Need a Bigger Bucket?


We had 2 really nice trips last weekon the approaching full moon.  These trips were loaded with fast, smoking hot action!

Steve, Ben, and Landon joined us for a full day of fishing.  They traveled all the way from Oklahoma to try some of Miami’s renowned offshore game fishing.  Devon and I unleashed The BEAST at 7 am and we headed out.  I throttled up the 600 ponies to cruise mode and began looking for some Hardtails.

We hit our specific Hardtail spots but they were not real plentiful.  As a matter of fact, they were a bit too large.  I pulled the plug on that venture pretty quick to save time and in hindsight I’m glad I did.  I picked up the pace as we headed out to look for some Ballyhoo.  We arrived on our “dink” patch and set out a chum bag.  Wait, waiting, and finally a few began to show up.  The tides, currents and wind were all wrong and this was becoming tedious.  We burned up a block of chum and only managed to put about 6 in the live well.  Let’s move!  I ran south to another patch and absolutely no worms in sight.  This went on at 2 more sites we visited and I was beginning to stress.  2 blocks of chum down the drain and we still only have 6 ’hoos.  This is not looking good.  The radio was buzzing, as everyone seemed to be struggling for bait as well.  The saving grace was that the boats offshore were assuring everyone that there was nothing going on.  I conferred with Devon and decided to make a run north to a couple of other patches.  As we were passing the first patch we tried that morning, I got a gut feeling to pop back in.  Waiting was agonizing but 15 minutes later the worms came up pretty good.  We got enough on hook &line and I tossed the Calusa net and scored enough to do the day.  About an hour behind time but we finally have our bait.  I pushed on the gas and blasted out to the fishing grounds.

The current was trickling to the north.  Our first bite came about 15 minutes into the set and we boated a fat “Snake” Kingfish.  We reset our lines in the deeper water searching for some Tuna or Dolphin.  Another 30 minutes passed and we get an awesome bust on the left rigger.  This has to be our Blackfin and a nice one as the fish took the fight to the depths.  The longer the fight progressed we realized that we did indeed have a Tuna on.  Devon saw color and announced that we had a nice sized Tuna on but it was a Bonito of about 20 pounds.  Oh well, it’s not what we wanted but it was a good fight.

The radio had been and still was, buzzing between Captains about how slow the bite was.  By the sound of it, most everyone was fishless or only had one or two fish.  We started later than normal and already had 2 fish in less than an hour.  I wandered into shallower water at this point looking for some faster action.  We missed several bites from smaller Kings on the down rod.

We picked up a decent Cero Mackerel and another Bonito when…Ba-Boom!  The short flat line gets rolled on and a Sailfish burns toward the sky.  10 minutes later we had a successful leader touch.  That was the beginning of almost non-stop action for us.   The Sailfish action started smoldering and then burst into flames.  We had 2 more Sailfish hooked up I hailed everybody listening on our channel, when we hooked up the 3rd Sailfish, to let them know that the bite was on.  During this time we also picked up another Kingfish and a Cero Mackerel.  I didn’t have time to take pictures as we were fighting or unhooking fish, one after the other.  Here we go again, a double hookup on Sailfish.

We were having a very busy afternoon and that 3½ hours passed by super fast.    Steve, Ben and Landon had enough and gave me the word to chum out the rest of the baits.  What do you think?  Yep… we have another double hookup on Sailfish.  We caught 1 out of 2 and we took a few minutes to get a picture.

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The total head count for the day was 2 Cero Macs, 2 Kingfish, 2 Bonito, and 4 for 8 on Sailfish.  I was really surprised that we didn’t have any Dolphin show up at all that day.  I turned The BEAST toward the west and boogied for the barn.  I love it when a plan comes together!


Our friend, Gimpy (Eddie Conway) came down for his 3rd trip this year.  He brought along his buddy, Paulie, and my main man Papi.  We met up on this full moon day at the usual time and stowed their gear.  We shoved off and I was hoping that the bait would be much easier on this day.  As we entered the Bay, the Pilchards were everywhere!  I took the time to break out the 10’ Calusa net and get a few.  Devon and I took turns tossing from the bow and in no time flat, we had one of the 40-gallon wells blacked out.  Well that’s a few!  The baits were generally in the 2-3 inch range but we had several good’uns in there also.  We had plenty of Pilchards to chum and bait Dolphin or Tuna during the day.  This day is already looking better as far as getting bait is concerned.  We skipped the Hardtail spot and made the run to the worm hole!

Devon was out fishing for fun the day before and clocked the worms at one of our spots.  We bee-lined it for that spot.  Crap!  The winds and currents were wrong again, and this time the tide was slack too!  After burning a block of chum we decided, since Gimpy rates his trips more on edible fish in the box. We would run out and troll up some Dolphin and feed them some Pilchards.  I headed offshore and found some quasi weed lines with birds picking at the weeds.  We put the lines in.  A few minutes passed and we had a 4-line knock down but they were very small fish and the only one that was hooked up came off Gimpy’s line.

We never found them again and after an hour I pulled the plug and headed back in to try again for some Ballyhoo bait.  I was anticipating the tide change would move the chum.  We hit 2 patches and nothing came up again.  Ugh!  This makes my job tough, to say the least.  I decided to head out with only the Pilchards.

We hit the edge and I slowed to an idle while Devon put out the baits.  The water was beautiful and the seas were 2 feet.  Devon chummed out a big handful of baits and a few minutes later we had a line trip.  Sailfish on!  Awesome!  Papi took the rod but a few minutes later he realized at 80 years old it was too much for him.  He passed the rod to Paulie who finished off the job and we were on the boards.

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We reset the lines but all that action had alerted the Terns and Frigate birds who bombarded our bait killing them one after another.  We finally got tired of having lines dragged across all the others, leaving us with tangled messes.  I made the call to try one more time for some Bally baits so we wouldn’t have that problem.  We headed back in for some worms.  We hit another patch and still, nothing came up.  Holy Crap!  What’s does a Captain have to do to catch a break?  Pull’em and let’s run north again.  As we passed an area Devon saw Bally’s skittering over a patch.  I made a Bat turn and we dove into the spot.  There ya go!  We got the worms up and less than 20 minutes later, we had enough to fish the rest of the day.  Off we go again!

The bite was a bit slow, catching only 1 huge Rainbow Runner.  I knew it should turn on as usual, but it might be later than sooner.  Fish up!  Sailfish!  Here we go!  Gimpy was on the rod and the fish worked him.  After plenty of minutes we got the fish boat side for a hook out and quick release.  Devon reset the spread and we’re fishing again.  We have been missing a bunch of hook ups on the down rod due to all the small “Snake” kingfish around.  This time when the down rod sounds off, we are into a better fish that is hooked up solid.  A nice chubby Kingfish comes to the boat and we snatch him into the box.

We get back into position again and Devon is chumming Pilchards and has a 5 line spread out.  Bada Bing!  Sailfish hooked up!  Paulie takes the rod and while he is fighting the fish Devon clears all but one line.  Gimpy, wake up, the other line tripped!  He grabs the rod and winds down tight.  Double!  We have 2 Sails going for a very short time when one pops the leader.  Now we are down to 1 and in short order that fish takes a 6’ airborne leap and spit’s the hook back at Gimpy!  Oh well, Sailfish are masters at that!   I ran back around to that area and we set up again.  We chummed and chummed some more.  Fish up!  There’s another one on the left rigger.  Double!  Hold on… I have one chasing the right rigger now.  Triple!  We have a triple going and Paulie’s fish jumps off so I handed him the rod that I have hooked up.  The double is going along smooth when suddenly Gimpy loses his fish.  We went from 3 fish to 1 fish in the blink of an eye so I wanted to make this one count.  Paulie works the fish as I work the boat to help keep him tight.  After 25 minutes on the rod and out in deep water now, we get this beauty to the boat.  The sun is making its quick dive toward the horizon and Devon snatches the fish over the side for a quick photo op.

