Mental Health Day!

A very frequent customer who has fished with me more than 50 times, called me last week because he heard the Dolphin were moving through the area. He was going to be in town right before Turkey Day and wanted to see if we had any time available to get him out for a “mental health day“. That is Jon’s term for taking an extra layover day to get out on our boat, catch some fish, and forget about work! I told him that we could hook him up on Tuesday.

Jon arrived on time as usual. The winds were a bit strong and the Bay was choppy. We made the run to hit one of our good Blue Runner spots for bait. There were no premium 6-8” Runners there but we did pick up 6 or 8 “Jumbo”, full grown specimens. Enough of that because we knew our preferred baits were thick on the reefs. We’re off!

The reef was turned up and green but we could see our quarry darting around in the face of the waves. I continued on to one of our spots that usually has clearer water in these conditions. We set out the chum and the bait was a bit slower to show than I had anticipated. When they came into the chum line, they came with a ravenous appetite. We spent about 30-45 minutes getting some good small to medium baits on the hook. A group of ballyhoo eventually worked their way to within “easy net range” of the stern. This enticed me to get out the net. 2 tosses of the net and we had more than enough bait for the day, or so we thought!

I decided to forego any long runs to our more distant areas and simply meandered off the edge. The winds were strong out of the east and the waves were standing about 4 feet. The water was too green to suit me so I continued out until I found some water with more blue to it. The color change was in our preferred depth so I pulled back to idle speed, and Devon started sending out the spread. 5 minutes after we got everything set, the Dolphin, Dorado, Mahi-Mahi or whatever name you prefer, crashed our spread. I think we got 3 out of the 4 that hooked up. We set the spread out again and this scenario went on for the next hour and a half. Singles, doubles, triples, and a few quad hook ups, kept us on our toes. All were good sized lifters. We decided quickly that we weren’t going to bother keeping anything that was even close to needing a measurement. We finally had a 20-30 minute lull so I made an adjustment to deeper water and we were in them again.

This action continued on for the rest of the day. There was no time for pictures. The only thing that slowed down were the weather conditions. The winds lightened as it changed to the SE, and the water laid back to 2 feet with an occasional 3 footer. We had a few more breaks in the action, between the Kamikaze waves of these hungry southbound fish. We even caught one fish that had recently been attacked, probably by a Wahoo. The tail lobes were cut off cleanly and he had cuts in his head area. He went into the fish box. Around 3 PM we were noticeably running low on bait. Yeah, we thought we had more than enough bait. We sure didn’t anticipate this much action.

We dipped out the smallest of the Hardtails hoping we might find a Wahoo. We had to trim his tail down to curb his power so he wouldn’t pull out of the downrigger clip. Devon sent him downstairs. There’s a shark chasing our rigger bait. Jon really didn’t want to waste bait catching him so I kept pulling the bait away from him. It was a Silky about 4’ long. He finally lost interest and we reset the line. The downwrigger popped off and we had a strong fish working. A minute or two later we were all guessing that the shark submerged, doubled back, and ate the big Hardtail below. When we got him to the surface it was a shark but it wasn’t that little Silky. This was a 6-7’ big bodied Sandbar hooked up on 20# test. When the shark saw the boat, it turned and burned for the depths. Seconds later, the leader was no match for those teeth.

Only 3 Ballyhoo left and Jon decided to call it a day, a bit early. We had a busy day and his limit of fish. We probably had 40-50+ fish attack our spreads, hooked up 35 or so, and caught about 28. WOW! We were all tired but it was a good tired! A good day like this parlays into a fair amount of work at the dock, fileting fish and cleaning the boat. Since we hadn’t taken a single picture all day, I snapped off a quick one just to show the average size of the fish.

Photobucket

Devon wanted to cash in on some of that action for himself. He loaded up his boat, called his Uncle Al, and went fishing yesterday. They started fishing at 11 AM and quit fishing at 2PM. In those 3 hours they caught their limit of 20 Dolphin and also added a Blackfin Tuna, a Kingfish, and a Sailfish to the catch count. Good job, Devon and Al.

The economy is taking the long route coming back and it is frustrating for all of us. Trust me, I know it too well. I can’t relax on a boat while at home worrying about my financial situation and I can’t catch fish by reading these fishing reports. We can either try to make the best of the situation by doing something that makes us happy, or we can be depressed sitting around thinking about money all day. Just ask yourself 1 simple question. Couldn’t I use a “mental health day”?

I hope everyone had a deliciously fattening Thanksgiving Day!

Capt. Jim
The BEAST
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com

It is what it is!

Last Friday I was down at the dock doing some maintenance and prepping The BEAST for our trip on Saturday. The day was sunny with a very light breeze and pleasant temperatures in the 80’s. By evening some cloud cover had moved in. Saturday morning Devon and I arrived at the dock to find 20 knot winds. As daylight broke we saw gray skies that threatened rain. What’s with this? I thought the forecast was for this front to push through overnight and winds of 13-18 knots. Well… It is what it is!

