Say "Good bye 06" December of 2006 sure was a month to remember. We had a 3 day charter with the Damasceno boys starting on the 21st. The first day was too rough to leave the dock. The second was too rough to fish, but the 3rd day was great.
We were fishing with Pietro, age 9, Mario, age 10 and Gino, age 13. These guys had a day to make everyone drool. In one day these guys caught a sailfish, a shark, 2 king mackerel, 2 mutton snapper and 3 dolphin along the edge of the Gulf Stream. Then we ran in to the beach. Fishing with live shrimp the boys caught 2 spanish mackerel, some assorted jacks and snappers and 2 tarpon. They also jumped another tarpon. When they ran out of shrimp, we moved to live herring in the inlet. There the boys caught 25 jack crevalle from 4 to 8 pounds and 3 snook up to 12 pounds. They even let dad catch a couple jacks. Pietro was champion with a "Gold Coast Grand Slam' achieved by catching a sailfish, a dolphin and a tarpon.
Gino with one of his snook
Saturday night we fished with Dan and Alex Lambert and their buddy, Big John. Alex caught three tarpon to 110 pounds, Dan got a good tarpon and Big John scored big with a couple jacks.
Sunday we fished with the 4 Lisante brothers. They each caught sailfish plus adding 3 dolphin, 3 kings and 3 birds.
Tuesday the 26th was slow. We had that bad news light west wind. We had about a dozen king mackerel, jumped a sailfish, caught one mutton snapper. Hank Donato and his guest stayed into the evening and scored a spanish mackerel, a ladyfish and a nice 80 pound tarpon fishing with live shrimp.
John Cheeseborough fished with his daughter Jennie on the 27th. Jennie caught and tagged two sailfish. They also caught 3 dolphin and 2 mutton snappers.
Gabriel with his 19 pound dolphin on 6
Thursday and Friday we fished with Benji Hiller, his son Gabriel, and Richard McKenna. This guys are light tackle pros. In two days they caught 8 sailfish on 6 pound line, one sailfish on 8 pound tackle and one on 12 pound tackle. They added 5 king mackerel on 6 pound tackle. They had a couple small dolphin on 4 and 6 pound tackle and a 19 pound dolphin on 6 pound line. Gabriel also caught a tarpon of about 35 pounds on that 6 pound line. Gabriel scored a "Gold Coast Grand Slam" with a sailfish, a 19 pound dolphin and a tarpon, all on 6 pound line.
Tom Sahrmann fished with us on the 30th. He caught and released 4 sailfish, 2 we were able to tag and 6 dolphin for a great day.
Tom with one of his 4 sails
To finish the year we fished with Grey, age 11 and William, age 13 and their dad Brian Reames. They had a banner day of action and variety. The boys caught 12 dolphin, 5 kings and 3 bonitos. To make the day perfect, both boys caught, tagged and released their first sailfish. That was two nice 82 inch sailfish to finish the year.
An old friend and crew member, Ron Cook and his dad joined me for a little afternoon adventure today. We started the new year with a 25 pound wahoo, a 10 pound dolphin, a mutton and a couple jacks.
You might want to mark the calendar. I will be at the Miami Beach Rod and Reel Club on Wednesday, January 3rd to talk catching sailfish on circle hooks. I will be talking about everything you can catch on a kite at Dusky Sport Center on January 18th at 6 PM. Call 954-922-8890 for information or directions.
The sails are running, the tarpon are biting and the booking book is filling fast. Please make your reservations soon. captbouncer@bellsouth.net . Happy New Year!