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Stick a fork in us, we are done!  I turned the bow for home and throttled up the 300 Zukes. The bait fishing problems took up some fishing time but it is something that must be done to reach success.  Besides the Rainbow Runner, Kingfish, and numerous misses down below, we went 3 for 7 on Sails that afternoon.  Gimpy has caught a Sailfish with us before in late spring and wanted to catch Dolphin, Wahoo, and Tuna to eat.  I think he now realizes that catching Sailfish during the peak season is as exciting as it can get out there.

If catching Sailfish is not on your bucket list, you need a bigger bucket!

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

2 Days in Miami!


We recently had two day-trips with our friend Brad and son Chris. We really look forward to doing trips in the winter because that is prime time fishing in S. Florida. November is very good because we get good runs of dolphin as well as Sailfish, Tuna, and King Mackerel.

Brad and Chris met us for the 7 a.m. blast off. We greeted each other and untied the BEAST. I immediately headed out to one of our best Hardtail spots. We got them quickly, so I powered up and ran out to find some worms.

I passed by the first bait patch because I had decided on another worm bed that holds "dinks".  These smaller baits generally work better for Dolphin. Devon put out the chum. Before he had enough bait cut, the ravenous Ballyhoo were heavy in the chum line. We were hooking them, keeping Devon busy cutting bait and removing them from the hooks.  It didn’t take long before we had plenty of prime “hooker” baits in the wells.

A short run out to the edge found the winds blowing around 20 knots from the North and the seas were 3-4 feet.  Devon and I set out our spread.  Minutes later we had a nice pair of “lifter” Dolphin hooked up.  The cow came loose but Chris caught the bull quickly.

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Devon reset the spread and the down rod is screaming. Brad has his hands full as this fish seems very big. He fights the fish to the boat and it turns out to be a 3 ½ foot Atlantic Sharpnose shark. Devon cut the leader and let it take the hook as a souvenir. The down rod gets the nod again and Chris works a smaller Sharpnose to the boat. We let him go in the same manner as his brother. The bite seems to be on! Minutes after releasing young Sharpnose, we have 3 more Dolphin hooked up! We lost one in the melee’ but successfully boated a nice bull and cow. We set out the spread again and you guessed it, we see a big boil on the long rigger. 1 boil, 2 boils, 3 boils, hooked up! This was a pretty Blackfin Tuna. As Brad is working the fish I see a Sailfish sizing up our flat line bait. I told Chris, “He took it!  Feed the bait to him!" Chris flipped the bail and “Katie… bar the door!” We got Brad's 15# Blackie in the boat as fast as possible. This was Chris’ first Sailfish and it was no slouch. 25 minutes passed and the fish had put on numerous aerial displays. He was a good ole big ’un or a big ole good ’un, depending on the way you look at it! After several attempts we finally got it tamed down and close enough for Devon to bill it. Chris is on the boards with his first “Snooter”, a better than average fish pushing 60 pounds.

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Holy fishing Batman, the bite was out of control. We cleaned the boat up and got back at it. The down rod goes off again and this time we have a nice Kingfish on the line and we dispatched it into the fish box destined for the smoker. I am amazed at the action and mentioned that we hadn’t taken any pictures. The amazement turned to awe as I looked at the time realizing that we had been fishing less than 90 minutes. Then the bite shut down like someone turned off the water spigot. All that action was followed by 90 minutes of absolutely nothing. The other boats were relaying the same thing to each other over the radio.

The bite came back slowly but that was better than the last couple of hours. We picked up 2 more Kingfish and another Dolphin. The guys were tired and I got "the word" a bit earlier than we normally quit. We had plenty of fish to filet, a BEAST to clean, and we’re going out again tomorrow.

We hit the docks the next morning at the usual time. It was blowing as hard as it was the day before but the BEAST was chomping at the bits to get out there. We hit a different Hardtail spot looking for smaller “Yummies”. We managed to catch about a half dozen and I pulled the plug because I wanted to get some more of those wigglers like yesterday. I ran directly to the dink patch that we worked the day before. The tide was barley moving in and the wind is pushing our stern out. This is not an ideal bait condition.  After 30 minutes of chumming the better part of a chum block, we only had 6 baits. This is NOT good! We evacuated the spot and headed south to another good area. Devon reloaded the chum bag and put it out. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes and not even a Bermuda Chub or tiny Yellowtail. This is not funny! I ran farther south and was equally disappointed. I’ve hit 3 good spots, burned 2 blocks of chum, and worst of all we were wasting time. My back is against the wall. Let’s head north to some of our other spots. As we neared the spot we tried that morning and the day before, I got a gut feeling and whipped the bow back into the spot.  Devon loaded a fresh block of chum into the bag. 5 minutes later the worms were crawling all over the place. They weren’t quite as thick as the day before but we were putting bait in the live well. We caught plenty on hooks and I threw the Calusa net twice. Now our wells were in good shape.

We finally got offshore to the edge. We didn’t miss much because there was a a constant chatter on the radio about how slow it was. The winds laid down nicely and the seas were about 2 feet. The fishing was slow but we did manage to catch a Kingfish within the first 10 minutes. We had a big bite on the down rod and the reel was screaming. The fish hesitated as if it had shifted gears and the reel hollered again for a short minute. Then the line went slack and the fish was gone. When we retrieved the line we could see that whatever it was had eaten the entire terminal rig, leaving only the leader. Not too long after that we had busts on the long rigger bait that looked like somebody throwing cinder blocks in the water. 3 times is a charm and Chris is fast on this good Blackfin. He fought that fish for 10 minutes and Devon began to see color down below. In the blink of an eye the line parted.  Chris cranked in the remaining line for a visual inspection. It looked as if it had gotten hung up on something but we knew it hadn’t. Devon was really confused because he had checked all of the lines just that morning. We don’t have a clue what happened there.

I was working my way in closer while waiting for the tide to start draining off the reef. I was talking to another Captain on the radio about working the bait showers when the tide changed. Suddenly we had a pair of Dolphin come into the spread. The bull grabbed the first rigger bait and launched high into the air. He lost his grip on the bait, never getting the bite of the hook. The cow was not that fortunate as she hooked up and we managed to get her into the boat. I saw my friend steaming near the edge when he suddenly slammed on the brakes and spun the boat in a couple of circles.  About 5 minutes later he punched the gas and then slammed on the brakes again. He hailed me on the radio and asked if I saw him. I said, “How could I miss that!”. He said, “It’s on in here around the 50 foot mark! I just got 3 out of 4!” I was already working my way in. "OK… I’m on my way!" We got into the edge and the Houndfish and Ballyhoo are getting slaughtered. They are rising in tremendous bait showers attempting to escape the predators after them. We cut off the first shower we saw in 50 feet of water and a Sailfish popped up. He wasn't interested in our baits. We settled into the game and got a rise from 2 Sailfish on both of our flat lines. The fish on the right rigger was circling as he got ready to eat the worm. As his bill breaks the surface, a Tern swoops down and snatches the bait away from him. The Sail on the other flat line ate his 'hoo readily and it was game on for Brad. This fish was another better than average fish and put on an equally better than average show. We worked this fish to the boat several times and it finally allowed Devon to bill it. Brad was extremely happy as this was only his second Sailfish.

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We got back into the shallow edge while the tide is still dumping off the reef. I was working my way up the reef in 60 feet of water when 2 bull Dolphin crashed our baits. We hooked them both and Chris and Brad were doing the fire drill shuffle. It didn’t take too awful long before the guys had them boat side and Devon brought them aboard.