Matt and Ryan Briggle arrived at the dock with their Dad, Jack, and Uncle Forest. Forest told me that he was the photographer on the first photo shoot in which World Cat used The BEAST. That was 1999. Small world, huh? I told Forest that he was going to experience, first hand, what the catamaran hype was all about.

I fired up The BEAST and we headed off into the gloom. Our first agenda was to stop for a few Hardtail baits. We hit 2 spots and all we could find were a couple of cupcakes, very small Blue Runners. I pushed the juice to the outboards and off we go for some Ballyhoo. The reef area was choppy with solid 3 footers but we never slowed down. I realized that the wind was bucking the currents so our favorite ballyhoo spot was not possible. I turned the wheel south toward another good spot. We arrived a few minutes later and set out a chum block. We spent a good while finally caught about 3 or 4 Bally’s. No more in sight anywhere. I’m not waiting this one out! Reel ‘em in boys and let’s head farther south and more inshore. Reaching that spot, I freshened the chum pot and waited what seemed like an agonizing eternity. The ’hoo had finally found the scent and were coming up in good numbers. Unfortunately, the Moon Jellies were coming in large groups with each passing wave. The guys were picking off the ’hoo with hook and line as the ballyhoo were dipping and diving to dodge the jellyfish. I was itching to get a net on them. They were in good numbers behind the boat but so were the moons. If I toss the net and get a few jellies in it, they will fry the baits as we gather the net. I loaded the net as Devon kept a visual on the bait and jellies. When we had a group of ’hoo in range and clear of the jellies, he gave me the green light. I pancaked the Calusa net and we hauled in about 3 dozen baits. Teamwork paid off. We caught a few more on the hook and then bagged the bait ritual to head offshore.

Our starting point looked like a blue water washing machine with 5’ waves. The winds seemed to be increasing and the clouds were getting heavy with moisture. Devon and I opted for a 3 up and 1 down set on this blustery day. We had 2 bites on the top rods but when we retrieved the lines we found the telltale mackerel bite. Our next bite resulted in a hook up for Matt. He worked the small fish in and as we expected it was a nice Cero Mackerel. A light rain began to fall. It wasn’t enough to get out the rain gear but it was just enough to be annoying. We missed another couple of bites and these baits came back in looking more like some sort of tuna bite. Finally the left rigger pops off and we have a solid fish ripping line off the reel. I was anticipating a Sailfish to go airborne but it didn’t happen. This fish wanted to stay deeper so I began bringing the boat around so Ryan could fight the fish off the bow quarter. Suddenly the line went limp. Ryan didn’t make a mistake, no slack line. When he brought the bait back to the boat, it appeared we had a tuna bite again. The problem was that the hook had turned and went back through the bait. This left only the point of the hook visible and obviously the hook never passed the barb. That’s a tough break. We spent another half hour with nothing happening. I suggested we try some wreck fishing with the speed jigs. Matt and Ryan agreed because they wanted to see our speed jigging techniques.

As we pulled up on the chosen wreck the wind was blowing in excess of 25 knots. The wind push on the boat was defeating the current which allowed me to keep the boat in good position with little drift. We dropped 2 lines. Devon was working one rod, showing Ryan the rhythm. Matt, on the other rod, was doing a pretty good job of mimicking Devon’s style. Ryan was watching Devon when the jig gets hit and Devon passes the rod over to Ryan. A few seconds later, Matt’s jig gets whacked too! The Briggle Brothers were on a double and working their fish toward the surface. At the snap of your fingers, Matt;s fish is gone. Judging by the cut off hook and scraped up leader, it was a dang shark! Ryan brought his fish up and it was a fine specimen of a Yellow Jack. Nothing was marking on the sonar so after a few more drops with nothing happening, I suggested we try something else. Before Devon and I could get everything squared away to move on, I got the WORD! “Let’s head in.” Ryan said. It’s only 1:15 and I tried to get them to hang on until the major feed time or at least until we set lines and chummed out all the live bait we had left. Ryan had been fighting off seas sickness for a good bit and everyone in his crew had forgotten to bring rain gear, except Forest. The conditions had taken their toll on my guys and turning green was definitely not on Ryan’s agenda. They passed on my suggestions.

I pointed The BEAST toward home and grabbed a handful of throttles. We arrived as the rain began coming down now, light but steady. I realized that no one had taken a single picture. None of us wanted to pull out our cameras, in the rain, to take pictures of this stellar catch. At this point in time I think we were all really glad that we had come in early. Matt and Ryan said they had a good time learning some of our techniques and they wanted to do it again. I explained to them that my experience has shown that a cloudy, low pressure pre-frontal condition has always seemed to be slow fishing. We give 100% effort and can control most everything but we can’t control the weather. It is what it is!

I’m not the kind of Captain that only reports on my good trips. However… Writing reports about our less productive trips is definitely not my favorite item on the “Things to do” list. Thankfully these trips don’t happen very often!

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

Too Nice!

