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