We got back into position and in the next 15 minutes we had another cow Dolphin on. This was a good fish and Brad was working it. When he got it to the boat, Murphy’s Law came into play. I’m not sure what happened there but the fish was gone. My friend was out of bait and headed for the dock, as did others who had come in the area to join us.  We remained a while longer. Time was waning as Brad gave us the nod. We dumped the baits hoping we might get one more Sailfish for the day. That’s not happening this time!

We readied the boat for the run in and I turned the pointy end toward home as I kicked The BEAST in the butt. This was an enjoyable 2 days with 2 good customers. This was the first time they had been fishing with us during the winter Sailfish season. I guarantee it won’t be their last.

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There is nothing more exciting than catching Sailfish on light spinning tackle. Sailfish are aerial acrobats that is second to none and tough as nails when going down and dirty. They exhibit beauty, grace, speed and power.  They breed excitement in 40 feet of water chasing bait, tailing in a big NE swell, or rising to your baits. The Sailfish is my favorite sporting fish, bar none, and the late fall/winter season is prime time!

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

Variety in Miami!


We had a couple of back-to-back trips this past week that turned out pretty darn good.  The weather blew like crazy last weekend so we postponed one of the trips until the winds and seas calmed down.  These are the stories and I’m sticking to them.

Chris, her husband Drew, and their friend Steve arrived at the dock before Devon and I.  I think they were a bit anxious!  I met Chris a few years ago through a mutual friend and she decided to give us a call and set up this trip.  By the time we got underway at 7 AM, they were really amped.  We got reacquainted as we headed to our first bait stop.

Arriving at one of my favorite Hardtail holes, Devon explained what and how we were doing this as he put the lines in the water.  Like magic, the rods kept bending over and the live well was filling up quickly.  We had plenty of H’tails so we made the short run to a Ballyhoo patch.  It took about 8-10 minutes of chumming to get the worms to the surface but when they did, it was easy pickings.  We had about 2-3 dozen worms in the well when I broke out the Calusa cast net and covered them up.  This topped off the bait wells and we were out of there.

We reached the offshore grounds in minutes and Devon put out the normal 5-line spread.  I kept looking for anything that would draw my attention and the attention of the fish.  The water was clean of any type of debris and we had that dreaded slow trickle of  current to the South.  30 minutes into it, I turned around from the helm as Devon was checking on the down rod.  I saw a dark shadow in the water.  Sailfish!  Sailfish on the left flat!  The fish raised his sail and turned to eat the bait.  I allowed the fish to eat the bait while on free spool a few seconds, tripped the bail, and then handed the rod to Drew.  Fish on!  The entire crew was excited, including this Captain and his Mate.  The fish was strong and made a steady 150-yd run yet never leaving the water.  We figured he was a good one and when he turned he began doing the aerial assault.  The fish spent more time out of the water, than in it!  Another 10 minutes of down & dirty fighting and the fish went airborne again.  This time his acrobatic antics were not as lengthy.  Meanwhile, Devon had left out 1 flat line bait.  Yup!  Fish on!  This was a nice “lifter” Dolphin and Chris took the rod.  She was all over this fish and that was a good thing because Drew’s Sail wasn’t an average fish and he wasn’t quite done.  Devon lifted Chris’ Mahi into the boat and we turned our focus back to the Sailfish.  One more halfhearted attempt at, in the air, in your face, leaps right at the boat and we were ready to bring the fish aboard for a photo.  I estimate the fish to be in the high 50-pound class.  Devon had the leader and was reaching for the bill when the leader gave out.  Dang!  Long battles often wear the leader too thin against their 80-grit sandpaper bill.  It was a legal catch though.

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We set everything back up and went at it again.  We missed 3 bites on the down rod, which definitely appeared to be “snake” Kings.  Devon added another hook to the rig and we hooked one up.  It was as suspected, a small Kingfish, so we immediately released it.

We bagged the surface fishing for a bit to look for some bigger fish.  You guessed it, the Grunt & Sweat.  We made several drops but the current was slow and wrong.  We did manage to get one good hookup and Steve started working on the fish.  You notice that I said started because he handed the rod off to Drew. Just like the trip before them; Steve took the rod over for the end of the fight.  After we got the 28# AJ into the boat, like deja vous, we immediately revoked his “Man card” too.   We lost about 3 more hook ups and decided to give this up to hunt for some Dorado.

Devon put out our troll rigs and we set out in search of debris.  As we reached the 400’ line, I caught glimpses of what appeared to be a weed line.  We neared 500’ to find a long weed line with enormous mats, by today’s standards.  The weeds were eelgrass with a fair mix of sargassum.  I began rummaging down the edges and we picked up another nice “lifter” Dolphin.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw a few Sooty Terns working the water.  U-turn… sorry Devon!  As we passed by a big mat, a couple of rods went down.  We missed 2 Dorado but Steve did have one on.  Holy slow motion Batman!  I never saw anyone crank on a fish as slow as he does.  He reminded me of the Walleye fishermen on TV saying it’s a big one and turn the reel handle at 1 rpm.  He lost a good lifter.  We made a few more passes at the birds and picked up a little Blackfin Tuna.

We threw in the towel when we ran out of weeds and headed back in to try for  fish on the edge again.  Nothing happening, not even when we chummed all the live wells out.  Not true!  The Frigates and Terns had a good supper.  Drew gave me the word so Devon and I buttoned up the boat.

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We had a lot of fun and made fun of slow motion Steve.  We lost many fish but I did manage to get a picture of the crew with all of their fish that got away!

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The following day we had a trip with Adrian and her husband Ted.  The day started out as any other except that we were greeted with a gorgeous sunrise.

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Everything was business as usual on the way out, other than I changed up on the bait patches.  The results were almost equal as well except that we didn’t need as much bait since this was only a ¾ day.  Next step is to get our sterns offshore and start fishing.

The weeds from the day before were scattered all about and unworkable.  A quick search for clean water and we ended up working south of where we were the day before.  The current was about the same, light to the South.  Ugh!  We put out our spread and made a few maneuvers when Devon pointed out some Frigates on the deck about ¾ of a mile south and moving north.  I took a 45 angle toward them but left the throttles at idle so I wouldn’t spook whatever it was.  Several minutes later and the birds were almost on us when they took a course change to swing into our bait spread.  BOOM!  The down rod lights up as the right rigger gets blasted.  The fish on the rigger was a nice “gaffer” and the other was larger which was obvious as it took to the sky.  Nice!  We have a set of Dolphin, the Bull and Cow, Mr & Ms Mahi!  Minutes of sure mayhem ensued with lines crossed and Ted & Adrian going around the boat in a weaving motion.  This over and under angling continued until we got the Bull close enough.  Devon threw the big steel hook over top of him and with one pull, stoned him dead!  Good job Devo, that fish never even quivered on the deck.  We now turned our attention to Adrian and the Cow.  Adrian did a great job and so did Devon when he put the steel to this fish as well.  Good job all the way around the boat.  That was textbook Dolphin fishing right there!  We scaled the fish and confirmed that we had a 16-pound Cow and a 20-pound Bull.  That is a great way to start the day!