The other day we had a trip with a very good repeat customer, Ed Conway, a.k.a. Gimpy. Of course he brought along our amigo, Julio Sr (78) a.k.a. Poppi A lot of our customers earn a nickname when fishing on The BEAST. It’s like a badge of honor! Ed got his a.k.a. on his first trip when he arrived sporting a full leg cast and a limp. This time he brought along his nephew Jeff and Poppi’s friend Anthony.

The foursome was waiting at the dock when I arrived. They had already been there for 30 minutes. Anxious? Devon and I loaded our gear and let them onboard to arrange their lunch, drinks, and personal items. We turned The BEAST out and made our way into the Bay.

Gimpy and I picked a gorgeous day, following 2 days of rain, but there was not a breath of wind, slick calm water, and it was getting hot quick. I hoped my choice, when picking this day for Gimpy, turned out to be a good one. I hit 2 Hardtail spots and only put one small Jack and 2 large Runners in the well. Off we go for some Ballyhoo. We pulled up to our spot of choice for this day and the ’hoos were showing up before the chum bag was in the water. The crew started catching them and putting them into the other well. We had about 2-3 dozen in the well and I decided to toss the net. The bulk of the bait was tight against the motors making it difficult to throw the net without lassoing the motors. The day was so clear that they spooked as soon as I let go of the net. I got 4. Man, that sucked! 3 more tosses and nothing, so we spent a few more minutes with the rods to fill the wells. If you have the time the hookers last a lot longer than the netters do in the wells.

We strolled across the reef in crystal clear, flat calm water. You could see the fish and corals on the bottom in 45 feet of water. Uh oh! This makes for good boat riding but is usually a recipe for disaster when it comes to catching fish. We eased out into the blue water and set out some lines. 10 minutes later and Gimpy had a small Cuda on the line. We reset the down line and moved slowly about the area when the down rod sings out again. Not another Cuda, please. Jeff was working this fish but it wasn’t thumping the rod like we expected. As the fish got closer, about 50’ down, Devon notices it is an African Pompano and happily pulled the 31” fish aboard for Jeff. Nice!

Photobucket

This is a pretty good start with 2 fish caught in less than 30 minutes. Devon reset the rod again. Yes! 10 minutes later and the line is ripping off the reel this time. I think this is one of our “Spotted Caribbean Mackerel” Yup, sure enough! Good job Poppi! Anthony wants to keep all of the Barracuda, so we tossed it in the box for him too.

Photobucket

We were in the process of resetting the down rod when the long rigger popped the clip. Jeff jumped on the rod and a Sailfish took to the air. Unfortunately the fish was heading toward the boat and Jeff never got the hook set into the fish. I worked that area in and out for another hour but the bite had turned off. I made the decision to go hit the Grunt & Sweat wreck to see if the Big’uns are still around. Let’s try it and see if we can keep these guys busy while we watch them sweat. Devon dropped the bigger Hardtail and in less than a minute the rod doubled over. They’re still here! Anthony jumps on the rod and I think this fish was a bit stronger than he had anticipated. Meanwhile Devon had tossed a speed jig and was working it to the top. Bam… it gets hit and he hands the rod to Jeff. This was not a Wreck Donkey like Anthony was trying his best to just hold on to. This had a fast tail beat. A nice football sized Blackfin appears and Devon quickly dispatches it to the ice. Anthony is still on his fish and asks someone to take over, so Jeff grabs that rod. This 30+ Amberjack had no chance with this big, young dude.

Photobucket

We made 2 more drops and Gimpy hooked up to a bruiser for 10-15 minutes when it finally broke off. The hook was missing and Devon inspected the remaining roughed up leader and surmised it to be a shark. Since we are out of deep baits now, I headed for another spot to try for some Muttons. We made several drift/drops and ended up with 2 nice fish.

Photobucket

The afternoon was growing long and my group was hot, tired, and getting very quiet. When Gimpy gets quiet, that is the cue to try and get one more fish and call it a day. We set out a spread for some surface fish and hopefully another Sail. Time is dwindling and we get the word to wrap it up. Devon had 3 rods in when I see a Sailfish rapidly tail walking toward the boat. Sailfish! Sailfish! Devon thought I was joking until he sensed the urgency in my voice. He’s on the down rod. This sneak had taken the bait down deep and surfaced without the slightest indication. Gimpy grabs the rod and he’s hooked up. As usual with Sailfish, there is always a fire drill. Devon notices the line has wrapped around the down rigger line and the fish is pulling the weight up. OMG! I don’t know how, but Devon takes the rod and with 2 quick passes around the d/line, he frees up the fish. That was too close! Gimpy works the fish in and Devon bills the fish for a quick photo op and release.

Photobucket

Now that is the way to end a day! We buttoned up the boat, grabbed a drink, and I headed west. As always, it was fun fishing with Gimpy, Poppi, and his crew. We tallied 1 for 2 on Sailfish, 2 Barracuda, 2 Mutton Snaps, 1 African, 1 Blackfin, and an Amberjack.

The second front of the season will be here this weekend. The bait is arriving in mass as we evidenced that morning seeing huge schools of finger mullet, pilchards, sardines, and ballyhoo. The arrival of baitfish means the predators are only a tail beat behind.

