biscayne Bay and we started the trip by cast netting over 500 pilchards with one throw of my 10’ Lee Fisher Cast Net and then headed to Haulover Inlet where we came across a school of jack crevalles that were in the eight to 12 pound range. In one hour we Jonas caught and released four of these jacks all on Rapala Twitchin Raps and Skitter Walks before heading offshore where we landed one kingfish and a few bonitos and lost over a dozen kings by cut offs before moving further offshore where we found a large school of dolphins in the six to 12 pound range. In no time we had our limit and headed back for the dock. That was a four hour charter!
Next day I fished by myself and went looking for the dolphins again. With another live well full of bait I was hoping to chum the dolphins with in range and catch them on fly. But as fishing goes it wasn’t to happen. The fish had thinned out and I was only able to get a person limit with a few smaller fish released.
Today I fished David Lange and his son’s Alan and Ryan. Normally when I get these guys on the boat the fishing is great but not today. We are out for a half day trip and after catching all the bait we need we start by fishing for mackerel. After missing a couple of fish we catch a large needlefish and two lizard fish before heading offshore to look for some dolphin. After locating a nice weedline we slow trolled pilchards for an hour and only managed one missed fish before coming back into the reef where we tried for kingfish but no bites there. We fished five more areas with the same results only managing a few more missed bites and a small senate that resembles a barracuda. Not everyday is a great day.
Today is Veterans Day and the wind is blowing at least 25 out of the northeast. I have my nephew Alexander and his sister Katherine with me and we are fishing South Biscayne Bay. The first spot produces six Spanish mackerel to six pounds and at least three times that in missed strikes and cut offs plus many jack crevalles and a few missed bluefish before the action stopped. Our next few spots produced lots of small red groupers and a yellowtail snapper.
Today I am in Flamingo with Dr. C and his son Keiser. They want fish for the freezer so we are off to the Gulf waters to fish a spot that produced a lot of snappers, mackerel, bluefish, jacks, groupers and cobia a few weeks ago. It is a full moon and you just never know what to expect on a full moon. We pass up schools of baitfish that are being terrorized by small jacks and ladyfish and work our way to the first spot. I am loaded with nice live shrimp, finger mullet and pilchards. The first spot produces only small jacks and ladyfish. The second spot we missed a few good strikes and the third spot we released two sharks boated a lane snapper and then the catfish made us leave. We headed closer to shore and fished a piece of structure where we had a bite on every cast. One of the fish was a 15 pound permit and another was a nine pound goliath grouper. After that we fished similar spots and landed three pompano, mackerel, bluefish, jacks, ladyfish and snappers before calling it a day.
If you’r in the market for a new landing net then you need to check out the Stow Master landing net line. I have owned two Stow Master landing nets in the last three years and the only reason I don't have my original net is because I allowed it to catch a mangrove tree in a small creek with a lot of current and it tore the net and broke the handle. The Stow master landing net is a knotless net that is coated with a material that almost makes hooks getting stuck a thing of the past. It has extensions and folds in half taking up half the space of a normal landing net and easily stows in a rod locker or hatch making it impossible to be blown out of you boat while traveling. Stow master nets can be bought in many of your local tackle dealers or on line at www.stowmaster.net/
Do you live on the water? Do you have a dock or sea wall behind your home? If your answer was yes and you have read my report then you need the Super Fish Light on your dock or sea wall. The Super Fish Light easily attaches to your sea wall or dock and runs off of a 110 volt power cord and once set up to go on at night and turn off at a specific time will have snook, tarpon, snappers, jacks, ladyfish and baitfish like pilchards, shrimp and glass minnows right at your back door. From there you can either name your new pets or catch them for catch and release or dinner. www.superfishlight.com I hope to have some pictures real soon of my Super Fish Light and the fish it has attracted.
Captain Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Spotfishing Charters
7864362064
shermana@bellsouth.net
www.getemsportfishing.com
Check out my report in the Miami Herald's Sports section under Fishing Updates each Thursday, the Florida Sportsman Magazines South Florida Internet Fishing Report (www.floridaspotsman.com), my monthly Action Spotter Fishing Report for the South Region in the Florida Sportsman Magazine each month or tune into the Florida Sportsman Magazines Live Radio Show on 1080 WMCU on the AM dial or listen on the internet at www.1080wmcu.com every Saturday morning from 7 to 8 AM and here the up to the minute fishing forecasts from some of the top Capt.'s in South Florida like Capt. Jimbo Thomas on the Thomas Flyer, Capt. Bouncer Smith on Bouncers Dusky, Capt Skip Bradeen on the Blue Chips Too out of Whale Harbor Marina, Capt. Wayne Conn on The Reward Fleet, the Newport Fishing Pier and more.
Check out my new web site and see the monthly catches!
Sponsors: Yamaha, Bob Hewes Boats, Maverick, Minn Kota, Lowrance Electronics, Daiwa, General Motors & Chevrolet, Rapala, Mustad, Ande Lines, Pure Fishing, Gulp, Berkley, Precision Tackle, Capt. Hank Brown's Hook Up Lures, Hydro Glow Lights, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Saltwater Assassins, Key Largo Rods, Lee Fisher Cast Nets, Smartshield, Master Repair in Stuart Florida, Power Pole, Stow Master Nets, superfishlight.com
Capt. Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Sportfishing Charters |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 58
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 09, 2008 - 8:47 am: | |
Fun fishing days are fewer and farther between these days. Due to the welcomed drop in fuel prices lately, Tom and I made plans to go have a nice afternoon on the water. My friend Tom, a.k.a. “Trolling Tom”, occasionally likes to take a break from his trolling regiment and do some live bait fishing. We both decided we would target some Kingfish for the smoker.
Since this was a “fun day” we met at the dock and were on our way out the channel at the crack of noon. We throttled up the 600 restless ponies on the back of The BEAST and made our way offshore while discussing our game plan, election results, and generally anything else that came to mind. These type of days are quite enjoyable for the both of us and any time on the water is appreciated now, especially with all the worries of today’s economy.
We busted out from the islands into the open water of the patch reefs and immediately had a good laugh at the supposed NOAA prediction of 3-4’ seas for the day. The conditions were beautiful with seas of 1-2’. The skies were starting to show signs of Hurricane Paloma as a line of high overcast clouds were building in. No worries. I put us on a heading to my preferred bait patch and upon arrival realized that not a single anchor ball was there. What happens to these mooring balls, anyway? Oh well, let’s head to spot #2 a couple of miles away. We arrived there in a few minutes and moved in one of the shallower areas. The chum bag is in place but nothing was happening. The tide was lessening toward slack high tide so after about 15 minutes Tom and I pulled the plug on that spot and moved to another. Ah, that’s better. The bait started coming up and the Ballyhoo, although they were “dinks” were plentiful enough. We caught a little over a dozen on hooks. When they started bunching up behind the boat, I broke out the 10’ Calusa net and topped off the well. We had enough bait for the afternoon since it was already after 2 o‘clock.
We made the short run to the edge and pulled into the area with, surprising to us, another 8-10 boats. A nice turnout for a Friday. As soon as we settled in we set out 4 baits on top, 2 of my spinners on the port side and the starboard side had 2 of Tom’s rods. We do that because Tom uses spinning reels with the handle on the wrong side of the reel. We laugh about that all the time because we both feel retarded when we try to use the others gear. I’m not sure why that is, because a conventional reel has the handle on the right side and I feel totally fine with them. After all these years, I have yet to feel comfortable with a spinning reel with the handle on the right. Weird, huh?
I pulled out the downrigger and set a bait down to the magic depth for our targeted Kingfish. We didn’t have to wait long as I hugged right up against the edge. The down rod went off and I got after it. Minutes later we had a small, barely legal, 25” King in the boat. The skunk is off the boat. I moved in even closer but we started to have a problem with an Ocean Tally shadowing our baits and taking just enough nips to kill them. As I turned to make my way back over the drop-off, the left flat line (Tom’s side) went off and a nice Cero Mackerel came aboard to keep the little King company in the fish box.
We bumped around for a time moving out deeper in hopes for a Dolphin or Blackfin bite. The sky was dotted with Frigate birds, almost everywhere we looked, from the edge and deeper. Several times we thought we were going to get into something as the birds would drop down on the deck, but nothing materialized. As I moved back in towards the edge, the down rod once again, gets the nod. The TLD 30 drag is telling us that this is a good one! You just have to love the sound of that clicker screaming! Tom takes his turn on the rod and putting good pressure on the fish, he turns his head back toward the boat. Tom yells, “He’s coming to the boat, FAST!” I put the other motor in gear and powered up to help get pressure back on the line for Tom. OK, we are back in control of the fish again. The fish is tiring and we get it up on the Port side to see that it is a nice King Mack. Mr. Mack decides he doesn’t like the port side of my boat and immediately heads for the stern. Tom does a great job of keeping the fish out of the motors and away from the props. The fish resurfaces on the starboard side now. I grabbed the leader and readied the gaff for a head shot but the fish says, “I don’t think so.” and makes us do some fancy dancing. Tom keeps the fish under control and brings it back to gaff range and I swiftly strike it with the gaff. It wasn’t a head shot but at this point, I wanted the fish in the boat. I was done playing with him and given more time, with those razor sharp teeth, would’ve only ended in a lost fish. Dragging the fish over the gunwale and onto the deck with a thud, we realize we have a nice “smoker” for the smoker.
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Some more time passes, and we managed to catch another Kingfish on the down rod. After eyeballing it, we figured it was another marginal fish about the size of the small King earlier, I released it to grow up. A few minutes later we had another taker on the downrigger. The TLD is steadily screaming as the fish takes a long initial run, trying his best to dump the spool. The fish takes a few seconds break and is off on another run. Tom and I agree that we have the BIG brother to that nice Kingfish chilling in the fish box, or quite possibly Mr. Wahoo. Tom keeps the rod bent on the fish as I leave one motor in gear to keep maximum pressure on the fish, and it stops him once again. The mystery fish takes a couple more bursts and it is obvious that we are gaining as the fish tires. Tom gets the fish turned toward the boat and seconds later I hear those sickening words, “Oh no… he’s gone.” muttering from Tom’s lips. “No way!”, I answer back. Yes way, folks, the fish was gone. Tom reeled in the line to discover it was cleanly bitten through the leader, most likely when he turned towards the boat. Wow, that had to be a big fish, because I had about 6” of wire on the stinger hook and 8-9” of wire between the leader and the main hook. That would have been a Kodak fish for sure, but instead it was the one that got away!
The remaining hour of the day was uneventful with only a few bites and lost baits. As the sun set on the horizon we called it a day and pointed the bow toward the barn. Tom and I recapped the day with the mystery fish being the hot topic. The possible weight of the nice Kingfish was in the discussion too, of course. When we leashed The BEAST to the dock I broke out the digital scale and weighed our big fish. It settled in at exactly 30 pounds. Not too shabby! Both, Tom and I, will be firing up our smokers this weekend. I can already taste my smoked fish dip as I type. My belly is growling!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 57
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 10, 2008 - 12:35 pm: | |
Matt, Jim, and Frank, flew into Miami from Philly Pa., with one purpose in mind. They wanted to catch Swordfish. Matt & Jim had fished 2 nights with me almost 2 years ago and to recap, the first night we caught 1 and the second night we went 2 for 6 in the first hour and half and went home. Each had caught their first Swords. The weather was horrible and the weekend forecast was atrocious. They arrived Friday morning, called me immediately, and we discussed the upcoming trip for Saturday night. I was on the computer watching the forecasts, NOAA updates, radar images, and buoy data, throughout the night. We awoke Saturday morning to torrential downpours and the radar images showed no promise. Thunderboomers and lightning strikes, along with strong wind and seas, were the factors which couldn’t be denied. Around 11 AM I pulled the plug on the trip for the safety of my crew. As it turned out it was a very good choice! Foreseeing this possibility, Matt and I had already blocked out Sunday for them. Sunday morning the phone rang and Matt and I discussed our possibilities. The only thing that wasn’t going right were the wind and seas. Forecasted winds were East at 15 knots with seas at 2-3 feet building to 4-5 feet. Having fished on my WorldCat before, Matt and his crew knew it’s capabilities and were good to go!
We met at the dock at 5 PM and unleashed The BEAST. I punched my route into the GPS and brought the Suzuki 300’s up to cruise speed. As we crossed the Bay and into the patch reefs, Devon was rigging new leaders and baits for the night. We hit the blue water, well ahead of schedule and I slowed our speed down, turning to Devon. He was a step ahead of me. He had already put out a rod for some high speed trolling. Nothing doing in the Wahoo department, this evening. We reached my drift point, and immediately began checking my drift speed and direction. A leisurely drift of 1 ½ mph. NICE! That will keep us in the strike zones longer. As the sun set, we deployed 2 float rods and 2 tip rods. As I passed a flag (waypoint) on the GPS, of a previous trips catch, nothing happened. A quarter mile later the deep tip rod starts thumping. Matt puts on the Brute Buster harness to “do work”. Get’em Mattie! The fish is obviously not a tackle tester. The fish is coming in easily as if he read a “Be caught with Less Stress” book. We only had to pull the other tip line and no boat maneuvering was needed. Devon made short work of the leader job. We quickly took pictures and dispatched this 42” fish. “The skunk is off the boat, Boys!”
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We lowered the 2 tip rods once again, continuing on in the drift. As my crew finally settle down from the recent catch, the deep tip gets the nod, again. Thunk, thunk… thunk! I ran to the rod and cranked the handle, coming tight on the fish. Frank immediately takes over and keeps the line tight as they strap the harness on him. As he lifts the rod out of Rodney Rodholder, I noticed the tip abruptly straighten. Frank says “It’s gone. Crap, it‘s gone!” We reeled the line in to check the bait. A little worse for the wear but still in good shape, I lowered it again. About half way down, the line goes slack as something picks up the bait. Hmmm, nothing there! Drop a bit more, nothing there. After another 15 minutes I decided to pull them up and get back on the good drift line as we had been pushed inside onto the flat. What the heck? I was drifting a Berkley Gulp Squid on the deep float line and it was gone, not the hook, only the bait. Now anyone who has ever fished a Gulp product knows that you almost have to cut them off to remove them from the hook. I never had that happen before. I still can’t get over that one.
