Northeast Winds and Live Baiting Produce Good Fishing

Report Date: December 1, 2012

I started out this month fishing with Pastor Daryl Marin and four of his friends who attend the same church in Tampa, Fl. I was referred to them by a good friend Rudy Gomez (President of CyberAngler).Daryl and his friends were down for the weekend to see the Miami Dolphins play and also wanted to do a little deep sea fishing. My only concern was the weather. It was forecasted to blow NE at 20-25 kts. with seas up to 8 ft. I contacted Daryl the night before to see if he still wanted to fish and he said he was game.

I had some big threadfin herring in the pen that I caught the day before so we headed out in the big seas. On the way offshore the waves were so big that I couldn't run much over 10 mph. We decided to put out a couple lines and troll to where we needed to go. Within five minutes of the first line being put out the reel screamed off and we landed a small tuna to get the skunk off the boat. Once we hit about 500 ft. I decided to deploy the kites and begin a drift. The drift started off very slow until we reached 120 ft. A few moments later I noticed the right short getting nervous and then saw a lethargic sailfish attempting to eat the herring. After about two minutes of looking at the bait the fish lost interest and faded away.

The next drift I didn't start as deep. I only went to 300 ft. Like the previous drift we didn't have any bites until we got to shallower water. This time we hooked a triple header bonita. It was a challenge for the anglers to stand up let alone fight three fish at one time. I have to give these guys credit. They were true die hards. On our last drift I started in two hundred feet and with in minutes we hooked a large mahi mahi on the flatline. The boys fought the fish for about twenty minutes until we put the gaffs in him. About fifteen minutes we landed three more nice mahi and we were headed home with big smiles. The guys had a great time, they toughed out the weather and thankfully nobody got hurt. There’s nothing like spending good quality time with good people on the open ocean.

  After that adventure, I went down to the Florida Keys. I had a three day charter with Lucas Glover( a professional golfer) and his wife. They were staying in Little Palm Island for there honey moon.We decided to take the couple bottom fishing because the seas were too choppy to head offshore for pelagics. Fortunately the fish cooperated and we had great rod bending action. After three days of fishing we captured 8 black grouper up to 20lbs., 10 mutton snappers to 15 lbs, and a bunch of yellowtails.

The only day I had off in the past two weeks was Thanksgiving Day. As usual I ate too much ,but was able to share some great bonding time with my family and friends.

On Black Friday I was back to work. I mated on Bouncer’s Dusky because his mate needed a day off. We fished two half day trips. The first trip was with Bouncer and his sister Sue. Sue enjoys fishing Biscayne Bay so we got some pilchards and went to town. For about two hours of fishing the bite was on. Between bluefish, jack crevelles, mangrove snappers, and pinfish it was non stop action. The second half we guided a family of four offshore fishing. We got lucky and landed two sailfish with 6 nice mahi to boot. I’ve known Bouncer Smith my whole life and it was pleasure listening to his stories and learning from him. He is a true legend and a great person!

Saturday I had a bottom fishing trip. We fished hard all day and managed to catch some quality fish. Aron caught his first cubera snapper and six mutton snappers, followed by a 25lb gag grouper and a sailfish.

  The following day I went to the Bahamas for the day wahoo fishing. The conditions were perfect. Full moon, high tide in the morning, and the first calm day after a two week blow. We cleared customs and with in five minutes of fishing we had a nice 20 lb kingfish. The wahoo fishing wasn’t as hot as it was for me last month but we managed to catch ten up to 45lbs. followed by a nice tuna, and some yelloweye snappers for dinner!

  The last trip of the month was with Sam Fox. We started the morning off trying to bottom fish but unfortunately there was a very fast current and we couldn’t hold the bottom to fish properly. We later pulled the anchor and made a couple drifts with the kite. For two hours we had solid action ending up with two sailfish and our limit of dolphin. What a great way to end the trip!

For the trophy hunter the swordfishing has been off the charts the past few weeks. It has been the best fishing in ten years. My commercial friends have been averaging between 6-12 broadbill a night up to 400lbs. with some mako sharks mixed in. If you have never caught one of these gladiators of the seas now would be a great time.

Once again we are in the holiday season. Gift certificates are available upon request for that special loved one in your life. I still have plenty of availabilities in December so let’s go fish the deep blue Atlantic and bend the rod!!

  Happy Holidays,

Capt. Freddie David

 

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