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

Snappa's by Dark

Jorge Marquez seems to love going Cubera fishing with Devon and I. Matter of fact, he booked his first trip with us in ’08 and the very first fish that night was a 76 ¼ pounder. I don’t know who was hooked deeper, the fish or Jorge! Ever since that night, he books two trips with us every season. Since we had to cancel Saturday night due to residual effects from H’cane Irene, we were determined to get this trip in on Tuesday. We weren’t going to let a chance of rain and/or the moon jellies stop us.

Jorge arrived at the dock on time. He was alone. The rest of the crew had bagged out on him but he focused on the “Nasty’s” even if he had to do it by himself. We hung out at the dock for about 30 minutes while the last of the afternoon rains passed through. We turned out The BEAST and made our way to catch a few live baits. One stop and we had a half dozen or so Hardtails and we blasted off to the reef to get some of those delicious “crickets”. We spent less than an hour collecting bugs and we had plenty in the live well.

Photobucket

We still had about 2 hours to kill before darkness settled in. Jorge was so psyched up that he didn’t want to catch Yellowtail or warm up on big AJ’s. We just played around with the speed jigs at a local wreck for a little while but only caught a couple of humongous sized, full grown, Hardtails. OK… enough of that. We decided to make the run to our final destination and try a few drops before dark.

Arriving at the spot, I find the drift was slow, the winds were light, and the seas were about 1 foot. There was nothing much marking on the sonar but, I told Devon to make a drop anyway. Devon sent down a small Runner and Jorge got hung on the bottom, losing the terminal rig and weight. I set up again and Devon fired another small Hardtail down. Nothing down there but it did get bitten in two on the way back up. Alright Bud, we don’t want Barracuda messing with us, so send a bug down on the next drop. About 10 minutes until the sun slid below the horizon and we sent the first bait down. Oops… that’s bottom again Jorge! We were hung up and lost the whole rig. The second drop went down as the sun is only a sliver on the horizon. Dang! Hung up again! We lost this rig too. OK… let’s regroup.

As I made my way around the area I was starting to see a few fish marking on the sonar. This drop went to the bottom and I was giving Jorge a refresher course on how to “feel” the line. As I turned to move back to the helm, I felt that initial bite. Whoa, there’s a fish! The fish took the bait and I made a few cranks on the reel and the rod began to double over, then popped right back up. I quickly made an adjustment and the fish came back on the bait and nailed it. Three turns of the handle and it was fish on at 8:18. Jorge was very familiar with the drill on how to get these big snapper to the boat. He did a good job and we were on the boards with a nice 36” fish in the mid 20# range.

Photobucket

The excitement died down and I motored up to make another drift. I was marking fish but not where I expected them to be. I made a major adjustment to my drift and Devon sent another bug to the bottom. The drift is still slow and I reach the point where I had detected them. Bam! Fish on, Bro! Jorge jumps on the rod and this fish has a little bit more oomph to it. The fight was as expected and we boated this not quite 30 pound fish for a photo op as well. Now it’s only 8:42 and we are already 2 for 2.

Photobucket

On the following drifts we had changing winds, current fluctuations, and several drift adjustments were needed. Despite all that, I managed to stay on the fish. Bada Bing! Hooked up and lost a better fish at 8:55. At 9:05 Jorge hooked up a real nice fish and lost that one too! Once again at 9:17 and Jorge is on a big’un this time. Oops… he lost that one too. Don’t sweat it Jorge, the bite is on and we have plenty of bait. Boom! The bait gets hammered at 9:27 and this one is a bruiser. Jorge is gaining and is just passed the halfway mark when the rod tip snaps to attention. What?

Several more drifts went by and the bite had obviously shut off like someone flipped a light switch. They were there but very complacent. We tried to get Jorge to adjust his delivery to try and finesse these fish into biting. It wasn’t happening because he, unlike the fish, couldn’t stop using the “feed mode” technique. He did manage to get one more bite but it sucked his bait off the hooks only bending the rod about a foot. The clouds were beginning to grow over the edges of the mainland and cloud to cloud lightning was beginning to put on a show. We continued on until 11:00 PM and Jorge was ready to head in. I offered to do a couple more drifts but he declined.

We packed everything up and I turned the bow toward the barn. We were 2 for 7. Losing the other 5 bites was a bit frustrating for Jorge, but hey… that’s fishing. We reached the marina where the bottom fell out of a cloud and it came down on us. We all had a good time and Jorge even went home with a bonus… a fist full of Lobster! You can’t beat these Cubera trips. If you don’t use all of your bait, you simply melt some butter and eat them!

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

3 "Tough" Days

We did another 3 days with our good friends from New York City, the Harbor Club. It’s always nice to see Chief, Yalkin, Frank, and this time they brought along Rich. They are the guys that brought the bananas last year and we dubbed them the Banana Club. Yalkin is not an early riser so I knew when he called Thursday night that they wouldn’t be there before 9 AM. It turns out that their plane was late and they didn’t make it to the hotel until 4:45 AM. They arrived at the dock at 11 AM. Oh Boy! Not a good start, but it is what it is, and Devon and I will make the best of it.