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We worked the area for a good bit more.  That’s enough!  Nothing else wanted to come out and play so we will go hunting at you guessed it, the Grunt & Sweat!  This is as much fun for Devon and I as it is for the crew.  We love to see their faces as they realize the power of these fish for the first time.  Upon arrival, we noticed a Frigate getting lower and then he dives down to the water.  When I got into position, Devon pitched a bait in front of the bird.  Nothing!  As Devon reeled in the bait he noticed a fish following it.  He stopped the bait and the fish made a small circle and ate the bait.  Shark on, Ted!  Yep, we had a 3’ Silky shark.  We released this small fish.  When we arrived at the wreck the story gets short.  A South current and nothing biting on the speed jigs or the live Hardtails.  We did manage to catch a small Scamp Grouper on a small Hardtail. Ted said he had never seen a Barracuda and wanted to catch one.  OK… I know just the place to catch them.  We abandoned the wreck and headed off to the spot I had in mind.  We ran north to this spot where we found the same current but only at a trickle.  While we were hunting for this ‘Cuda, Devon pitched a very small speed jig and hooked up, handing the small 15-pound rod to Ted.  Ted had a match on this tackle and a few minutes later he boated a nice Yellow Jack.

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I can’t believe that we are having trouble trying to catch a ‘Cuda.  We finally got the bite on the down rod and the apparent headshake on the rod tells us it is the target species.  A few minutes later this small version of our Caribbean Spotted Mackerel breaks the surface. Devon hands the fish aboard and Ted gets his photo with a Barracuda.

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Even though it was past quitting time we sidled in closer to the edge to dump the wells and see if the live chum could spark up a Sailfish or another Mahi.  After a long wait working around the area, all we saw were Frigates feeding on our chummed baits.  More than an hour past our dock arrival time, we threw in the towel, secured the gear, and I turned The BEAST toward home.

Fall is coming!  The bait is getting thick and the fall Dolphin run is beginning.  The numbers of Sailfish are not far behind.  This is the time of year that I like with cooler temperatures and jumping Sailfish.  It doesn’t get much better than that in S. Florida.

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

3 hours or less!


I received a phone call from Josh Bailer whose friends were in town.  They had but one afternoon available to fish before they had to fly out that same evening.  He had 3 days to put this together and wanted to know if we had that day available for him.  We did and of course we said sure!  I never recommend doing a ½ day because it’s like putting handcuffs on Devon and me.  Half days still require the same run time to and fro, and it limits your fishing time to 3 hours or less.  We are not clock-watchers but they had a flight to make at 9 PM so we had to be back by 6 PM for sure.  We do realize that people often have time constraints and a ½ day is all they have time for.  We do our absolute best to accommodate them and make the day successful as well.

Josh and his friends, David and Scott, arrived and we loaded them aboard.  We shoved off the dock at 1 PM and headed into the Bay.  I stepped on The BEAST and made way for one of our favorite bait stops.  The Hardtails were there and willing to play with us.  We spent about 20-30 minutes collecting 15-18 baits.  That’s plenty!  I quickly turned the bow towards the offshore water and spanked those 600 horses into a gallop.  I conferred with Josh about going to the Grunt & Sweat wreck to show these Oregonian Salmon fishermen what S. Florida fishing was all about.  He agreed.

I arrived at our destination and the seas were fairly calm but the current was moving quickly to the north.  Devon readied one of our larger baits and I quickly sent it down.  While I monitored that rod Devon sent down one of our new speed jigs.  Less than a minute passes and Devon says the bait isn’t dropping, so he flips the bail and it is game on!  Scott takes the rod and we know almost instantly that we have a tuna type on the line.  A few minutes later and we lift a nice little 5-pound Blackfin into the boat.  Sashimi!  We ran up and set up for another drift.  Where are the big’uns?

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We drop again but the current is really moving and we’re having trouble controlling our depths.  OK shut this drift down and regroup.  Devon put on a much heavier weight as I settled in on our drift point.  I lowered the Hardtail and Devon sent a speed jig down.  KaPow!  The down rod doubles over and Josh grabs hold of it.  This fish is no slouch and Josh is struggling.  More than a ¼ mile from the wreck and we are finally seeing some color.  Holy Guacamole!  Look at the size of that Almie!  The fish thuds to the deck and we have a beautiful 30-pound Almaco Jack joining the sashimi football in the fish box.

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The wind was coming up and the seas were growing.  The next trip through the drift line and Bam, the speed jig gets nailed again.  C’mon, no Bonito, be another Blackie, Sure enough, David winds in another 5-pound football.

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It seems that with every pass we are producing a fish, but not this time.  Bam! Boom!  We have a double folks.  I don’t even remember who caught yet another Blackfin, but I do know that Scott took the bait rod.  This was an adult AJ for sure.  He fought and fought this fish the suddenly passed the rod off to David.  WHAT?  David put some fresh muscle into the rod and the fish was moving up.  The fish was almost visible when Scott retakes the rod.  No way!  The fish comes aboard and jerks the scales down to the 42-pound line.  For your information… Just before we took the picture of Scott with this fish, Devon and I revoked his man-card!

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We made a couple more drifts, missed a fish on the jig and lost a live bait and hook to a toothy critter.  The seas were getting larger and the marks on the sonar were disappearing with each drift over the wreck.  We decided to make one last drift so we sent down a live bait and had 2 speed jigs going.  Bingo!  Double on the speed jigs!  Lines were crossing, over under, forward backward, and we’re still on. The fish came to the surface at the same time.  It was the Blackfin twins, Soy and Wasabi.  These fish were the 10-pound brothers of the previous 3.  Good job guys!

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With about 45 minutes left we decided to end the wreck fishing on a good note and pull some tried and true plastics around for some Mahi.  There wasn’t any debris in the water and no birds in sight.  As time was running out we had a knock down and hook up.  It was a micro Bonito.  As we were reeling it in we see some small Mahi chasing behind it.  The right rigger went down and the right flat hooked up too.  The Dolphin on the rigger line was smallish but when the other fish jumped we knew we had a keeper.  Scott had empty hands so he grabbed that line.  One more jump and it was gone.  The Bonito worked its way loose also but Josh brought the small Dolphin in.  We could tell by looking at the fish that he was about ½” short of legal so Devon tossed him back in to grow up.

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Now we were running a little bit over on Josh’s time schedule.  Devon and I quickly squared away the gear and pushed the throttles down to a fast cruise. We discussed the afternoon‘s action.  One thing that impressed us were the vertical jigs we had just gotten from Jesse at Victory Lures.  The 4 oz jig was a daisy that afternoon, catching Tuna on almost every drift.  In 3 hours or less of fishing we tallied 5 Blackfin, an Almaco Jack, an Amberjack, a Dolphin, and several other good bites.  You got to love it when a plan comes together!

When we arrived back at the dock, Devon immediately took the fish to the filet table.  He made filets quickly and precisely, wielding his filet knife like Zorro!  The trio thanked us and grabbed the bags of Tuna and Almaco Jack, leaving us the Amberjack.  Great!  No seriously, that’s great!!   Tomorrow night I’ll be snacking on my smoked Cajun Spiced Amberjack.  I can’t wait.  My mouth is watering already!

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

Paying it Forward!


A very good customer of mine, Jon from Atlanta, booked an all day trip with us to acclimate his kids to offshore fishing.  Jon has fished with me well over 50 times dating back as far as 1998.  I’ve fished with his wife, Melissa, a time or two but this was the first time I ever met the children.  I remember when the kids were born and now Ryan is 11 and Caroline is 8.  I must be getting old!  His plan was to see how the kids could handle the blue water scenario before he took them to Costa Rica in April.

Jon, and his squad, joined us at the dock at our usual 7 AM start time.  Devon unleashed the snarling BEAST and we made our way to our favorite spots to collect some bait.  We began with the kids yanking on some Blue Runners and they had a ball.  The bait came easy.  We had more than enough, so we pulled up lines and made way for another reef patch to grab some worms.  The chum bag went over and shortly thereafter our targets began to arrive.  The Ballyhoo were hungry and we hook & lined a dozen or so quickly.  The worms got stupid and came closer to the boat with each passing minute.  The next thing they knew, a 10’ Calusa cast net was hitting the water on top of them.  We had plenty of bait so Devon and I made the boat ready for the day.

