I hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish you a great New Year. The fishing has been great. We have had a great start to the sailfish season and since the last report, the sailfishing has gotten even better. Our best day we went double digits and released 11 sailfish out of 13 bites. Not only is catching double digits a great day, but our hook up ratio was awesome. I am still using the Eagle Claw L2004 circle hooks but have dropped down one more size and that seems to not only not hurt the sailfish hook up ratio, but we are so far seeing better results with the mahis, bonitas and kings as well. Circle hooks work great as they are designed to hook mostly in the corner of the jaw. Not only does this allow for a healthier release as we are not gut hooking our fish, but the fish also much more energetic and acrobatic as they are hooked only in the jaw. The other days we fished we also caught quite a few sailfish and our slowest day we still caught two sails. The water conditions do change, sometimes even day to day, but we have been able to find at least some north current and also some blue water. As many who have fished with me before, I will try me best to find the best conditions regardless of how much fuel I need to burn to get there. I'd rather lose a bit of money to extra fuel and know that my customers will be happy catching more fish.
Not only is the sailfishing good, but there have been plenty of decent mahis on the edge. It's always nice as you are waiting for the sail bites when you catch a few mahis. They are colorful, acrobatic, fight well and are also great to eat. Besides the mahis, there have been a few wahoo, a ton of bonitos and quite a few kingfish as well. It is definitely a great time for kite fishing on the edge.
We also managed one trip out for daytime swords and that worked good as well as we caught a decent fish over 300 pounds and also a smaller 50 pounder that we tagged and released. We tag a majority of the billfish that we release including sailfish and swordfish. It helps the scientist know the migration patterns better and also understand the growth rates a bit better.
I still have open dates between Christmas and New Years and am itching to get out there. About 2/3 of January is already booked, but that still leaves 1/3 open, so let's get out there and have some fun. In the meantime, have a great and safe New Year!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos
www.doubledcharters.com
(954)805-8231
