Cubera and Humble Pie!

This past weekend we had Cubera Snapper trips on Friday and Saturday night. The weather was beautiful and warm with light winds and calm seas.

We met up with David Auerbach and his buds, Ed, Dave, and Jared. There was excitement in the air as everyone arrived on time. Devon unleashed The BEAST and we made our way out through the channel. We took some time to catch some Hardtails and tossed 9 of them in the live well. Although nothing compares to live bugs, it’s always good to have a backup. I set the big cat’s throttles on “purr“, and we made our way out to the patches for some real nasty bait. Visibility was good and we tossed Devon overboard. It took a bit longer and a couple of stops but he managed to put his hands on 13 bugs. Let’s get out of here and go fishing!

The guys opted to do some speed jigging and had brought along some of their specialized jigging rods. The first wreck we hit had produced several fish. Bonitos, Bar Jacks, etc. were setting the mood for the night. The second stop was another session of jigging as the sun is getting close to the water. This stop warmed the guys up for the night, catching a big HorseEye Jack, Amberjack, and an Almaco or two if my recollection is correct.

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As the sun goes out of sight we made the run to Cubera town. We arrived at our destination and several boats were already working. I made a few passes around to get an idea of what was going on down below and then stopped to check my drift line and speed. WOW! A very light current at about ½-1 mph. I repositioned for drift 1 and Devon fired 2 crickets down. Nothing happened. We continued making drifts but all we could muster was losing 3 rigs and baits to the bottom. The fish were not in the mood. One hour passes, the second hour passes, hmm, the fish are there but it still wasn’t happening. A couple more drifts and a major adjustment when suddenly it all breaks loose. Bam, Boom, for the next hour it was helter skelter and we managed to catch fish from 18# up to 50#’s.

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This chaotic fish fest had everyone fired up. It was past quitting time and we had gone through all our bugs and some of the fish baits. I decide to keep on fishing and take advantage of this melee’, using up the few remaining baits.

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When we finally called it quits, we had used up all 22 baits. The group was fired up and said that the trip was well worth it and exceeded all expectations. We kept saying we caught 7 for 15 hooked up but when I reviewed the pictures the next day, we had actually caught 8 fish. A slow start but a phenomenal finish!

Saturday night Jorge Marquez a repeat customer from last year, arrived with his friends, Santi, and Carlos. Carlos was the guy that caught the 76¼ monster, last year. We made a few comments about going for an 80# fish this time. Same as usual, we untied The BEAST and made our way out. Once again the weather was cooperating beautifully. We caught a few fish baits before making our way out to the cricket farm. Once we arrived at one of our bug bait spots, we let Devon start doing his thing, collecting them. Oh Boy! Things were slow, real slow! Only 2 lobster in the well at the first spot. We pulled him aboard and headed for spot 2. After some time in the water, we only had 4 bugs in total and Devon came aboard. He said there were many shorts and even more “eggers”. That’s just great! OK, let’s try an old spot of mine from many years ago. We got there and in the next 20 minutes Devon grabbed 9 more. Whew! Man… it was getting late and I was sweating the bait situation! The guys were itching to go jigging, too.

We hit the first wreck and Devon and I gave the guys some tips on how to work these speed jigs to get consistent bites. We caught 2 really nice Yellow Jacks, 1½ Bonito and a Caribbean Spotted Mackerel (Cuda).

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The second wreck produced 3 fat Almaco’s and the sun was fading fast. We packed up the jigging gear and made our way to the main destination.

Approaching the area we see 3 other boats already there and I began my normal routine. The fish were spread out and thin. The current was ripping at 2½ - 3 mph. This is not good guys, it’s going to be very hard to correctly present the baits. The guys brought there own gear, so we put the rigs on them and began our night. We struggled drift after drift, trying to keep the baits in the strike zone. 4 times we had gotten hung up and lost everything. I made adjustment after adjustment and couldn’t even draw a half hearted bite. The fish were there! They just had lockjaw. Monotony is setting in as we continued to make one blow-by drift after another. The current was so strong that each drift lasted only a few minutes, no matter what we did to counteract it. My plotter was turning black with so many track lines from the numerous drifts. Most of the other boats have left the area and I can’t say that I blame them because it appeared they were doing a lot of standing around in the cockpits too! It’s past quitting time, I’m miffed and I am not leaving until I get one! I made a wide return swing and found a group of fish that were closer to the bottom and hopefully feeding. As I set up for that drift I noticed the wind has now shifted, coming from the SW. The current slowed to a light 1 mph and we got a bite! The rod bent over, but only for a second. He came unpinned! Dang it! This scenario played out 3 more times with the same results. 0 for 4, it’s after 1 AM and I am dejected. A couple more drifts and it’s apparent that the only thing biting now were a few mosquitoes that arrived 5 miles offshore with this westerly wind. That’s just wonderful… just flipping great!