We made way to catch bait. We hit a couple of spots and had a good number of Hardtails. Let’s get some Ballyhoo. The conditions weren’t great but the Ballyhoo did come up and we scored plenty to do the day. It’s almost 1 PM and we made our way offshore into the 15 knot ENE winds. The seas weren’t as big as the Bonito Bonanza trip but they were 3 feet or larger. The blue water was actually a little on the green side. Devon put out a spread. About 5 minutes into it and the down rod sounds off. Rich puts on a valiant effort, for a few minutes, but the fish manages to spit the hook. Devon quickly resets the line and after a few go rounds, the down rod is screaming. Franky, a.k.a. Soulie, jumps on it this time to give Rich a lesson in how to catch a 30+ pound Barracuda.

Photobucket

The spread is reset and we give it a concerted effort but the surface action was dead. Time is of the essence as the seas are rising. I suggested that we head over to the “Grunt & Sweat” to let the crew pull on some donkeys for a little bit. We arrived at the site and I made a quick drift to get my bearings. A light current at 1/2 knot made it too easy. Drop’em Devon! As we passed over a portion of the wreck the bait was ignored. Give it time. Let the baits get down current of the wreck before we pull them. Kapow! Down goes the bait rod and we are hooked up. There is just something about going up against these bruisers.

Photobucket

As we worked the wreck, it came alive with each, successive pass. We spent the rest of the afternoon giving them a couple of rumbles each. We backed off from the area even though the sonar was lit up with these agitated and hungry fish.

Photobucket

We tried the surface bite for another hour and called it a day. The guys were spent from tussling with the AJ’s and the lack of sleep the night before. They vowed to come back the next day renewed, refreshed, and ready.

The “better late than never” guys said they would be there at 9-9:30 AM. Yeah right! Devon an I know them too well by now. At 10:05 they came rolling in. Well, that’s an hour earlier than yesterday. The BEAST was chewing at the dock lines, so we hurriedly loaded their gear and shoved off. The Hardtails were hard to come by so we grabbed about 8 or 10 and headed out for some ‘hoos. They weren’t on fire either but they did get stupid enough for me to get a good throw on them with the net. We’re outa here.

The seas were much calmer than the day before and we had the dreaded, south current. I decided to try an hour of surface fishing before the sun got too hot. Too late, nothing going on! The day before, Chief had expressed his desire (about 20 times) to try and catch a Hammerhead. Let’s give it a go. Devon set up 2 of the rods they brought and we put a down rod out to catch a Barracuda for bait. I slowly motored over the ‘Cuda hole and we quickly picked up a monster. Devon tossed it in the box while he finished readying the lines. Devon cut the Cuda into baits and used the rest of it for chum. We set a live bait out on the surface as well. 20-30 minutes into the set, when Devon yells out, “Sailfish on the flat line!” Sure enough. Rich grabs the line and we instruct him to reel hard until the line comes tight. Hook up! Rich is loving the scene as the Sail goes airborne. This goes on for several minutes. The fish sounds for a few seconds and comes skyward about 6 feet out of the water and we see the bait go flying in the opposite direction. Crap! A big disappointment but as we all know, you can’t catch them all. Another 30 minutes passes. We are about to pull the shark baits up and try something else when Devon spots a dorsal fin approaching the surface bait. Gulp! Yalkin jumps on the rod (his rod) and I looked around wondering why the Chief didn’t get it. Oh well. Yalkin is putting the heat to this shark with his fancy harness, and expensive, 4 piece, 50-80# custom travel rod with an accurate twin drag winch. 10 minutes, the fish is below the boat, and suddenly we hear a SNAP!

Photobucket

The boat is full of laughs, chides, and short one line comments. The Chief helps Yalkin by holding the rod so the line doesn’t bind in any of the “leftover” parts. Believe it or not, we got the fish.

Photobucket

The general consensus was to finish the day working the surface for Sails, Dolphin, Tuna, or whatever. We worked the waters northward and had a few bites but no solid hook ups. The tip of the down rod pops up and it immediately makes a deliberate power run. The Chief takes this one and it goes into a slow and steady tug o’ war. I think you got your shark Chief! 5, 10, 15 minutes and the Chief has his hands full on 20# test. After another 10 minutes we see color. OK, Chief, it’s not a Hammer, but it is a shark.

Photobucket

We fished a little while longer and the group called it a day. They told us that tomorrow they would arrive at a better time to tackle a full day for a change.

The last day and the Banana Boys arrived “almost” at their decided time. What is the term… fashionably late! Devon and I were ready. We unleashed The BEAST and made a beeline for the bait but it was a tough bait morning. I had to hit 3 different spots to get enough for this quasi full day trip. After we left the bait patches, they opted to troll awhile for some Dolphin, etc., looking for some food fish. I ran out to 1400 feet and we didn’t see anything that looked the least bit fishy, so I made a turn more to the south and inward toward an area of scattered weeds in 1000 feet. I really hate calm days. We put the lines in and worked the scattered stuff until we saw a mat, using the term loosely. Nothing. About a ¼ mile north of the mat the lines went down. 4 Dolphin and everyone is engaged in the proverbial fire drill. We picked away at a small school and ended up with 3 legal fish. Ugh. We played around offshore for a while longer and nothing much was happening. Very little weeds, no debris, no flying fish, no birds, nada, zilch, nothing! That brings out the prankster in Devon and I. Rich has a bucket list, but does he have a bucket fish. He does now!

