Wreckage with a Bonus!

Jose wanted to take his kids fishing so he gave us a call.  He arrived at the dock with Jason, Nicole, and Matthew in tow.  We loaded them aboard and I fired up the 300 Zukes.  Devon and I turned The BEAST out for a good day of fishing, hopefully.

Since the wrecks have come to life, we loaded up on Hardtails and then shot out to the patches to get some of our favorite baits, Ballyhoo.  The “worms” were a bit slow coming up but when they did they ate the hooks readily.  After we had several dozen in the wells, I broke out the big Calusa cast net and made a toss or two.  The wells were blacked out and we had more than enough bait for the day.  We made our way out to the drop off.

The first thing I like to do is work an area that holds fish although the predominate bite is Barracuda.  Many local fisherman have labeled them as trash fish.  Not me!  They bite good and fight good, especially when you are into the “big’uns”!  Most of my customer’s mouths fall open with awe when they see the size of these fish and the impressive dentures they possess.  If I’m running by the area, we will always try and get a few of them to warm up the crew and get the skunk off the boat.  This is exactly what we did that day but with a surprise thrown in.  We picked up a smaller ‘Cuda for Matthew.  Suddenly, the the top line took a hit.  Jose jumped on the rod and the fish dogged him deep which generally means a tuna type fish.  As Jose worked the fish and gained line, we began to see color and chanted… No Bonito! No Bonito! No Bonito!  Wow, that must’ve worked because Devon shouted that he saw gold.  A nice 15# Blackfin broke the surface and Devon put the steel to him.

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We worked the area for a bit longer with nothing much going on, only a few bite offs.  Let’s tire these kids out, Dad too, shall we?  I decided to make a run to the “Knucklebuster” wreck.  It earned that nickname because the fish pin the anglers knuckles to the gunwales.  Most of our anglers fight these bruisers out of “Rodney” the rod holder.  It didn’t take too long to make the short run and Devon had the gear and lines ready to go when we got there.  On the first drop the big rod doubles over and Jose climbs on top of it.  He is amazed at the power in those deep wreck donkeys.  Devon flops a nice fish over the side and onto the deck!  Everybody took turns catching the average sized Amberjack and we lost several fish to some very large ‘Cudas.  Devon had to put some heavy trace wire in front of the hook to eliminate the cut off problem.  I always get a laugh as I watch people fight the fish from Rodney and still have to double fist the crank handle. They have no idea what it’s like, until it’s their turn.

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We worked “Ol’ Knucklebuster” with live bait and speed jigs until the kids tapped out, refusing to take another turn on the rods.  They caught 5 or 6 AJ’s and 3 or 4 ballistic sized Barracuda.  That was my original intention, to wear them out by catching, not bore them with fishing.  I love it when a plan comes together!  I gave Devon the nod and he packed away the wreck gear and I throttled up to make a quick run to another area.  When we arrived, Devon set up camp for some surface biters.  Everything was looking perfect.  I idled around the area and we had the occasional bite on the down rod.  Little macs!   Suddenly Devon is screaming “Sailfish!  Sailfish on the rigger!”  Intimidated by the wreck donkeys, none of the worn out kids wanted to take the rod.  Jose positioned the rod and set in for the battle.  This was a good fish with weightlifter shoulders, a worthy opponent on 20# spinning gear.  The fight put Jose on his guard for almost 30 minutes, but the reward was well worth it.