Jorge called the trip because he knew I would’ve stayed out there. He said “It was very obvious that we did all that we could do…It’s fishing!“ I was still upset with myself and second guessing everything. Devon calmed me down by reminding me, once again, that sometimes, no matter what we do, it just isn’t meant to be. I knew that this night was coming! We were on a great run and it came crashing down. How can 2 successive days be so utterly and completely different? I have had some time to reflect, while eating my “Humble Pie”. It doesn’t taste good and I don’t like it! The next trip will be a mission of revenge and vindication. Look out, El Nasty, I’m coming!

Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com

"Bucket List" Swordfish

Joerg Jager, from Germany, booked us for 2 days of Sword fishing. He decided to split them, taking a day off between. We met at the dock at 6 PM and blasted off a few minutes later. The seas were running about 2-3’ and we had a nice cruise out to the deeper water. Arriving at my favorite drift site, I quickly checked the drift and the line looked very good. The drift was a bit fast at a little over 3 knots and the easterly breeze was pushing us in a little.

Devon and I readied the lines and I motored us back upstream to the starting point. We set out our spread. Everything is looking great as we drift by all the good spots of previous trips. We drifted for a good while and the sonar was showing that we had moved well into a non-productive area. Pull ‘em up! Our short float line came in, slashed in half. We never saw any indication of a bite! I powered up The BEAST and made our way south for another drift. This time I set my drift a little deeper to start, trying to prolong the drift over more productive bottom.

Once again, we set out the baits and began the monotony of drift fishing for Swordfish. Nothing much to do but wait, have a little conversation, listen to some reggae, and crank the tip rods up and down. I noticed during the first drift that Joerg was very quiet. During the second drift we was even more quiet and was nodding off to sleep. Nothing is happening and complete boredom has set in now. Suddenly Joerg bolts to the gunnel and starts yelling for “Ralph”. Oh Boy! It might be a short night. Devon and I started discussing the matter, trying to decipher what is going on and what we could change, to up our odds. Joerg is still bent over the rail. We had drifted this line twice for almost 2 hours with only one slashed bait. Strike that! We pulled our lines and found that the deep tip rod had gotten whacked but never once was there any indication of it either.

The game plan gets changed since Joerg is refusing to give it up, I moved to my “go to” drift. Three of the lines already deployed and the deep rod is going down. About 50 feet from its destination I feel the bite. Joerg takes the rod and the fish is swimming to the boat! Reel, Joerg, reel! The line gets tight. He’s feeling the fish’s weight. Suddenly the line goes limp and the fish is gone. Crap! SNAFU! What happened? The bait is intact, just a bit worse for the wear! “Quick, drop it back down, Devon!” Again 50 feet from our desired depth, Devon says, “He ate it!” OK… Feed him! Feed him! Devon let the fish have it until Joerg was ready and then pushed the drag up. FISH ON! Joerg danced one full lap around The BEAST. Well, it looked similar to dancing because he left his sea legs back at the dock! Other than a few quick power runs, the fish seemed content to come to the boat. Devon puts the steel to the fish and we muscle the fish over the rail. Thud! Joerg is all smiles for the moment. Whoops! There he goes again, calling for his imaginary friend, Ralph!

A nice, thick, 60”, 70 pound fish (SWO08/10/2009FL194) is subdued, readied for some photos and then secured for the ride home.

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Having a successful Day 1, we took the next day off to ready for Round 2. Day 2 arrives and it is a beautiful evening. Joerg met up with us at the usual 6 PM start time and off we went. The seas were calm, the winds were calm, and the skies were clear. We never had to drop RPM as we made our way into open water to our waypoint, arriving in plenty of time to set up our spread before dusk.

We’re set up and the waiting game begins. Shortly after nightfall we have a hit on the deep rod. That was it! Just a hit. No runs, 1 hit, no errors! We pulled the bait up to see that it was bit in two. The culprit was, most likely, a small night shark judging by the bite marks. We rebaited and sent it down again. No more than 5 minutes passes and we get bit on our other tip rod. Once again we retrieve half of the bait and the donor of the bite was obviously a slightly larger shark. Looks like this drift is going to be a PITA. We drifted this line until we got into unproductive waters. Pull ‘em Devon! The deeper of the float lines came in all busted up, with teeth marks. It appears we are experiencing a shark night.