Photobucket

Alright, enough already, we’ve wasted a good part of the day, so lets bag this and go drop on the bottom for some groceries. Arriving at our new destination, Devon readied 2 rods, one bait and one speed jig. The first drop and the bait rod goes thump, thump. I quickly take up the slack and Franky removes the rod from the holder. C’mon Soulie, move it. There are fish down there that want to eat him as much as you do. Get him in the boat, then play with it. I see PINK, it’s a nice Mutton. The weight is aboard and as I grabbed the leader, a flash comes from nowhere. Our catch just became a Barracuda snack. The remainder was still a legal length but we just lost 1/3 of a good 9-10 # Snapper.

Photobucket

Several unproductive drifts and nothing was going on especially with the speed jig. Yalkin is slowly bringing up a bait from an unsuccessful drop when, WHAM, the rod doubles over and he says “This is an AJ… Want it Chief?” The Chief takes the rod and feels the power of the fish. It’s not an AJ. Now we see color and it is definitely not an AJ. Grouper? No. It’s a CUBERA! It’s not just a Cubera, it’s a 43 # Cubera Snapper. Sorry Yalkin, that’ll teach you to hand off the rod. Good job Chief!

Photobucket

After the excitement died down on the boat and the “We’ll be back for Cubera in August” comments subsided, we got back to dropping. The guys missed a couple of bites. Not too much longer and Rich gets another thump on the rod tip. I told him to crank it up as fast as he can so it doesn’t get halved. He is working the fish and suddenly feels a temporary weight. Not this time. The rod is still showing the tail beat. Devon takes the leader on a beautiful 14 # Mutton that almost lost his tail.

Photobucket

With enough fish for a few meals and anticipating the time to clean/bag the catch, the guys called it a day. They had packing to do for their flights home to New York. Will we see them again this August or September? I don’t know the answer to that one but I will venture a guess we will see them again next year.

Cubera season is fast approaching. Weekend nights book quickly and 2 are already reserved. So… If fishing Cubera with us, is in your plans this year, you might want to drop an email or give us a call.

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

Bonito Bonanza

Steffen and Silmara Jahn from Munich Germany returned to fish with us again this year. They decided to book 3 days of fishing (6/3,4,+5) before heading off for the rest of their vacation. Steffen has fished in many places throughout the world but ultimately loves fishing with us in S. Florida.

The duo arrived about a half hour late due to the rental car GPS being set on city streets. I guess the rental company wants to avoid the automatic “by license plate” toll charges. We loaded their gear and headed out. Winds were blowing 20 knots out of the ENE. The waters were a bit on the rough side but The BEAST can handle it

The bait was excellent and we had several dozen Hardtails and several dozen Ballyhoo in the live wells. In short order we were headed out for the blue water to get them hooked up. The first bite of the day was on the down rod and it came unpinned. Apparently a large fish by the way the line peeled off and the terminal rig was mangled. Devon re-rigged and dropped the down rod again. A few scant minutes later and the line is off to the races again. This time Steffen keeps the fish hooked up and in short order Devon puts the steel to a nice 12# Kingfish.

Photobucket

Devon readjusted the cockpit and reset all lines. I made a few passes around the area to see if we could pick up another King. The down rod pops off again and we are on a big fish. Uh oh! To many head shakes to be a Kingfish. Several minutes passed by and we see color. Look at the size of that “Caribbean Spotted Mackerel” (Cuda). This Barracuda was of the larger variety. Devon removed the hooks and made a good release on the fish.

Photobucket

Once again we reset lines and I moved from the area looking for more desirable fish. We managed to get into a school of “Grasshoppers” (schoolie Dolphin) and caught 2 keepers out of 4 fish. Then we got nailed by 2 “Boneheads” (Bonito).

Photobucket

The action was a bit slow and the seas are up to 5+feet. We decided to do the wrecks for a little while. Several drops produced 2 Almaco Jacks on the speed jigs and 1 Amberjack on the live bait. We left the wrecks to finish the day off doing some more live baits on the surface. A Sailfish came up and ate the long rigger bait. Before Steffen could get tight, the Sail sensed something, went skyward, and spit the bait. Well, almost a fitting end to a good day.

Day 2 and our dynamic duo arrived at 7 AM and we pulled away from the dock in good time. We began bait fishing but the bait was slower this morning. What a difference a day can make out there. We managed to grab enough bait for the entire day and headed off to the deep blue.

The day was non stop action. We could barely keep the baits in the water. We got nailed by a small school of “micro” Dolphin. The Boneheads were out in record numbers, a virtual Bonito Bonanza. They were all full grown, very large fish. We hooked up so many that we lost count and actually boated 18 of them. During the day we made a quick stop at a wreck to take a break from the Bonito Barrage. We got 2 of 3 big Barracuda, and a nice Almie on the speed jig.