We ran back to point A and moved offshore a bit more. Once again we put out the same setup. Time is passing slowly but the stories and sarcasm are flying. We pass the first bite area and nothing happens. Suddenly we see the deep float rod fall over but the line is limp. Devon rapidly cranks the handle but nothing is there. When I say nothing, I mean nothing! As the float comes in we unhook it and realize shortly thereafter that something had cut off our whole terminal rig. No weight, no light, no leader, nothing. We re-rig and get the rod back out again. As we near the point of our last bite on the previous drift, the deep tip, once again gets the nod. Hooked up solid! Frank gets the harness on and begins working the fish. Not feeling to well as the Pringles are rolling in his belly, he stays the course and works this fish. Better than the last, but not as big as we’d like, he brings the fish to boat side. The drill on The BEAST is to get the fish in, get the hook out, a few quick photos, then get him back in the water. We executed this drill and the 48” fish swam away quickly. 2 down, 1 to go.
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We continued our drift a while longer until the other tip rod has the clicker make a few clicks and this time the line is cut off once again but about 125 feet from the terminal gear. Devon is confused by this but I told him of a time I had a small shark cruise through the light and watched as he swam into my line and inadvertently caught it in his teeth cutting off 400’ of braid and all terminal gear. Same thing this night, but hey, they are having a dance down on the bottom, disco lights and all. Once again we had been pushed to far onto the flat to suit me so we pulled all the lines and made our way back to the drift start. One more time, Gentlemen. Devon rigs a new setup on the tip line and has to replace 2 baits that were whacked and hacked with no indication to us above. We set them out and the waiting was long this time. The night was drawing to a close and the shallower of the 2 tip rods makes a few clicks but nothing is there. We thought it was just the 5’ waves taking a bit of line. Everyone is getting tired and the boat grows increasingly quiet as a few of the crew start dozing off. I look at Jim and tell him it looks like his night will be uneventful but he reminds me that he caught 2 on the last trip, so it was not a big deal. I informed everyone that the fat lady was going to sing in 10 minutes. We reached the uneventful end of the last drift and I called for all lines in. First up, the tip rods. Well there ya go. That tip rod clicked because a fish had slashed the mustard out of that bait. The deep float rod came up slashed as well. As Frank is reeling in the shallow float line (longest from the boat) he tells Matt “It feels heavy.” Matt makes a few cranks and says, “I think something is on here!” Jim grabs the rod and it is game on for #3! Just as the fat lady was finishing her chorus, we come tight on the last line out, and we are on a better fish. This one required a bit more finesse and a little boat work but after about 15 minutes, Jim has it boat side. Legal fish and they want to keep it. I grab the leader and get the fish almost to the gaff and it gets a short second wind. A couple minutes later and I grab the leader and Devon stones him with the 5” straight gaff. We hoist the fish into the boat. Frank remarked how laid back and relaxed we were, never getting nervous or excited in the process.
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Yes sir! A decent keeper fish, 52” LJFT, for the table. The BEAST pulled the rabbit out of the hat, for Jim! As the cheers and picture taking resides, I pointed the bow toward the barn and throttled up. Matt, Jim, and Frank, although tired, expressed their satisfaction to Devon and I. They gave us the best compliment we have ever had, when they remarked, “You are a great team that really loves what you do, and it shows.” Thanks guys, and see you next year!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 56
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008 - 10:19 am: | |
The weather was rougher than NOAA had forecasted this weekend, but Devon and I managed to get 2 trips out anyway. As we were preparing the boat on Saturday afternoon, one of our Dock neighbors asked if we were going out. “Yes, for Cubera, why?” I asked. He said “It is not good out there!” I wasn’t worried, after all, fishing in lumpy seas is the main reason why I bought my 33’ WorldCat.
Our trip Saturday was a repeat customer from the Saturday before. Yes siree, George is hooked, but this time he brought Mike and Carlos instead of Santi. They arrived a bit late and we unleashed The BEAST. The winds were brisk and the seas a bit bigger than we had hoped for. At our lobster spots, we found cloudy water and visibility was less that 10 feet. That makes for tough buggin‘! Devon is an excellent free diver and collecting crawfish is usually easy for him, but not on this day. 90 minutes and 3 locations later, we only had 4 lobster. They just weren’t there! Great, wonderful… crap! We did manage to catch a half dozen Bar Jacks while Devon was in the water.
We bagged that part of our bait collection and headed for the Yellowtail spot. We had the winds pushing against the current. The Tails were not willing to play into our game plan either but the Speedos came up thick. Mike and Carlos worked on Speedos and Devon and George kept trying for the Y-tails. I dropped a rig to the bottom and, BAM, up comes a 27 inch Black Grouper that ate a dead Silverside. I tossed it in the fish box. The sun setting now, we decided to go with what we had, 4 bugs, 3 legal Y-tails, 6 Bar Jacks, and a butt load of Speedos.
We made the run to the Cubera and began hunting them down. We located them deeper than the week before. I motored into position for the first drift and we dropped our baits. Carlos and George were up first. In less than 2 minutes, KABOOM, Carlos’ rod doubles over! He is in the fight of his life. At first he was pumped up, but his fish was giving him BIG trouble. Carlos got a second wind and yelled “You’re coming up!” I think I heard a muffled Cubera voice from down below say “Yeah right, like hell I am!” This tug of war went on for longer than most other Cubera battles and at least twice, Carlos was about ready to give up. We knew for sure that this had to be a good fish and Carlos was finally gaining on it. At last, we got the lead to the boat and Devon grabbed the leader. The fish went under the boat and around the lower unit. Devon scrambled back to the dive platform and grabbed it. Devon let’s out a yell, “Oh my God!” He’s straining as he gets the fish out of the water and up and over the transom. THUD! All types of words and phrases were being uttered. I remember distinctly, George blurting out “Holy Jesus… Mother of Pearls! Whatever that means? This wasn’t a good fish, my friends, this was a Miami MONSTER. Comments were buzzing around the cockpit, as well as guesses on the weight. We realized that the Boga Grip only goes to 60 pounds. Wait! I have a digital scale that I use to weigh fish during tournaments and it has good accuracy. We hooked it up and Devon and George teamed up to lift it off the deck. The scale settles at 74.5 pound. Holy Jesus… Mother of Pearls! Devon and I have been trying to break our 50# boat record but we never expected to best that mark by almost 25 pounds. See, it just goes to show you it’s not a fairy tale, there are sea monsters. Pretty work, Carlos!
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The rest of the trip is an adrenaline blur. The Cubera’s were snappin’. They were hitting everything we put down, on every drift. We went on to catch 7 more, fish between 25 and 35 pounds, releasing all but the monster and one other floater. George has the hang of it, catching 4 himself. At 10:30 PM, the bite shut down as if someone had flipped a switch. We packed it in after 2 more fruitless drifts. I pointed The BEAST to the west and headed home. At the dock we were buzzing again and George said he was going to call me early this week, to possibly book again this week. He’s hooked… a Cuberoin addict!
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As I am writing this I just got a call from George. He said that they took the fish by Crook & Crook on US1 and weighed it on their IGFA scales. It weighed a touch under 76 ¼ pounds on their scales.
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Sunday night, Dave came, solo, to fish with us. He’s an English transplant who loves to fish speed jigs. He brought 3 of his nice jigging rods and a bag full of speed jigs of all types. His goal was to catch a Cubera on a speed jig… at night.
We turned The BEAST loose and we headed out for bait. What a difference a day can make. The seas were better than Saturday and the visibility on the reef was excellent. We were very relieved as the bugs had returned to our favorite spot and we grabbed our 12 Lobster in short order. As we headed south to fish for Yellowtail, we were comfortably calm in knowing that we had enough ’primo’ baits, regardless of the baitfish bite. The Y-tails were non-compliant once again, but the Speedos came. I quickly caught a dozen of them and Dave and Devon teamed up to boat 3 Cero Mackerel and a large Bonito. We pulled the hook early, not waiting for dark, since Dave could fill the time, jigging.
We arrived on the Cubera spot and I checked things out. The fish were in the same vicinity as the night before. Dave worked his jig and quickly caught a Horse Eye Jack. The game plan this night was to drop one live bait and let Dave work his jigs. 35 seconds into the first drift and the bug gets crushed. Fish on Dave! He jumps on the rod and brings up a head. Sharked! A huge bite mark and the fish is gone behind the gills.
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The current is mild and the fish are scattered out so the drifts are longer. Bam! Dave’s jig gets hit and he wrestles up another Horse Eye Jack. Next drift and the bug gets taken again and Dave is into a nice fish. Yahoo! A 40 pounder slaps the deck. We put this fish into the box because we couldn’t get a good release on it. We decided at this point that we would release all but possibly one more small one.
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The night went on with non stop action. Dave jigged up a 10# Kingfish and missed or lost several other bumps. I was amazed that these jigs even work well at night. Suddenly, about 9:45 PM he gets hooked up on the jig. “Aw, another Horse Eye” he says! As he gets the fish to where I can barely make it out in the water, the live bait rod doubles over. Now he’s perplexed, being the only angler and 2 fish on. Knowing what eats Lobster out there, he hands me his jigging rod to finish off the Jack and takes the fish on the bait rod. Well looky there! As the fish on the jig makes a circle and comes into the spreader light, and there it is, not a Horse Eye Jack, but instead a 25 # Cubera on a speed jig. Dave works the other Cubera up and it’s a respectable 30# fish. After a few quick photos, we revived and released them. The bigger one takes off quickly but the smaller fish is a floater, so we fish it out of the water and toss it in the fish box. Now, at our boat limit, we decided that anymore caught would be quickly photo’d and dispatched back in the water. Good plan and it worked.
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We ran out of Lobster and the fishes appetites had slowed down only a bit but we called it a night. On the ride back to the barn, Devon and I recapped our weekend and Dave plugged in his ear buds on his I-phone, relaxing to his music on a beautiful moonlit night. He deserved it, after single handedly working over 7 Cubera’s from 25 to 40 pounds, a Cubera head, 2 Horse Eyes, and a Kingfish and working a speed jig for hours. Good job Dave!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 55
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 08, 2008 - 11:20 am: | |
Tropical Storm Hanna… Hurricane Ike… Good grief, give us a break here in South Florida! We have an uncontrollable NEED to go fishing. The weather has definitely put a damper on our ocean outings. We have had very few comfortable fishing days in the last several weeks. With several weather pending Cubera trips on the books, and the window of opportunity for Cubera Snapper closing, I have been glued to the computer and TV looking for favorable updates.
We had trips scheduled but Ike was breathing down our neck. With hurricane preps to take care of, I called the people booked for Saturday and Sunday and we all agreed to bag the trips. However, on Saturday morning I was awakened by a phone call from George, telling me to check the weather and call him back. The weather window for that night showed E winds at 5-10 knots and seas 2’ or less, so I called Devon to make sure he could mate that night. He said “Let’s do it!” so I called George back and we set up to meet at 3PM.
George, Santi, Devon, and I arrived at the dock within minutes of each other, exchanged introductions, and prepared for the evenings outing. We unleashed The BEAST and were off. Hopes were high, and George was very excited and vocal about this night. I throttled up and we were off. As we left the Bay and broke out onto the reefs we were pleased to see flat seas and light winds. We pulled up and let Devon get in the water to dive up some Cubera candy. Apparently the rough seas and weather systems had pushed the Lobster somewhere else because he was in the water for an hour and a half and only caught 5. Oh Boy! Not Good! We pow-wow’d for a few minutes and decided to go get some Yellowtail. We ran to our normal spot and anchored. The current was ripping and we only got a few sub legal ’Tails and tossed them back. I made a move to another spot where we managed to get about 6-8 decent fish. George couldn’t contain his excitement any longer and wanted to go with what we had. I was skeptical of the bait situation.
Darkness upon us, we headed out for the big “Snappa’s”. I located several small, scattered groups of them but nothing like they were. Now I’m thinking, “Really not good!”. We set up a drift to intercept a group of these fish and Devon dropped 2 bugs. George brought along his Penn 80 standup outfit and harness. His bait hit the bottom and Santi’s bait was a second or two behind him. George’s eyes lit up as a Cubera engulfed his bug 3 seconds later and it was Game On, Boys! About 5 seconds later, Santi;s rod bends over. Got a double going!!! Not for long as Santi pulls the hook on his fish. George is in amazement. He’s buckled in, the rod is bent over and he just can’t believe the power of these fish. He worked the fish to the boat and Devon flopped a nice 29# Cube onto the deck.
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We set up for our next drift and once again George got a bug on his line but Santi opted to conserve and use a bait fish. In less than a minute, George is hooked up again but it was short lived. This fish was a monster, taking 30#’s of drag. Unstoppable! In less than a minute this fish was gone. All the terminal tackle was intact except for 5’ of leader and the hooks. The remaining leader told the story. This big fish had rocked him. Some of these fish are big and some are dumb but never will they be both. In their world, it’s hard to get big, if you are dumb!
Needless to say we made another drift through these fish and once again, George had bug bait and Santi got the fish bait. I’m not sure why that kept happening? Once again, a decent fish shows its taste for Lobster. This time George works the fish with the Penn 80 drag hammered down to full. Full drag with a standup harness and he stopped that fish cold this time. He worked the fish to the surface and a respectable 36# fish goes on ice.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/9-6-2008-004-4.j pg[/IMG]
As we make the run back to my drift start point, I swung wide to keep from continuously running over the top of these fish. As I am swinging through the deeper water the bottom machine lights up like a Christmas tree. Holy ----! Everyone stared at the depth finder with gaping eyes! “Let’s work this school.“ I told them. We made 3 drifts and no takers. Hmmm. It was pretty obvious that feeding was not on their minds.
I went back to our feeding fish and interjected that Santi should get the last bug for bait. 2 drifts and Santi’s bug is untouched. I told Santi that we’ve never had a bug make it through 3 drifts. Bada bing! The 3rd drift was a charm. Santi was hooked up, but once again, not for long. George was baited up with the largest bait fish in the well and soon was hooked up to another monster fish. OMG! His drag was hammered down to full and this fish managed to rock him too. These fish had to be larger than our biggest 50# fish this year. You just can’t translate into words, the power of these fish!
The bites were less often now, but they continued to feed. The fish were taking the baits with less vigor and many baits were surfacing, crushed or mangled. Then suddenly the bite turned off. Perfect timing as we only had 1 live bait left and it was time to pack it in. The swells were beginning to roll in. It appeared we timed this trip perfectly, taking advantage of this brief lull. The action was fast and furious for the first 90 minutes, then tapered off rapidly. The tally for the night was 2 Cubera of 29 and 36 pounds, out of 9 bites. George and Santi were spent, but enthusiastically said that they want to go again this weekend if the weather is good, and I have an opening. Not a problem!