I made a move to Wpt. #2 that worked for us on Joerg’s trip 2 nights before. We deployed the baits and began our drift! Crapola! A slightly different drift due to area currents and slackened breeze. I cut the drift short as I realized that we were not going to hang in the area long enough. I ran The BEAST south to my start point and readjusted slightly for the new drift line. This small change kept us in the zone. 1 mile, 2 miles, and boredom has set in. On and on, we were focused on the floats and rod tips. Conversation and music were our salvation from the monotony. Time runs out and I kept giving it 5 more minutes, 5 more minutes, 5 more minutes. Finally, an hour after quitting time, I called it a wrap. As it happens so often, we’re clearing lines when I see the deep tip rod bouncing. Fish! Devon takes command of the rod and begins a free spool drop back. Nothing! Go figure! We engaged the reel and brought up the bait. Definitely a Sword bite! The bait is slashed to shreds and balled up on the hook.

We couldn’t catch a break that night. I powered up and made the run in as Devon and Joerg caught some shuteye time. At the dock, he let us know he was happy! He’s had several trips for specific target species that have come up empty. He considered his trips with us a success. He caught a Swordfish on our 1st night, and on this night he didn’t get sick. The only fish remaining in his Billfish quest now, is the Black Marlin. Good luck Joerg! You’ll get him.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharter@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com

A Visit to "Nastyville"!

Ricky called me twice on Saturday to confirm our trip and I guess he also needed some reassurance that this trip would be successful. He was excited, but was pessimistic as well. I told him not to worry that we would do everything within our power to insure a successful trip to “Nastyville“.

Ricky, brought his brothers Robert and Ralph, and his Dad, Ralph Sr. We were supposed to meet at the dock at 3 PM. The group arrived at 3:15 and then we ran into another hitch and didn’t get to turn The BEAST out until 4 o’clock. We made the run to a lobster patch and tossed Devon into the water. 30-45 minutes later and we only had 4 or 5 bugs in the live well. Devon climbed aboard and we moved to a better patch and in he went. Nice! He was pulling up legal bugs, one after another, at times he even had one in each hand. That is incredible since he doesn’t use a net, only a tickle stick and his hands. He is something to watch and I swear if you look close enough you will see gill slits behind his ears. The process went along quickly and we have enough bugs on board for the night. I powered up the Suzuki’s and we made a run to a good Yellowtail spot to catch a few of them while we await the fall of darkness.

We arrived at the spot and sent the chum line into the current. This time spent Yellowtail’ing is great as the anticipation builds and we get to answer questions about what is to come, all the while catching some more edibles. The guys put 10 nice Yellowtail in the boat as the sun lowered on the horizon. It’s almost dark and we could see several boats already arriving at Nastyville. We packed up our light gear, broke out the Nasty rods, and made the short run out to the assembly of boats.

As we arrived there were 6 or 7 boats drifting the area. Everything seemed courteous and orderly, so we joined them. I made a short drift so I could get my drift line and then motored up for our first set. Drop ‘em now, Devon! The guys elected to hold the rods rather than using Rodney, the rod holder. Twenty seconds into the first drift and the stern rod gets a strike. Bump Bump! BAM! Robert has his hands full as my short custom built Cubera rod doubles over to the water. OMG! Robert can’t believe the strength of El Nasty as it pins him to the gunnel a few times. As we see color in the lights, the size of this fish draws a reaction from the group. It is a Pig! Devon reaches over and with a thud, 55 pounds of toothy snapper hit’s the deck. First fish, and they elect to put it in the box.

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This started off our evening with a bang. We will be selective now as the limit on Cubera is only 2 fish per boat over 30”. Robert is on the boards with a score, we set up again and dropped lines. Ba Boom! Ralph is hooked up and into another good fish. This fish is put on the deck and after a short photo op and weighing, Devon vents the 45 # red devil and slips it back in the water to continue on.

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Set up again, dropped the lines and Bada Bing! Ricky gets the nod and is wrestling his “bucket list” fish. Once again we bring the fish to boatside for the customary photos, weighing, venting, and release.

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I wasn’t quite sure why most of the boats were fishing where they were, but I guess they had there reasons. The majority of the boats left after an hour and we were there with only 2 others. Our scenario played out over and over again with single and double strikes coming on each and every drift. Robert caught a 25# and Ralph Sr. finally gets a fish that he can handle. A scrappy 22#, also released.

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Ricky gets a 48 # fish and Ralph catches a small 20# fish. We’ve been on the Nasties now for about 2 hours and the winds were picking up and the seas too. 11:15 and we decide to do one more drift as the action is slowing down. Ricky gets another big bite and it’s game on again. This fish comes into the light and it is another El Grande’ Nasty. This fish weighed in at 46 pounds and we can’t get a good release on it. We tried but the fish was done so we boxed it for our boat limit.