We made the short run offshore.  As I settled The BEAST down, Devon and Jon spotted some Sooty Terns working another ¼ mile out.   By the path and pattern of the birds we knew we had some sort of Tuna working so we hurriedly put out small plastics to troll through them.  Bingo!  The first fish were some small Bonito and the kids were already having fun.  This happened again on the next set, like looking in a mirror.  Devon asked if he should put down a deep rod since we were in these bait sized Bonito. I nodded yes. I swung around and closed in on the birds yet again.  Bam!  The next fish up was a decent football Blackfin Tuna.  Sashimi Brudda!

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I stayed on the birds and kept working this school.  Devon thought he heard the down rod chirp so he retrieved the bait and realized his suspicion.  We missed that one.  We were hoping to stay in the action and collect some more of those Blackies.  We got nailed again but this time it was a larger Bonito.  The long rigger tripped and we were into another fish.  We had another Tuna on but this one was a Skipjack.  This is classic, the mixed Tuna bag.

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We reset the lines again and as I was bearing down on the birds the deep rod sounded off.  No missed bite here, this was a decent fish.  We worked the fish by keeping pressure on it both with the rod and the boat.  As the fish neared we could see the blue-black stripes of an Ono, El Tigre, or as we call it, Wahoo!   The Wahoo wasn’t a big fish but it was a good fish weighing in around 18-20 pounds.

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We continued to stay on these birds catching small Bonito and keeping the kids busy.  The down rod sounded off again and we were thinking another Wahoo.  Not a Wahoo this time, it was a Kingfish instead.  The fish had quit fighting about ½ of the way to the boat and we feared it was only going to be a piece of fish on the hook.  Surprisingly, the fish was complete, with nothing missing.  Well that’s not quite true.  On the left side it was apparent that either a very large Wahoo or Smoker King had tried to make this 11-pound Kingfish its lunch.  Look at the size of that bite!  I wanted the fish that wanted that fish!

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We kept finding and working this school of small Bonito hoping for another big bite on the down rod.  We missed 1 more bite down below and picked up a small Barracuda on top.  I decided to give the kids a rest and do some live baiting especially since we saw a free jumper Sailfish while we were busy catching fish earlier.  Jon agreed.

We set up the live bait spread, 4 up and 1 down.  Things got slower but we still had a missed strike or two on the rod below.  This is a good thing because it also teaches patience to the children.  Caroline was a busy little bee on the boat during this slow down though.  Man, can that girl talk.  She became my best friend.  Hold that thought we just got a bite!  The down rod was tugging and we were excited.  The Hardtail we sent down had obviously attracted a visitor.  The fish came up and we were surprised to see this large Caribbean Spotted Mackerel in an area that we hardly ever catch them.  Devon held the 20-pound Barracuda up for a photo op with the kids and then released it.

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The action was definitely slower than the morning hours but it was steady.  The Moon Jellies were everywhere, which undoubtedly had an effect on the surface bite.  Caroline was having conversation with me and anyone else who would listen.  Too funny!  That girl is socially oriented.   She got interrupted as a small school of peanut Dolphin harassed the bait.  We managed to catch one of these little guys.  A few minutes later the down rod popped off again and this was another decent Kingfish that pushed the scales up to the 13-pound marker.

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Slightly passed 3 PM, Jon and Melissa were having a pow-wow in the cockpit.  Thunderstorms are growing to our East and moving toward shore so they decided that it was best to head in.  Not a problem and a wise decision.  It is best to have the kids leave while still wanting more.  Devon and I buttoned up the boat and then headed for the house.  We had a potpourri of fish in the fish box.  We tallied the day at 1 Blackfin, 1 Skipjack, 12+ Bonito (lost count), 1 Wahoo, 2 Kingfish, 2 Barracuda, and 1 Dolphin.  That was a fun day in anybody’s book.

When we arrived at the Marina channel, I had a good time getting to know Ryan and Caroline better.  As Devon cleaned and bagged the catch, Caroline hung out at the boat with me as I cleaned up.  We said our goodbyes and I told Jon that I bet the kids, particularly Caroline, wouldn’t make it to the hotel.  He laughed!  15 minutes after he left, I got a text with this picture embedded in it.

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That is what it’s all about.  Paying it forward!  Take the time, in this rat race we call life, to take your kids fishing.  It’s an excellent way to spend quality time together.  You will love it and they will love you for it!!!

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

Cubera 2012 Finale

I have no idea what happened this month. Traditionally we have a great Cubera bite in September but everyone seemed to want to fish in August this year. I’m not sure why this is especially with a full moon coming up this weekend. The congregations of fish have done the bulk of their spawning ritual and now they are on the feed trying to recover their strength after their yearly ordeal. Oh well, it is what it is!

Jorge had already booked his second trip for this season. Devon was out of commission for this run, so I phoned up my buddy, “Uncle Al”, to come work the mate position. Al is Devon‘s uncle, which is where his nickname “Uncle Al” comes from. We met up at the usual time and Jorge arrived solo on this occasion. He brought along his own rod and reel, a nice bent butt with an International 70 loaded with 150# Power Pro. A bit of overkill but if he is more comfortable with his own gear, he is welcome to bring it.

We turned The BEAST out and made our way to grab a few quick Hardtails for backup bait. That happened with relative ease and in short order the Zuke 300’s were running for our Cricket patch. Although Uncle Al and I are, for lack of better terms, a senior crew, we managed to grab enough bugs in a reasonable time. Uncle Al may have a few years on Devon but he is still a bug snatching maniac. Since Jorge also brought along a custom jigging rod with 65# braid on a nice shiny Shimano Stella reel, we decided to give the “Grunt & Sweat” wreck a tryout.

 We arrived at the G&S and made several drops but only had 1 or 2 bumps and lost a couple of the jig hooks. I made the decision to try another wreck but the same thing seemed to be the case at that area as well. OK! We headed south to Nastyville and made 1 or 2 drops with the jigs. There was nothing doing on the jigs that night. Darkness was still about 45 minutes away, but I told Al to go ahead and drop a cricket. The sonar was pretty much blank as we made several drifts but as the darkness settled in the screen became more active. Each pass showed more and more marks. Boom! Al yells that we have a bite but Jorge was not on his game and before he could get to the rod it came unglued. Another couple of passes and the bait gets crashed again. This time I cranked down on the fish and as Jorge got to the rod, the tipped popped up signaling another miss. We kept making passes sliding deeper and shallower and I decided to stay around the drift that produced the first 2 bites. The sonar screen was lit up like the “Jones’” neighborhood at Christmas. The next bite was so fast that the rod doubled over and snapped to attention so fast no one had a chance to react. Jorge was on station at the rod when the next bite came. Bite… let go… drop back… bite… let go… hold… a few tense seconds and Bada Bing! The line comes tight and the rod is bending toward the water when, you guessed it, once again the fish came unpinned. What the H? These must be smaller “buck” snapper because we lost two baits totally, one bait came up covered in fang punctures, and this last one was almost torn in half.

