Mad dog and Englishmen!

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

That's Fishing!

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 anal/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

Ring in the New Year!

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.

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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.

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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