Fishing for BIG fish must be akin to smoking crack… try it once and your hooked!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 54
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 1:33 pm: | |
The Cubera Snapper are still here but not quite as concentrated and it was evident to us on a recent trip.
We took a group from Stuart out on a quest for an IGFA Junior record since the wind and seas had laid down. George Sr, George Jr, his daughter Casey, and her friend Dusty joined us for the trip. Casey already holds several IGFA Junior records and has her sights set next year on setting records in the women’s division.
We sidled out of the Marina heading for our lobster grounds and Devon quickly rounded up 10 bugs. We already had other finfish in the second live well so we headed off to do some Yellowtail fishing. The ‘Tails were a bit on the slow side and Dusty, Casey and Gorge Jr picked at them. In the beginning we were catching the 13-14” fish but as time progressed we also got a couple of nice Mango’s, a Strawberry Grouper, a Porgy, a small Kingfish, and a nice Cero Mac. As the sun began to set we started getting some of the nicer Y’tails and 2 that were truly “flags", weighing in at 4 pounds.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-23-2008-016.jp g
As the sun set we stowed all the light tackle, pulled the chum bag, and hit the switch on the windlass. "OK, let's get after those Snappa's!" As the anchor came aboard, Casey began to get nervous and asked me a lot of questions about what she was in for when we located the Cuberas.
I put The BEAST up on plane and we headed for our Cubera spots. As I arrived I slowed down and began looking for the fish. They were still there but it appeared that the storm had an influence on them. They weren’t in big piles like the week before, but rather, were scattered in small groups everywhere. The current was barely moving at ½ knot and this was not going to be as easy as it was last week. Devon and I brainstormed for a minute or two and came up with a plan.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-23-2008-032.jp g
We set up for our first drift and dropped a lobster down on Casey’s line and a finfish down on the other. Casey’s nerves were on edge and she was jittery, to say the least. Rightfully so, since she only stood 5’3” and weighed about 90 pounds soaking wet. 30 seconds into the drift and her eyes grew wide as she realized that a BIG Cubera had just dined on her Lobster. She came tight on the fish and the wrestling began. The tussle lasted for almost 5 minutes. At that point, this old bruiser made another lunge for the bottom and succeeded in finding something to cut her leader. Folks, that was a big fish, that in our estimation, would have topped the 50# mark of our biggest fish this year. Oh well, get the next one Casey! Now, her nerves are in check, she’s readjusted her gear, and settled in for the Round 2. A couple of drifts through these fish and we had another taker. This time she worked the fish flawlessly, taking her first Cubera and possible record. We immediately iced the fish, bagged the terminal tackle, and 50’ of the standing line. In the mean time, Casey took rod measurements and filled out the paperwork. She’s going to let us know if it made the books! Way to “do work“, Miss Casey!
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-23-2008-038.jp g
Our next shot took us a little while with some slight adjustments, as we located and fished different pods of fish. They were not on an active feed now and we really had to work them. We missed several suspected bites and Devon decided to try something different. It worked! One of the suspended fish ate the bait and we were on. Dusty grabbed the rod and worked the fish. In minutes the fish gave up and was at the boat. We pulled it aboard, took a few pictures and released the fish.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-23-2008-044.jp g
Once again we had to locate and work various pods of fish to find some that were willing to eat. It was getting harder with each drift. Bingo, the small Accurate Boss reel setup that Dusty brought, lit up. He was into another fish. That small reel did its job easily against this fish. It took him a bit longer this time but the tackle matched the fish well, and the fish came aboard. Again, we took pictures and released the fish.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-23-2008-059.jp g
As we hit the midnight hour we did a couple more drifts then called it a night. Casey was extremely happy and Dusty had tested out his new Accurate reel. We packed it in as the winds laid still and we headed for the home forty! All were satisfied as we loaded their cooler with a couple of Lobster, 2 Mangrove Snapper, 12 Yellowtails, a Cero Mackerel, and oh yes, the potential IGFA Junior record, Cubera Snapper.
Hopefully these fish will remain in the area for another 3-4 weeks. They are truly an impressive catch!
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-23-2008-050.jp g
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 53
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 - 9:55 am: | |
Typical summer weather patterns are on us here in South Dade. The morning winds are non existent, the seas are flat, and the temperature climbs quickly with each hour of sunshine. Afternoons begin building colossal thunder boomers and torrential rains. These traits generally have most anglers frustrated as they are usually not conducive to good fishing. So you have 3 choices, brave the heat and rain cells trying to find the elusive August Dolphin, or stay at home. That’s only 2, you say, well the 3rd is to venture out on the Darkside. The night time brings much cooler temperatures. The rains have cooled the air and clouds have blotted out the sun in the latter part of the day.
During the last hours of daylight the Yellowtail fishing blossoms on the deeper patches with excellent catches being pretty easy. Other species will infiltrate your chum line, keeping it interesting. You can combine this with a venture farther offshore for some Swordfish, as more consistent catches are being reported. This is also the time of year for those big “Nasties”, the largest of all snappers, the Cubera. These very large fish are in the middle of their spawning ritual and can be found frequenting ledges, wrecks, and other bottom structure just off the reef line.
We recently did such a trip. Devon and myself were joined by his Uncle Al, our friend Tom, and my daughter Amy, for a friendly afternoon/evening trip. We met at the dock about 3 PM and shoved off shortly thereafter. Since the summer days last until 8PM we had plenty of time to get various baits needed for the evening. We coursed the Bay and headed for some patches to collect some Lobster. These are the preferred bait for the Cubera Snapper. Devon, Al, and Amy donned their snorkel gear and slid overboard as Tom and I drifted some of the shallow 15’ patches. Al and Devon collected up 14 bugs in short order and we were off to our next portion of the afternoons agenda. The next destination was one of our favorite ’tailing areas.
We dropped the hook on our Yellowtail spot and started a chum line. It was a bit slow at first but as the sun was nearing the horizon the Yellowtails became more active. The evening was progressing as planned. The “fatties” were there and chewing the baits until the sun began setting. We also caught a couple of nice Mangrove (Gray) snapper and added them to the live well although they were not intended to be bait. As darkness fell over us, the smaller ‘Tails infiltrated the chum, so we began preparing the big tackle for the evening. The night is now fully upon us and we pulled anchor and headed out in search of our main targets, the Cubera Snapper.
As we crossed over the reef edge we began our search for El Nasty. I found the fish well away from the wreck that most of the boats usually target. This school was massive. Fish were marking from 100’ deep all the way to the bottom. I pulled the boat into neutral so I could get a drift track and the speed of our drift. The light wind along with a good current, had us drifting at 3 knots, so I motored The BEAST up current a good distance and we dropped some lines. We completely missed the school on the first drift. It took 2 more drifts before I pinpointed my starting point and then it was GAME ON! The first angler to hook up was Tom. He made short work of this fish and it was soon to the leader. Devon flopped a nice 36# fish on the deck and we slid this fish into the fish box.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-6-2008016.jpg[/IMG]
A few drifts passed with good bites but no hook ups, and then we were on again. This time it was Devon’s rod and he was in a fight. A minute later and Al was hooked up and we had a double header going. Almost as fast as we had a double, Devon’s line went slack as he lost everything, including all the terminal gear. Al remained solidly hooked and we boated a healthy 40 pounder. We decided we were not grocery shopping so we vented this fish and released it to continue on with the life cycle.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-6-2008017.jpg[/IMG]
I got hooked up on the next drift and shortly into my fight I lost my fish. Amy got hooked up a short distance later and her fish was pushing her to the limit. A minute or so into the fight she remarked that she had a shark. No one believed her as the line peeled off. Suddenly there was a release and nothing but dead weight to crank up. Sure enough, she knew what she was talking about. Devon lifted a Cubera head over the side and we immediately noticed the broken hook on the stinger. She not only got sharked, she had the shark hooked up and broke the hook off in it. She is tough as nails, my little Mini Beast!
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-6-2008018.jpg[/IMG]
Devon got hooked up once again and this time his tackle held fast. He worked this fish mano y mano and several times had his knuckles pulled down to the gunnels. This fish fought its heart out and Devon finally won the battle. He hoisted a big 50 pounder into the boat. We wanted to release her but after venting, she just refused to sound. We tried venting again and once again she refused to sound. We let her float for a few minutes hoping she would get her bearings and go, but it was not to be. We tried our best but sadly, it was not to be. Reluctantly, we had to back down and recapture her, loading her into the fish box.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-6-2008022.jpg[/IMG]
We made one more drift and I hooked up. I used low gear on the Tiagra to bring the fish up slower. This process worked out well as I had the fish to boat side in a matter of minutes and a 35 pound fish was aboard. We quickly vented the fish and released it, while watching it dive to the depths.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/8-6-2008024.jpg[/IMG]
Since we had our 2 fish boat limit and everyone on board got to catch a Cubera, we called it a night. Only 2 ½ hours of fishing time and we had caught 5 fish out of 10 bites. All aboard were completely satisfied and smiles shined brightly in the spreader lights. We stowed our gear and I pointed The BEAST toward the barn.
It’s not too late! The Cubera should be around their traditional haunts for another couple of weeks. If they are on your agenda of fish to catch, give your favorite captain a call and book a trip!
Below is a link to a condensed video of our trip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Xa62H--88
Capt Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 52
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 10:52 am: | |
Lobster mini-season is in its first of 2 days. I hope everyone has a fruitful pick of these bugs. I sincerely hope, that everyone who braves the hoards of boaters and marina mayhem, has a safe and uneventful 2 days. Prior to the mini-season opening, scouting reports of less than average numbers of bugs were being reported. I’m writing this report only 12 hours into the first day and reports are coming in from divers and bully netter's of complete limits for most all of those that went out.
On the fishing scene, this is the time of year that the calm water boater loves but the hard core fisherman hate. We are entering the summer doldrums. During this time of year most anglers are searching for their favorite quarry, the Dolphin. Hot, humid, daytime temperatures, with warm, flat calm seas, do not usually make for a productive outing. The calm seas of August and September, coupled with the cooler temps of the night, make a trip for Swordfish on the “Darkside” a more enjoyable idea to me.
Swordfish are returning to our area now, from their spawn in the Caribbean and, once again, more anglers are reporting catches. Although the bites per trip ratio is not quite up to snuff yet, these anglers are not experiencing the uneventful nights of the past few months. Sword fishing should only get better as the weeks and months progress.
On the daytime scene, I have read various reports of quality Dolphin fishing! Really???? I unfortunately can’t agree with this. Maybe it is that their idea of quality is much different than mine. Most of us to the north of Islamorada are not seeing this quality success, if truthful. Our area is the funnel of the Florida Straits where the water pushes through at a rapid pace, often passing bait and fish through our area just as quickly. The schooled fish that we find can be astronomical in numbers but you must cull through them to find legal 20” fish. Quality fishing? Maybe in sheer numbers once a school is located!
Thankfully the wreck fishing is still fairly active through most of the day. On my last outing we met Tom and his friends for a ¾ day trip. We had a hard time finding the better live baits and had to settle for large Pinfish. Arriving offshore we trolled the edge to find some Bonito in case we needed some strip baits. This worked out fine as we caught 3 of them, in short order, and then worked our way out looking for birds, floaters and weeds. We passed by some sparsely scattered weeds with no action and finally found a 4X4 floating in 1000 feet of water with a small, lone Tripletail on it. On the initial pass we scored a 6# Dolphin. It came to the boat alone and repeated passes proved that to be the case. We made about a dozen passes with a full spread including a Wahoo rig down 40 feet. In the course of that hour we hoped that other fish would find and move in on this board, long enough for us to pick off a few. We circled wide of the board, venturing far off from the floater, but returning several more times. The ocean appeared more like a lifeless desert. A few more attempts on this piece of debris and we moved on. This game of hide and seek seemed like it would last all day so we opted to move into the wrecks and see if we could wrestle some fish out of the steel.
The first wreck we hit was dead. I marked very few fish on the bottom machine and we had only limited few bites. Only doing a ¾ day trip, I didn’t want to waste valuable time on this inactive area so we stowed the gear for a long run to another area. Arriving there, the bottom machine showed more fish on the first pass and we got bit, but not hooked up, on a strip bait. These fish were reluctant to eat the Pinfish, which boggled me, as they are usually good baits on the wrecks. On each successive drift the fish began to wake up and get active. We had good success on the Bonito strips, speed jigs and the only Hardtail that we had. The day ended when on the last drift we noticed a large wooden box floating several hundred yards from our starting drift point. We decided against the final drift of the day to investigate the box instead. It was loaded up with “micro” Dolphin. A huge school of sub-legal fish. We tried everything to get them to play with us and couldn’t get them to eat anything. We dropped jigs and live bait well beneath them in hopes of a larger fish or Wahoo lurking in the shadow, but nothing was to come of any of it!
The days tally, except for that first lonely Dolphin and 3 Bonito for bait, was all scored on the wrecks. There were many bites, many lost speed jigs and hooks, and 6 nice sized Almaco Jacks, 4 Barracuda, and only 1 Amberjack in the mix! That is the beauty of South Florida fishing… if one type of fishing isn’t producing, there is usually an alternative!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
http://www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 51
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 11:15 am: | |
I hope everyone survived the 4th of July festivities with all their fingers and other body parts in tact!
Since my last report I took Tony and his daughters, Britney, Bliss, and Brigitte out for a day of fishing. First order of business was to collect some live bait. We collected up a good supply of Hardtails, and made our way offshore. As I crossed the edge, Devon already had 2 lines out and we immediately picked up a pair of Bonito. These Boneheads were small and we considered rigging them but opted for a release instead. I continued offshore as Devon ran a 6 line spread. It had been a while since the planer rod had a solid hook up but that was not the case on this day. The 50W Tiagra started running off. Several minutes later Tony landed a nice 22# Wahoo.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-29-2008006.jpg[/IMG]
Within 30 minutes we approached a good looking area and the right rigger crashed. Nice Dolphin! Brittney took the rod for a few minutes and then handed it off to Dad. Devon put the steel to a nice 25# Cow.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-29-2008013.jpg[/IMG]
The offshore scene slowed quickly and we made our way to a wreck. As we approached the area, once again the planer rod goes off and we boated a nice Kingfish weighing 16 pounds. We made a wide circle around the wreck and the planer rod goes off again but it is one of those dreaded Caribbean Spotted Mackerels a.k.a. Barracuda. Ok, let’s do the wreck!
