March Mayhem

Report Date: April 6, 2015

This past March was by far the busiest that I can remember in several years. I fished just about every day and thank God the fish cooperated.

Like usual March started out on the breezy side this year. 15-20 kt winds out of the north east. Having a good east wind normally pushes the gulf stream water and current tight to the reef where the majority of our fishing is pursued. The first days the wind were strong out of the east which enabled us to capture 25-30 mahi each day, sailfish, and lots of bonitas.

  Towards the second week of the month when the wind stopped the kingfish bite turned on. Most of the kingfish have been 4-20 miles north so we fished in that direction. On average we were catching our limit of kings(6-12lb),false albacore, sailfish,mutton snappers and some large game sharks. Bait has been plentiful which helps the fishing when it is slow. Having a well full of scaled bait puts you at an advantage when the weather is calm and there is not much biting.

  I was fortunate to make a few Bahama trips this past month. The first island I hit was in Lucaya. We had a two day tournament aboard the Patriot and just about everything counted. The first day we won the dog fight tournament with a 27 lb kingfish. The second day we searched the whole ocean but only came back with a few dolphin, strawberry grouper and barracudas.

The following week I fished another tournament on Mr. Murrays 53’ Merrit. The purse was split into half sailfish release and the other half went to the heaviest fish. We travelled way south to Miami after hearing some good reports from my brother that there were plenty of sailfish in the area. We fished Miami for 3 1/2 hours and went 8-15 on sailfish. Later in the day we ran to Hollywood. There, we kite fished for a half hour to trying to catch a big kingfish. With in an hour we went 1-2 on sailfish, a 12lb mahi, and a 25lb kingfish that got beat out by 2 lbs. Our team ended up with top sailfish boat and second place meat fish. Hats off to our captain and crew members and for the owner Mr. Murray giving us this great opportunity.

After the sailfish tournament it was back to the Bahamas. Chub Cay was our destination point which is nestled in the Berry Islands. There can be exceptional fishing when the winds come out of the South East pushing all the bait into the renowned pocket. Before we arrived there had been a strong South east wind for two weeks. Boats were catching grand slam's (blue marlin, white marlin, and sailfish) along with box fulls of mahi. Unfortunately when we got there the wind died and so did the fishing. We got lucky the second day and found a small garbage pale floating with lots of birds hovering around it. When we approached the floater the water turned green with gaffer dolphin. After an hour of fishing the box was full and it was time to head back. The small pale saved our trip.

When I got back from the Bahamas I had a three day trip fishing with Jefffrey Shatman and two of his colleagues Earl and Pamela who were from Costa Rica. Pam had caught every billfish to complete her Royal Slam except for the Atlantic Sailfish. I was confident we were going to catch Pam a sailfish because we have been catching them on just about every trip over the past couple weeks. Within two hours of the first day of fishing Pamela completed her slam. On day two Earl caught his first Atlantic sailfish after some bad luck with two prior hard fighting sailfish that got loose. Not only did Pam and Earl catch an Atlantic Sailfish but they also caught kingfish up to 25 lbs, cobia, lionfish, barracuda, bonitas, African pompano, mutton snapper, and a 125 lb swordfish to put the icing on the cake.

  It is always a pleasure fishing and learning life lessons from good people. Pamela and Earl have been successful business people in life and it was very educating listening to some of there life stories.

  I still have openings in early and late April. I will be in Key West mid April fishing the Final Sail Tournament. When I get back fishing Miami should be at peak with plenty of fish waiting for us to catch!
I hope every one had a Happy Easter.

Capt. Fred David

 

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