 The searching for active fish was over. Adjusting the drifts was easy because, surprisingly, we had the whole area to ourselves that night. I made an adjustment that worked out perfectly and I had now honed in on the same drift line that had been producing the bites. A couple of short, uneventful drifts went by. I had them pegged and at this stage in the game there was no need to make long drifts. On the next drift I saw the active fish on the sonar and told Jorge to stand guard. Kaplooey! This was not a bite like we had been having. This was Big Mama! She bent the rod tip to the water and was stripping drag. That was a feat in itself because 2 drifts earlier I checked his drag and I couldn’t pull the 150# braid off the reel with my hands. OMG Bro! This fish may break our boat record of 76#’s. About 6 or 7 minutes into the fight and Jorge figures he has the fish off the bottom far enough so he backs off on the drag about ¼. After another 2 to 3 minutes and 2 more solid runs, the line goes limp. NO WAY! Yes way! She is gone! When we brought the terminal rig to the surface we did a quick inspection to find that Big Mama had straightened out our 4X strength hooks. She was obviously hooked up solid. This was the classical “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” scenario on drag settings. If we wouldn’t have had the drag tight she would’ve taken us to the bottom and cut us off. Having the drag a bit too tight can cause other failures, as was our case. Loosening the drag after moving the fish well off the bottom was the correct thing to do but the damage was already done. All I can say is that this fish was a behemoth.

 The BEAST fell so quiet that you could’ve heard a mouse peeing on cotton. Several minutes passed and then we discussed what happened in detail. We came to the conclusion that you can’t win ‘em all. We made several more drifts and Jorge began losing focus allowing his bait to drag on the bottom, hanging up 3 rigs and losing the lead. He was totally dejected at this point and was ready to call it a night. Hold on! The sonar is going quiet and the bite has slowed down but I had a good feeling. C’mon Jorge, one more drift. I don’t know why I had that feeling but I’m glad he said OK. About 1 minute into the last drift and the rod tip bumps. Jorge remains calm and the tip bumps again. Easy does it! The 3rd bump and the rod tip pulls down past the gunnels, and Jorge makes 5 or 6 hard cranks on the reel. Hooked up! This was our average respectable fish and Jorge took the battle over and won this fight.
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Jorge thanked me for insisting on that last drift and we called it a night. We went 1 for 6 but we had action through most of the night. I’ve replayed that night over and over in my mind and came to some conclusions. There was nothing much I would’ve done differently to catch that big fish, but I have come up with some ideas to eliminate those missed hook ups.

The season will probably draw to an end after this weekend’s moon phase. With no plans for this week, Devon and I will be putting up the gear next week and turning our focus towards live baiting for Dolphin, Sails and Kings. That was apparently our Cubera 2012 Finale’. It’s all good! A fitting end with the big fish that got away. Keep looking over your shoulder, Big Mama, because we’re coming after you again next year!

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

Family fun!

I got a call from my Brother-in-law, Michael, who wanted to set up a day to go fishing with his daughters and their friend. He wanted to get his girls out for an afternoon of fishing before they went back to school. I told Mike it wasn‘t a problem and we set up an afternoon run. Afternoon trips can be tough during August with daytime temps reaching 90+ degrees but he said that Berkeley doesn’t do mornings very well. I told him I was sure we could put them on some big fish. OK, let’s do 3 PM to dark. The night before the trip, Mike called and said he had to hurry out of town on business the next day but the girls and their friend were still anxious to fish with Uncle Capt. Jim.

My nieces arrived on time and we were ready and waiting. Berkeley, Paris and their friend Greg were very excited. We loaded their gear and I fired up The BEAST. As we headed down the channel I took that time to refresh my Uncle status with my nieces and I also got to interrogate Greg as well. It turns out he is a very nice kid! Sorry Greg, I can’t negate that protective fatherly instinct when it comes to the girls in my family. During this time, we also caught plenty of Hardtails for bait and the group was already a pile of smiles. After we loaded about 2 dozen Blue Runners into the wells, I pony’d up the Zukes and made the run offshore.

Since Greg and Berkeley are attending UCONN they don’t get much chance to catch big fish up there. I told them that Devon and I would definitely target some big fish that will test their will. We arrived at our “Grunt & Sweat” wreck and immediately started dropping baits. The current was light and conditions were great. Devon was working a speed jig for them and the live Hardtail was down below drawing attention. A minute or so into the drift and the speed jig connects. Berkeley took the rod and it was game on. She fought that fish to the boat in a true angler fashion. It was a smaller Amberjack but more importantly, the skunk was off the boat. We slid this “eater” into the fish box.

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Devon’s speed jig got tapped again only minutes into the next drift and Paris, the smallest of the group, jumped up and ran to take the rod. She is so tiny that I was a bit worried that we might have to hold on to her so we didn’t have to fish her out of the drink. No way! She manhandled the smaller Almaco Jack to the surface and as quickly as we had started we had fish #2 in the boat. We released this beauty to grow up.

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We had bites on the Blue Runners but for some reason we were not connecting with solid hook ups. We missed a couple of fish. I think the fish were a bit too small to eat the sizeable baits we were dropping. Well… that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! At this time the only staying hooked up were the fish that ate the speed jigs, but they were the smaller kind. Another nice Almaco (25 lb) ate the speed jig. I don’t remember who caught it because the action was quick and at times they were tag teaming the fish. Once again, we missed another on the live bait. C’mon… really? We reset again and on this drift the sonar screen was showing me that the big fish had awakened and were ready to play. The Hardtail was taken and this was a better fish. Oh boy was it! Double! The speed jig got whacked again and hooked up another small AJ but the Runner had enticed a nice 44 lb fish into eating.

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The live bait was doing the job now and Greg was into a good fish. Greg was doing pretty well at raising the fish when suddenly it grew about 200 pounds. Greg thought he had lost the fish but remarked that there was still something there. I laughed. Yeah, the head! You just got sharked. When he brought the remains to the boat we could see that it was a very big “Guard Dog” that had been keeping watch on us. He had waited to pick out his perfect sized fish. A done deal in one bite!

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The next fish just piled onto the Blue Runner and was trying with every fiber of its being to get loose, and there was plenty of fiber to this one. I believe all 3 of them took a turn on this one. The fish was big and it took them a good bit of time. We finally saw color about 75’ below. Holy Guacamole, that’s a nugget! We put this one on the scale and she pulled it down to 75 pounds. Nice fish. Devon suggested that we release this big breeder since we already had a couple in the box to eat. Everybody agreed and Devon vented her and tossed her overboard. We watched her swim away into the blue.

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Everyone was ready to take a break so I asked Devon to set out a trolling spread and we would see if we could get some Mahi or something else. We pulled the baits for a short time when I saw a flock of birds working and for the next 35-45 minutes we kept getting double and triple knockdowns and hookups by large Bonito. I worked our way inshore hoping to get a Wahoo on the down rod. We missed a couple of bites and right before dark the rod sounded off. All right! Berkeley woman’d up and took the rod. We were anticipating a Wahoo after the second good run and then we saw color about 40’ out. Rats! It’s a 20-pound Caribbean Spotted Mackerel. Oh well, that ‘Cuda was a good fight, anyway.

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Daylight was gone so I turned the nav lights on and pointed the bow toward the barn. We had boated 4 Amberjack, 2 Almaco Jacks, 10 Bonito, and 1 Barracuda in about 4 hours. They were a bit tired but all I saw were their smiles. I really had a great time fishing with my nieces, Berkeley and Paris. I would love to do it again, soon! Oh yeah… you too, Greg!

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

Conditional Cuberas

We did 2 more follow up trips to “Nastyville”. El Nasty had made a chump out of us on the last trip and we were into these trips for redemption. Of course we wanted to get our customers on Cubera Snapper as well. The last 2 trips were a struggle with heavy current and foul weather.

Ryan and Matt met us at the dock at the usual time and they were pumped up to get after them. I warned them of the 2 previous trips but let them know that the conditions were much better and no matter what, we would give it 100% effort as always. The Briggle Brothers had fished with us before so they already knew that about us. Even though we had a fairly rocky start to the season we were exuding confidence as we unleashed The BEAST and made our way out for bait.