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-29-2008009.jpg[/IMG]
We made several drops but the fish were less anxious than we were. We did manage get each of the girls a round on the rods. Brittney and Brigitte caught 2 Amberjack in the 25# size, a respectable Almaco Jack and a 12# Kingfish on a speed jig. Bliss is now a nice shade of green. This color change in her had been building since that morning. I got the word as Brigitte is also starting to get the feeling while watching her sister lean over the rail, calling “Ralph”!
Brittney sat next to me on the ride in and told me that for 20 years she never understood the fascination people have for fishing… until today!
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-29-2008001.jpg[/IMG]
We had a group of NYPD, Yalkin (retired), Charlie (Chief), and Frank (Cmndr), for a 3 day adventure with us. Yalkin set up the trip but being a late riser, planned to arrive at the dock each day at 9 AM. This throws a bit of a twist on the day especially for time catching bait. Fortunately the day started off well loading the well with Hardtails. We immediately headed for the blue with Dolphin in mind. The offshore fishing was slow, boating only one small Cuda and 2 “micro” Dolphin, so we headed for the edge. While working the edge we caught 2 large Bonito but even that was slow, so we bee-lined it for a wreck. Now we’re talking! The first 3 fish were 25-30# AJ’s. On one of the following drifts Yalkin says, “Oh it’s a shark!” as the fish breaks the surface 75’ out from the boat. Devon runs out of his shoes for the gaff as he yells back “That’s not a shark, that’s a nice Cobia!” He puts the steel to the fish and a 24# Cobia hit’s the deck.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/7-3-2008004.jpg[/IMG]
Each drift thereafter seemed to have the same results, a Mutton head, then one lost fish after the other. Obviously the sharks had now tuned in, so we decided to give it a rest and finish the day slow trolling live Hardtails up the edge. As we were about to pull the plug on the day, one of the Runners gets very nervous and a bill breaks through the water’s surface. Sailfish hooked up! After a 10 minute show with several lengthy acrobatic runs, we tag and released a healthy 40# fish. We applauded Yalkin for keeping a tight line. The fish wasn’t hooked, instead, the leader was wrapped once around the bill and under the hook. Good lasso work, Cowboy!
The next day, 9:30 AM, and we are casting off dock lines. The bait was giving us trouble and we left for the deep with less baits than I‘d like but probably enough for the day. We only hunted Dolphin for an hour or so when the guys decided that they wanted to head back to the wrecks for another workout. OK with me, we’ll use what bait we have. We worked the wreck over with live bait, dead strip baits, and speed jigs. First drop produced a nice 12# Mutton on a strip bait.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/7-4-2008008.jpg[/IMG]
We worked the wrecks for the rest of the day until our bait ran out and the sharks got active. The remainder of the tally at the wreck was a 30# AJ, a Sand Tilefish, an Almaco Jack, a small Barracuda, an 8# Mutton and an enormous Mutton head. On the way back in we hit 3 very large Bonito.
Day 3 has them meeting us at 8 AM for an “early” start. Early? Really! The bait catching was horrible. We only had 4 Hardtails in the well. Being it was their last day they wanted to target Dolphin more. We headed offshore and began the hunt. To say the day was slow would be an understatement! Nothing… so we go farther. Nothing… so we go even farther! Nothing… and we are in the 2000’ depths now and only schools of Skipjack. We all agreed that this was a nice boat ride, and the wrecks had been active so we made the run back in. We went to our regular wreck but the only thing getting bit were the only 4 baits we had and we lost all of them to cutoffs. We finally hooked up one of those toothy critters on a speed jig! A nice 15# Kingfish.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/7-4-2008014.jpg[/IMG]
I decided that the we should finish up their trip on bigger fish at the Grunt and Sweat wreck! These fish are less picky and will eat a speed jig with reckless abandon most of the time. We trolled the edge towards the wreck and picked up 2 Barracuda. Arriving at the wreck we soon realized that my hunch was correct! We used strip baits and speed jigs and lost several monster AJ’s to the wreck, caught 2 more of those Spotted Mackerel (Cuda), 1 large Yellow Jack, and twin Almaco Jack’s weighing 25 pounds each. Oh yeah, we also caught a nice Mangrove Snapper on a strip bait.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/7-5-2008009.jpg[/IMG]
Out of the blue, Yalkin gives me the “word”! He is tired and wants to head for the barn. Yalkin, Charlie, and Frankie said they thoroughly enjoyed this 3 day weekend, catching over a dozen different species of fish. They were a great bunch of guys and a lot of fun to fish with!
Until next time…
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 50
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008 - 8:31 pm: | |
The month of June was about as up & down as we have seen in a while. Air temperatures, winds, clouds, rain, created a day by day scenario on the fishing. One day you’re a hero and the next day you’re working hard to keep from being a zero. This report will give a brief overlay of the type of trips we had this past month and their outcome.
Jeff, Pamela, Patrick and Brian, from Texas, met us for a full day outing and things were looking good. We started the day off searching for some Dolphin and managed to catch several “lifters” before the sun got too high. The deep rod had a tremendous strike but we didn’t get the hook up, unfortunately. Around 11 AM we tried a wreck for some Permit but that was uneventful. I decided to slide in to the patch reefs to chum up some live bait before we moved on to the deeper wrecks. We tried a little slow trolling with the live ballyhoo on the way to one of our favorite wrecks. Nothing happening. At the wreck, we made 6 successive drifts trying to locate fish and the screen on the depth finder was blank. We decided to make one more drift and the screen was lit up this time and a rod doubled over, a 30# Amberjack.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-1-08008.jpg[/IMG]
The next drift I located the Mutton Snapper and the action was good for a couple of hours! We managed to miss 6 bites and catch 2 in the 12# range.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-1-08011.jpg[/IMG]
The Guard Dogs (sharks) now alerted to all the struggling and the next Mutton came up as a half fish but the remaining portion still measured 17”. Man! That would have been a nice fish and so would have the next one that got eaten completely.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-1-08009.jpg[/IMG]
We decided to try some more slow trolling to finish the day rather than feed the “dogs”, but it didn’t happen for us after that. I think that AJ whooped up on Pam because she needed a nap on the ride back to the barn.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-1-08014.jpg[/IMG]
Another trip we did was with Julie, Martha, Ashley, and Casey, from North Carolina. Devon and I met them at the dock and we shoved off at 7 AM. First order of the day was to grab some Hardtails for bait. We also stopped on a grass flat and picked off a few dozen fat Pinfish so we would have plenty of bait. Once again we started a search for Dolphin but they were scarce. We managed to pick up a small Skipjack. At 11:30 AM we headed in to the wrecks looking for some action and that is exactly what we got. It was GAME ON!
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-6-08004.jpg[/IMG]
The tally at the wreck was 5 Amberjack between 25-35#’s, 2 Almaco Jack, and 1 Mutton Snapper weighing 11 pounds.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-6-08014.jpg[/IMG]
To finish the day we slow trolled the last of our Hardtails. They raised a Sailfish which unfortunately was only window shopping. During the slow troll we kept working speed jigs and hair jig/bally combo’s and caught a Kingfish, Bonito and a Caribbean Spotted Mackerel, a.k.a. Barracuda.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-6-08036.jpg[/IMG]
The ladies were happy with catching 7 different species of game fish in their outing. There was plenty of good conversation and joking. They were a lot of fun!
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/6-6-08061.jpg[/IMG]
Tom a S. Florida resident arrived with his friend and their 2 sons for a ¾ day trip. We managed to find 3 short Dolphin and 1 Barracuda in the morning. We did a quick hit on the wreck but being 2 days after the full moon, the fish didn’t want to play. The current was ripping to the north at 3.5 knots and we had to start down current well over 500’ to get to the bottom by the time we reached the wreck. No problem pulling that off but the fish didn’t want to go along with the program. We marked fish around the wreck but they wouldn’t eat. Finally we speed jigged a Kingfish and when all the live bait was ignored, Devon put on the old tried and true, butterflied ballyhoo. We caught a small Mutton of 8# on the next drop. Several more bites were missed on the butterflies due to angler error. Time was up and the fishing was less than stellar. I guess you can’t win them all!
One of our more frequent clients, Jon Clement, arrived with a co-worker, Mike, at noon for an afternoon trip, either a half or ¾ day. Realizing that this is not the best fishing time of the day he still opted to forego any wreck fishing and wanted to strictly try for Dolphin. The afternoon started off slow but progressed nicely as time flew by. We caught 2 “micro” Dolphin and missed 2 good bites on the planer rod. How these fish can bite off the ballyhoo on a double hook rig and not catch the hook is absurd, but it happens! We started getting hit regularly by Bonito and the afternoon was looking up when Jon announced that he had to cut the trip short to be back to the dock at 5:45. Devon and I were prepared to fish until dark and take advantage of the evening bite. As the fish were turning on really good, we got the word to button up and head in. Oh well, maybe next time.
I hope everyone enjoys the festivities this weekend. Have a safe and happy 4th of July!
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 49
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 - 8:40 am: | |
Stefan Jahn and his wife Silmara came to Miami all the way from Germany once again after having a good time in December despite the blowing winds. Once again they brought the heavy winds with them. The water was beautiful and clear but the sea conditions were somewhat rough.
Day 1, and the wind was blowing stiff from the east with seas of 5 feet. We collected our bait and made our way out to the Sweat & Grunt Wreck. The drift was tough but we managed to get a good drift line and hooked up to our first Amberjack. These fish are brutes! A minute or two into the fight and he made a power run back towards the wreck. Pulling 80# braid with 26#’s of drag was nothing for him… he’s gone. The very next drift had equal results. Stefan was amazed at the raw power of these AJ’s remarking that they were much stronger than the 55# Wahoo he caught here with us in December. The next drift resulted in the usual bite but a slow steady pull which had Stefan bent over for the better part of an hour. The fish would give and then he’d take line. Just as we thought that Stefan was gaining the upper hand, the fish would let him know that he was not about to give up easy. Finally, his back giving out, Stefan gave the rod to my mate, Devon, to finish the fight. I gave Devon the nod which meant put it to him and make it or break it! He hammered the drag down and put the muscle on the fish for another 15 minutes and we finally saw color. Yep, exactly what we thought! A shark in the 200# class. The fish came boat side momentarily and then popped the leader. Stick a fork in Stefan, his back was aching and he was done wreck fishing for now.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/Shark-2.jpg[/img]
We pulled out the trolling gear and decided to give the Dolphin a run. I targeted the same area where we found that 50 pounder a week or so ago. Voila! We grabbed 3 Schoolies and then a lone Cow hit the long rigger. A good battle ensued but Stefan was victorious and we slapped this 35# Cow into the fish box. With time running out we decided to try for a Permit. As per usual the fish were too strong for the 50# braid on spin tackle and we went 0 for 5 to the wreck. We tucked our tails in defeat and headed for the barn.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/5-1-08002.jpg[/img]
Day 2, was more of the same but Stefan opted to forego the Amberjack and try for some Muttons instead. We had a few Mutton bites but were slow to get on the rod. Each drift thereafter was, you guessed it, Amberjacks. These 3 fish were smaller in the 20-25# range but still gave Stefan and Silmara a good tussle.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/5-2-08005.jpg[/img]
As we were wrestling the last AJ a Frigate bird dove down to the deck about 100’ away from us. Always alert, Devon pinned a live bait on the 20# spinner and tossed it out. “It got picked up!” he yells and jams the rod into Stefan’s hands. A good hook set and a nice “gaffer” Dolphin of 15# shoots into the air. Stefan worked the fish to the boat and a smaller fish came with it. We baited that fish too and ended the melee’ with both Dolphin in the fish box.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/5-2-08006.jpg[/img]
I decided to give a quick troll back to the Permit wreck to see what else we could dredge up. A nice Kingfish bit the planer rod and we boxed him too. He tipped the Boga grip at 16.5#. Another bite on the flat line and the reel is absolutely screaming, but by the time Stefan pulls the rod free from the rod holder and adjusts it in his belt the fish was gone. My guess was a very big Bonito or a quality Blackfin Tuna. Oh well, we’ll get ‘em next time! As we approached the wreck area the short rigger drops and we have another Schoolie on. What? Something is trying to eat our Schoolie. 2,3, 4 times it knocks the 6# Schoolie out of the water and then we see it... a very large Barracuda, a.k.a on The BEAST, the dreaded "Caribbean Spotted Mackerel" . On the last attempt the ‘Cuda takes to the air, missing once again, but almost landing in the boat. Stefan was amazed and stopped reeling. I yelled, “Get him in the boat, before we have an angry set of teeth flying into the boat with it!” One quick yank and the Schoolie thudded into the splash well as the ‘Cuda was setting up for the next attack. Not today Bud! The BEAST - 1, Barracuda - 0.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/5-2-08009.jpg[/img]
Time growing very short now we got after the Permit. High seas, and meandering Permit made the fishing tough. Finally we got a bite and the fish took Stefan into the wreck. I looked at Devon with a huge question mark on my face. We can’t stop them! Many more attempts and we couldn’t get a bite, finally Devon went to a really small bait and hooked up. Stefan had the fish turned and coming. He slowed down to enjoy the experience… OOPS, not good! Same outcome, once again!. As we headed for home, Devon and I looked at each other... We love AND hate these fish, equally!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
http://www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 48
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 01, 2008 - 8:30 pm: | |
This spring season is off the hook. I took Denis Quill and his son David out for a ¾ day trip. They came here on holiday, from Ireland, and wanted to catch some fish. We loaded up on bait as best we could and then bee-lined it to the Grunt & Sweat wreck. The first drop of the day was a nice legal Gag Grouper.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/001-3.jpg[/img]
Then the real fun began as they struggle on 10 drops and managed to pull only one Amberjack off the wreck. We left there with the Jacks winning by a score of 9-1. After that we tried for a few Permit but they had the Quill’s number also and he lost the only one that hooked up. We finished our day putting 2 nice Pinkies (Mutton) in the box.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/004-3.jpg[/img]
Steve, Chris, and Steve Jr. had a great trip with us and Devon and I enjoyed ourselves equally as well. We had a full day of laughs and fish. The trip started off with them telling us that Steve Jr. had caught a 98# AJ and Jacks weren’t on the list. OK! Bait is becoming a bit of a struggle but we managed to get enough for the entire day. First order of the day was to try for a Mutton or two. We arrived to find 2 other boats drifting the same wreck. No big deal, find a spot, put her in neutral, and drop! Seemed to work fine… for us! We boated a Mutton, an African Pompano, 2 Barracuda, and a Bonito head. After losing the rest of that Bonito to the guard dogs, we couldn’t get another fish passed them, so we packed it in.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/001-2.jpg[/img]
We had planned on running to a wreck to give those Permit a shot. But first, I asked Steve if he wanted to try for some Dolphin since the other charter guys seemed to have had a bite earlier on that morning in the 450-500’ area. Rather than running to the wreck we trolled out and up. Within a short time we had a knock down! Since we didn’t get the hook up, I made a big circle to come back through that area again. A quarter mile past the original spot, we get a hook up on the flat line, then the other flat line, then both riggers. We boated 1 of the 4 Schoolies in the original attack but #2 was replaced with a nice fish on Chris' line. #3 is an even nicer fish on young Steve’s line. As young Steve has his fish about 30 feet from the boat, Devon yells “Big Bull with her!” I immediately grabbed a 20# spinner and pinned a live Ballyhoo on and cast it beyond the Bull about 10 feet. The ‘Hoo jumped once and the Bull pounced on it and it was ‘game on’ for Big Steve. We gaffed the last 3 fish and the big Bull made a mess of the boat and beat his tail off, literally. Final weights on the 3 big fish were 16, 25, and 50 pounds. Do you think they were smiling? You betcha!