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After the photo op we released the fish and watched him swim away.  We reset lines and 20 minutes later we had another fire drill.  A Sailfish rose to the short flat line and whacked the bait, tripping the line.  Before anyone could get on the rod, the fish was gone.  You can’t win them all.  I stayed in the hot zone and the clocked ticked off 35 minutes.  Pow!  The left rigger got nailed and as Jose was yelling for the boys to come get it I noticed another Sail working the right rigger.  Bam!  Jose jumped on the first fish and Nicole stepped up to the plate on the second fish.  While they were only minutes into those fish, the long flat line gets walloped by a big Kingfish.  The Kingfish strike didn’t last long as the razor blades in his mouth severed the fluoro leader like a scalpel.  The lines are all cleared and the dynamic duo of Sailfish are dancing all over the water.  I was happy that for the major part of this dual duel, the fish stayed together.  Towards the end of the ruckus they split up and Jose had to manhandle his fish without the support of the boat.  We had to pick one fish to focus on and he wanted his daughter to get her fish.  Jose did a great job putting pressure on and off, when needed, to keep his fish at bay while we brought Nicole’s fish to a release.  There was no time for us to pull her Sail aboard for a photo, so I snapped a quick shot of it in the water at boat side.

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With Nicole’s Sailfish released now, we could put all of our attention on getting Jose’s fish to the boat.  The fish was getting tired and 5 or 10 minutes later we had him along side.  Devon pulled the fish aboard and got both Jose and Nicole in the picture.  After the photo, Devon gently lowered the fish into the water and we idled along for 5 minutes until the fish was fully revived.  The Sailfish began kicking his tail rhythmically and Devon let go of his bill.  Beautiful job, everyone!

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The crew was thoroughly whipped now so we packed up everything and buttoned down for the ride.  I turned the bow toward home and put the coals to the burners.  I couldn’t hear what they were saying up front as we cruised our way in, but the smiles radiating from all 4 of them spoke volumes!

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

Cuda Slob!

Rjon and Steve were in town and decided to fish a “short” day with us.  They arrived at the scheduled time and we untied The BEAST.  We headed out for a Hardtail spot and caught about a ½ dozen baits there and then made the run to the patches for our Ballyhoo.  Devon put out a block of chum and we had no trouble getting the worms to come up.  We caught plenty for the day and then turned the bow east and made the short run out to the blue water.

We hit the blue and Devon put out a 3 up / 1 down spread.  The bite was a bit on the mediocre side.  We missed one bite on the down rod and then Rjon hooked up a monster Barracuda.  This fish was a great match for our light tackle and Rjon fought it for about 15-20 minutes before it gave in and came to the boat.  Wow!  That was one of the biggest “Cuda slobs I’ve caught in a long time.  We put it on the Boga Grip and it sunk the springs to the 35 pound marker.

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I made a critical error in judgment when I made another pass with fresh bait to see if there was anything else down there.  Uh, Yeah!  This time the line got very heavy and for over an hour I watched Steve, then Rjon and even Devon, take turns on the rod.  All 3 were grunting and working up a lather of sweat.  The fish would give up a yard or two of line and then take back 3.  Sometimes it would let them feel like they had it beat, allowing them to take in 25 or 30 yards of line, only to have the fish make a good run that stripped all that and more.  This fish was doing whatever it wanted.  I tried to use the boat to walk it into shallower water and I thought it was working.  The fish turned around and headed back offshore towing my 33’ World Cat along with it.  Finally Devon and I conferred and told the guys that it was probably a huge shark and we were way under-gunned.  We could continue this fight and burn up the clock on their short day or just break it off.  After 1 hour and 15 minutes the unanimous decision was to break it off.

We reset the lines and worked away from the area.  We missed a couple of downrigger bites and then finally connected with a Cero Mackerel.  We kept working the area and their thoughts were stirring about heading in.  They were excited but very tired from that long battle with the mystery fish.  We held off their thoughts of leaving for the remaining 45 minutes.  Devon dumped the bait wells and almost as if planned, a “snooter” rose from down below and took one of the baits.  I think it was Steve who took the rod and by the time he got the bail flipped, line tight, and the rod flexing. The Sailfish jumped high in the air and the hook went flying.  Dang it!

The guys had a dinner meeting that night so they called it a ‘wrap” and we packed up the BEAST.  I fed some gas to the ponies and we made a smooth run back to the barn.  To me this was nothing special to write about.  If you had heard Rjon and Steve talking about that big Cuda and the epic 1¼ fight by the unseen critter from hell, you would know to the contrary that they were extremely happy.

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