We began collecting “crickets” and Matt was throwing a very small speed jig. He had a good hook up and dragged in a very nice Mangrove Snapper, which he put in the livewell. The bug collection went off without a hitch and we took our time to make sure they reached their limit. This is the main focus when preparing for a successful night of hunting Cubera Snapper.

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We stowed all the gear and I headed for some Yellowtail. We arrived and set out the chum while we readied the baits. The current was like the winds on that night… light. It was nice to see this soft leisurely current for a change. The B Brothers had a little fish wager going on and I believe they tied at 4 nice Yellowtail apiece (8 total) and they also boated 2 nice Cero Mac’s. With darkness settling in, we pulled anchor and headed out to deal with this Cubera issue.

Arriving at the spot, we were pleasantly surprised to see that we were alone. That was especially nice that nobody was anchored up making it harder to affect a good drift. The current was 1 knot or less. Awesome! We began our drifts and 30-40 minutes passed by when suddenly the rod tip thumps hard and then bends over violently. FISH ON! Ryan grabs the rod and we are counting our chickens before they hatched. Shhhh! Too late! We got the leader to the rod tip and the fish is just under the surface as Devon reaches for the leader. Ryan lets out a shout, “IT’S GONE! @#$%^&*()_+ !!!!” Devon grabs the leader and sure enough. No fish! Not a good start!

Time passes by extremely slow when the bite comes late. This night was exactly that, especially since we already blew a shot on a good fish right at the boat. 11:00 PM and I can see severe dejection in Ryan’s face. I asked him what he was feeling and he said something like “Here I am on The BEAST and I can’t get another bite. Bad luck just seems to follow me.” I told him that we weren’t done yet and sometimes it just takes more time. About 15 minutes later Devon saw the rod thump and called out to Ryan. By the time he got to the rod it had doubled over and the fish was straining to get away. To keep from repeating the outcome of the first bite that night, he remained intent on not giving the fish a split second of slack. This worked out very well for him as he boated a respectable fish.

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The bite had fired up now and we ended up missing one or two more before Matt had his turn on a solid hook up. He and his brother Ryan witnessed this bite and Matt jumped on the rod. He was working up a sweat while working up the fish. Ryan and Matt now have had a crash course in how tough these fish really are. He managed the rod and negotiated the fish to boat side. Nice fish… pretty work!

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We kept working but missed another bite or two and then the feeding mode shut down. A few more drifts and nothing. Unfortunately, we realized that we had our chances and now it was over as the fish went back to doing what Cubera do in August. We ended up the night, catching 2 fish out of 3 that were hooked up and missed 4 more bites. The best night out this season so far, both in conditions and active bites. We packed it in and I turned The BEAST for the barn. The B Bros were happy and considered the outing a success.

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Our next trip out was with a very regular customer from New York. His Mother and his friends call him Eddie but we call him “Gimpy”. It’s a long story! To book this trip he must’ve made 37 phone calls to me and many of those calls were non-specific. I think he’s just getting lonely and wants someone to talk to! Devon and I are trying real hard to like Gimpy!!! I’m just kidding y’all. I know he is watching intently and waiting patiently for this report of his trip. I figured I’d take this chance to bust his chops, once again. If you knew the Gimp you would understand fully.

He and his mates met us at the dock, exchanged pleasantries, discussed the previous trip, loaded up and pulled out. Everyone was hoping for a repeat of the last trip, at least in the form of good conditions. We blasted straight out to get our crickets and that we did. We had plenty of them in the live well and then headed for a nice Yellowtail area. We anchored up and began the chum slick, tossing in some Glass minnows to sweeten the chum line. We didn’t have a stellar night on the hook but we did manage to catch about 8 or 10 nice Tails. When it got dark we closed up the chum and small rods and broke out the heavy gear. I cracked open the throttles and headed for Nastyville.

Arriving in Cubera City I quickly noticed that 2 boats were anchored on either side of the main drifts. It appeared that they were working together in some way or another and were fishing for Mutton or Vermillion Snapper, not Cubera’s. This was bad for us because the current was once again rolling through the area at over 2.2 knots. Not good, not good at all! I couldn’t get a drift line that would split in between the other boats because of their anchor rode, so I worked all around the town, from shallow to deep. There were times that I actually passed really close to the anchored boats trying to sniggle a bite out of the mass of fish I saw on the sonar in that area. Nothing was working very well. The anchored boats didn’t seem to be doing so great on their mission either.

Finally around midnight, they simultaneously pulled anchors and left. I took advantage of this and immediately moved into that area. I desperately wanted to contact some of those fish that I knew were there but couldn’t reach until the boats left. The screen was lit up with a good aggregation of these Snappers. On the second drift the rod doubled over and Big Tom began getting a lesson in Cubera Snapper fishing. Tom was remarking about the power of these Pit Bull Snappers. He took command and in short order, it’s a done deal. Tom is on the boards.

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Well it appears the bite is on but for how long. I hoped we didn’t miss too much while we tried to outlast the other 2 boats. A few more drifts and the screen is getting lighter as the fish are disappearing from the sonar. Oh Crap! A couple more drifts and Kerplooey! Da’ Gimp knocks everyone out of the way as he busts a move towards the doubled over rod. Every man for himself is the way he rolls! He’s on it. Oh Lord… This may be too much for the Gimperella. I had to turn my head away as he is fishing with Rodney (rod holder) and double handing the reel crank. Folks, this was not pretty! A few minutes later and Gimpster finally puts the old Marine Corp manhandle on this fish. Well… He says he is a US Marine from New York, but I’m thinking he is actually a retired Merchant Marine from Jersey! Ok… He muscled his way through his friends and regardless of how ugly it was; in the end he had his first Cubera. Sorry… I had to get a couple more shots in on him! I can’t help myself!

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OK… That’s 2 fish for 2 bites! We made a few more drifts and the large congregation of fish is all but gone now. We stayed and plugged away at it for another hour or so, and then I threw in the towel. Could we have done better if we hadn’t had to contend with the 2 anchored boats? Maybe yes, maybe no. It is what it is and we dealt with the situation the best we could. The guys had plenty of groceries to take home with them including lots of lobster tails. Oh Yeah! Hey Gimpy! Where are those special New York bagels you said you were going to bring down to me! Hey… that’s how he rolls!

Hopefully T.S. Isaac will not mess things up for the remainder of the season. We still have some availability for the upcoming full moon period if anyone is interested in giving it a try.

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

Trips to "Nastyville"

Devon and I were excited to begin our Cubera charters. We were fired up and ready to go. All reports we had heard from friends who had been out there previously, were that the fish were not there or not biting. Several reports came to us of guys fishing 2 straight nights to catch 1 fish. Oh Boy, this does not sound good.

Brian and his friends, Mike, Brett, and Phillip met us at the dock at 3 PM for our scheduled start. Our hopes were high even though we had those very pessimistic fishing reports and the skies were filled with rain cells and strong wind. We unleashed The BEAST and made our way out to a bait spot to grab a couple of Blue Runners to take with us. We got a bonus as Devon spotted a massive Crocodile sitting on the bank in the mangroves.

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We quickly boated a couple of Hardtails. I pushed the throttles down and headed for the reef so we could catch some “crickets” for the night. We picked out a generic spot and began the collection process. An hour and a bit later, we had 15 legal bugs on board. Good deal! That was almost too easy. The boys had decided to do some Yellowtail fishing so I turned toward the south and throttled up.

We arrived at our favorite ‘tailing spot and anchored up. The chum went over and they began fishing. The area came alive and Cero Macks were flying out of the water. As a matter of fact, we had one Cero that cleared both motors as it nailed some Ballyhoo that were eating at the chum bag. We had a good time and the fishing was pretty good. As the sun began to set, we wrapped it up with 10 nice Yellowtail and 2 good sized Cero in the box. Alright! Let’s get after those “Nasties”!