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We had 4 tired and satisfied anglers so we wrapped it up. We caught 8 fish out of 13 bites. We had fish hooked up on every drift, some singles some doubles, some wrecked us and broke off. We ended up the night losing plenty of terminal gear. That is totally irrelevant when you fish with a good group of guys and get to see them all, smiling from ear to ear. They must’ve been very happy with their trip as they were extremely generous, above and beyond the norm. They vowed to return 1 or 2 more times this season. We look forward to fishing with them again!

Our Cubera season has begun with a bang! It sure beats bobber fishing for Bluegills! What do you think?

Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com

Are You Ready to Rumble???

Lobster mini season was a success for our crew of regulars. Wednesday, Devon, Amy and Al took to the waters and caught their limits in a little over an hour. Afterwards they did some spear fishing and got 2 nice Red Grouper. The trip ended early and they were back to the house by 2 PM. They wanted to save up their strength for day 2.

Day 2 of mini season and Devon, Amy, Al, Tom, and I met at the dock at 1 PM. A late start was good since we wanted to catch some more crawfish and then do some speed jigging or yellowtail fishing, followed by a try for some Cubera Snapper, again. The marina was slack and we passed several boats coming in as we were making our way out. When we reached the patch reefs they were empty. Only 1 or 2 boats off in the distance in either direction, north or south. We hit several patches first off and only managed a few bugs, but did get 2 nice Hog Snapper. Now, we get bug serious! We headed to a patch that had good visibility and within an hour we had 26 bugs. We put up the dive gear and headed out for some fishing.

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Our first stop, we decided to speed jig. WOW! The area was alive with birds and fish working the surface. My sonar was lit up with mid water activity as well. Bing! Bam! Boom! Non-stop action on the jigs. Several bites were cut off so we knew we had the attention of those dreaded Caribbean Spotted Mackerel, a.k.a. Cuda’s. The first fish to make it to the boat was a huge Bonehead. Out of nowhere comes an ominous shadow that takes the tail half, in one bite. “Look at that shar…“ That’s not a shark! That is the biggest Barracuda I’ve ever seen. He took about 15# of Bonito in one bite! We played with him for several minutes until it got too risky. It was too close to the boat for comfort as they have no problem charging into the air as you lift a fish aboard. I unhooked the head half of the Bonito and dropped it over. 5’, 10’ and Ol’ Snaggletooth leisurely swims up and takes it in his mouth, swimming slowly into the depths. We were mesmerized by its size! What a show! We continued working the jigs, catching a nice Yellow Jack and many more of those mega sized Bonito, until we decided we had enough.

No one wanted to do any Yellowtail fishing so we headed out for “Nastyville”. This time we have their preferred snacks… BUGS! The sun set and the current was all over the place. Getting a good drift once we located the fish, was going to be a mission. Nothing much was marking on the sonar. We did a few test drifts and I realized I had my work cut out for me, if we were going to get a shot at El Nasty! The darkness fell into place. I motored around the area looking for our target when, suddenly, the sonar looked like a Christmas tree. There they are, boys and girls! After a few drifts we realized that they were moving around and not staging on anything or anywhere! OK! I have a plan. Next drift we lowered one of our prize bugs and we missed the school of fish. A few minutes of locating them again and another adjustment. Drop ‘em! Down went a crawdad and a Hardtail, but I missed the mark again! Who said this was easy? OK, I’ll get them this time! I motored The BEAST into position again and the lines went down. Closer, closer, get ready guys, you’re in ‘em. Bam! The bug gets hit and the rod bows over. Missed him! We didn’t get a solid hook up and he stole the bait too! Our excitement is growing as there isn’t much down there that will readily feed on a legal sized cricket. We tried a few more techniques and each crawdad drew a bite, but we didn’t get a solid hook up. We cranked up the line after our last bite and the grasshopper was still pinned on the hook. We checked him out and found definitive bite marks on the carapace. There is no mistaking the fang punctures of El Nasty! “YES!”, I yelled as I was doing the Cubera dance in the cockpit. The crew looked at me like I was crazy. Even though we went 0 for 3, I considered this mission a success! We used 3 different techniques and produced 3 good bites in an hour.

We called it quits so we could get in by the 12 midnight, mini season curfew and get home early. Although the season is a couple weeks late this year, the waiting is over. The weather is good and the seas are calm. We are pumped up and ready. For anyone interested in catching a Cubera and to those of you that have already been in contact with me… Are you ready to rumble??? Let’s get it on!!!

Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com