Photobucket

We spent the final hours working the surface water to the north. The Bonito were everywhere, and you could see huge schools of them tailing in the 5’ waves. During the Bonitofest, we did manage to hook up a shark on the down rod. Unfortunately after a lengthy fight the trace wire finally broke. As time wound down and running low on bait, we saw 2 Sailfish tailing. They wouldn’t take a bait. We had 3 more Sails come up in the spread but they were just window shopping.

Day 3 arrived. The winds had come down quite a bit and the bait was even slower than Day 2. We did get enough for the day and off we went. Devon put out his spread and the action wasn’t as hot as the day before. We got into a school of small Dolphin but “eagle eye” Devon spots a larger fish in the mix. He casts a bait to the fish and it eats. Get’em Steffen! A few minutes later and our German couple have a nice little bull dolphin for dinner.

Photobucket

The Bonito Bonanza was still going on but not as hot as it was the previous day. We boated about a dozen or so.

Photobucket

We were working a nice current rip and at one point we had 3 fish on. A shark was on the down rod. Steffen took the shark at first but suddenly 4 Sails came up on the top baits. A Bonito plunges in and takes one bait from a Sailfish. Silmara takes that rod and Devon and I try to bait up the remaining 3 Sails. 2 of the Sails lost interest but we managed to get the last one to eat. Steffen switches over to the Sailfish. Silmara is still on the Bonito and we left the shark rod in the rod holder.

Steffen, was hooked up to the Sailfish and the fish went deep. LOOK! The shark is getting awful close to Steffen’s line. As the shark neared the 20# fluorescent line, it parted without a tug. Are you kidding me? That shark just cut the line. Steffen, switches back to the shark on 20# line. Silmara boats the Bonito and Steffen, with much effort, wins his battle. We pulled the shark close for a photo op and release.

Photobucket

The day progresses and it’s well after quitting time. We have had some good excitement but it finally went stale. I announced that we’d give it 15 more minutes. At the 14 minute mark I spot a pallet floating a few hundred feet off the rip. I maneuver The BEAST over to put the baits around the pallet. Devon is tossing a speed jig hoping that a Wahoo may be lurking below. At 14 Minutes and 59 seconds we notice the long rigger line is going out. Grab it, Steffen, and reel until your tight. Bada Bing! The line comes tight and a Sailfish goes skyward. Steffen is nervous because he has tried all weekend to get his Sailfish again this year. This time he succeeds and we have a good release on his fish. Good job Steffen.

What a weekend! We had many hookups and boated a wide variety of fish. The smiles on Steffen and Silmara’s faces were priceless. I also want to give credit where credit is due. A well deserved shout out to Devon who, in my book, is one of the best mates in S. Florida.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com

Show me your Permit

I’m a little behind in my reports so I’m going to double this one up and make it short and sweet.

David Aurbach and his friend Jarrett had fished Cubera’s with us before. This time they brought some new blood in Gayle and Gayle Jr. We made bait quickly and headed out. During this trip the Permit were still working good so we also took 10 crab with us.

Our first stop was to hit the Permit. We couldn’t get a visual on them so I had to find them with the electronics and drift the baits to them. 1 missed queue and hung on the bottom (????). I guess the angler was feeding his line out a little too liberally. The other 9 crab got eaten but every one of the Permit found some structure to cut them off.

OK… off to try some live baits on top. The seas were too calm, almost like a lake so the action was dead. We worked it hard for a couple hours then decided to head to the “Grunt & Sweat” wreck to put some hurt on these boys. That is just what we did.

We spent a few hours dropping some very large baits down and speed jigging as well. David and his crew got bit by some respectable AJ‘s.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

We still had about another hour or so left in the day. Since Devon had brought along some dead crab that he had in his freezer. We decided to give the Permit a try again. Nothing beats a live crab, but those garbage can lids had a hearty appetite earlier and maybe they would still be hungry enough to eat a dead one. We made a few drifts to locate fish and suddenly David came tight on a fish. This fish made a mistake and headed away from the structure so I followed him. When the fish tried to double back I had the boat in position and we put the heat on him. I love it when a plan comes together. Several minutes passed as David and the fish played give and take, but the game was drawing to an end. OMG! Nice fish! We just beat one of the older wiser ones.

Photobucket

An awesome end to a fun day! I believe they had a good time, once again.

We also had our repeat friend from Gibraltar Spain, Ivan Alman, who brought his son this time. The last time he came to see us he had booked 5 days but this time he had time constraints and only had time for 2 days. Sweet… Let’s do this.

We blasted out and caught bait. The water was a bit choppy but not too bad by Beast standards. As we were finishing up catching bait I noticed the boy was getting a bit green around the gills. UH OH!