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/004-2.jpg[/img]
We finally made it to the Permit wreck and they were moving all over the place hard to locate and finicky when located. Sharks were cruising the area and we could see at least 2 of them under the boat, at all times. We managed to hook up 3 fish but they powered us into the wreck for a quick release. We called it a day and headed toward the barn.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 47
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 9:10 am: | |
As each week moves into the next we can see the winter season slowly dissipating into the much warmer summer season. Run & gun, bird chasing and trolling for the Dorado’s will overtake the more fuel friendly live baiting of Sailfish and Kingfish. The absolute beauty of this short transitional period that we call spring is; many of the less glamorous species have infiltrated the area’s reefs and wrecks. They are Gamesters, none-the-less! My last couple of trips had everybody grinning and reaching for the Ben-Gay and the frying pans.
Tom Migliaccio, better known to us a “Trolling Tom”, had rounded up his brother Jim, sister-in-law Michelle, and their kids Christine and Cameron for a day of catching. Yep! I said catching!
We left the Marina at the crack of 10 AM, Tom hates mornings, and proceeded to catch some bait. The Hardtails were scattered and we grabbed what we could and headed offshore for some Ballyhoo. The Ballyhoo didn’t get the memo, because many of them had missed this late morning appointment. They were TOUGH! We got enough bait of all types to go fishing, so off we went. First order of the day was to try and locate some Dolphin. Devon loaded the rods with our traditional spread and we trolled off into the blue on a search mission. Most of the Dorado have been caught in less than 600’ of water with the 450’ line being the hot zone according to the boats that got into them in the morning. By the time we got out there the bite was cold. After about an hour we called off the search and decided to give the wrecks a try. As we were pulling lines the deep rod lit up with a nice Schoolie and quickly we had 1 in the box.
Keep in mind that Toms brother and family still reside in Michigan so the wreck fish we’ve been catching will give them a memory not soon forgotten. The AJ’s are tough and they gave Jim and Michelle a few eye opening battles. Several attempts and several lost fish but we did manage to catch 3 of these fish, one of which was a very respectable 48 pounds.
We decided to switch tactics and see if the Permit were here yet and willing to eat. Yes Sir! We had several bites losing one to the wreck and missing another bite or two. Two of the Permit were not so lucky as we boated fish of 10# and 17#.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/17Permit2.jpg[/img]
With only about an hour left we decided to make a quick run to see if we could get the kids on some Mutton’s. Cameron and Christine, got to tug on a Mutton Snapper single handedly… with a little coaching. They did great, the fish box looked good, and the Mig’s were all smiling. A good time was had by all!
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/12Mutton.jpg[/img]
The next trip was a group of 5 guys. Jerry, Sean, Mike, Matt, and Bill met us at the boat about 8:30 AM. Since there were so many of them, we wanted to keep these guys busy and sore. Several of them had never lifted anything heavier than a 9 iron on the golf pastures. So guess where we took them? That’s right, to the Grunt & Sweat wreck. Each of these guys got to wrestle several of these Jacks and the AJ’s were winning this battle. They were unexplainably strong that day even with reel drags at the point of being hammered down, they were still taking line and wrecking us. They were so voracious that we told the guys… let the lead hit the bottom, take up 3 cranks on the reel, and HOLD ON! The fish followed the script to a tee. I lost count of how many hookups we had but they bit everything from live bait to speed jigs… with reckless abandon. We only managed to boat 4 of these brutes that day. Amazingly, the Amberjack we have been catching have had very few worms and are definitely delicious, fresh out of the smoker
With the seas being a bit on the rough side we didn’t think we had a shot at any Permit but we gave it a try anyway. Boy was I wrong. We hooked up 3 fish and boated 1 nice one that stretched the Boga Grip to 30 pounds. Good lord these fish are strong on spinning tackle.
[img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/30Permit.jpg[/img]
Almost completely out of live bait now, except for 2 Ballyhoo, Sean decided to call it a day. We talked him into making a couple of quick Mutton drops before we packed it in. We dropped the 2 remaining Ballyhoo, got 2 bites, and 2 Mutton Snap’s in the box. Done deal.
This is the season when it can be called catching, not fishing!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
http://www.beastcharters.com
beastcharters@aol.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 46
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 12:02 am: | |
Some of my customers brought me a gift from the frozen north… a chest and sinus cold which has me a bit under the weather still. With that in mind, I’m not going to get into an involved discussion about our crazy weather since everyone reading this is already aware of it or are simply oblivious. The weather is not the only thing out of sync. Fish patterns are out of whack as well. It appears that spring time patterns have arrived 3-4 weeks early in our area. This is not a bad thing because it offers many more opportunities to catch fish, be it for sport or table fare.
Since my last report I’ve been out several times with one of those being one of our beloved “fun” trips. Before Easter we had trips with some really nice guys and all were short ¾ day trips. Most of our short trips can be described as either, time restrictive, possible “chummers”, or people who hold a spinning reel upside down. Many of these trips are people who just want to catch fish, with the only criteria being, BIG!
Jon falls under the first category I mentioned…time constraints. Being one of my favorites, he is an excellent angler who fishes with us all the time. He fishes often by himself, and generally wants to catch only Sails or Swords. He was fishing a short day, unusual for him, but we managed to hook him up to a Sail, 3 Kingfish, and a Bonito.
The next trip was Pete, Jeff, and Fred who also did a short day as did the other trip with Charles, Don, and Johnny. These trips fell under the other categories but I will leave the explanations at that. Pete, Jeff and Fred, managed to have a nice day getting hooked up to a Sailfish, 2 nice Kingfish, and 3 Amberjack to 60 pounds. We also managed to catch 7 fat Mango Snapper while trying to make bait.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/003-Copy.jpg[/IMG]
Charles, Don, and Johnny weren’t so lucky with the sea conditions as the previous trips. Mother Nature had issued them some huffing winds and standing seas in the morning. They fished for an hour trying for a Sailfish and losing a mystery fish on a blistering run. They opted to go a few rounds of “mano y mano” on the wrecks. They had a blast and were absolutely worn out after wrestling 8 of those large AJ’s. They were so worn out that Don and Johnny each took a nap in the bean bags on the way in. Johnny caught the largest A-Jack that day, a solid 55 pounds. Notice the broken stand up rod visible above my shiny bald head. These fish are tackle busters.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/007-Copy.jpg[/IMG]
We gave it one last shot for a Sailfish and dropped the down rod almost to the bottom. Don finished the day with a dinner sized Mutton Snapper.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/008-Copy.jpg[/IMG]
This past Saturday Devon, Amy and I decided to go out for a fun day and try a few new ideas. When we do these “fun” days, nothing is regimented from the time we meet at the dock until the time we say good bye. We all arrived around 7:30 and began loading the boat.
We got underway and as we left the Marina we began collecting our live bait by tossing the net on some small schools of mullet. We also gathered some Hardtails and Ballyhoo on hook and line as we made our way offshore. We were trying everything that came to mind on this day. The 3 of us love to fish these no pressure days and we always seem to have considerable success. Staying busy was the motto for the day. Since we are all decent anglers, we ran a spread that covered it all. We had 3 Ballyhoo on flat lines, a Mullet and a Hardtail flying off the kite, a Ballyhoo mid depth on the down rod, a Mullet on the bottom rod and Devon jigging a hair jig/hoo combo.
First up was a nice little Bull Dorado on a flat lined Ballyhoo. Shortly afterwards a smaller Cow ate the Hardtail flying off the kite. 15 minutes after resetting we had a Sailfish eating the kite riding Mullet. We missed a few Kingfish bites and lost a Cero Mackerel at the boat. As the day progressed and the bite slowed, we ventured offshore to one of the deeper wrecks. Several drops using Hardtails on one rod and Ballyhoo on the other produced us 3 Amberjack in the 30 pound range and 6 Mutton Snapper. WOW! Enough of that! Catching AJ’s is too much like work!
We pulled off the wreck and went back to drifting on the 1-2’ seas. We continued to catch fish all day with the bottom bite being excellent. We did have 2 more Sailfish attempts but never got the hook up. We called it a day with only 2 Hardtails, 1 Mullet, and 2 weak Ballyhoo baits left in the live wells. We tallied the 3 Sailfish bites, 2 Dorado, 3 AJ’s, 15 Mutton Snapper, 3 Sand Tiles, 1 Bonito, and a Queen Trigger. We pointed the bows of The BEAST towards the barn and throttled her up. We arrived at the Marina, with a full fish box, tired and grinning from ear to ear!
Anytime you get to have a day on the water with the family, it is like having cheese cake for desert. When you have a day like we had it is like adding fresh raspberries on top of that cheesecake.
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Captain Rich Smith (Captrichsmith)
New member
Username: Captrichsmith
Post Number: 3
Registered: 5-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 9:06 am: | |
Fishing Report
I have been fishing the Backcountry area's of Whitewater Bay , Hells Bay , Pearl Bay and seen the Snook and Redfish bite significantly better than last week. This week I had customers Dave and Cajun Perry from north florida come down and have a great day reeling in 30+ snook on Rapala X-Raps in the number 8 size in the Backcountry. Fly fishing in the everglades has really only been sucessful when you can find a nice spot to fish in where the wind isn't blowing too hard.
Biscayne Bay has been tough again due to high winds. I have seen a few schools of bones enter the shallow flats from the deeper channel of Angelfish Creek. These fish were in schools of 8-10 fish and ranged from 7-9 Pounds. During these windy days we have had a blast casting the shorelines for Barracuda with artificial lures. I normally like to do this to keep my guys entertained while poling down the edges looking for bonefish. It is not uncommon to catch 50-100 in a single day. Some of them approaching 4 feet long! Not to mention the drag screaming runs and the occasional Jump. If you would like to try this out be sure to use a trace of Steel leader (6-12inches long) so their massive teeth dont claim your $5 lure
www.captainrichsmith.com
www.everglades-fishingguide.com
www.miamiflatsfishing.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 45
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - 10:44 pm: | |
I recently took a pair of New Yorkers, Jason Carter and his son Jordan, on 2 days of fishing. They wanted to do a full day of Sailfish and a night trip for Swordfish. I told them at the time of the booking that the Swordfish were not “on fire” right now and they might rather do 2 day trips instead. We left it at a “play it by ear” type second day.
They met up with Devon and I on Thursday and, once again, reiterated the desire to do a full day trip and a Swordfish night. I forewarned them that the Sword fishing was slow and could possibly end up being a bust, but they stated that they had made day commitments and wanted to have the night Sword experience, if for nothing else. With that decision etched in stone, we headed off to catch our bait. The bait was a bit persnickety but we managed to get enough for the day. After catching bait we made our way to the edge, on flat seas, to begin the day of fishing. Good grief! I hate calm seas when it comes to fishing, but it is what it is, and we must make the best of every situation.
Putting out our usual compliment of 5 rods, the day started off with a Kingfish on the down rod. After a bit we boated a nice chubby school Dolphin during a short tirade by these fish that seemed more set on harassing the baits than eating them. I talked to Dennis on “Mutuna” via VHF for a quick report. He as many had begun their day chasing these finicky Dolphin but that was the extent of their day so far. We continued watching the surface lines for activity while the Kingfish were keeping us semi content on the down rod. On one occasion we caught a Kingfish and as we had it boat side, about to bring it in for a release, an extremely large Barracuda came out from under the boat and bit off 1/2 of the fish. Devon told Jordan to drop the rod again to see if we could hook up this large ‘Cuda. Once again it came out from under the boat and ate the other 1/2 but unfortunately his mouth was so big it engulfed all of the wire and caught part of the mono leader…game over, boys! We caught and released another Kingfish and to our surprise another Barracuda. OK, enough of this, with 1 King and 1 Dolphin in the box and no Sailfish showing their snoots, we decided to go test the boy’s metal on some bruiser AJ’s for a few hours.
Arriving at our favorite “angler testing wreck” we sent down a couple of hardtails. KABOOM! It didn’t take long and Jordan was being taught a lesson in Amberjack 101. We finally had to break out the shoulder harness to keep him from flunking out of this school. His Dad and he, passed the course with a 66% rating with the top fish being 45 # on the scale.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/001-1.jpg[/IMG]
We left the wreck with tired anglers and fishing time growing short, but hoping for a Sailfish in the last hour or so of the trip. It was not to happen this day as Jordan unexpectedly called the trip due to some plans he had made with a college friend. Total tally on Day 1 was 2 of 6 Kingfish, 4 of 6 Amberjack, 1 Dolphin, and 1 Barracuda.
I will make this part of the report much shorter since our night was mundane at best. Jason and Jordan arrived on Friday evening for their Sword trip. They were about an hour late (traffic). I wanted to have lines set up on the drift, right before sunset, but that was not going to be the case. Oh well. We made 2 drifts of 10 miles each, one deep and one shallower. The baits were hanging beautifully but nothing doing. We didn’t have a smack, whack, or bite the entire night. Not even a pesky night shark. The Hydro-Glow light didn’t pull in the usual assortment of baitfish. At 2 AM Jason called the trip. He remarked that I had forewarned them that this could very well be the outcome, yet the experience was still amazing.
All too often, many tend to lose sight of the absolute beauty that surrounds us. It takes someone like Jason and Jordan to remind us that there is enjoyment in the experience, the vivid colors of the sea, the sun or moon rising brightly over the water, the aroma of clean ocean air… success should not be measured solely by the pungent smell of fish in the fish box.