We arrived at Nastyville and I did a quick scout. The marks on the sounder were not any where close to normal as in years past. The wind was howling at about 15-18 knots and the seas were reaching 4’ at times. To go with those conditions the current was blasting at 2.5-2.7 knots. This is crummy! Oh well, it is what it is! I got my drift set up and we dropped our first “cricket” down into the inky black depths. Nada! Drift after drift with Nada damn thing happening! This scenario played out for over an hour. Going on a hunch I moved in very shallow and found more fish marking on the sounder. It took me a couple of drifts to get a good starting point. As we made the next drift, I was watching the rod tip when suddenly I see the bite. As I ran over to the rod it doubled over, so I quickly made about 10 cranks on it to hook up the fish. There he is, no doubt about it! Phillip jumped on the rod and began working the fish up. After a grueling fight the fish broke the surface and we had "El Nasty" in the boat.

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Yahoo! The BEAST is on the boards with the first "Nasty" of the 2012 season. We continued on and several drifts later we got another bite but missed the hook up. The lobster came up split in half and the carapace looked like someone drove an F-250 over it. No worries! Well get ’em! We made a few more drifts and Mike (I think) got a bite. Bada BOOM! Hooked up, Buddy! He worked the fish and we now had "Nasty" #2 on board.

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We worked this area to death without another bite, As time grew thin, I decided to go to another area well to the north that holds fish as well. We marked fish but they were not chewing. Overdue on time with a huge rain cell closing in on us, we called it a night. I turned to the west and made my way for home. The outing was far from fantastic catching 2 smaller male Cubera Snapper out of 3 bites. The guys had Lobster, Yellowtail, and Cero Mackerel in the box, as well, and I think their smiles were genuine!

The next trip out was with a Cubera regular, Jorge, and he brought along Ricardo. The conditions were much better with less threat of rain and much lighter winds around 12-13 knots. The seas were light at about 2 feet. We tried for some Blue Runners but struggled to catch 3 this time. Jorge said “Let’s go.” I bagged the Runner spot and headed offshore to grab some bugs for the night. After catching 10 bugs Jorge was getting antsy and when the 11th cricket came aboard he once again said “Let’s go.” You can still catch one more for your limit but, OK. He opted to go for AJ’s rather than Yellowtail fishing.

I ran out to the “Grunt & Sweat” wreck and set up our drifts. The current was, once again, a fast 2.2 knots out there. Devon was demonstrating how to work the speed jigs when he hooked up a fish and passed the rod over to Ricardo. He almost had it to the boat when a humongous ‘Cuda hit it, but didn’t take it. The fish was small, less than the legal 28” size limit. We regretted having to release this wounded fish even though the wounds were slight. It swam down and away. Within minutes the fish was hauling butt to the surface with the ‘Cuda in hot pursuit. A huge splash and it was over. Jorge got a hook up on his speed jig and this was a much better fish. The fish grew larger as the fight went on and then got lighter. When Jorge got the fish to the boat there was only a large head left on the hook. This one was eaten by very big shark. It was very apparent by the size of the bite. “Mother Nature‘s” ocean is hard and cruel. Even though we had another 45 minutes to an hour before dark, Jorge said “Let’s go catch Cubera!” OK, it‘s not really time yet but we’ll head out and give it a shot.

Devon got the big rods ready as I milled around looking for the fish. The current was a stiff 2.2 knots. We made our first drift & drop well before dark. This scenario went on and on. I worked in and out, shallow to deep, and nothing at all was happening. Jorge began saying that there were no fish there. I kept showing him the sounder and telling him that it would happen but only when THEY were ready for it to happen. The drifts added up and the time ran down without a bite. It was more evident now that Jorge had given up. I suggested that we try a few drifts at the other spot. We made the run northward to see if they were biting. The current was somewhat better there, about 1.7-1.9 knots. We weren’t even 2 minutes into the 1st drift and Jorge pulled the plug on the trip.

Could it be possible that someone had spiked Jorge’s rum bottle with “Impatience”? Devon and I were still game because we don’t take defeat easily. Jorge has had 5 or more incredibly successful trips with us in the past. Matter of fact, it was his group that caught our boat record, 76 ¼ pounder. I really don’t understand what went on that night and have replayed that trip in my mind, over and over. Maybe it was simply, bad conditions… OR… could it be that, Jorge and The BEAST, had to pay their dues at Nastyville.

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

2 recent day trips!

The last 2 of our day trips were right before “Bug” season opened. They were pretty productive and had our guests smiling. John brought his wife Vicki, son Cam, and daughter Katie along for a ¾ day trip. We blasted out at 7 AM and made our way immediately for some bait. We caught plenty of Hardtails but the Ballyhoo were trouble. We stayed a bit longer than usual because there were some really nice Mangrove Snapper in the chum. We did manage to catch 5 of them before we left.

The Dolphin (Mahi) bite was on the slow side from the reports we had heard so the crew decided to pull on some wreck fish instead of wasting the short day hunting Mahi. The current was dead slow, the fish were marking on the sounder but they were slow on the bite. Our first hook up was Katie on a nice Almaco Jack.

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The waters were very calm to go along with the dead current. We worked the area for a couple of hours, sparking up some bites. We did have a good time wrestling 3 big Amberjack out of the 5 or 6 bites we had.

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I noticed that they were smiling hard through all the sweat and tired muscles. I suggested we go try for some Mutton Snapper to finish the day out. That was not as productive as I had hoped. It was easy to cover the spot on the slow drift and our live ballyhoo were perfect baits. The lack of current, however, had the Mutton‘s on lock down. We did manage to sniggle out 1 small fish of about 18 inches that we tossed into the box with the 5 nice Mangroves.

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The day was nice and easy but the smooth water and slow current made it a good day for a boat ride. We did manage to eek out some fish on a slow day. They thoroughly enjoyed their family day on The BEAST.

Another day trip we did was with Manny of MD Turbines. He brought along his friends Alex, Linda, Etta, and Mike, who I knew through the World Cat owner’s forum. Dolphin(fish) were on the menu since we were doing a full day. We left the dock around 7 AM and headed for our bait spot where we caught 3 or 4 Hardtails. I took an easterly heading and blasted off to the deep water to hunt some Mahi. We spotted some weed lines in 550 and 660-foot depths but I continued on. I kept a mental note of them in case we needed to return to them later. I found a beautiful weed line in 1200 feet and it looked good and alive. We put out a spread and started our leisurely troll. Wow! We live bait so much that it felt really good to troll for a change. 15 minutes down the weeds and a reel sounded off, then another, and another. There is something about that sound.

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We worked this path of weeds and the bites were there but the size began to diminish after a while. I pulled up and made that run back to the other weed lines on my mental notepad. We hooked up a big “Bonehead” (Bonito) and then I finally said enough is enough when we caught one of the smallest Mahi I’ve ever caught.

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We had caught a dozen Dolphin so Manny was happy and we all decided to switch it up and let them pull on some Wreck Donkeys. Mike is from the Left Coast of Florida and we wanted to show him some of our really big, bruiser AJ’s. The best we could pull out for him was a 39#er. We caught a couple of good Almaco Jacks to throw into this mixed bag day.

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We made one more stop before the day was over to try and get a Mutton Snap or two. The wind was blowing across the current and anchoring would have been a tedious process so we made a few drifts with the slack current. The drift was wrong also and although we had a few bites all we caught was 1 Sand Tilefish. OK! Stick a fork in us… we’re done! Plenty of fish in a mixed bag, a lot of World Cat talk, and beautiful weather, made for a really nice day!

We have begun our Cubera Snapper season and I will be writing those reports as soon as I get some time. If you want to give it a try we do have some openings around the next full moon.

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