Ivan had read some of last years Permit reports so this was on his agenda. We gave it a try and they were there but a bit slower to chew. A few drifts and nothing happening. I was manning one rod while Devon did some jigging and Ivan was attempting to man a crab while checking on his son who was getting a lighter shade of pale by the minute. Tap, tap, tap, and my line started moving off. Bam… here ya go Ivan! He was hooked up and I’m not sure who had who for the first several minutes. He worked the fish to the boat and we had a catch.

Photobucket

I had to get the boat moving in hopes to revive his son, so we left that area and headed for the House of AJ. Let’s get the boy pulling on something. We made a few drops with the speed jig while I set up my drift. I located my drift line and we sent down some baits. Double Bam! Devon grunts as a fish strikes his speed jig and he hands it off to Ivan. Less than 5 seconds later the live bait gets whacked. I begged the boy to just come over and crank it in from the rod holder. He rose from the dead long enough to bring in this good fish. He stood by while his Dad finished off his fish.

Photobucket

Photobucket

The poor kid gave it his all. Shortly after catching that fish, the extra adrenaline pumping through his body made holding his stomach impossible. UH OH! In record time, Ivan whirls around and lets go of his lunch as well. Some people can’t watch another hurl and it turns them sour as well. It doesn’t bother Devon or I because we see it quite frequently. After a few sips of water, the father son team give me the word. We’re headed home early. As we idled down the home channel we got the second word. Ivan decided that this vacation was for his boy and he didn’t want to make him do it again the next day. We told him that we could go outside just long enough to catch a Cuda or 2 and then go shark fishing on the inside if he wanted. Ivan decided against that. He paid me and tipped Devon out, telling us to enjoy our day off! Thanks again to Ivan, that was very generous and refreshingly out of the ordinary.

Stay tuned for the next report from this past weekends 3 day event with our German friends Steffen and Silmara.

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

Still here!

Wow! It’s been a good while since I wrote a report. I’ve been extremely busy in all aspects of my life for the last several months. I went into one of my local bait shops the other day and the owner said he had heard from 3 or 4 guys that I stopped doing charters and sold my boat. Well… that’s news to me! Matter of fact, the bank keeps taking my boat payments every month. This recent statement has reminded me to take a little time to sit down and pound out some reports. We’re in the worst economy I’ve ever seen and BP tried to kill the fishing business last year, BUT… The BEAST is still here!

Many of the local guys around South Biscayne Bay may know a guy who runs one of those red & white boats with the TowBoatUS name on the side. He works around the Feather Beds and Boca Chita. His name is Carlos. Carlos and I have been friends for a good while now and we were talking one day about catching Kingfish. He was asking me how I managed to have such good success with them. Rather than explaining the entire process, I told him that we should get a day together and go and get them. That way he could see for himself. When that day came, Carlos and “Uncle Al” joined me, but we all opted for a late start.

We untied the snarling BEAST and headed out to collect some baits. After a few stops we had enough different baits to really enjoy ourselves for several hours. We headed out in search of our quarry and deployed a spread. We decided to fish for whatever would bite but the top bite was slow. The wind and seas were calm. I made a few adjustments and began targeting the Kings to give Carlos some hands on lessons. Within minutes of this change we had a hook up. Carlos took the rod and quickly landed a “snake”.

href="http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/beastcharters/?action=view&current=1-31-2011-01.jpg" target="_blank">Photobucket

We missed a few bites. My guess was that the fish were on the small side. Then the rod began to sing. We didn’t miss this one! Carlos once again jumped on the rod and he was off to the races. A bit longer fight than the first time but Carlos overcame the odds and landed a good fish.

Photobucket

The action had slowed down again and Al was tossing a small speed jig around when he got hooked up. He was putting the heat to his little 15# setup and scored a pretty Blackfin Tuna.

Photobucket

After that we decided to call it a day. We had some fresh “sashimi” and Carlos had plenty of Kingfish meat. It was a good day with good friends!

Another trip we had was with a long time customer, Jon Clement, and his friend. Devon and I met them at the normal 7 AM shove off time. The winds were good and the seas had enough chop to get the fish going. We ran out and did our normal bait routine and then headed offshore.

Devon set out our normal 5 line spread and we were fishing. We had pretty good action most of the day. Jon’s friend, who’s name escapes me, hooked into a nice Sailfish and it was game on! There were several minutes of some incredible aerial antics by the Sailfish. A little more time was spent with the fish dogging him deep and then he got the fish under control. Shortly thereafter we had the fish at the boat for a quick photo op and good release.

Photobucket

We stayed busy on Dolphin, Kingfish and Bonito, when another Sailfish came calling. This fish seemed to do the opposite of the first Sailfish of the day. It dogged us deep in the beginning portion of the fight and then went ballistic at boatside.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Another good release and we set out the spread once again. We had a double hook up but it only lasted for a short time. One of the fish came unpinned. Several minutes went by on the remaining fish and we began to see the tell tale gold of a Blackie. Yes sir!

Photobucket

Well there ya go! That is the way to end a good day. Jon and his buddy tallied 2 Sails, 6 Kings, 10 Dolphin, 2 Bonito, and a nice Blackfin. The mission was accomplished and followed up with a good ride home.

Yep… The BEAST is still here!

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