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
www.beastcharters.com
beastcharters@aol.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 44
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 1:09 pm: | |
Another couple of weeks have gone by with the usual unseasonably warm weather and then a surprise we got a cold front. The 2 days right after the front passed showed a dramatic Sailfish bite, but as luck would have it, I had no trips during that time. This winter has produced a very sporadic season at best which truly defines the phrases, hot and cold, on and off, yin and yang. This is frustrating when people come from all over the globe, most trying to get a shot at a Sailfish. I’m sure many of my fellow fishermen can relate to these slow conditions.
The past 3 trips prior to today were a struggle. One day the bait was almost jumping in the boat and the next day we had to make up little tricks to fill the wells. The trusty old downrigger was silent for the most part. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. The Kingfish were so fast and loose, but now are lacking. They were our “stay busy” species while waiting for the more desirable Sailfish bite, of which we only had one in the last 3 trips. We did manage to catch a Bonito, a couple of Cero Mackerel, 2 or 3 small, sub-legal Kingfish, and a small Dolphin or two.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/001.jpg[/IMG]
We spent too many boring hours with no action. The only thing that kept me from second guessing myself was the fact that everyone else was having the same struggle as us. Being disappointed was becoming commonplace. At some point on most of our trips, we went to one of our favorite wrecks. The Amberjack and Almaco Jacks were in good numbers and willing to pull on our fishing lines. We did have an encounter with a large Hammerhead. I’m not kidding when I say large. This Hammerhead was every bit of 10-12 feet in length. The dorsal fin rose 2’ above the water and the head was over 3’ feet across This monster took a full minute to eat my kite bait and we were hooked up… for about 30 seconds.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/003.jpg[/IMG]
The day of this writing Devon and I met Jon at the dock at 7 AM. The biggest problem was that the rest of the group wouldn’t get there until 11:15. We took our time and ventured into the bay to get some bait while we were waiting. Things were going good as we chummed up some Hardtails and Ballyhoo on a spot east of the Marina. We fished our live wells full and headed back in. Perfect timing! As we arrived at the dock, the guys were getting out of their car. We exited the Marina and I pushed the throttles down heading straight out to sea. Our game plan was to begin by putting these guys on some AJ’s first and wearing them out. I immediately changed that plan when I heard some of my boys having triple header Sailfish action as I was coming across the patches. One quick click on the VHF and Donny confirmed it for me. Stiff winds out of the SE had the waves on the reef all slopped up and the reef edge had 5’ standers. My 600 pony powered World Cat 330TE punched through all of this at speed.
First lines in and 5 minutes into fishing and we have a double header of Sailfish going. One is hooked up and the other knocks the bait off. A good bit of jumping ensues and the fish takes my angler “down and dirty”. With some coaching we get the leader touch just as the fish pulls away from the boat again. The angler was fairly new to fishing so I tried to teach him how to cup the spool to give added pressure when needed and to release the spool when he felt the fish pulling. This was a mistake. I should have left well enough alone. He didn’t have the feel for this and the 20# line parted. No big deal, it was a legal catch, we just didn’t get the tagging done. I consoled him by remarking that it was a good thing since the fish wasn’t tired out and we could get back to fishing. The action slowed some so I put out a kite with one bait. The downrigger was quiet, as usual here lately, when suddenly it pops off. This is not a Kingfish by all indications of the fight. No sir, instead we boated a 30 pound Cobia. NICE!
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/003-1.jpg[/IMG]
A short time passes and the kite bait gets hit and we are into a nice Dolphin. As we work this fish to the boat we see it is the Cow and the smaller Bull is about 15 feet to the outside of her. An errant cast, trying to put a live bait out to the Bull, almost costs us the hooked fish. Devon sticks the gaff into the Cow and 30 pounds of Dolphin slides into the fish box.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/007.jpg[/IMG]
One of the guys has to make a flight at MIA so we get the word to dump the live wells and prepare to button up the show. We had plenty of bait and dumped all of it at once. Within minutes the ocean came to life with Kingfish skyrocketing out of the water and a Sailfish taking the kite bait. Bada bing! A quick hook up! It ended just as quickly with a bit of angler error when he didn’t come tight on the line quick enough after the first jump.
Keep in mind that the half day trip the day before only resulted in a Dolphin and that Hammerhead bite. This next day, although short as well ended with 1 for 3 shots on Sails, a 30 pound Cobia, 30 pound Dolphin, a small “snake” Kingfish, and a Slippery Dick. This just goes to prove what a difference a day can make!
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
www.beastcharters.com
beastcharters@aol.com |
Captain Rich Smith (Captrichsmith)
New member
Username: Captrichsmith
Post Number: 1
Registered: 5-2006
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 - 10:36 am: | |
If you are able to time the weather patterns to work in your advantage Biscayne Bay can be very productive working grounds for all
your Bonefish chasing needs. The key to your success lies primarily on water temperature. Bonefish are most active in water
temperatures above 72 Degrees. During these winter months cold fronts can drag the bay water temperatures below this critical
number and force the Bonefish to refuge to deeper warmer water. This is why you will often see Bonefish in large schools waking in
2-4 feet of water. So what this means is if your temperature gauge is indicating colder water you should move toward the edge of the flat and begin your search. The majority of Permit are still hanging out on the offshore wreck located outside Biscayne Bay. However, there are a few lost schools hanging out on the West side of the bay. These are not out typical spring time numbers but if you are lucky to stumble across one a quarter sized crab will certainly entice him to do a little drag screaming action for ya like my buddy Blair often says on his television show Addictive Fishing. If its Tarpon you are after you should primarily turn your focus
north ward to Government Cut Canal. Most of the numbers will be found in areas like the cut due to deeper warmer water and a constant abundance of bait fish so they don’t have to travel far for their meals. Crabs, Mullet, and Pinfish, and Pilchards are the baits of choice for these Jurassic creatures. Tarpon can also be caught on Rapala X-Raps in bright colors in Flamingo and the Everglades National Park.
www.captainrichsmith.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 43
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 - 5:34 pm: | |
Offshore was a no-go for days. Not many fishermen ventured forth into that slop! I didn’t have any trips scheduled and for once I was glad of it. There’s just something wrong about having to fish in South Florida in a snow mobile suit. Besides that visual, imagine 30 knot winds with gusts to 40knots with short interval seas at 8-10 feet nearshore. It would’ve been a mission, even on my 33 WorldCat. As the week progressed we began planning a trip for the weekend as we were already itching to see if this front had pushed the Sailfish into our area. Saturday was looking iffy but I saw we might have a comfortable day on Sunday, for a “fun” trip. NOAA was calling for E winds at 10-15 knots and 2-4’ seas, so we made it happen.
Tom, Amy, Devon, and I met at the dock at 10 AM. I said it was a fun trip, didn’t I? After a few jokes and a few comments about the light winds, we shoved off. The bait on our Blue Runner spot was gone. When I say gone, I mean GONE, not a single fish. The cold front had run them out of there. Feeling a little pressure to make bait we headed for our best bait patch. It didn’t fail us! We dropped over a chum bag and in minutes the slick was forming and we began to see bait about 100 feet back. As they got closer I made a long cast and got one hooked up. Boy, that sparked them up! They were racing towards the boat, right behind the hooked fish. These baits were hungry, ravenous, eating everything in sight. In 15 minutes, we dropped about 2 dozen in the wells. They must’ve had a rough time in that weather, obviously they hadn’t fed too well. They grew more reckless by the minute and finally reached the point of stupidity! Oblivious to the guy standing in that big white thing, with his 10’ net loaded and ready, they made a mass mistake. Bada Bing Bada Boom! I covered them up with the throw. Devon helped me pull up the net and we quickly unloaded them into the wells. One more throw for good measure. A little more wary now, they didn’t mass up as before but I got plenty. We had sufficient baits for the remaining 4 ½ hours of fishing, or did we?
This day was turning out to be beautiful, Winds about 10 knots, seas 2 feet with maybe an occasional 3, and a gorgeous blue sky. We headed to The Spot and began putting out lines. 2 rigger, 2 flats, 1 downrigger, Amy speed jigging and Devon playing with a bucktail/ballyhoo combination. A few short minutes and I saw the bait on the right flat doing the jig. A bill appears and then the Sail breaks the water as it turns on the bait. Devon and I scream “Sailfish!” at the same time and Tom jumps on the rod. The line tightens up and the Sailfish spits the bait. In a millisecond the long rigger bait starts skittering across the surface and the line pops out of the pin. Once again We shove the rod into Tom’s hands and once again the line comes tight and the fish spits. Dang! 0 for 2!
We had better luck through the rest of the day. We stayed busy with very little time to eat our lunch. We ran the downrigger a bit deeper than usual and it was doing its job producing respectable sized Kingfish. Our surface lines were being marauded by nice school Dolphin about every half hour. There were also some Blackfin Tuna in our area.
Our afternoon “fun” trip ended up with a tired crew of 4. We used almost all of the bait and the fish box was almost full (very large fish box). Although we never had another shot at our intended target, the Sailfish, we had plenty of fresh fish for the 3 families. On the ride back to the barn, we spoke enthusiastically about the day. 0 for 2 on Sailfish and the fish box held 15 Dolphin, 3 Kingfish, and 2 Blackfin Tuna. We released a few Kingfish and a half dozen or more Dolphin. Devon and Tom cleaned fish and Amy and I cleaned the boat. We were all smiling and calling dibs on the Tuna. Tom said his wife was waiting at the door with a toasted bun for a fresh Dolphin Sandwich, Devon ate fresh Tuna for dinner Sunday night, and I ate some of my Tuna for dinner Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and tonight. Life is good!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
www.beastcharters.com
beastcharters@aol.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 42
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 1:10 pm: | |
Offshore over the Holidays I did several trips and had success and failures by my standards. Water temperatures still in the high 70’s has not pushed the numbers of targeted Sailfish into our areas yet. Most of my trips are seeking these fish on their trips and it can make fishing tough.
The day after Christmas Devon and I took a father and son team fishing, Peter and Marshall Dill. The fishing was less than stellar, matter of fact, it was more like in the cellar. We got our bait with a little bit of trouble but we secured plenty for the day. We struggled all day on the calm seas. The seas were as calm as a secluded pond and there was absolutely NO current moving in the area. We hit 3 different wrecks, worked the bottom, and tried the mid depths. Of course, we had a full compliment of baits working the surface at all times. Nothing, is the key word. We worked our hind parts off and only came up with 2 small Dolphin and a Barracuda within minutes around 12:30 in the afternoon. The wrecks didn’t produce anything with live bait or speed jigs. The mid depths which normally wear us out with Kingfish never produced a single strike and the surface was void of all species. This only confirms that those who pray for a nice comfortable day on the boat get a nice comfortable boat ride, nothing more! Good Lord, I hate those days!
The next trip was with a fellow World Cat’er, Tom Maggliacco who owns “Latitude Adjustment”. He is a local from the Redlands who is imported from Michigan. We departed the dock around 11 AM for this tutorial trip. You see, Tom is a die hard “troller” who I have convinced that he needs to up his game and move into the live bait arena during the winter. Live bait fishing is not only the most productive fishing method during the winter, it is the only cost effective method with the price of fuel today. This trip was dedicated to help him learn various live bait techniques, from finding and catching bait to deploying those baits in a productive manner. Tom learned downrigger fishing methods which produced several nice Kingfish. We dropped bottom rods and he caught a small Cobia which wouldn’t reach “fish box” measurements. We had several good strikes on the speed jigs, all of which resulted in cut off jigs. That can get expensive quick! At the end of the day he also learned that those live baits on the surface will also produce Sailfish. He managed to catch and release a very big Sailfish during the evening “witching hour”. All in all, the day was very successful. Tom has called me several times with questions about the day. We managed to have a good afternoon with many strikes and some nice catches. He is anxious to set up some more trips to continue learning our South Florida fishing style.
My last trip was with an good client, Parker Creech and Stina (his better half) from North Carolina. This trip was a last minute call for an afternoon trip the next day. Parker used to fish with me every year and we lost contact over the years, for some reason . It was good to hear from him and take him fishing once again. Devon and I met him at 12 noon and we made bait quickly. The patch that we have been using the past several trips is loaded with hungry baits. Catching them on hook and line was quick and 2 throws of the 10’ Calusa cast net and we were on our way with fully loaded bait wells.
Parker was there for the Sailfish and Stina was there to catch all the other fish. We had some good success with the mid depths on Kingfish but for some reason Stina couldn’t keep them pinned to the hook all the way to the boat. The bottom rod caught us another 18 inch, sub limit Cobia. We stayed busy most of the afternoon and when the “witching hour” arrived we had BIG Kingfish sky rocketing on our surface baits. Most cut off the mono leader like a hot knife through butter. One managed to collect the circle hook in the corner of his jaw, exactly as intended. This fish was a “smoker” which worked Stina to the limits on the 20# spinning tackle. When she finally got the fish to the boat it ripped back and forth across the stern, several times. Devon crawled into the motor wells twice to clear the line from the motor cowlings. The last clearing attempt found Devon falling into the drink. Not a problem. I put the motors in neutral and Devon, being the fish that he is, made 3 strokes against the current and was on the dive ladder. At that same time I was sticking the gaff into this Kingfish. The fish weighed out at 28+ pound on the Boga Grip scale. This was the only fish we kept that afternoon as we are about caught up on our smoked fish supply. Unfortunately we finished the day without a shot at a Sailfish for Parker but he was very happy. He was also glad we had reunited once again and is planning another trip to come fish with us in February.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/28Kingfish.jpg[/IMG]
Here is a funny note! While cleaning that one and only Kingfish, Devon found a belly full of Ballyhoo and one Goggle Eye. The kicker… the Goggle Eye was tethered to a rubber band bridle on a small circle hook, one Ballyhoo was bridle to a J hook with copper wire, and Lo and behold, there is the front half of our Ballyhoo pinned to the Owner circle hook which was cut off about 10 minutes prior to this Kingfish being caught. This King was obviously wreaking havoc in the entire fleet that afternoon. He obviously came to dinner, one too many times in our spread, which led to his demise.
Hopefully the weather will change and bring us better fishing conditions. Until then, best wishes for a good year in 2008, from the crew of The BEAST.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
www.beastcharters.com
beastcharters@aol.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 41
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 2:48 pm: | |
Brrrrrrr! Chilly weather has finally invaded our space. At last! A major front has passed through our area and dropped the temperatures. Unfortunately, the winds that were generated by this front were brutal, to say the least, on Sunday and Monday. With that being said I will relay the details of my last trips.
Sunday began the “Adventures of The BEAST”. I should have had a film crew to do an infomercial on how to fish a WorldCat 330TE under extreme conditions.
Devon and I met at the dock decked out in rain gear as the approaching front was determined to try and make us wet. The wind was howling at 25+ knots from the SW. This is doable. As long as the winds are anywhere from the west we would be fairly protected on the reef edge. The weather was anything but pleasant, but we knew that once the front pushed through it would get better, at least in the rain storm category. Our customers, Stefan and Silmara, arrived at the boat early. Silmara was not so energetic but Stefan was determined and anxious. They had come all the way from Germany to fish with us and fish we will. They boarded The BEAST, we stowed their gear and shoved off.
We had no trouble getting our Blue Runners and Goggle Eyes but the Ballyhoo patches were all murky. We hung on the hook for about 30 minutes at the first spot and caught only 1 Ballyhoo. We endured a brief but intense rain squall while I was contemplating a move. I made the decision to try another patch reef because I doubted seriously if a kite would fly in these strong winds. Ballyhoo are my preferred baits for slow trolling. As we approached the next patch the water was considerably cleaner and the ballyhoo came up with a little coaxing. We caught several dozen of them and fired up the Zuke’s, heading offshore on a mission, and a mission it was.
For the better part of the day the weather was miserable one hour, and seemed to be clearing out with the next hour. The wind actually got worse at one point and were steady at 28-30 knots with gusts of 33 knots. With all this wind, believe it or not, the seas were only 4’ with an infrequent 6’ swell. Totally fishable but the intermittent rain was annoying.
We started fishing to the north of our usual spot and as I said earlier, putting out a kite was totally out of the question. We put out 4 up lines and another line down 50 feet. I worked the helm while Devon worked the pit. First fish to eat our offering came on the down line. Stefan grabbed the rod and began doing battle. As the fish rose to the surface we saw it was the dreaded “Caribbean Spotted Mackerel”, aka Barracuda. Fishing was slow and we worked the north area a while longer and again got a hit on the down line. Again Stefan fights the fish an we see a brown color as it nears the boat. Cobia? Not this time. A small Sharpnose shark breaks the water. About the mid day mark, we got caught, in a very nasty rain storm, complete with lightning. Devon and I were uneasy and pulled lines and started running out of the storm. We were ready to pull the plug on this trip for safety sake when we broke out and saw the scattered clouds ahead. We ran down south and set up again. We managed to hook up to a decent Blackfin Tuna and a small Kingfish that afternoon. For some reason we were having trouble getting hooked up on the down line and missed about a half dozen bites. We finished the day by missing a Sailfish bite just before lines out.
Silmara never touched a rod, allowing Stefan to enjoy himself by catching all the fish. She kept repeating we were “crazy men” to brave those elements. We fished all day and only saw one other boat which fished for about 45 minutes and left. Arriving at the dock we were reviewing the day and planning on tomorrows trip. All were damp and chilled from this tough day of fishing but Stefan was happy with his limited success. Silmara with a huge smile, made it clear she was going shopping tomorrow, instead.
We arrived Monday morning to 50 degree weather, clear beautiful skies, but the wind was still blowing hard. What’s this? 7:00... 7:30... 8:00 and no Stefan. 8:15 and Stefan is at the gate. What the heck? Silmara? Here she comes, a gamester at heart. I asked her what happened that took her away from her shopping and she told me that Stefan promised to take her Tuesday and was going to fund the whole shopping spree. So she came along and was once again invaluable at catching bait. All the bait came very easy and tossing the Calusa cast net twice, simply sealed the deal.
Winds out of the NW at 20-25 knots yet the seas were a mere 2-3 feet on the edge. We put out our normal setup as yesterday. This time we started south and stayed there most of the day. Frigates everywhere and I catch a glimpse of one working on the deck. There is a Sailfish rolling on its prey. I grabbed the flat line, cranked it in, and pitched it over there as the fish was sounding away content. Not happening this time. 30 minutes later I was marking fish at 90’ and we dropped the downrigger to that depth. 2 missed strikes and then a hookup. We see color and the color is brown. A Cobia. Obviously less than the 33” minimum so it was released. Another drop and another bite. Up comes a nice little Silky shark. Devon remarked about an old hook in his jaw as it fell out revealing only a rusty spot on his right side jaw. We released him, of course. Next drop to the 90’ level produces a Slippery Dick. Let’s try that 90’ drop once again shall we. BAM! The line starts screaming off the reel and Devon looks at me. We smiled at each other as I told Stefan, there’s your fish. 10 minutes and we are seeing color. Man, that is a long fish. Big Kingfish? Barracuda? Sail? Oh no! As we see the blue coloration begin to appear Devon yells “Monster Wahoo”. In a few minutes it’s boatside and Devon sticks it with the gaff. The gaff almost straightens out completely as the fish slides off. Devon strikes the fish again and this time he horses the fish over the gunnel and it thuds to the deck. This Wahoo will be Stefan’s biggest Wahoo for a long time to come. Mr. Wahoo was 63” long and weighed approximately 55 pounds. We couldn’t be exact because my boat scale broke when we tried to weigh it An incredibly nice fish.
[IMG]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/55Wahoo.jpg[/IMG]
Unlikely to top that Wahoo, we kept fishing anyway. We went through about a 2-3 hour lull, when finally we get struck on the top line. This fish is brown. Another Cobia? Legal length this time! No, another Silky shark. NO! Not another Silky, the same Silky we caught 4 hours before. Yeah right, you say! There was the proof, the rust stain in the right side jaw that we observed on the previous Silky. This has happened once before to me on a Barracuda.
We rounded out the day with an Ocean Tally, a peanut Dolphin attack, and then the down line, set at 60 feet this time, goes off again. Screaming away once, twice, three times and we are thinking Kingfish or another Wahoo. We see it is a “smoker” King and about 10 feet below the boat, the struggle stops. Stefan brings up the fish and the tail end in gone. Sharked! The “guard dog” allowed us to keep 18-20 pounds of the best part of the fish anyway.
About 30 minutes later we packed it in and called it a day. Devon remarked that this was the roughest 2 days he had ever fished to date. He has a new found respect for catamaran style hulls, especially The BEAST.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you about the Bald Eagle sitting on the Marina jetty. It was an awesome sight. Speaking of birds. We had a Royal Tern literally come sit in the boat. In the boat, means IN the boat, below the gunnels and on deck. It wore a band on its right leg and was not apprehensive of humans, obviously. It rode up front for the most part, but a few hours later it was walking right by everyone with no regard. Too cool, huh?!? After a considerable while, it tried to take off but couldn’t get any lift under its wings, inside and below the gunnels. Devon reached down and gently scooped the bird under the belly and raised it up into the wind and it took off. Psychics say that loved ones who have passed on will often send birds as their symbols to you. Coincidence? This day happened to be the 3rd anniversary of my Mother's passing! I miss you too, Mom!
Until next time; Happy Holidays to all, from the crew of The BEAST.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
www.beastcharters.com
beastcharters@aol.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 40
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - 4:58 am: | |
The offshore side of our fishing world was phenomenal for lack of a more emphatic word. The following episode is of a trip that Amy, Devon, and I made for fun last Thursday. We were going to get in a good practice run for upcoming charters. Every now and then we need to justify spending all those dollars on fuel, just for fun!
The day started out at 7AM just like every other trip but we were in casual mode, a no pressure scenario. That sure does feel good every once in a while not to mention that we all get to actually catch the fish for a change. As we headed across beautiful Biscayne Bay we realized that the moderate chop forecasted was nothing more than a very light chop. We started off the day by catching about a dozen Blue Runners and then headed off for a bait patch that tends to hold larger Ballyhoo. The Ballyhoo have been averaging just above “Dink” size so we opted to try this patch first. As we exited Casears Creek we once again made note that the winds were blowing from the NNW but the seas were not the 4-6 feet that they had predicted but rather a mild 2-3 feet. Immediately upon putting the chum bag out the ‘hoo started showing up. We caught about 2 dozen of them real quick and suddenly not only did the bite shut down but the fish completely disappeared. No Ballyhoo in sight, nor any tiny Yellowtails or other chum eaters. We quickly picked up and headed for another reliable bait patch rather than wasting time. We setup and the Bally’s came in hungry and stupid. We caught several more and then I threw the cast net and topped of our live bait situation. We had plenty of bait for the day with a dozen Blue Runners and 5 or more dozen Ballyhoo. Or did we?
We departed our bait patch and made the short jaunt offshore to our first destination. Deploying 2 rigger lines, 2 flat lines, and downrigger, we were in business. It didn’t take long and we had a Kingfish in the boat. Devon was working his speed jigs deep off the bottom and scored on a Mutton Snapper in a few short minutes. Next fish in was another Kingfish while Devon kept working his jigs. He had his jig almost to the boat when a Bonito hit his jig and pulled the rod to the gunnel on the strike. The action was hot and heavy under the surface when several nice Dolphin came in and tore up our top baits. After about and hour of this heavy action it died off so I put up a kite to refresh everybody’s memory on that style of fishing. I only flew one bait off it while pulling the same full compliment of rigs off the stern like we had started with. The bite had turned off as quickly as it began. We stuck it out for another hour.
I decided since there was no current to speak of, that we should run to a good wreck and try dropping some live bait. Maybe some nice bottom fish would play a little game of tug-of-war with us. We arrived and set up on our first drift. Amy dropped a small Runner and I dropped a small Ballyhoo. Something grabbed Amy’s Runner and mashed it then let go. Seconds later my Ballyhoo got hit and I cranked it up as quickly as I could. A nice legal Mutton came aboard. I reminded everyone to wind them in as fast as possible to keep them out of the wreck and away from the “guard dogs” (sharks). We made several drifts and most produced something including an African Pompano and half of a large Amberjack. Yep, half of an AJ, the guard dogs got the other half. Just as happened at the other spot has now happened here and the bite turned off.
It was approaching the afternoon bite time and we ran in to the reef edge to once again set up. I love when the clocks are turned back to EST and we can fish the early morning and the late afternoon in a single day. We hooked up a couple more Kingfish and Devon got a nice King which hit his speed jig just below the boat. We removed the downrigger line and went strictly for Sailfish and Dolphin on the surface. I put the kite up once again and put 2 baits out on it to compliment the 2 rigger lines and 2 flat lines. As we sidled past another boat we saw them hook up on a Sailfish. NICE! A half mile north of that boat we had a fish take the short flat line and when it skied out of the water to reveal a nice 25 pound cow Dolphin, Devon jumped on the rod. Within seconds of that, our short kite bait gets hit and I have a smaller bull on. The smaller bull made it to the fish box but the cow was foul hooked and giving Devon a workout. The first gaff shot was a miss as she turned quickly as I was reaching at my limits to strike her. On the second pass we tried to muscle the fish in for a gaff shot and the hook pulled. Oh well, we had plenty of fish in the box.
About 15 minutes after that Dolphin barrage, I turned around from the helm quickly to see a Sailfish come up and eat our left rigger bait. We were on! I tried to get Amy to take the fish but she said it was my turn again since I never get to catch fish. I took the rod and fought this fish for about 10 minutes and told Devon that she felt like she was tail wrapped. Sure enough! We hurriedly pulled it in the rest of the way and got the hook out, then spent another 3 minutes reviving it for release. Her fins lit up blue and she pulled herself away from my grip and swam off into the depths. I now have boated my 14th caught Sailfish. That’s what I said! I’ve had hundreds on hundreds caught from my boat but I’ve only caught 14 of them, personally. We set up for a short time more and got covered up in smaller school Dolphin and released them.
We decided to call it a day at 4:45 PM with only 4 baits left. Total for the day was 1 Sailfish, 13 Dolphin, 6 Kingfish, 2 Mutton Snapper, 1 African Pompano, 1 Bonito, and half of an Amberjack. On the way back to the barn it dawned on us that we had caught about 10 different species of South Florida fish in one day. That day, fuel prices were acceptable, because the smiles on our faces were priceless.
I’m not going to tell you to get out there or give me a call if you need a charter, because you won‘t. Instead I’m simply going to tell you this… “If you snooze, you lose!” Days like this are memory makers!
Tight lines and screaming drags,
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
CaptainIDS (Captainids)
New member
Username: Captainids
Post Number: 21
Registered: 9-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 05, 2007 - 10:04 am: | |
Are you a Licensed Coast Guard Captain?
This is for you
http://www.captainids.com/ |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 39
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 17, 2007 - 5:58 am: | |
If you remember reading the report of us fishing the Big Rock Marlin Tournament you might remember me mentioning CL, the mate on Capt. Troy's "Water Damage". That week in North Carolina all CL could do was talk about catching a Swordfish. He wanted to add a Swordfish catch to his list of species caught. Devon Amy, Sharon, and I extended an invitation for him to come to Miami and we'll try to hook him up on a Swordfish and maybe do some Cubera fishing since these giant snapper are at their peak right now. He has never caught a Cubera Snapper either and it would make another nice addition to his catch list. He and his girlfriend arrived on Saturday afternoon and we scheduled a Sword trip for Sunday night.
Sunday evening arrived and we all met up at the dock at 6:30 PM for his trip. He, the Swordfish Virgin, as well as all the rest of us were excited to give this our best shot. After the dismal Sword trip of last week, we still had high hopes. After all, this is fishing and no two days are ever the same. We cruised down the bay which afforded CL and Royalyn (his better half) a chance to savor an often missed look of Miami. As we ran through Caesar's Creek they got a beautiful view of the sun setting over the creek between the mangroves. As we headed across the reef line to our deep water destination, CL was intrigued by the water visibility as he clearly saw the bottom passing beneath us. Finally arriving at my deep water drift site at twilight we deployed 2 jug rods and 2 tip rods in varying depths with different types of baits.
The current was moderate at slightly over 3 mph and pushing slightly inshore of my waypoints marking previous hookups. We reached the 90 minute mark and covered almost 6 miles of water on this uneventful drift. We pulled lines and ran back for another drift. I started the second drift a bit more offshore. We passed the first GPS “bite” mark and nothing happened. We passed the second “double bite” mark with no signs of a look-see. Not wanting to prolong this drift I recommended we pull them up and head in to a shallower drift site. We quickly brought the lines up. We had a taker on the deep tip rod which bit the dead bait off at the head without so much as a rod quiver or reel click.
Arriving at my shallow drift site we quickly set out the lines. Once again we were spending time laughing, joking, moving tip rods up and down or anything else that would break the monotony of a fishless night. We were enjoying the meteor shower as was predicted by the local news stations earlier that evening. CL was now in his concession mode as he was remarking that you can only do what you can do and it is up to the fish after that. At 3:10 AM we were all getting a bit tired and we decided to call it a wrap at 3:30. This drift was much longer than the first 2 and we were past the 10 mile mark. At 3:27, with only 3 minutes to go on our trip, the reel on one of the tip rods begins to walk off with a swift, steady, rhythm. “There he is! Get your harness on, CL!” I barked to him. I fed the bait to the fish while CL was readying himself and then the line stopped. “He’s coming to us!” I began reeling frantically and then the line came tight as CL arrived with the harness on. We buckled him in and the fight was on. 10 minutes later with some excellent angling by CL and a mortal hook placement the fish gave up and I grabbed the leather gloves and yanked him out of the water. Devon grabbed the gill plate and we flopped CL’s first Swordfish on the deck. The fish measured out at close to 55” and weighed approximately 75 pounds. Royalyn got all of her man’s action on video. CL was so excited that all he could do was hoot and holler while reminding us how stoked he was now. As the picture taking continued, Amy, Devon, and I broke down the gear for the trip home. On that final drift we found that the jug rods, which are hard to detect a strike, had both been molested. One bait was slashed almost in half and another was missing completely, hook and all.
Wednesday night we met at the dock at 5 PM. CL and Devon brought along Al and Neno (Devon's Uncle and Dad). We headed out on a mission to catch some Yellowtail Snapper and the largest of all snappers, the Cubera.
As we headed out the channel we jigged for Blue Runners and caught about a half dozen. We ran down the bay and through the pass heading for the patch reefs. I pulled back the throttles in 10' of water. Devon and All brought their mask, snorkel and fins and were over the side within minutes. A 15-20 minute search put 5 legal lobster in the boat to use for Cubera bait. That is a hard thing for me to do since every time I see a lobster I think of hot butter, not fish bait. I rounded up the 2 of them and headed for the Yellowtail spot. We arrived in short order, dumped the anchor and deployed 2 chum bags. While Devon readied the lines for everyone, I began sweetening the chum line with hands full of glass minnows. We slipped the silversides on the hooks for bait and began drifting them back. Down I should say! NO CURRENT. This is not a good thing for "Tailing". We managed to catch about 10 or 12 good Yellowtail and as the sun set we blasted out the short 1 ½ miles to the Cubera spot. Fish were marking by the hundreds on the depth sounder but there was no current here as well. This is not a good thing for any type of fishing in S. Florida. Oh well. We set up for drift # 1, lowering 1 lobster for CL and one Yellowtail on Al's rod. 3 minutes into the drift and CL's rod is bent over double and his 80 International is giving up line. He puts the 80 into low gear and pushes the drag to FULL. At full drag we could barely pull the 100# line of the reel with both hands yet this snapper took yards at a time. With the sweat pouring off his face he turned the snapper upward and began gaining on him. There's the sinker and OMG, there is the fish. I grabbed the leader and pulled him in to Devon's gaff and we flopped this "Snappa" on the deck. After several pictures, many comments on the canine-like teeth, and a few guesses on the weight, I pulled out the digital scale to weigh it. A very respectable Cubera at 47#. Most of the fish have been in the 20+ range. There is that smile again on CL's face, just like Sunday night when he caught his first Swordfish. We are already halfway to our boat limit of 2 Cubera over 30 inches.
We made several more drifts without a bite. Mind you, our drifts at this particular spot are only about 600-1000 feet in duration. I only drift as long as I am marking fish. The lack of current is definitely affecting the bite. On the next drift I started noticing an increase of fish on the bottom so I told Al to drop his lobster to the bottom and then make 3 cranks up. Man, you would think I know what I am doing!!! Within a minute or 2 the 80 International is again engaged in a brutal free for all. Al works himself into a sweat as he manages to bring another big fish to the surface. Flop... on the deck it goes! Same ritual of pictures and utter amazement of these huge snapper. The digital scale reports the fish at 43#.
Now with a boat limit of 2, we must fish for release only. WE have 3 lobster left and they haven't touched but 1 of the finfish baits. That one received a split second crushing blow with no hookup. A couple more drifts and Neno gets a hit on the 3rd lobster on Devon’s bent butt planer rod with the TLD 50ll. The fish takes the tip of the rod almost to the water. Neno was working the rod as good as he can under the incredible power of this fish when all of a sudden… BOINK! the tip flies up as the hook pulls. Now we set up for a full lobster assault and dropped both “bugs” to the bottom. We passed over the spot and got hung up and lost 1 full rig and both baits. Now we only have Runners and Yellowtail for bait so we made 2 more drifts and called it a night, packing it in at 11:30.
CL was like a kid in a candy store! He came to Miami seeking a dream he had since childhood, catching a Swordfish. That happened on Sunday night and now he had the icing on this sweet memory by adding a Cubera Snapper catch to the notches on his belt.
Why do I do this job which has such meager monetary reward? It is not about the table food, flour, and hot grease. It is not about the size, quantity, or species of fish. It is not about bragging rights or competency! What it is really all about is making new friends and reinforcing old friendships as well. Most importantly , it is about making people SMILE. That alone, is priceless to me.
Congratulations to you CL, and you're welcome to come back and fish on The BEAST, anytime!
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 38
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 18, 2007 - 10:33 pm: | |
We are beat up from the feet up. Last week we fished the Miami Kiwanis Dolphin Tournament placing 6th overall out of 208 boats and 2nd and 3rd Ladies prizes. Sharon, Amy, Devin, and I jumped in the vehicle right after the ceremonies and prize payouts. Departing on a high note we drove 14 hours straight through to Morehead City, North Carolina to fish The Big Rock Marlin Tournament. We arrived at 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday and began preparations to fish the following morning.
We cast off lines at 5:30 AM on Monday morning to make the 40-mile run to the selected area. Dropping in 11 hooked lines and 4 teasers we began our day at lines in call, 9 AM. We covered all the water we could before lines out at 3 PM and boxed 3 of 4 Dolphin in the 15-22 pound range and missed 1 White Marlin. The White had hit a rigged squid and even though we did a major drop back the fish refused to double back and eat. Inspection of the bait proved a sold strike as the squid had a hole through it where the White had struck it with his bill. The second day Tuesday was uneventful. We ran 80 miles north to Hatteras Canyon and calm, placid, seas only yielded 1 single 15 pound Dolphin for us. Day 3, Wednesday, was rough and the winds were howling. The winds were blowing 25 knots and the seas were 7-8 feet. We had another 2 hour run out to the day 1 spot and we were so glad to arrive. Riding the big seas at 26 knots in the 330TE WorldCat was not too bad in the beanbag chairs in the rear although we did arrive wet, even with spray curtains and rain gear on. We once again covered water only to find 2 Dolphin again in the 15-16 pound range. Then at 2:30 PM about 30 minutes before lines out I spotted the big dark shadow by our purple/black Ilander/ballyhoo bait. As the shadow grew into a visible Marlin I yelled, “Fish up”! This Blue Marlin was in the 300-350 class and was eyeball to eyeball with the bait. Just as I was readying myself for a drop back if necessary the bait shot out of the face of the wave and “Big Mama” spooked. She launched herself as well and then vaulted out of the water one more time off the starboard quarter. I reached over and pegged the throttles to try and head her off hoping to excite her one more time into an instinct bite. Nothing doing, we never saw her again.
Thursday and Friday we chose for our lay days as required by tournament rules and with our backs against the wall, we decided to go for broke. Seas on Saturday were mild and we gambled on a 90 nautical mile run across the Gulf Stream to a suspected temperature break. We arrived about 10 minutes before lines in and set up. Everything looked good with an abundance of flying fish, squid flying out of the water like flying fish, birds, weeds and later a current rip as well. Things could not have looked better with all this healthy water. Someone forgot to tell the fish! We jumped off 1 large cow Dolphin on the long rigger, which looked about 35 pounds. That was the extent of our day. What the heck, we gambled and it didn’t pay off. This wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time it happens.
The tournament had a 400-pound or 110-inch criteria for weigh in and there was only 5 fish weighed in for the 6 fishing days. The tournament winning fish didn’t come in until 10:30 PM on Friday night so only the die-hard or those not fishing Saturday got to see it. It was 613 pounds and the others were 567, 505, 473 and 422, respectively. A 52-pound Dolphin, 45-pound Wahoo, and 69-pound Tuna won the largest fish in their respective categories.
We had a blast fishing with our friends up there but all the fun ended as we loaded back into the car and drove the 14 hours back to Miami, arriving this morning at 4:30 AM.
Now, let’s touch on our fishing scene here. The news traveled fast to North Carolina of the 81 pound Dolphin caught off our SE Florida coast. I saw pictures of this fish and it was a spectacular specimen. If everything goes right this pending fish will be a new Florida state record and possible IGFA 30# class record as well.
The Dolphin have been good and near shore. Smaller fish are fun and good table fare and the larger Bulls and Cows are still hanging around for those anglers looking more for the sport of it.
It sure beats sitting on the couch and watching others catch fish on the TV fishing shows!
If catching some Dolphin by day or Swordfish by night is up your alley, by all means, give us a call at Beast Fishing Charters. We will sure do our best to get you “hooked up“!
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 37
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 10:04 am: | |
This past weekend was a fish hard, all out weekend. The Beastie Girls and their other half’s spent the weekend in the Keys while we fished the Coconuts Dolphin tournament. Amy and I ran The BEAST down to Indian Key Channel, just south of Bud & Mary’s marina. We spent 4 days at La Siesta, a very nice place with comfortable accommodations. Our marina accommodations were on the bayside in a small little hole in the mangroves, which at first glance, was intimidating for my 33’ WorldCat. The twin opposed motors allowed me to spin The BEAST into place every day and it truly worked out better than anticipated. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and prepared for the grueling 3-day event. This has got to be one of the largest tournaments held in South Florida drawing anglers from other states as well. Last year there were 620 anglers and on Thursday there were already over 600 registered this year.
We signed up and joined in the festivities Thursday night but went back to the apartment, and after a torrential rain, we turned in around midnight. 5AM comes quick and we were sucking down our coffees, grabbing a bite to eat, and we arranged The BEAST for the day. We shoved off at 7AM and made our way through the mangrove hole and into the channel and out into the ocean for the warm up day mini tournament. The seas were calm, flat to be exact, and I turned the 300 Suzuki’s up to 4100 rpm’s and set my sights on one of our preferred locations. We pulled up short of our preferred location approximately 25 miles offshore, opting instead to fish an area that looked too good to pass up. 8 AM and lines in time we put out our spread and worked some birds which resulted in a school of chubby Dolphin starting us off. They were so hungry that Missy was catching them on bare hooks. Since we were in a “biggest fish” tournament we pulled away from them and started hunting birds again. We made it to our original planned destination and we got bit up again and this time a pitch bait brought up a nice 16# Cow. A little more searching and things slowed down a bit. We worked this area for an hour or so and then decided to trek off to another spot. We got into some scattered weeds and got slammed by a 26# Cow. The afternoon was becoming uneventful when we spotted a couple of orange fender balls off to a distance and a boat fishing them. We ran over there to investigate and found it was 2 anchor balls coiled up in discarded rope. A sportfish boat that was working this floater was trying to block us out but we had no intentions to be rude. We worked the outskirts and caught a couple more school Dolphin. When the sportfish boat gave up on his attempts and moved on, we made a few passes close to the floating balls and rope which resulted in 2 Wahoo out of 5 bites on the deep rods. 3PM lines out and our total was 18 Dolphin and 2 Wahoo.
We took the largest Dolphin to the weigh in but we were too shy in weight to make the leader board. We hung out and socialized for a bit and then headed back to the room for day 2 of fishing which was Day 1 of the main event.
The same morning rituals at the apartment and we are off again. The seas were once again light and comfortable. This time we were running late and I cranked down on the motors a little harder. I didn’t stop until we hit the waters that produced well the day before. Good scattered weeds, Sooty Terns working, and over the lines went. Almost immediately the short rigger fires off with a screaming drag. This was a big fish but as it head shakes we see what appears to be a glimpse of a Wahoo and then the rod goes slack. All the terminal tackle held properly, just a good maneuver by a desperate fish fighting for his freedom and the hooks pulled loose. We spent the next 3 hours in flat calm seas with nothing happening. BAM! The down rod goes off and so does the flat line. Good fish! 2 nice Cows. We pitched a bait and within seconds another fish is hooked up. With the original 2 fish in the box we now have another Cow on and we dropped back a naked ballyhoo to a fish swimming in with the 3rd Cow. Pick up, hook up, and off to the races it goes. The Bull to this harem was hooked up. Blood everywhere and tackle askew, but we had 4 nice fish in the fish box. Everything went smooth and exactly as planned. We got things back to order after all the high fives and moved along looking for THE BIG ONE. About 20 minute later we got the strike and he was a good one but the hook never really struck. The Cow on the other hand was not that lucky and we added another fish to the box. Somewhere along the way we managed to pick up 2 more school fish. Saturdays total was 7 Dolphin, 5 over 16 pounds and 2 schoolies.
The Beastie Girls took the 19, and 20 pound Cows along with the 22 pound Bull to the weigh in but ended up about a pound short of making the board in the ladies division with the Bull. The Beastie Girls have fished this tournament since 1995. Amy & Sharon said that never had they had such a welcome as they struggled to carry the canyon bag with 3 fish to the scales. The cheers were heart warming and made them feel like they had won anyway.
We awoke to a typical Coconuts Sunday. An abnormal cold front for May in South Florida had passed in the night and left us with Blustery wind conditions and building seas. We stopped by a frigate working the water and waited the few minutes until lines in time. We worked this bird for 30 minutes until he soared up and gone, with no results. We ran the 25 miles offshore to our spot. Approximately a half hour later we got caught up in a cell that once upon us grew to over 6 miles in diameter according to my radar. Every time I saw an opening it would close again because of the air temp cooling and condensing the moisture in the air. We struggled through 30-40 knot winds and occasional hail mixed in the rain for almost 2 hours. All I could do was put the bow into the wind and wait it out. When the squall finally gave up it left ugly seas of 6-8’ and around the ups & downs they were like a washing machine. I am thankful that I was in a WorldCat 330TE, that’s for sure. The day went quickly and uneventful. Nothing to weigh in but we were glad to see this day come to and end as we rode in at 22 mph in the slop.
We leisurely ran the boat back home on Monday. We’ll get them next year. This tournament has eluded us every year and we vow to continue our quest to conquer in the 22nd annual Coconuts Tournament. We had a good weekend, none-the-less. Our largest Dolphin was 16,16, 18, 19, 20, 22, and 26 with 18 school fish and 2 Wahoo in the low teens.
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com |
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